Unable to sell house

BobT36

Bailey1980 said:

cymruchris said:

Even with all that you've been through - you don't want to be spending ££££ just to sell it. 

- When does the new estate agent take it on? 

- Will they be taking new pictures and creating a more realistic listing?

- Have there been any new viewings since the time you listed the thread?

I know you have a limit in terms of what you can do - but I do still think it's down to price.

I've been on the phone to various estate agents all afternoon today enquiring about properties across Manchester. 'That one's sold sorry' - 'That one's had an offer accepted this afternoon' - 'That one's sold too' - property is definitely still moving there's no doubt. Out of my shortlist of over 20 properties for vieiwing, I am down to 3 by the end of the afternoon - and they are probably my least favourite 3 - and I haven't even left the house yet.

We are going to do a few tweaks before the new Estate Agent takes over (bathroom mirror, bathroom tap, hallway radiator, new double glazed window) but it is likely to be in the next 2 weeks or so as these tweaks are being done next week. 

The new estate agent has confirmed that £175K-£179K is in keeping with the market and the state of the house and those tweaks mentioned above would push it closer to the £179K mark; they are also going to market it for rent at the same time so we can see what bites and potentially rent it out to cover the mortgage and over bills on it, though sale is still our preferred priority. 

They will take new pictures and do a new listing. 

3 viewings since the thread but no offers and no feedback. 

Hmm. Sounds like they're just flailing tbh, and trying to blame the property. Yours didn't look like a wreck...

Fix what's broken, don't bother with "improvements", other than a hoover and wipe down. 
IF carpets are super old and ratty, replace with cheap ones (buyers may have personal preferences so not worth spending more), otherwise don't bother. 

Same with bathroom mirror, if it's smashed, replace or remove, otherwise don't bother, buyers may want to put a different one there. 

Definitely fix the window and radiator, as those are buildings things.

For the rest? Just drop the price. You keep mentioning the "original" price they marketed it for. However remember 1. Estate agents are just pulling that out of their *rse anyway, and 2. Wasn't that "original price" before all the mortgage rises? Think now due to the higher percentages, just what more a typical buyer with a typical deposit would have to pay. That's probably the difference that's tipping it over. 
If I was looking at yours and noted that it needs some new carpets or decorating or new internal doors (as long as they're not destroyed), I'd just be calculating the cost of that, and comparing yours to similar properties that don't need that stuff doing. As long as yours is then priced proportionately less, than it's all good. I'd RATHER have it done myself because then I can choose the ones 'I' want. Same with the bathroom, I'd probably want to design it myself, so would rather your price just take that into account, rather than you wasting the time and money re-doing it. 
It would feel a bit irritating to have to rip out a brand new bathroom to go and customise it, whereas if it's already an older one that's getting "ready" for it, it wouldn't matter (as long as it's liveable / usable in the short-term). 

housebuyer143

If you put it up for rent you will rent it, just because of the way the housing market is and then you will have to stop selling it. Are you sure that's what you want? 
It might seem easy now but rental isn't for the faint of heart and you could end up remarketing your property for less next time around because the tenants haven't treated it well. Also the costs involved with getting it ready to rent are not insignificant, as is the extra work involved. 

Bailey1980

BobT36 said:

Bailey1980 said:

cymruchris said:

Even with all that you've been through - you don't want to be spending ££££ just to sell it. 

- When does the new estate agent take it on? 

- Will they be taking new pictures and creating a more realistic listing?

- Have there been any new viewings since the time you listed the thread?

I know you have a limit in terms of what you can do - but I do still think it's down to price.

I've been on the phone to various estate agents all afternoon today enquiring about properties across Manchester. 'That one's sold sorry' - 'That one's had an offer accepted this afternoon' - 'That one's sold too' - property is definitely still moving there's no doubt. Out of my shortlist of over 20 properties for vieiwing, I am down to 3 by the end of the afternoon - and they are probably my least favourite 3 - and I haven't even left the house yet.

We are going to do a few tweaks before the new Estate Agent takes over (bathroom mirror, bathroom tap, hallway radiator, new double glazed window) but it is likely to be in the next 2 weeks or so as these tweaks are being done next week. 

The new estate agent has confirmed that £175K-£179K is in keeping with the market and the state of the house and those tweaks mentioned above would push it closer to the £179K mark; they are also going to market it for rent at the same time so we can see what bites and potentially rent it out to cover the mortgage and over bills on it, though sale is still our preferred priority. 

