need to sell quickly

rushnowt

Hiya

Since we moved to our new home, we have been renting out our old home, the contract has now ended and we need to sell quickly.

My problem is the previous tenants have left it in a bit of a mess, no real serious damage, but a little neglect, the painting and tidying up etc is no problem, however there are a few minor things that need repairing, that I neither have time or money to do. I realise if they were done I could get more on the market for it, but selling quickly is really essential at the moment. Paying for two homes is really putting a strain on me

I don't know what to do

do I, do what I can, put it on the market and hope for the best price?

Borrow money to get someone in to do the jobs, and hopefully get the best price?

Ask one of these property companies that are looking to purchase quickly for cash, to give me their best offer ?

Thanks in advance x

kamaran

The market is flooded with properties, although theres still a healthy interest for the 'good' properties out there.

By this I mean excellent condition and price. It really is a buyers market unfortunately so I suggest you do what you can (painting, decorating etc) then either put it on at a very low price (undercut local others by 10%) or get all the work done and put it on the market at 5% under others.

Make sure you give it to multiple agents to maximise your exposure.

Good luck!

meanmachine_2

I think the OP has misunderstood the nature of renting, and should have factored general repairs into their yield. I suspect this wasn't done. These tenants didn't "neglect" the property. It's not their job to maintain it. Simple as.

But in answer to your question, as a potential buyer I can smell a let property a mile off and would offer less on one that had been used for that purpose. Call me snobbish, but it's true.

rushnowt

meanmachine wrote:

I think the OP has misunderstood the nature of renting, and should have factored general repairs into their yield. I suspect this wasn't done. These tenants didn't "neglect" the property. It's not their job to maintain it. Simple as.

But in answer to your question, as a potential buyer I can smell a let property a mile off and would offer less on one that had been used for that purpose. Call me snobbish, but it's true.

I was trying to be polite when I said they had neglected it, the repairs that need to be done are not, general house repairs, but more of purposely damaged in their speed of departure. The house itself is perfectly sound, however the superficial improvements that could do with being done, are the ones that are causing me the problems. I could go into more details, but i'm not here to have a vent, whats done is done, all i am asking is what people feel would be best to do under the circumstances.

As I said in my OP i need to sell quickly, I'm also prepared to take less than the market value of similar properties (I would expect to do nothing less)

frugal_dougal_3

kamaran wrote:

By this I mean excellent condition and price. It really is a buyers market unfortunately so I suggest you do what you can (painting, decorating etc) then either put it on at a very low price (undercut local others by 10%) or get all the work done and put it on the market at 5% under others.

Make sure you give it to multiple agents to maximise your exposure.

Price it for a quick sale AND pay multiple agency fees ? Not unless you are really, really desparate. The estate agents will charge at least 3% commission on multi agency.

Rushnowt you don't say what the damage is. Is any of it covered by insurance ?

I agree that you should do as much as you can to make it look attractive, then go with one agent who appears to be selling a lot of houses at the moment and see what happens.

kamaran

frugal_dougal wrote:

Price it for a quick sale AND pay multiple agency fees ? Not unless you are really, really desparate. The estate agents will charge at least 3% commission on multi agency.

Rushnowt you don't say what the damage is. Is any of it covered by insurance ?

I agree that you should do as much as you can to make it look attractive, then go with one agent who appears to be selling a lot of houses at the moment and see what happens.

No way - you forget we are the moneysaving experts!

Get the agents to compete with each other. I have used multiple agents with some charging me 1%, whilst the max being 2.25%. Just go with the cheaper ones if you want. At the end of the day if you have a sizeable mortgage to pay, an extra 1% shouldnt matter if your getting a quick sale.

It all depends on your situation

frugal_dougal_3

kamaran wrote:

No way - you forget we are the moneysaving experts!

I have forgotten anything!!!! I usually sell houses without using agents at all.

I prefer the bucks in my pocket.

rushnowt

frugal_dougal wrote:

Price it for a quick sale AND pay multiple agency fees ? Not unless you are really, really desparate. The estate agents will charge at least 3% commission on multi agency.

Rushnowt you don't say what the damage is. Is any of it covered by insurance ?

I agree that you should do as much as you can to make it look attractive, then go with one agent who appears to be selling a lot of houses at the moment and see what happens.

Thanks for your advice

Some of the damage will probably be covered by the insurance, but to be honest, the waiting time, excess and loss of no claims makes it hardly worth claiming.

there's a peice of boarding at the top of the stairs that has been smashed through, could have happened while they were removing furniture :rolleyes: they appear to have had a dog in the conservatory which has scratched all the back door to the kitchen and walls, not deep but noticable, and chew marks around the wooden sills. They've removed one of the kitchen cupboards, which i can only assume was to fit another applicance in there's a hole in the kitchen ceiling which needs to be repaired and re-plastered, (god knows what happened there) bits like that really, I know they're not big jobs, but money is really tight at the moment, and I just don't have any available to cover the costs

surfcat

So withhold a chunk of their deposit? I can't imagine the total of what you've described costing more than £500 at the absolute maximum!

rushnowt

surfcat wrote:

So withhold a chunk of their deposit? I can't imagine the total of what you've described costing more than £500 at the absolute maximum!

Yep, i've done that, however that hardly covers the cost of replacing the damaged/filthy carpets they've left us with and repainting/papering the rooms. I've instrusted a solicitor to try to retrieve some of the costs incurred, but i have no illusions of ever getting anything.

Plus its not just the money, it's the time, We just don't have it, hubby and I have our own business, and we just cant leave to visit the other property to do the repairs, it would be a case of having to get someone in to do them.

Obviously has the business is just up and running we have a lot of costs to cover with that. and with two mortgages, council tax and bills coming in, its not much fun

meanmachine_2

rushnowt wrote:

Yep, i've done that, however that hardly covers the cost of replacing the damaged/filthy carpets they've left us with and repainting/papering the rooms. I've instrusted a solicitor to try to retrieve some of the costs incurred, but i have no illusions of ever getting anything.

Sorry but this sounds like general wear and tear to me. And that would no doubt be the defence of your tenants.

Of course, you could be sneaky and try to temporarily conceal any damage. Or would this come up in a surveyor's report?

Can the carpets be steam cleaned? Could you put rugs down? Carefully placed pot plants etc?