Minimising a Loss on Sale of House

Leodogger

Davesnave wrote: »

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.

The house we sold was valued at £175,000 at the top of the market in 2007. We were selling in a good area where houses at the top of the market only stayed on the market a few days, obviously in 2011 this was not the case, although the area was still regarded as "desirable" and with good access to local transport links and shopping centres. I find looking at property data proves irratic when checking for "current prices", the values are all over the place. For instance, taking the price of our bungalow from new in 1992 at £49,500, the price according to Nationwide House price calculator is £131,000 but according to EA only worth £99,950 (asking price with an expectation of getting around £85,000 !!!). Zoopla put our current value at £105,000. Land Registry figures are even more confusing : We come under Birmingham (address wise), which LR puts our value at £92,259, we also come within the MBC of Sandwell (who we pay council tax to) which puts our value at £86,737 and we also come within the West Midlands which LR puts the value at £92,555 !

Which figures are correct ?????

Glastoun

JWhite wrote: »

Which figures are correct ?????

There's only one way to find out.............

But seriously, I think most/all of the figures you quoted are estimates based on average prices of the average house in those areas, and doesn't necessarily take into account a number of things, like size, garden etc. I think.

When we were looking, the only figures we went by were actual sold figures, and used Rightmove's Sold Prices function to find what houses near us actually sold for in the last year. For many of them it will show you the number of bedrooms, and even photos from when they were marketed online. From this we deduced that most 3-bed semis were going for around £140k, and that the larger 3-bed semi we were going for was well worth an extra £10k for us on top of that. This is totally separate from Zoopla etc estimates, and even asking prices.

Leodogger

Glastoun wrote: »

There's only one way to find out.............

But seriously, I think most/all of the figures you quoted are estimates based on average prices of the average house in those areas, and doesn't necessarily take into account a number of things, like size, garden etc. I think.

When we were looking, the only figures we went by were actual sold figures, and used Rightmove's Sold Prices function to find what houses near us actually sold for in the last year. For many of them it will show you the number of bedrooms, and even photos from when they were marketed online. From this we deduced that most 3-bed semis were going for around £140k, and that the larger 3-bed semi we were going for was well worth an extra £10k for us on top of that. This is totally separate from Zoopla etc estimates, and even asking prices.

Yes I know where you are coming from and we could have done this with our last house, in fact we did, but we still ended up receiving a much lower price than we had bargained for working on adjoining properties.

With our present property, as I said, it is much more difficult as there are 21 bungalows all identical layout apart from the end ones which are semi but even taking those out of the equation, all the sold prices are completely different even over the last couple of years, so no equal basis to work our price out on.

As I said, I think all these sites which state sold prices and current prices are all over the place and it is no easy task trying to work out what you think your property should be worth.

witchy1066

sorry Marshflower

a bungalow in Wales, in the middle of nowhere is what I am looking for

I_have_spoken

FWIW I think bungalows are difficult to price as the buyers tend to be older and may have released money from selling a large family house or they suddenly can't manage stairs due to a fall etc.

As such, getting into a bungalow quickly may be more important than rock-bottom price and so the price paid jumps about.

IMHO you need to work out the "bargain bucket" price which would give a BTL investor a yield exceeding 7%.

Above that, possibly not by much, is the price that a home buyer will pay. In the current market, techniques such as 'offers over' or non-starters outside of hot-spots. Put it on at a price which gives buyers the chance to negotiate 5% to 7% off, so they feel pleased.

If you haven't had 2nd viewings and at least one offer within 6 weeks, the price is too high. Rather than hang about, I'd then knock 5% off and push the EA for an 'open house' to attract viewers back, on what is otherwise a stale proposition.

It had been on the market for 18 months.

That suggests it was over-priced.

notanewuser

Terraced bungalows? I expect the market for those is teeny tiny!!

Leodogger

notanewuser wrote: »

Terraced bungalows? I expect the market for those is teeny tiny!!

Why would they be any different to semi or detached bungalows, we have semis on here which are exactly the same size as the terraced, no difference in layout or size whatsoever, 2 beds and in fact the inside space is quite large with small gardens front and back and a decent size kitchen, bigger than our previous house and so is the lounge !:) We were pleasantly surprised when we came to look at it.

Leodogger

I_have_spoken wrote: »

FWIW I think bungalows are difficult to price as the buyers tend to be older and may have released money from selling a large family house or they suddenly can't manage stairs due to a fall etc.

As such, getting into a bungalow may be more important than rock-bottom price and so the price paid jumps about.



That suggests it was over-priced.

You could say that but the first EA we had was useless, did absolutely nothing to sell the place, we never even received a phone call in 3 months or any reports. The 2nd actually sent reports every month and phoned us as well after every viewing. The first never even bothered to call us after a viewing ! So the first 6 months was absolutely wasted and then you couldn't count Xmas so another two or 3 months wasted.

notanewuser

JWhite wrote: »

Why would they be any different to semi or detached bungalows, we have semis on here which are exactly the same size as the terraced, no difference in layout or size whatsoever, 2 beds and in fact the inside space is quite large with small gardens front and back and a decent size kitchen, bigger than our previous house and so is the lounge !:) We were pleasantly surprised when we came to look at it.

It sounds slightly better than sheltered housing, I suppose. I think most people who want bungalows want them because they were traditionally built on big plots. Families tend to want 3 beds or more. Most people given the choice would prefer a detached/semi-detached property over a terrace. Make a terraced house a bungalow and give it small gardens and your market has probably shrunk by 80-90%.

Tinkaf1

I am no expert but I think people buying property in Spain really do need to be careful at the moment, so on that score make sure you really look into it. Last I saw people are in negative equity and were stranded there desperate to get out. :-(
But... if you are trying to maximise your money, do your research, have 3 agents come in to value it and then instruct an online agent like House Network if you don't mind doing the viewings yourself. They charge around 450 - 500, rather than a percentage. Saves vital pounds. :-) You set your own price with them though, they dont do valuations.