They will take new pictures and do a new listing. 

3 viewings since the thread but no offers and no feedback. 

Hmm. Sounds like they're just flailing tbh, and trying to blame the property. Yours didn't look like a wreck...

Fix what's broken, don't bother with "improvements", other than a hoover and wipe down. 
IF carpets are super old and ratty, replace with cheap ones (buyers may have personal preferences so not worth spending more), otherwise don't bother. 

Same with bathroom mirror, if it's smashed, replace or remove, otherwise don't bother, buyers may want to put a different one there. 

Definitely fix the window and radiator, as those are buildings things.

For the rest? Just drop the price. You keep mentioning the "original" price they marketed it for. However remember 1. Estate agents are just pulling that out of their *rse anyway, and 2. Wasn't that "original price" before all the mortgage rises? Think now due to the higher percentages, just what more a typical buyer with a typical deposit would have to pay. That's probably the difference that's tipping it over. 
If I was looking at yours and noted that it needs some new carpets or decorating or new internal doors (as long as they're not destroyed), I'd just be calculating the cost of that, and comparing yours to similar properties that don't need that stuff doing. As long as yours is then priced proportionately less, than it's all good. I'd RATHER have it done myself because then I can choose the ones 'I' want. Same with the bathroom, I'd probably want to design it myself, so would rather your price just take that into account, rather than you wasting the time and money re-doing it. 
It would feel a bit irritating to have to rip out a brand new bathroom to go and customise it, whereas if it's already an older one that's getting "ready" for it, it wouldn't matter (as long as it's liveable / usable in the short-term). 

The original valuation of £195K and the marketing at offers in excess of £180k was before mortgages went crazy so we do accept that a lower figure is needed. 

We have had a couple of different estate agents out, in the last 2-3 weeks for additional opinions and valuations all of whom have said £175k-£179k. 

Current estate agent however has said they won't drop the price to £175K unless we do all the work that they have told us to do, including new bathroom etc. I have tried to make the point to them that some of these things won't be to buyer's taste which for the last however many months has been the feedback but they refuse to accept this and keep telling us to do all this work if we want them to market it for £175K. 

There are two houses that have gone on the market in parallel streets in the last week - one at £200K and one at £187,500 so I think £175K is reasonable. 

housebuyer143 said:

If you put it up for rent you will rent it, just because of the way the housing market is and then you will have to stop selling it. Are you sure that's what you want? 
It might seem easy now but rental isn't for the faint of heart and you could end up remarketing your property for less next time around because the tenants haven't treated it well. Also the costs involved with getting it ready to rent are not insignificant, as is the extra work involved. 

If we do rent, we are going with a fully managed service and all of the upfront costs are taken from the first month's rent. 

The estate agent who'd be marketing it for rent, would also be marketing it for sale at the same time as the two departments work together (it's an estate agent with about 4 or 5 branches in the locality) and they have a wealth of experience in this approach.  They have a very intense and thorough vetting process of tenants, including, allowing us to meet the shortlisters before agreeing to rent it to them. 

We would prefer to sell, however, it's not shifting and we can't continue to pay out for a mortgage and bills on a house that we aren't living in, so in the short term renting it out seems to be the only option unless someone decides to buy it. 

 It might be that the market improves at a later date / end of a tenancy. 

So the current plan is: 
1. Do the tweaks; 
2. Instruct new estate agent who will market it for sale and rent. 
3. Pray! 

housebuyer143

Bailey1980 said:

BobT36 said:

Bailey1980 said:

cymruchris said:

Even with all that you've been through - you don't want to be spending ££££ just to sell it. 

- When does the new estate agent take it on? 

- Will they be taking new pictures and creating a more realistic listing?

- Have there been any new viewings since the time you listed the thread?

I know you have a limit in terms of what you can do - but I do still think it's down to price.

I've been on the phone to various estate agents all afternoon today enquiring about properties across Manchester. 'That one's sold sorry' - 'That one's had an offer accepted this afternoon' - 'That one's sold too' - property is definitely still moving there's no doubt. Out of my shortlist of over 20 properties for vieiwing, I am down to 3 by the end of the afternoon - and they are probably my least favourite 3 - and I haven't even left the house yet.

