To sell or to wait...?

dcouponzzzz

I'll try and keep it short...

I own a house with my sister, we're 4.5 years in to a 5 year fixed rate with a 5% buyout fee until January and £105k owing.

To preserve family stability (basically we're all becoming a bit frustrated with who lives where etc as we can't live together without bloody murder), would anyone have any constructive advice on the benefits of selling now versus selling in January? Apart from the obvious £5k saving.

My parents are heavily influencing the decision and suggest putting it on the market for 5-7k above it's worth. If lucky, it covers the fees. If not, we can drop it in January. Before suggesting we shouldn't be coerced by our parents, we were incredibly lucky for them to have given us the deposit and take their input in good grace, also considering the situation affects their mental stability as much as ours!

Brexit and the perceived housing slump are also a worrying factor, mainly because I haven't put enough effort in to understand it.

Essentially I'm just looking for 'sell up now for this reason' or 'hold on to it for this other reason'. Rental yield is not even close to viable and is actually less than the mortgage payments currently.

Thanks in advance!

G_M

Seems simple:

* forget the parents
* forget brexit
* assess the benefit of obtaning freedom and escaping famiy disharmony 6 months earlier, against the cost of £5K - which is more important to you?

Pixie5740

You can put it on the market for whatever you like, or whatever your parents like, it doesn't mean someone will pay an extra £5k for it.

Even if you start marketing it now it could take 6 months to complete the sale or you could wait a couple of months but still market the property before your fixed term ends.

hazyjo

Average time from offer to completion is 12 weeks. Factor in Christmas and New Year and the fact most EAs/solicitors will be closed for a week or so, if you got an offer in Sept/Oct, you are looking at Jan to complete (although a lot of manic buyers decide they simply have to be in for Christmas so make it clear it'll have to be Jan at the earliest).


For the sake of 2 or 3 months, I say hang it out.


I worked something out with my ex where we shared it - two weeks each I think, then swapped. Meant me at my parents' for 2 weeks, then him at his GF's when I was at the flat. It is disruptive, but I'm sure you could come to a similar agreement or sofa surf, or just go out a lot and avoid each other.


Hope you manage to resolve your differences.
Jx

jimpix12

G_M wrote: »

Seems simple:

* forget the parents
* forget brexit
* assess the benefit of obtaning freedom and escaping famiy disharmony 6 months earlier, against the cost of £5K - which is more important to you?

Indeed. Forget brexit, forget the economy, forget everything going on. Head in sand. Prices only go up. Sell now.

dcouponzzzz

Thanks for the quick replies guys, I appreciate the advice. G_M I would love to be able to be on the outside looking in and see it so simply! Pixie + Jo I hadn't considered an excessive selling period based on the recent sales of same size properties on our close being up a maximum of 2 weeks before being sold. I'll engage the EA this week and prepare it for photographs, and also mentally prepare myself for a long wait!


To elaborate a little more in case anyone is interested...

I lived with my ex for 15 months and for the duration, my sister still paid her side of the mortgage whilst living rent free at my parents. I came out hugely on top here (not as much as the ex obviously) and recognise once again how lucky I was, and that it may border on having taken advantage.

Upon becoming single, I lived in the house alone and loved the freedom, spending a lot of my new free time maintaining and improving the house. To allow my sister to experience living alone, I'm now in my parents and after 3 weeks my own/my sister's house is bordering on unclean and the garden is resembling a small meadow. This is causing significant tension as I'm unable to bite my tongue.

My sister now wants to move back to my parents until we sell the house, but they grate on each other and this is where the risk to mental stability develops (they all have underlying mental health issues). I'm happy in my parents (and they're happy with me there) as I'm either out at the gym, working, sleeping or out with the new missus. I'm also happy living alone. In this decision I'm not involved as it depends on my parent's willingness to board my sister once again.

Essentially, my parents want me to live with them while the house sells, but telling my sister they don't want her to would be devastating to her. It would be equally devastating to my parents if they let her board.

It's a very difficult situation we find ourselves in and I'm hoping we manage to resolve it without too many battle scars as well!

Thanks again and wish us luck

LittleMax

Based on that I would say get it sold soonest, as keeping it clean and tidy for viewings will be difficult and need your input. You will resent even more trying to pull it round in 3 months time.

You talk about the dynamic with your parents and your sister and your parents and yourself. But what about if you moved back into the house with your sister to try to keep on top of the cleaning and tidiness. Obviously you will feel somewhat resentful if you are doing all the tidying, but not as resentful as if you have to go round to tidy every time there is a viewing and you are not even living there.

Can I ask where you each plan to live once the house is sold?

phoebe1989seb

In the circumstances I would also go ahead with selling ASAP.

At least three houses of the houses we've previously sold have been marketed during the Summer/early Autumn and they all completed before Christmas -

1) went on during the last week of July, offer accepted early Oct, completed first week in Dec.

2) went on early Summer, offer accepted 15th Oct, completed 30th Nov.

3) went on 1st Sept, offer accepted 10th Oct, completed 16th Dec.

With the exception of the second example, these houses were not in fast moving locations and the second example was a high value property that was also expected to take longer to sell. However, they were all priced realistically

hazyjo

My post wasn't so much re the time it might take to sell, just how long it will take once you get an offer. Usually around 12 weeks. Of course, as said, it may take another month to find a buyer


If I wanted to sell in January, if things are generally selling quickly, I would be marketing in or around September/early Oct, but making it clear I'd not be wanting to move before Jan. If slow to sell, you'll be looking at Feb onwards.


Good luck!


Jx

dcouponzzzz

Thanks again for the advice guys, really appreciate it Once the house is sold there are multiple options.

Both myself and my sister have friends with their own houses looking for a lodger. My friend is within 8 miles of my work in Manchester as opposed to the 40 miles away currently. I could live in Manc mon-thurs and Liverpool (my parents) for the weekend to see the missus.

Either me or my sister, or both could live in my parents during a transition to buy / rent our own home, speeding up the process as not in a chain. I could choose to live in Manchester or Liverpool, with the pros/cons seemingly even for both.

Another option under consideration is me buying my sister out of the house we currently own, as it's less than a mile away from a train station, a motorway entrance and my parents.

Kynthia

Spend the time between now and putting it on the market making it look it's best. Freshen the place up, do those niggle diy jobs, sort anything that will put off buyers, and make each room clearly defined and useful to who your target market will be. September is a good time to list as everyone is back from holidays and ready to start house hunting again. Then if anyone makes an offer tell them then that you can't complete until January, which is only a month more than the average purchase time so shouldn't be too shocking and gives the buyer certainty about where they are spending Christmas.