Selling an inherited property - structural issues

eddddy

Travelling_shoes wrote: »

Thanks everyone, it's really helpful to hear your views. Auctions scare the pants off me, I'll be honest. People who are recommending this option, what is your experience of them?

I don't think there's anything scary. Auction houses are just like estate agents - they look at your property, tell you what they think it would sell for, and suggest a reserve price. (The reserve price being the minimum you would sell it for.)

They are often a bit less "fluffy" and a bit more businesslike than EAs - so they wont be saying things to you like "what a charming house, you must have so many happy memories here" (which get's on my nerves anyway!).

Make sure you understand their fees - they will be much higher than a traditional EA. And they may require a listing fee up front - but I'm not sure if they would negotiate on that.

And make sure you use a conventional auction company - not the dubious 'Modern Auction' companies that charge buyers a £6000 fee.

googler

Travelling_shoes wrote: »

I have reduced the sale price by £20,000 to take into account the work that needs doing.

What's the actual sale price as a result?

I'm with one of the posters above; you need to divorce yourself from sentiment about the house, and cut the price to whatever it takes to move it on as is.

At the end of the day, you're not 'losing money' if you do. It may sound cruel to say so, but this is essentially free money dropping into your lap. Whatever happens, you're still in the black to the tune of the sale price.

moneyistooshorttomention

phill99 wrote: »

I think you are being niave. You have one 'potential purchaser' and you seem hell bent on bending over backwards to accommodate him. He could easily pull out at any stage and all the effort and money you have put in to pacify him will come to nothing.

There will be other potential purchasers. Whether you do the work or let someone else do it, you ultimately will end up paying.

Cut your losses now. Put it back on the market as is, with the knowledge you will take a hit on it. If you pyt it into auction you ate al ost guaranteed a sale, hassle free. To me its a no brainer.

That's the view I would take personally:T

If you've reduced the price by £20k to take account of this - then I'm guessing that the property needs at least £10k worth of work (probably more) to get it to passable standard. I simply wouldn't want to risk my own money by taking out a loan to do it - I'd get shot of the property for the price its worth in the condition its in.

That way - you have nothing to lose but everything to gain (ie whatever price you do manage to obtain for it is a gain - without having risked some of your own money doing up the place first).

I'd also say its a no-brainer and be telling this potential purchaser "This is how it is - I hope you are still interested. Otherwise - san ferry ann and I'll find someone else who is".

By the time you have to factor in how many hours of your time it would take to get this house sorted and what "rate per hour" you would need to charge for your labour doing so.....makes it even more of a no-brainer. You should be valuing your time at at least £20 per hour (dependant on what your personal skills level is) and trying to figure out how many hours of your valuable time this one particular buyer would like to have...

I would be sitting there thinking "Right - say £30 per hour for my time personally (bearing in mind covering my own sick pay/pension/holidays) and I guesstimate this would take, say, 100 hours of my time I would prefer to spend Living My Life and see whether it would be worth my while to do the buyers' work-on-the-house for them or no".

Travelling_shoes

Thanks everyone. I have asked an auctioneer to come & have a look at the property next week, with a view to selling it by auction.

I guess because I am new to this whole process, the "traditional" estate agent route felt like the safest bet, but I can see that this isn't necessarily the case, especially given the situation I now find myself in. I'm also not sure the estate agent is fighting my corner, so auction gets round this. Fingers crossed.

Tassotti

Check out a couple of auction houses. Fees vary by quite a bit.

I saw a property that went under offer on the open market at 200K. It had subsidence and so buyer couldn't get mortgage.

Property went to auction and sold for 220K!!

Auction fever.

Good luck with it