Selling a pig in a poke!

liberty_lily

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice please.

Back story - having researched area thoroughly (or so we thought!) we bought our 4 bed detached house 2 years ago, paid what we considered a good price reflecting need for rewire, new kitchen, 2 bathrooms, redecorating inside and out. On moving in we began gutting the place, got quotes for a rewire and ordered a new kitchen.

Then we had a family crisis that resulted in hospitalisation and ultimately the death of the family member concerned. Work on the house ground to a halt. When we'd recovered from all of this my OH and I found we didn't like the house or its location as much as we'd thought so started to do research into selling.

We then discovered houses here - particularly those in the upper price brackets - take an age to sell even if in excellent order and presented like a show home. For example, one of our neighbours just put her stunning period home up for sale (£850,000) and told us she expects it'll take 3 years to find a buyer - yikes! Another in our road (admittedly in need of work and completely overpriced) has been on the market for even longer than that :eek:

There are no identical houses to compare ours with and those 4 bed detached houses locally that have sold recently range from £50,000 under what we paid to £200,000 over according to Land Registry figures.

Trouble is then, even if we proceed with the work we may struggle to sell and we've lost money in similar circumstances before, although we have sold quickly when other less well renovated properties have not.

Also, the house is quite damp and dark - being fairly old - and is very quirky so won't appeal to everyone, this being an area where Ikea is king :rotfl:

Basically it's what my dad would have called a pig in a poke

Long story short, do we a) do the work and have to wait years for a buyer b) do the work, price to sell and consequently make a stonking loss c) not do the work and sell as is, price below what we paid, hoping to get most of our money back?

Thanks for reading x

phoebe1989seb

I can sympathise, OP, having changed our minds about our current house. We've decided to put it in an auction......not necessarily what everyone would advocate, but think it's our best bet Maybe it's worth considering?

GL with whatever you decide to do!

liberty_lily

Thank you. I guess it's something else to consider - at least it would be quick. Assuming it sells!

Previously we found that pricing realistically found us a buyer in ten days. This area is a different kettle of fish though.

knightstyle

Surely people buy a house to live in? Why wouldn't you do it up to make it nice to live in?
Selling for a profit comes second in my view.

liberty_lily

knightstyle wrote: »

Surely people buy a house to live in? Why wouldn't you do it up to make it nice to live in?
Selling for a profit comes second in my view.

Thank you. We did buy a house to live in. We're not looking to make a profit. We had every intention of making this our long term home and had already started - bought good quality kitchen units, sink etc but not fitted yet - when we both came to the conclusion this house wasn't the one! If we don't intend to live in it why waste the money?

Having lost money on property before, we don't want to be in that position again. If we finish the house and sell it straight away (as we would want to do) the only ones benefitting from our hard work and expense will be our buyers. We would rather just sell now before any more money goes down the drain!

moneyistooshorttomention

Is there a 4th option perhaps?

That being to wait, say, a year after this family crisis was over and then see how you feel about it. Just in case you aren't quite seeing things in the same way you did before the crisis - and maybe the same way you will see things again in a year or two's time.

Alice_Walker

Why not stick it on the market for the price you paid and see what happens? Then you're not losing anything, just consider any mortgage payments etc in the meantime to be rent.

Reading back, is the house now in a worse state than when you bought it? If so the price will need to reflect that.

glasgowdan

Buying an old individual 800k house is always a financial gamble unless it's in a super desirable area. The best thing is probably to stay and enjoy the family home you've bought. Not everyone is in love with their house.

divadee

I personally would say give it at least a year after a traumatic life changing family event. You could put it on the market and see in the meantime but still live in your home and do the work bit by bit. It takes a long time for emotions and feelings to heal after horrible times.

iantojones40

The notion that houses in any particular area "take ages to sell" is complete and utter nonsense.

Regardless of the house or area, if it's priced sensibly and realistically it will sell in a perfectly reasonable time frame.

Bossypants

knightstyle wrote: »

Surely people buy a house to live in? Why wouldn't you do it up to make it nice to live in?
Selling for a profit comes second in my view.

It must be nice to have such financial freedom as to not have to worry about achieving the best price to put towards your new home.

Besides which, 'nice to live in' can mean very different things for different people. What's the point in spending money when your potential buyers might like the house but hate what you've done with it, and not want to cover your costs because they're budgeting to rip it all out again?

I agree with others, stick it on as-is for the price you want and see what happens before making any big decisions.