We are going to do a few tweaks before the new Estate Agent takes over (bathroom mirror, bathroom tap, hallway radiator, new double glazed window) but it is likely to be in the next 2 weeks or so as these tweaks are being done next week. 

The new estate agent has confirmed that £175K-£179K is in keeping with the market and the state of the house and those tweaks mentioned above would push it closer to the £179K mark; they are also going to market it for rent at the same time so we can see what bites and potentially rent it out to cover the mortgage and over bills on it, though sale is still our preferred priority. 

They will take new pictures and do a new listing. 

3 viewings since the thread but no offers and no feedback. 

Hmm. Sounds like they're just flailing tbh, and trying to blame the property. Yours didn't look like a wreck...

Fix what's broken, don't bother with "improvements", other than a hoover and wipe down. 
IF carpets are super old and ratty, replace with cheap ones (buyers may have personal preferences so not worth spending more), otherwise don't bother. 

Same with bathroom mirror, if it's smashed, replace or remove, otherwise don't bother, buyers may want to put a different one there. 

Definitely fix the window and radiator, as those are buildings things.

For the rest? Just drop the price. You keep mentioning the "original" price they marketed it for. However remember 1. Estate agents are just pulling that out of their *rse anyway, and 2. Wasn't that "original price" before all the mortgage rises? Think now due to the higher percentages, just what more a typical buyer with a typical deposit would have to pay. That's probably the difference that's tipping it over. 
If I was looking at yours and noted that it needs some new carpets or decorating or new internal doors (as long as they're not destroyed), I'd just be calculating the cost of that, and comparing yours to similar properties that don't need that stuff doing. As long as yours is then priced proportionately less, than it's all good. I'd RATHER have it done myself because then I can choose the ones 'I' want. Same with the bathroom, I'd probably want to design it myself, so would rather your price just take that into account, rather than you wasting the time and money re-doing it. 
It would feel a bit irritating to have to rip out a brand new bathroom to go and customise it, whereas if it's already an older one that's getting "ready" for it, it wouldn't matter (as long as it's liveable / usable in the short-term). 

The original valuation of £195K and the marketing at offers in excess of £180k was before mortgages went crazy so we do accept that a lower figure is needed. 

We have had a couple of different estate agents out, in the last 2-3 weeks for additional opinions and valuations all of whom have said £175k-£179k. 

Current estate agent however has said they won't drop the price to £175K unless we do all the work that they have told us to do, including new bathroom etc. I have tried to make the point to them that some of these things won't be to buyer's taste which for the last however many months has been the feedback but they refuse to accept this and keep telling us to do all this work if we want them to market it for £175K. 

There are two houses that have gone on the market in parallel streets in the last week - one at £200K and one at £187,500 so I think £175K is reasonable. 

housebuyer143 said:

If you put it up for rent you will rent it, just because of the way the housing market is and then you will have to stop selling it. Are you sure that's what you want? 
It might seem easy now but rental isn't for the faint of heart and you could end up remarketing your property for less next time around because the tenants haven't treated it well. Also the costs involved with getting it ready to rent are not insignificant, as is the extra work involved. 

If we do rent, we are going with a fully managed service and all of the upfront costs are taken from the first month's rent. 

The estate agent who'd be marketing it for rent, would also be marketing it for sale at the same time as the two departments work together (it's an estate agent with about 4 or 5 branches in the locality) and they have a wealth of experience in this approach.  They have a very intense and thorough vetting process of tenants, including, allowing us to meet the shortlisters before agreeing to rent it to them. 

We would prefer to sell, however, it's not shifting and we can't continue to pay out for a mortgage and bills on a house that we aren't living in, so in the short term renting it out seems to be the only option unless someone decides to buy it. 

 It might be that the market improves at a later date / end of a tenancy. 

So the current plan is: 
1. Do the tweaks; 
2. Instruct new estate agent who will market it for sale and rent. 
3. Pray! 

I used to work at an estate agent/letting agent for years and while you can rent and sell them together it does make it harder. You rent it and then you have tenants for a minimum of 6 months so in that initial 6 months you limit your pool of buyers because they don't want to wait 6 months for the tenants to leave. What if your tenants decide they don't want to allow viewings? They are within their right to refuse and then your sale plans are completely scuppered. You also changed the type of tenant you end up with because no long term tenant is renting a house that they might only be in for 6 months. Then say you get a buyer and issue notice but your tenants refuse to leave and you then lose the sale but also have court costs for eviction.

