Minimising a Loss on Sale of House

Leodogger

I don't know if there is an estate agent to answer this question, but we are thinking about moving house again for the last time whilst being retired. We lost quite a lot of money on our last house 2 yrs ago and it appears from the estate agent who sold us our present property that they now say (18 months later) that we probably overpaid on the price we paid and would not get what we paid for it back, even though we have made several improvements including a new kitchen and part of the bathroom has been replaced (it was fitted with disabled equipment), plus we have laminated all the floors and replaced all the doors and decorated throughout. We live in a bungalow and it was marketed at £99,950 and we bargained hard to get it down to £93,500 but have been told by the same agent who sold it to us that these bungalows usually sell for approx. £85,000 ! We took everything into account when we bought it including its orientation, level access to carpark etc. when we made the offer as the others on this development were not in such good positions that were being sold for less.

My question is this, when we sold our last property which was reduced down from £165,000 over a period of 2 yrs to £160,000 and eventually after taking estate agent's advice we settled for £147,500 for a cash offer which the EA seemed to think was a bargain after rejecting an offer of £140,000 !! The loss we took on our previous house, and the losses we have incurred on our present bungalow leads me to believe that EA are overpricing properties in our area of the West Midlands by quite a lot, as I say we have come to this conclusion based on the offers we have received on our last property and on the guideline price of the one we now have.

How can we know what a property should achieve, how long should we wait and what percentage should we be prepared to reduce by ? I know it is difficult without seeing our property, but we cannot afford to take another huge loss and need advice on how to negotiate the price we want, what price to set at the outset and how to control as much as possible of the price negotiations.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Seabee42

This is not overly helpful but ultimately the market will decide. Look on Zoopla and see what houses you would consider equivalent to yours have gone for in your area.

Note if you moved in two years ago why are you moving so soon? (That would be my wonder as a buyer?).

If you are not getting any viewings then I would say its overpriced etc.

Davesnave

You can start by looking for the price comparable bungalows have sold for recently on web sites like nethouseprices:

http://www.nethouseprices.com/

lincroft1710

What should a property achieve?

You can price it as high as you want to, but it will only sell for whatever someone is prepared to pay.

Is it a seller's market where you live or a buyer's market? If it's a buyer's market expect low offers. A property in a seller's market will have lots of viewings and offers at, very near or even above the asking price.

Do your homework, find out what similar bungalows in the area sold for. Are there many buyers for bungalows or do buyers prefer similar size houses for less money?

Marshflower

Am not a seasoned seller in the slightest (have never sold a house before!) but I have been putting in quite a bit of research prior to selling our bungalow as to what it could be worth. I have found researching the sold prices of local bungalows in a similar condition really useful plus other houses of similar build and condition. Also looking at other asking prices on our road.
How many EAs have you used in the past? Have you just had a valuation from one or have you had quite a few? If you are having the same valuation from a number of EAs then i would say it is your estimating which is at fault as opposed to the EA.
I used to work in sales and I think it's also about finding the right buyer for what ever you are selling. Case in point - a new kitchen and laminate flooring would hugely devalue a prospective property for me. Or, perhaps not devalue but certainly I would not expect to have to recoup the cost for the work the vendor had put in for those areas as I would see them as areas I would need to change to get the property to my taste. Other prospective buyers would look specifically for those features and see them as a real plus point. A good EA should know the difference between those types of buyers and be sending the latter your way. If they are not you need to shake them loose and find a new agent.
I think by doing a bit research and choosing your EA very carefully you should be able to get a fair asking price for your property. But just remember that "market" fair does not always align with your idea of fair.

witchy1066

a lot also depends where your bungalow is , we would love a bungalow but the few that come on the market in our area are either too small, or expensive, or sell before we have chance to view, we keep being told by EA's that they could sell bungalows 3 times over, regardless of condition

Marshflower

witchy1066 wrote: »

a lot also depends where your bungalow is , we would love a bungalow but the few that come on the market in our area are either too small, or expensive, or sell before we have chance to view, we keep being told by EA's that they could sell bungalows 3 times over, regardless of condition

I know a lovely bungalow in Bath.......
:rotfl:

Leodogger

Believe it or not we did research other bungalows on our development but it is difficult because we looked at another one at the same time as ours on this development which was selling for £15,000 less than ours but it was not in a good position, needed completely gutting and was open ended (semi) which meant strangers could access the back garden as open plan landscaping. It faced the wrong way too with regard to sunlight and we wanted the sun on the lounge in the morning. Our kitchen was only half fitted so that was why we decided on a new kitchen. We paid £8,500 more for ours but decided it was worth the extra, something the EA is now saying is not the case as he lumps them all into the same price group, £99,950 :eek: I fail to see how that can that be the case when some of the bungalows are at the bottom of a hazardous slope and as these bungalows are for 60+ age group (housing association), those I would suggest would not be so attractive to elderly people in the winter for access, when the pathway is treacherous and the bungalows at the bottom of the development receive all the rain winter in winter which causes flooding to their properties.

We are thinking of selling as our daughter is moving to Spain and we are thinking of joining her there. There were other considerations too which affected our decision to sell our previous house but nothing that would have affected the sale which property was in a good selling area.
The thing that annoyed me was the EA of our last house, telling us that the £140,000 offer against our £159,950 asking price was a good offer because it was cash ! I see properties all the time that go within a few thousand of the asking price and have to ask myself if the EA was completely incompetent, as when we said no to the offer, we received another offer within a few weeks, first again for £140,000 and then an absolute final offer of £147,500 which the agent said we needed to take. I want to know who she was working for ? If it hadn't been for other circumstances we would have just taken it off the market, as it was we decided to sell rather than wait another 12 months which we could not afford to do for personal reasons. It had been on the market for 18 months.

Leodogger

witchy1066 wrote: »

a lot also depends where your bungalow is , we would love a bungalow but the few that come on the market in our area are either too small, or expensive, or sell before we have chance to view, we keep being told by EA's that they could sell bungalows 3 times over, regardless of condition

Amazing isn't it, they can sell bungalows 10 times over when you are looking to buy but when it comes to yours or mine to sell, all of a sudden there is either no market for them or only at a reduced price! I am very disillusioned with EA who always seem to want a fast sale at ANY price. I always thought there was always a market for any property to the right person (like us) who wants it and is willing to pay a little extra to get a particular one but when you speak to EA's they never seem to take this into account when assessing the value of any property, i.e. never suggest putting it on at a higher price to test the water, but always suggesting a "ball park" lower figure and always expecting you to jump at stupid offers way below this, as we found at least 12-15% off the asking price. Either they don't know their market or the market in the West Midlands is in a very, very depressed state and they are not being honest with potential sellers! :mad:

Leodogger

Davesnave wrote: »

You can start by looking for the price comparable bungalows have sold for recently on web sites like nethouseprices:

http://www.nethouseprices.com/

In fact I did search that site and Zoopla but property sales on our development are all over the place, some paid £112,000 just 2 years ago (next door neighbour, she said that needed gutting too), another for £120,000 (on the end of the block), ours is terraced, and others were sold for far less but during the early 2000's. All have the same layout internally and externally and have the same amount of land.

Davesnave

JWhite wrote: »

It had been on the market for 18 months.

Any property that is on the market for 18months is either too expensive for what it is or in the middle of nowhere, probably somewhere in Wales.

Lots of us sold for a 'loss' in the post Crash (2008)period, but then we also bought into a depressed market. For me, this was a positive, and I knocked a damn sight more off my house than you did!

So far as I remember, prices in the the West Midlands have been depressed for a while, but again, you can check this out for yourself by looking for the data.