Can't sell house at auction - alternatives to repossesion?

quantumlobster

Firstly, you're stretching things a bit with "semi-detached". This is an end terrace.

Any house that fronts straight onto a busy road will have limited appeal. There's a drive, though, so that's good. A 4 bed house implies a multi-car household; can you park, say, 2 cars?

Nice big enclosed garden - yay!

Entirely slabbed or decked - boo!

The downstairs layout is odd. Why would you not have a dining room with a direct door to the kitchen? Or even make it a big kitchen/diner, especially as you have a big living room. I know this is horse/stable door stuff, but it's what I'd think as a buyer.

Kerb appeal is limited. The rendering/painted brickwork doesn't look very good on streetview, and it's a significant maintenance item. Having had a painted/rendered house in the past, I'd never do it again.

Misc stuff: lots of strong and dark colours throughout means that most people moving in will need to redecorate immediately, unless their tastes are very closely aligned with yours. Perhaps get a decorator in to magnolia it where possible? Those walls in the dining room scream "replastering required". And it's so very, very brown.

Lovely kitschen - I hate it. It'd have to go. Again, very specific. And is that nice big range cooker dark green? Again, it'd be something people would want to change (unless they like dark green).

To summarise: it's a large terraced house, on a busy street, decorated to a very specific taste, with an un-garden, having limited parking, in a town where the market can be generously described as moving at the velocity of molasses.

If you need to shift it quickly, you'll probably have to drop the price sharply.

getmore4less

A 4 bed semi for £100k in some areas that would be a bargain who knows for where it is.

17 - 19 High Street, Byers Green, Spennymoor, Durham DL16 7PQ

streetview

This property is for sale by the Modern Method of Auction which is not to be confused with Traditional auction.

OK if cheap enough but will put people off


anyway what's the market like looking 3 miles out

price....3b......4b+
0-050 06/04
0-090 55/15 01/02
0-100 60/17 02/02
0-110 62/19 02/02
0-150 94/39 15/04
0-200 114/46 48/10

this is the main competition that people are viewing and buying.

these are the 3 x 4 beds cheaper

£62,500 SSTC
£80,000 SSTC
£60,000

here are the 4 3beds around £100k SSTC

£110k
£105k
£99k
£95k

even with high stock to SSTC there are plenty of buyers for the 3beds wonder why they are not looking at yours?

AdrianC

"Modern method of auction". Bleargh.

No, put it in a proper auction.

Agreed that there's some decor of... how best to put it... limited appeal - but I quite like the kitchen. The brown room, though. My life. And the wallpaper in the New York bedroom...

But that's just decor. At the very worst, a quick skim of the brown room. A few hundred quid. That's not stopping it selling.

So comparables:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69855106.html - £103k 50% shared ownership new-build.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-81865853.html - £120k EoT. No floorplan, but looks smaller. Decor even more questionable. Garden just a sea of neglected concrete.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-59734185.html - £125k mid-terrace. No floorplan, three floors. Decor old-person. No garden, but a cellar.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-79701542.html - £130k modern mid-terrace. Three floors. Small garden.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70654282.html - £130k no-chain detached. Decor a bit tired. Small paved yard. 50m2 smaller than yours.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-68028028.html
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-61032009.html
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-68011822.html
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-61338768.html - £130-143k to take your pick of four identikit modern three-floor terraces with handkerchief grass, 70m2 smaller. What's with the crime-scene tape all over one front door...?
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-67331521.html - £140-150 guide three-floor? EoT. Chintztastic. No floorplan.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70861354.html - £140-160 guide faux-suburbia semi. Are EAs round you allergic to floorplans? Looks tiny and crowded.

Frankly, yours stands up very well to all of those.

Wouldn't surprise me if the "modern auction" guff was what was causing you the problems right now.

Oh, wait, hold on! I've actually found one <£170k (just!) that I prefer to yours...
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70389056.html
...but I can see how it might be of limited appeal...

AnotherJoe

I would never ever in a month of Sundays even look at a house that was up for sale by the rip off "modern method" of auction. And I believe I am not in a minority by any means. So no doubt many potential buyers aren't even considering yours even if they think it suits them.
If the house is repossessed the lender will just use a normal auction, so why don't you at least you can start with a reserve which they probably will not.

LandyAndy

AnotherJoe wrote: »

I would never ever in a month of Sundays even look at a house that was up for sale by the rip off "modern method" of auction. And I believe I am not in a minority by any means. So no doubt many potential buyers aren't even considering yours even if they think it suits them.
If the house is repossessed the lender will just use a normal auction, so why don't you at least you can start with a reserve which they probably will not.

Absolutely this^^^.

getmore4less

quantumlobster wrote: »

.........
To summarise: it's a large terraced house, on a busy street, decorated to a very specific taste, with an un-garden, having limited parking, in a town where the market can be generously described as moving at the velocity of molasses.

If you need to shift it quickly, you'll probably have to drop the price sharply.

The village is in the back end of nowhere and part dead end due to the river, one road through and it is a detour unless you need to come into the village.

When street view was done there were no moving cars on the full length of the high street from Hagg lane

The other road weir view out of the village had 3 cars right out to long lane one of those was following the google car 2 going the other way..

Not sure what it is attached to there is a metal roller shutter on the front entrance down the side and a notice board.

That would need more research.

D_M_E

You did not have it up for auction - you let the agent scam you and seriously put off any potential buyers.

Try a proper auction, one where the auction house sells not the agent.

You might also have to pay the agent fees for using the modern method scam as well as the auction house fees, so mcheck your scam contract carefully and also get in writing if the agent has told you to go away that you will not be charged any fees for their "efforts"

davidmcn

AnotherJoe wrote: »

If the house is repossessed the lender will just use a normal auction, so why don't you at least you can start with a reserve which they probably will not.

Indeed, the lender isn't going to be in any better position to sell the property than the OP, so letting them repossess it isn't really a solution.

Cakeguts

That modern auction thing would put me off. Put it into a real auction where the publicity is seen by people all over the country.

silvercar

The decor is too unique for a property of that size.

I would imagine that your most likely buyer would be either a first time buyer or someone on stage 2. Both are likely (I know I'm generalising) to be stretching themselves to buy your property. I would think it needs to be in a state where people could imagine living in it as it is until they can save up to personalise to their taste.

I could never imagine living in that property as it is, even for a very short time.

One of the few properties, where a coat of magnolia all round would be a vast improvement.