Lots of people think a fully managed service means they don't have any hassle, when in reality the management doesn't cover significant damage, arrears, court fees, maintenance costs, landlord insurances etc. In my time at the letting agent the people who got stung the worst by things like this were the people who went into renting it because they had no choice and they didn't do enough research. Just be careful is what I'm saying - I have seen it all and I had my own rental for many years and it isn't always smooth sailing, it can be horribly stressful. 

Obviously if you want to do it, do it but the agent isn't going to give you worst case so do your research well before embarking on it. 

EssexHebridean

I will just point out that it’s not up to the Agent what price you set. If your current agent is refusing to market it at a price that you would be content to sell it at, then I would be writing to them telling them that as you consider them to be breaching the agreement that you have with them, you will be changing agents with immediate effect. I’m absolutely certain that there will be nothing in your contract with them that says they call the shots on the price! They’ll change their minds pretty fast, but regardless, from everything you’ve said about them, they sound pretty rubbish TBH. 

Look for a new agent who has been around for a good few years - ie before the point where all you had to do as an agent to sell somewhere was to stick it on Rightmove. Someone who will actively market your property to the demographic who it’s likely to suit. There are plenty out there who do actually know how to market - and in the way the market is now, that’s important. 

Bailey1980

housebuyer143 said:

I used to work at an estate agent/letting agent for years and while you can rent and sell them together it does make it harder. You rent it and then you have tenants for a minimum of 6 months so in that initial 6 months you limit your pool of buyers because they don't want to wait 6 months for the tenants to leave. What if your tenants decide they don't want to allow viewings? They are within their right to refuse and then your sale plans are completely scuppered. You also changed the type of tenant you end up with because no long term tenant is renting a house that they might only be in for 6 months. Then say you get a buyer and issue notice but your tenants refuse to leave and you then lose the sale but also have court costs for eviction.

Lots of people think a fully managed service means they don't have any hassle, when in reality the management doesn't cover significant damage, arrears, court fees, maintenance costs, landlord insurances etc. In my time at the letting agent the people who got stung the worst by things like this were the people who went into renting it because they had no choice and they didn't do enough research. Just be careful is what I'm saying - I have seen it all and I had my own rental for many years and it isn't always smooth sailing, it can be horribly stressful. 

Obviously if you want to do it, do it but the agent isn't going to give you worst case so do your research well before embarking on it. 

Really appreciate the advice and our preference is to sell as we know renting even with a fully managed service is not hassle free but we are running out of options, time and money. We need to do something to cover the bills/mortgage on a house we aren't living in/can't make use of. 

I thought about property guardianship but something doesn't sit right with me about that. 

I'm sorry I don't think I was clear with what I meant about marketing it for rent/sale. 

The plan is to market it for rent and sale at the same time and see what bites - if we get more rental enquiries / people who want to proceed with renting and references etc are all good and a tenancy agreement is put in place, then at that point we would take it off the sale market, and maybe in a year or two when the tenancy agreement(s) are at an end put it back up for sale. 


Our agreement says we have to give 14 days written notice to terminate it so I've done that this morning (was waiting on confirmation of when we could get people in to do the tweaks as I'm useless at any DIY and they can do it to a much higher standard) 

EssexHebridean said:

I will just point out that it’s not up to the Agent what price you set. If your current agent is refusing to market it at a price that you would be content to sell it at, then I would be writing to them telling them that as you consider them to be breaching the agreement that you have with them, you will be changing agents with immediate effect. I’m absolutely certain that there will be nothing in your contract with them that says they call the shots on the price! They’ll change their minds pretty fast, but regardless, from everything you’ve said about them, they sound pretty rubbish TBH. 

Look for a new agent who has been around for a good few years - ie before the point where all you had to do as an agent to sell somewhere was to stick it on Rightmove. Someone who will actively market your property to the demographic who it’s likely to suit. There are plenty out there who do actually know how to market - and in the way the market is now, that’s important. 

We thought we had gone with a good and experienced agent - they'd sold two houses on pararrell streets to us for £185K and £195K respectively within weeks of them going on the market so we thought they did know what they were doing and they were familiar with the area. 

