Considering what to do on our asking price

Dan-Dan

Hello All

I have the estate agent calling me later to have a chat but thought I’d run it by you lovely people as well...

As some might know, we are currently living in, and selling our probate property, left to us by grandma who passed back in Feb....

After agreeing a private sale with someone who promised marketing their house `to sell` and seeing that not pan out as we hoped , we put the house on the market on the 29th March , with the caveat that we could sell to this individual if they come good during the contract period with the EA

Anyway , long story short we were foolish enough to believe the proposed buyer and as such started viewing properties ,fell in love with one , ticks all required boxes etc etc , owners would go to rented to close the chain etc...

Now , of course , naturally we are getting nervous , that the place we like , will either sell , or be taken off the market whilst we wait to sell ours , the EA we are using is the same as the vendors of the place we like , and they are aware of what we are doing , but still , no one just sits and waits for ever , and understandably they won’t take the house off the market for us , until we are proceedable

On top of this , we have probate now and are faced with the bills that are outstanding , £190 for the gas , £185 residual from the carers few bits and pieces , but the biggie , the funeral bill , 3.5k + the stone inscription (which the FD tailor into the bill for the funereal , but which we may pay separately ourselves in the future) payment is expected to them by May 5th , or 4% gets added per month , which is a fair amount on £3500 !!

All this means , after 9/10 days livge on the market, we have had 6 viewings , and no offers , and are worrying that we need to sell ASAP , we have some payments to satisfy according to the will , such as kids trusts and half the sale proceeds to a sibling , we have priced the house realistically , but as well , we KNOW it needs lots of modernisation , the going rate is anything between £330k and £450k in the cul-de-sac where we live , but of course a property that needs 20/30k work internally ,is likely to be at the bottom of that scale and that’s assuming someone actually wants it

Anyway, bottom line is, i am panicking to get sold ASAP because of the bills due and the house we like for the future, what advise does anyone have strategy wise?

Is it foolish to drop the price already? Should i ask the EA to add something like "offers welcome" to the advert? Or is this a bad idea?

The house is up at £335, it doesn’t say OIEO or anything like that

Tancred

Dan-Dan wrote: »

Hello All

I have the estate agent calling me later to have a chat but thought I’d run it by you lovely people as well...

As some might know, we are currently living in, and selling our probate property, left to us by grandma who passed back in Feb....

After agreeing a private sale with someone who promised marketing their house `to sell` and seeing that not pan out as we hoped , we put the house on the market on the 29th March , with the caveat that we could sell to this individual if they come good during the contract period with the EA

Anyway , long story short we were foolish enough to believe the proposed buyer and as such started viewing properties ,fell in love with one , ticks all required boxes etc etc , owners would go to rented to close the chain etc...

Now , of course , naturally we are getting nervous , that the place we like , will either sell , or be taken off the market whilst we wait to sell ours , the EA we are using is the same as the vendors of the place we like , and they are aware of what we are doing , but still , no one just sits and waits for ever , and understandably they won’t take the house off the market for us , until we are proceedable

On top of this , we have probate now and are faced with the bills that are outstanding , £190 for the gas , £185 residual from the carers few bits and pieces , but the biggie , the funeral bill , 3.5k + the stone inscription (which the FD tailor into the bill for the funereal , but which we may pay separately ourselves in the future) payment is expected to them by May 5th , or 4% gets added per month , which is a fair amount on £3500 !!

All this means , after 9/10 , we have had 6 viewings , and no offers , and are worrying that we need to sell ASAP , we have some payments to satisfy according to the will , such as kids trusts and half the sale proceeds to a sibling , we have priced the house realistically , but as well , we KNOW it needs lots of modernisation , the going rate is anything between £330k and £450k in the cul-de-sac where we live , but of course a property that needs 20/30k work internally ,is likely to be at the bottom of that scale and that’s assuming someone actually wants it

Anyway, bottom line is, i am panicking to get sold ASAP because of the bills due and the house we like for the future, what advise does anyone have strategy wise?

Is it foolish to drop the price already? Should i ask the EA to add something like "offers welcome" to the advert? Or is this a bad idea?

The house is up at £335, it doesn’t say OIEO or anything like that

Auction the damn house. Do a survey yourself on it and distribute it to all interested parties. Then you will sell it!

