House Selling - Money Saving Tips

qwert_yuiop

Amontylado wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience of selling property in Northern Ireland? I inherited my Mum's house in Belfast last September and as I live in England, put it with the local Belfast estate agent. Well after 7 months there have been a few viewings but no offers, even after reducing the price £30k below the agent's recommended price. It seems a good price in comparison with other similar properties but obviously it's not attracting the buyers. As you have to pay a fee to register with an agent in NI, I have been reluctant to instruct another agent as I'm not sure if it's the property market as a whole, or an incompetent agent that's the problem. I'm also thinking of trying the online route, but I can't show people round the house myself. Any thoughts?

The market in Northern Ireland has collapsed.
The neighbouring houses have probably been on the market for a couple of years, at 2009 prices and will not sell.

Drop another 30k - you might attract more than one bidder. Otherwise get it auctioned. The nuisance is you'll be getting a rates bill (£1000?) even if there's no one in it. There's no reason in today's NI for the price to rise any time soon.

chinnatalli

Hello can anyone advise me if the house with garden would sell easily or the one with low maintenance garden. I live in an area which was previously an agricultural land and the garden we have is full of weeds and i dont really get time to maintain it (with a 8 month old baby) every week especially in summer when it keeps growing back quickly. Is it wort an investment to get gravel etc.. done on it and make it low maintenance kind before I sell it ?? Many thanks in advance

Amontylado

Landscaping your garden to be low maintenance is very expensive and it would have to be done very well to attract buyers. My own experience is that buyers do not generally like gravel as they see it as something to get rid of in order to have the type of garden they want. It would be better and probably cheaper to employ a professional to clear the garden of weeds, lay turf and have someone maintain it during the period in which you are selling the house. Buyers then see it as a clean sheet on which to put their own ideas. Rather like painting your walls magnolia before selling!
An even cheaper option, if the garden is reasonably level, would be to cut down all the weeds and simply keep cutting. As grass grows from the base it will regenerate whereas the tall weeds will die and you will be left with a swathe of green (not necessarily all grass though!). Obviously if neither you nor your partner have time for this again you would have to employ someone but it could be a student rather than a gardener.

handbagsusd

it is good idea

propertyangelsolutions

This is an excellent and informative article. It is really helpful. It is one of the best post for quick sale. I have found out some similar useful information here. Thanks for sharing.

lollieollie

Hi,

Sorry if this has been asked a thousand times already but I cant figure out how to search the fourm! Does anyone have any experience of these quick house sale companies, we buy your house, 7 day house sale etc? We'd like to sell our house as we're moving abroad and things are moving a lot quicker than we expected. Would I be wasting my time calling?

Thank you in advance for any replies.

robatwork

They will offer you substantially less that its worth. Same with webuyanyTHING..... car...phone...house.....

Expect a surprise on what they offer you, and not in a good way.

I would get it with on the best agent in your town, and offer it as a "fire sale" property ie. this is the price, NO negotiation. And price it 10% less than it's worth - should sell in 1 week. And you will get loads more than what these companies will offer. Of course you still have the hassle of agents, solicitors etc, but no reason you can't handle that from abroad...

sydneycleaningspecialist

Thanks for the tips!

bhatti3000

wrote: »

WEBSITES TO MARKET YOUR OWN HOME
Ive had my house on with two agents who both fail to return calls and when I did a mystery shop and asked them to send details of houses within the price bracket I was selling at, sent info on houses £25-£30k above which didn't include mine.
So thinking of DOING IT MYSELF. Does anyone have experience of advertising their own house on one of the house selling websites where you pay a fixed sum and do the work yourself? eg houseweb.co.uk

i posted a thread called 'Private house selling 'success stories',
it has both mine and a friends experience re selling our houses ourselfs. look it up if you have time.

i'd never sell my house via the agents, they charge too much and most of the time cant sell it for months. some agents even make you show viewers around - what do people pay them for?????

bhatti3000

happy_gelfling wrote: »

Has anyone tried using the online estate agents? I came across urbansalesandlettings online which appears to cost £250 (if you want them to supply and fit a For Sale board). Sounds like a bargain compared to 1% fees, but are they (and other similar online estate agents) actually any good? I don't think I've the time to sell privately, but the online estate agents might be a cheap alternative...

250 for a for sale sign???
no no no
find a local company through the interent to fit you a sign board, it shold not cost more then 50pounds, very max.
gumtree, comparethehouses, freeads are free online websites
but if you want to be on rightmove try housenetwork or househop - for these you have to pay but to get on the best websites which take 90% traffic.
never pay to be on a small website, which no one has heard off.
i wish you all the best
bhatti3000