The one we are switiching to, however, does seem better but I'm doing as much digging as I can to make sure that this time round it is the right choice and we aren't going to be in the same situation in 6 months time. Also the fact they can market it for rent at the same time for sale, to some extent gives us a to some extent an alternative way of covering the bills/mortgage at least in the short term. 

BobT36

Bailey1980 said:

The original valuation of £195K and the marketing at offers in excess of £180k was before mortgages went crazy so we do accept that a lower figure is needed. 

We have had a couple of different estate agents out, in the last 2-3 weeks for additional opinions and valuations all of whom have said £175k-£179k. 

Current estate agent however has said they won't drop the price to £175K unless we do all the work that they have told us to do, including new bathroom etc. I have tried to make the point to them that some of these things won't be to buyer's taste which for the last however many months has been the feedback but they refuse to accept this and keep telling us to do all this work if we want them to market it for £175K. 

There are two houses that have gone on the market in parallel streets in the last week - one at £200K and one at £187,500 so I think £175K is reasonable. 

Definitely the price is the issue then.. Do the maths yourselves. Bang the figures in a mortgage calculator both before and after, and see just how much more it costs now for that same house. Also bear in mind with inflation, cost of "fixing" things is much more for the prospective buyer, so they'll be factoring that in, too. Spread that out over x years and you should get an idea of how much yours has to come down to be equivalent. 

Are your estate agents "all there?". Why are they wanting you to do the work to DROP the price??? Surely it's if you want to RAISE the price or keep it the same that you should be doing all that other stuff? The whole point of dropping it is that prospective buyers can overlook (some of) those problems, as they're getting it cheaper.. 

As to those houses on other streets, how do they objectively measure up to yours, though? Just because they're x bedrooms doesn't matter, you have to judge the state of them, features, land and all the rest. Also just because they're up for that, doesn't mean they'll sell for that or are "worth" it.

Wouldn't advise renting at all if you still want to sell it, it really won't go your way if want to have cake and eat it. You can't just decide to get them out just because tenancy agreements have "ended". That's just the fixed agreement, only a tenant or a court can actually END a tenancy. Even if you served a S21 after the fixed period ends it could be half a year or more until they're out. I "get" the problem with having it empty but if you want the tenants out soon, renting isn't really the way.. Your call tho. 

Bailey1980

BobT36 said:

Bailey1980 said:

The original valuation of £195K and the marketing at offers in excess of £180k was before mortgages went crazy so we do accept that a lower figure is needed. 

We have had a couple of different estate agents out, in the last 2-3 weeks for additional opinions and valuations all of whom have said £175k-£179k. 

Current estate agent however has said they won't drop the price to £175K unless we do all the work that they have told us to do, including new bathroom etc. I have tried to make the point to them that some of these things won't be to buyer's taste which for the last however many months has been the feedback but they refuse to accept this and keep telling us to do all this work if we want them to market it for £175K. 

There are two houses that have gone on the market in parallel streets in the last week - one at £200K and one at £187,500 so I think £175K is reasonable. 

Definitely the price is the issue then.. Do the maths yourselves. Bang the figures in a mortgage calculator both before and after, and see just how much more it costs now for that same house. Also bear in mind with inflation, cost of "fixing" things is much more for the prospective buyer, so they'll be factoring that in, too. Spread that out over x years and you should get an idea of how much yours has to come down to be equivalent. 

Are your estate agents "all there?". Why are they wanting you to do the work to DROP the price??? Surely it's if you want to RAISE the price or keep it the same that you should be doing all that other stuff? The whole point of dropping it is that prospective buyers can overlook (some of) those problems, as they're getting it cheaper.. 

As to those houses on other streets, how do they objectively measure up to yours, though? Just because they're x bedrooms doesn't matter, you have to judge the state of them, features, land and all the rest. Also just because they're up for that, doesn't mean they'll sell for that or are "worth" it.

Wouldn't advise renting at all if you still want to sell it, it really won't go your way if want to have cake and eat it. You can't just decide to get them out just because tenancy agreements have "ended". That's just the fixed agreement, only a tenant or a court can actually END a tenancy. Even if you served a S21 after the fixed period ends it could be half a year or more until they're out. I "get" the problem with having it empty but if you want the tenants out soon, renting isn't really the way.. Your call tho. 