Dan-Dan

hmm , i did mention an auction to the other half , but that didnt go down well because the other beneficiary would not be happy if it ended up selling for anything under 300k

highguyuk

I'm no expert, but surely there are reserve prices at auction?

Tancred

Dan-Dan wrote: »

hmm , i did mention an auction to the other half , but that didnt go down well because the other beneficiary would not be happy if it ended up selling for anything under 300k

Oh - sorry, I didn't realise there was another beneficiary.

In that case maybe a reduction to £320k might be in order.

Dan-Dan

highguyuk wrote: »

I'm no expert, but surely there are reserve prices at auction?

Yes i assume so , but its not free to list at an auction anyway , so more costs to add

Fire_Fox

Who are the executors, how many beneficiaries? Executors have a legal obligation to get the best price for the beneficiaries NOT to sell quickly. With that in mind IMO it is way too soon to be considering reductions, the best you can do is present it well for sale - Spring clean, maybe even painted if it's bad.

Executors should not be putting their own wishes and needs before the best interests of the other beneficiaries. It's not simply about what the other beneficiary wants, it's about satisfying the duties of executorship, probate office can investigate and costs of setting right any wrongs can come out of the executors own pocket. Sounds to me like you are getting bogged down in what is best for one beneficiary and not fully appreciating the grave responsibility of being an executor.

Don't understand why you are panicking about bills, they are not in your name they form part of the estate. 4% per month on £3500 is massively less than you are proposing to reduce the price by!!

Dan-Dan

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Who are the executors, how many beneficiaries? Executors have a legal obligation to get the best price for the beneficiaries NOT to sell quickly. They should not be putting their own wishes and needs before the best interests of the other beneficiaries. It's not simply about what the other beneficiary wants, it's about satisfying the duties of executorship, probate office can investigate and costs of setting right any wrongs can come out of the executors own pocket. Sounds to me like you are getting bogged down in what is best for one beneficiary and not fully appreciating the grave responsibility of being an executor.

Hi

My wife sole executor , bro , renounced
5 kids - x amount into savings accounts till the age of 18
All house contents - My wife
Proceeds of house split between my wife and bro

As there isnt anything comparable in the cul de sac , i think a good price is the one someone wants to pay..as there is no history to go by and to cpmare to , for example , the house next door , sold for 450k after being bought by a builder for £290k and being extended etc

the one the other side was sold as was (in standard condition) in 2007 for 333k

to be honest , the auction isnt a viable option as we do want something approaching a reasonable market value due to our plans for the future and bro`s

kwmlondon

Try putting something up like "offers in excess of £320k" and see what comes in? The estate agents will explain to everyone that no offer below that will be considered, but the highest received will get the property. You see it a lot in London but then that's usually on places ready to move into that go very quickly. Worth thinking about though.

Dan-Dan

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Don't understand why you are panicking about bills, they are not in your name they form part of the estate. 4% per month on £3500 is massively less than you are proposing to reduce the price by!!

I never mentioned what to reduce the house by ?

Fire_Fox

Dan-Dan wrote: »

Hi

My wife sole executor , bro , renounced
5 kids - x amount into savings accounts till the age of 18
All house contents - My wife
Proceeds of house split between my wife and bro

As there isnt anything comparable in the cul de sac , i think a good price is the one someone wants to pay..as there is no history to go by and to cpmare to , for example , the house next door , sold for 450k after being bought by a builder for £290k and being extended etc

the one the other side was sold as was (in standard condition) in 2007 for 333k

to be honest , the auction isnt a viable option as we do want something approaching a reasonable market value due to our plans for the future and bro`s

You have a good idea of value, you have already had one offer, that is your benchmark for future offers unless it doesn't sell for many months. You won't clear market value at an auction because you are limited to chain free often cash buyers/ developers, that is to be used if executor needed to sell fast (eg. mortgage not paid, bank about to repossess so estate loses out).

Again you are talking about what you want: that is a totally separate issue to your wife's duty as an executor, she MUST be able to demonstrate she got the best price even if that means holding out for some months. She should be acting as if she was not a beneficiary at all which is a really tough thing to do, maybe review her obligations? Probate can take months or even a couple of years to tie up, it's not a quick process.