Aaaaagh! neighbours selling their identical house!

olias

Mine is one of a pair of identical new built houses built in an infill plot.
Neighbours has been rented (by the developer) for 6 years, ours owned since new.
I have spent the last few months readying it for sale (fixing little diy jobs, touching up paint, washing carpets, planting flowers etc) and am putting it on the market this week.
Today, tenant next door tells me that the landlord has given them notice and is putting their house on the market........it will be in direct competition to ours.......

My main worry, is what to price mine at - do I wait for him to market next door, then undercut him on price? Do I put mine on first and steal his thunder (but then what happens if he prices his under mine!)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh! Why did this have to happen! He has been renting next door for 6 years. Why choose the week I am putting mine on the market to put his on too!

Any advice, suggestions, comments (or just sympathy! lol). Thanks

Olias

mummyroysof3

There are already 4 houses on my street for sale and ours is going up this week...still not decided what price yet cos was going to undercut them all till 1 got reduced now I don't know what to do argh

Kayalana99

If your not after to quick a sale I'd go for for a tad higher price then you want...hope that he under cuts you (whilst still keeping the price to same level ) then match his price.

I know its not a good thing this house going up for sale but whatever you put yours up for he is likey to follow...might as well start a bit higher on the aim to undercut when he undercuts your high price...or at least match.

Your house may be in better condition since that ones been rented out for so long (people take better care of thier own homes I would of thought but ofc depends on the people!)

Does that make sense? Sorry.

tabbyfish

My neighbours did the same but were a little sneaky about it.
Used the same agent and in their photos used our for sale sign and didn't have one of their own! We only noticed it was up for sale whilst browsing RM.
The agent didn't manage to sell either of our houses and we changed our agent but next door have given up and staying put. I was fuming and can't wait to leave now. They never even mentioned it to us even when chatting about our viewings etc. I thought it was a it under hand.

Yours is obviously just a coincidence but I feel your dilemma. I would get your up and on the market ASAP, next door might change their mind as you are their direct competition too.

Good luck either way

olias

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Your house may be in better condition since that ones been rented out for so long (people take better care of thier own homes I would of thought but ofc depends on the people!)

Thanks, without sounding too big headed, I agree, and I do think ours is better looked after and all together a bit nicer.

tabbyfish wrote: »

Yours is obviously just a coincidence but I feel your dilemma. I would get your up and on the market ASAP, next door might change their mind as you are their direct competition too.

Good luck either way

Thanks, I intend to do that, and hope that that is the case (that they decide to delay selling and rent it for another 6 to 12 months).

Olias

thegirlintheattic

Have you found a new place yet?

If not he will have the advantage, as it will be chain free.

chappers

but has tenants

olias

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

Have you found a new place yet?

If not he will have the advantage, as it will be chain free.

Not a problem. We are mortgage free, so if we haven't found somewhere, we will just move into rented.

chappers wrote: »

but has tenants

But he has given them notice, so they will be gone in a month...

Olias

grifferz

olias wrote: »

But he has given them notice, so they will be gone in a month...

More likely two. If they go on time. Unless you know for a fact it's one month?

Even a month is a good head start isn't it? Tenants put viewers off at the best of times.

dj.boz

I put my house up for sale in October last year. Six weeks later my next door neighbour put there house up for sale as well at 10% cheaper! Mine was priced to sell within six weeks (had two offers within six weeks), and naturally next doors house sold quickly.

The issue we had is that originally we were looking for 95% + of what we placed the house on the market for, but whilst 'the cheap house next door' generated lots of interest (and people would view our house as well as next doors) all we heard was "We like your house better, but want to pay the same price as next door".

Gutted to say we had to take a lower price than we would have wanted to, but it was our choice. We could either have waited for the sale of next door to have completed and waited on another purchaser, or just get on with our lives and move.

chappers

If you are confident that your house is better than their's then put it on in direct competition, same agent, same price, the lot(unless you think your property is much better), veiwers will look at both houses and in theory should pick yours.