The Estate Agent has told us that if we want to sell the house we have to do both the work and drop it, however, I've made the point that whatever work we do won't be to buyer's personal taste which is the feedback they keep giving to us, however, they just keep saying doing the work and drop the price.  We asked to drop to £175K but they said refused, stating they'd only drop it to £175k unless we do all of this work. 

I understand that the other houses may not sell for what they are being marketed for, however, they are both being marketed for quite a bit more than ours. In fact if the estate agent wants us to accept £160k-£165K, then this is  £22K-£27K less than the one being marketed for £187,500 and £35K-£45k less than the one being marketed for £200k. 

Should also mention that the one that's on for £187,500 is being marketed by the same estate agent we are currently with. 

Ours is the cheapest out of these three houses and as mentioned before we have had several other estate agents out in the last few of weeks, all of whom have said £175K is the minimum we should accept and that was without me making any reference to what the minimum would be that we'd accept. These other estate agents did mention a few tweaks which would push it closer to £179 but they did not list of the same extensive amount of work as the current estate agent. 

The other two houses have the same number of bedrooms, however, the rooms in our house are bigger than the one on for £187,500 and our front and rear gardens are bigger than both these other houses. Our house also has a porch which neither of the others do, but the one on for £187,500 has an outbuilding used as garage (our house has a 8ft by 10ft metal shed) and the downstairs bathroom is completely tiled (our downstairs bathroom is just painted) 

The house on for £200k does have bigger rooms and is completely empty with no chain, same as ours, though there is no oven or dishwasher in the £200K one, where ours will include an electric range oven/cooker and integrated dishwasher.  The £187,500 does have an oven/cooker built in but not a range cooker. 

 Our EPC rating is better than both houses and our house has external wall insulation which the others don't. 

These two other houses are also painted white/off white throughout same as ours; the one on for £187,500 has laminate flooring throughout except for the stairs (grey carpet) and the one on for £200K has laminate flooring throughout the downstairs but then all of the upstairs has carpets (again grey).  Downstairs in our house is laminate flooring as well, stairs and bedrooms carpeted but our carpets might not be as nice, but again I'd expect any offers to reflect any work people think need doing. 

Both main bathrooms in these two houses are dark grey (ours is white) 

These two houses and ours have off road parking for multiple cars; all in the same council tax band. 

Our house is closer to the transport links/schools/supermarkets. 

I'd also say that our house is on a quieter street than the other two but that might be too subjective. 

Our house also has planning permission for a single storey extension off the back of the kitchen measuring 5.00m in depth, 3.70m maximum height and 2.38m to the eaves and there is no time limit on this. Full plans can be provided to any and all prospective buyers. 

Our house has had architectural plans  drawn up for a loft conversion, a copy of which can be provided to prospective buyers. 

Our house has built in wardrobes in the biggest room and in the second largest bedroom there is the old airing cupboard with shelving and a clothes rail so acts as a wardrobe, but in any event in that room we had a three door sliding wardrobe, double bed, bedside tables, an ottoman and chest of drawers. No built in wardrobes in the other two houses. 

What I meant by the tenancy ending, is the agreement ending and the tenants moving out - we rented for 10-15 years before buying and we moved several times and after we moved out of two of the houses the landlords decided to sell so that was what I was thinking of. 

We aren't trying to have our cake and eat it, we are trying to come up with a way of being able to cover the costs of an empty unused house which we have had to cover for the last 4-5 months because the estate agent failed to pass on the substantive feedback / be brutally honesty until 2-3 weeks ago.

Had they been "brutally honest" with us earlier, some minor tweaks could have been made earlier and possibly offers made; instead the estate agent thinks we have a bottomless pit of money to spend on bills of an empty and unused house as well as doing extensive work to it when the opposite is true. 

We've run of options and marketing for rent and sale at the same time seems to our only choice if we don't want to end up destitute. Things are already bad enough and like most people we are scraping by. 

cymruchris

Bailey1980 said:

BobT36 said:

Bailey1980 said:

The original valuation of £195K and the marketing at offers in excess of £180k was before mortgages went crazy so we do accept that a lower figure is needed. 

We have had a couple of different estate agents out, in the last 2-3 weeks for additional opinions and valuations all of whom have said £175k-£179k. 

