Selling A Retirement Flat

jturt83

clearancer said:

“I’m ok to taking a hit, but I’m not even getting any viewings or offers aside from a few at the start of the year”  -  you had an offer and declined? 

No offers, just viewings. What I meant was I had a few viewings at that start of the year but that was it 

jturt83

Slinky said:

The town I live in is quite a hot property sales area. The ones that stick around are just these sorts of properties. There's a block that front onto a fairly busy road. I did a search by oldest listed last week. There's one in that block that's been up for sale for nearly 5 years that has finally sold. A couple more from 2020 have also gone.

If it becomes vacant, price it to sell and get it shifted.

Yeah I know they are notoriously difficult to sell, I will likely drop the price again but I want to see how the market changes since covid restrictions have eased etc 

jturt83

user1977 said:

jturt83 said:

Slithery said:

Modern auctions are always a terrible idea. The only people that they benefit are the agents as they get to claim their fees over and over again without ever actually having to sell the property.

Also having a tenanted property won't really save you any money as you'll have to get rid of the tenant before anyone will be willing to buy the place unless you want to take a big hit on the price.

Your best option would have been just to keep it on the open market and reduced the price until it sold in the normal fashion.

the tenant is on a 6 month contract, so I’m not sure what you mean by get rid of the tenant?

It's far from straightforward to get a tenant to leave if they don't want to.

But surely with a managing agent for the building and an estate agent overseeing this and also given the clientele these properties attract (added to the responsibility the managing agent has with the interview) I can’t see it being that difficult. Besides I’m looking for advice and peoples own experiences with retirement properties here not negativity 

jturt83

lisyloo said:

Are you using a traditional agent or online?
a traditional agent may be better for an older age group plus they may already have some buyers on a list.

I sold a similar one quickly pre pandemic without issue.
are there any new shiny ones near you e.g. McCarthy & stone.

what feedback has your agent given you?

Traditional agent, I wouldn’t touch the online agents based on the fact the fees were up front and my concern was it may not sell which I was correct with 

the agents feedback has been there’s no issues with location or price or the property itself, it’s just the market and the sheer number of other properties on the market. If I had many viewings and nothing much after that I would indeed then start to question the property itself 

jturt83

babyblade41 said:

We are in rural SE & the small village I live in has an older demographic & yet the next village along has had some gorgeous new build retirement homes but they can't sell them either but these are new builds .

You won't be able to sell with tenant in situ & now probably won't be able to for some time as removing them could be very problematic & not straight forward.

Your only hope is to reduce the price considerably until you do get a buyer , use a local estate agent who knows the properties & local area .

Obviously fees are going to be a problem so it has to be a price that will make the fees feel acceptable 

I’m really unsure why there is so much negativity towards getting in a tenant. The fees on top of my own bills were crippling me financially and I really don’t see this tenant being an issue. If of course I’m wrong I will come back in 6 months and admit so 

jturt83

lincroft1710 said:

jturt83 said:

Slithery said:

Modern auctions are always a terrible idea. The only people that they benefit are the agents as they get to claim their fees over and over again without ever actually having to sell the property.

Also having a tenanted property won't really save you any money as you'll have to get rid of the tenant before anyone will be willing to buy the place unless you want to take a big hit on the price.

Your best option would have been just to keep it on the open market and reduced the price until it sold in the normal fashion.

Well the tenant is on a 6 month contract, so I’m not sure what you mean by get rid of the tenant? And it will save me £1067 on the council tax aside from the fact after service charge is paid will earn me £400 and something each month. So it’s definitely some relief to not be paying that out temporarily 

The property is still on the open market, just being marketed in the background 

You do realise that if the tenant decides they don't want to leave the property at the end of the tenancy, you will need a court order to evict them and that could take many months. 

I’m well aware thank you yes, if we all thought this way though nobody would ever rent out a property 

jturt83

Scotbot said:

The buyer pays through the nose at modern auction the minimum fee is around 6k and they lose that if for any reason they can't complete on time. This is highly likely as they are leasehold which often take longer. The buyers at traditional auction are cash buyers and savvy enough to avoid modern auctions. Most are probably under the age limit as well. I am not at all surprised no one bid

Yes I was quite surprised too at how much the buyer Lays out, which is why I gave it a go as I didn’t lay out anything and had nothing to lose. The auction was marketed though with the age limit shown 

jturt83

NameUnavailable said:

Has your tenant said that they only intend staying for 6 months? Have you told them you're trying to sell the place?

Most tenancies are for 6 or 12 months and then go onto a rolling monthly contract, which can carry on for as long as the parties want. I'm assuming you discussed all this before agreeing the tenancy though.

All property will sell at the 'right' price. It just might be that the 'right' price for your flat is quite a bit less than what the EA's think. The other option is a traditional auction but cash buyers want bargains.

With a growing older population it's strange that retirement flats are so difficult to sell.

They haven’t outlined if they intend on staying longer than 6 months but they are fully aware that they have to extend at 6 months at a time. I have informed the agent my intention is to sell and that is my preference and that the property will be staying on for sale in the background 

yes I’m surprised also but upon research I didn’t know just how difficult they would be to sell 

user1977

jturt83 said:

lincroft1710 said:

jturt83 said:

Slithery said:

Modern auctions are always a terrible idea. The only people that they benefit are the agents as they get to claim their fees over and over again without ever actually having to sell the property.

Also having a tenanted property won't really save you any money as you'll have to get rid of the tenant before anyone will be willing to buy the place unless you want to take a big hit on the price.

Your best option would have been just to keep it on the open market and reduced the price until it sold in the normal fashion.

Well the tenant is on a 6 month contract, so I’m not sure what you mean by get rid of the tenant? And it will save me £1067 on the council tax aside from the fact after service charge is paid will earn me £400 and something each month. So it’s definitely some relief to not be paying that out temporarily 

The property is still on the open market, just being marketed in the background 

You do realise that if the tenant decides they don't want to leave the property at the end of the tenancy, you will need a court order to evict them and that could take many months. 

I’m well aware thank you yes, if we all thought this way though nobody would ever rent out a property 

It's different though when you're anticipating having to get vacant possession in the short term - if you do get an interested buyer, they're unlikely to progress matters until the tenant has actually left - and the delay itself may put them off.

GDB2222

jturt83 said:

user1977 said:

Are any similar properties in the area actually selling? If so, at what price? 

Quite a few on the market yes, and in the same building for a similar timeline to mine there has been around 5 or 6. And they range from £90-120k but they too were struggling to sell. There’s a few with home wise at a very low price but I don’t know much about what home wise do. 

But in terms of selling I would need to look but I don’t think many if any have sold since but I shall double check 

I'm lost! You're trying to sell at £135k. There are several others struggling to sell at £90-120k, and you are wondering why there's no interest in yours? I understand that you have had 3 estate agent valuations. Yes, there are newish carpets, kitchen and bathroom.

But, you are £45k more expensive than the cheapest one. That's 50%. And, the cheapest one is struggling to sell. It's not as if it has been snapped up.