Current estate agent however has said they won't drop the price to £175K unless we do all the work that they have told us to do, including new bathroom etc. I have tried to make the point to them that some of these things won't be to buyer's taste which for the last however many months has been the feedback but they refuse to accept this and keep telling us to do all this work if we want them to market it for £175K. 

There are two houses that have gone on the market in parallel streets in the last week - one at £200K and one at £187,500 so I think £175K is reasonable. 

Definitely the price is the issue then.. Do the maths yourselves. Bang the figures in a mortgage calculator both before and after, and see just how much more it costs now for that same house. Also bear in mind with inflation, cost of "fixing" things is much more for the prospective buyer, so they'll be factoring that in, too. Spread that out over x years and you should get an idea of how much yours has to come down to be equivalent. 

Are your estate agents "all there?". Why are they wanting you to do the work to DROP the price??? Surely it's if you want to RAISE the price or keep it the same that you should be doing all that other stuff? The whole point of dropping it is that prospective buyers can overlook (some of) those problems, as they're getting it cheaper.. 

As to those houses on other streets, how do they objectively measure up to yours, though? Just because they're x bedrooms doesn't matter, you have to judge the state of them, features, land and all the rest. Also just because they're up for that, doesn't mean they'll sell for that or are "worth" it.

Wouldn't advise renting at all if you still want to sell it, it really won't go your way if want to have cake and eat it. You can't just decide to get them out just because tenancy agreements have "ended". That's just the fixed agreement, only a tenant or a court can actually END a tenancy. Even if you served a S21 after the fixed period ends it could be half a year or more until they're out. I "get" the problem with having it empty but if you want the tenants out soon, renting isn't really the way.. Your call tho. 

The Estate Agent has told us that if we want to sell the house we have to do both the work and drop it, however, I've made the point that whatever work we do won't be to buyer's personal taste which is the feedback they keep giving to us, however, they just keep saying doing the work and drop the price.  We asked to drop to £175K but they said refused, stating they'd only drop it to £175k unless we do all of this work. 

I understand that the other houses may not sell for what they are being marketed for, however, they are both being marketed for quite a bit more than ours. In fact if the estate agent wants us to accept £160k-£165K, then this is  £22K-£27K less than the one being marketed for £187,500 and £35K-£45k less than the one being marketed for £200k. 

Should also mention that the one that's on for £187,500 is being marketed by the same estate agent we are currently with. 

Ours is the cheapest out of these three houses and as mentioned before we have had several other estate agents out in the last few of weeks, all of whom have said £175K is the minimum we should accept and that was without me making any reference to what the minimum would be that we'd accept. These other estate agents did mention a few tweaks which would push it closer to £179 but they did not list of the same extensive amount of work as the current estate agent. 

The other two houses have the same number of bedrooms, however, the rooms in our house are bigger than the one on for £187,500 and our front and rear gardens are bigger than both these other houses. Our house also has a porch which neither of the others do, but the one on for £187,500 has an outbuilding used as garage (our house has a 8ft by 10ft metal shed) and the downstairs bathroom is completely tiled (our downstairs bathroom is just painted) 

The house on for £200k does have bigger rooms and is completely empty with no chain, same as ours, though there is no oven or dishwasher in the £200K one, where ours will include an electric range oven/cooker and integrated dishwasher.  The £187,500 does have an oven/cooker built in but not a range cooker. 

 Our EPC rating is better than both houses and our house has external wall insulation which the others don't. 

These two other houses are also painted white/off white throughout same as ours; the one on for £187,500 has laminate flooring throughout except for the stairs (grey carpet) and the one on for £200K has laminate flooring throughout the downstairs but then all of the upstairs has carpets (again grey).  Downstairs in our house is laminate flooring as well, stairs and bedrooms carpeted but our carpets might not be as nice, but again I'd expect any offers to reflect any work people think need doing. 

Both main bathrooms in these two houses are dark grey (ours is white) 

These two houses and ours have off road parking for multiple cars; all in the same council tax band. 

Our house is closer to the transport links/schools/supermarkets. 

I'd also say that our house is on a quieter street than the other two but that might be too subjective. 

Our house also has planning permission for a single storey extension off the back of the kitchen measuring 5.00m in depth, 3.70m maximum height and 2.38m to the eaves and there is no time limit on this. Full plans can be provided to any and all prospective buyers. 

Our house has had architectural plans  drawn up for a loft conversion, a copy of which can be provided to prospective buyers. 

Our house has built in wardrobes in the biggest room and in the second largest bedroom there is the old airing cupboard with shelving and a clothes rail so acts as a wardrobe, but in any event in that room we had a three door sliding wardrobe, double bed, bedside tables, an ottoman and chest of drawers. No built in wardrobes in the other two houses. 

What I meant by the tenancy ending, is the agreement ending and the tenants moving out - we rented for 10-15 years before buying and we moved several times and after we moved out of two of the houses the landlords decided to sell so that was what I was thinking of. 

We aren't trying to have our cake and eat it, we are trying to come up with a way of being able to cover the costs of an empty unused house which we have had to cover for the last 4-5 months because the estate agent failed to pass on the substantive feedback / be brutally honesty until 2-3 weeks ago.

Had they been "brutally honest" with us earlier, some minor tweaks could have been made earlier and possibly offers made; instead the estate agent thinks we have a bottomless pit of money to spend on bills of an empty and unused house as well as doing extensive work to it when the opposite is true. 

We've run of options and marketing for rent and sale at the same time seems to our only choice if we don't want to end up destitute. Things are already bad enough and like most people we are scraping by. 

Just a thought - and never a harm raising something to think about - are you on a repayment mortgage? Capital and interest? If you're selling to settle the balance - would it be worth looking at seeing if they'll switch to interest only for a few months? I seem to recall there was a 'deal' offered when rates went sky high that gave lenders the option to switch to interest only for 6 months with no impact to credit history. Would that help you hold out while you got closer to the price you needed/wanted? 

I still wouldn't go down the rental option just to avoid all the potential headaches. I rented out my flat when overseas, and the number of costs/charges/repairs linked to being a landlord really ate into the rental payment. It was surprising how many things 'broke' - when they'd been all good when I left, each time getting charged to send someone around to look at it and fix it.  At the end when I served the 2 month notice for them to leave, they didn't. It was a total headache from start to finish really, and wouldn't do it again. 

I also rented out a previous house a few years ago, and they stopped paying after two months (On a fully managed service WITH insurance - that didn't pay out what I would have expected, but that's another story). took 4 months to get them out, and the damage they caused was far in excess of the deposit they paid. I wouldn't do it again. Ever. Even if you paid me. These days it's even more stringent in needing certificates for this and that, and getting a tenant to leave if you need them to is really challenging. So if you go down that route - go in with your eyes wide open.

Bailey1980

cymruchris said:

Just a thought - and never a harm raising something to think about - are you on a repayment mortgage? Capital and interest? If you're selling to settle the balance - would it be worth looking at seeing if they'll switch to interest only for a few months? I seem to recall there was a 'deal' offered when rates went sky high that gave lenders the option to switch to interest only for 6 months with no impact to credit history. Would that help you hold out while you got closer to the price you needed/wanted? 

I still wouldn't go down the rental option just to avoid all the potential headaches. I rented out my flat when overseas, and the number of costs/charges/repairs linked to being a landlord really ate into the rental payment. It was surprising how many things 'broke' - when they'd been all good when I left, each time getting charged to send someone around to look at it and fix it.  At the end when I served the 2 month notice for them to leave, they didn't. It was a total headache from start to finish really, and wouldn't do it again. 

I also rented out a previous house a few years ago, and they stopped paying after two months (On a fully managed service WITH insurance - that didn't pay out what I would have expected, but that's another story). took 4 months to get them out, and the damage they caused was far in excess of the deposit they paid. I wouldn't do it again. Ever. Even if you paid me. These days it's even more stringent in needing certificates for this and that, and getting a tenant to leave if you need them to is really challenging. So if you go down that route - go in with your eyes wide open.

Thank you, we did switch to interest only on the mortgage payments but that is coming to an end in the next month or so as it was only valid for 6 months and given tweaks are being done to the house and the fact that if any offer is made/accepted it may take 3-6months to complete we are panicking. Again had the estate agent been "brutally honest" with us after the flurry of viewings in September/October, rather than just telling us it wasn't to people's personal taste then we could have done some tweaks much earlier. 

Thanks for the advice on renting - as I said it's not our preferred option but if it continues to not sell, i don't know what the other options are - auction and companies that buy any houses for cash aren't any good due to fees and ones I have spoken to have given us very significantly low figures that would come nowhere near to clearing the mortgage.