House not selling!

Tabieth

What have the EAs said about why it’s not getting any viewings? It could be overpriced or it could be that it’s being badly marketed. What have other similar properties in the same area sold for? I assume it’s on Rightmove? Do the photos do it justice? 

RHemmings

Caravanna said:

We’re not even getting any viewings😢 It’s been on since December and nothing! It’s a nice little 2 bedroomed end of small terrace, 20 years old with conservatory and well kept garden. I guess the market’s just not on our side! 

Have you had feedback from friends and family concerning the listing? (Removed by Forum Team)

Some people recommend sending a friend as a 'secret shopper' to enquire about the property and book a viewing to gauge the performance of the EA. However, I would expect that experienced EAs would be able to spot someone BS-ing them from a mile away, and they may well guess what you have done. 

What you could do is go through sold prices in your area and see how they compare to your current asking price. Do an area search here: https://www.zoopla.co.uk/house-prices/ (There are other sources of sold house prices). Does your house compare well to previously sold houses in your area? 

Hoenir

Caravanna said:

We’re not even getting any viewings😢 It’s been on since December and nothing! It’s a nice little 2 bedroomed end of small terrace, 20 years old with conservatory and well kept garden. I guess the market’s just not on our side! 

How many properties are also on the market in the locality?  Any reason why so many properties are up for sale? 

BikingBud

Caravanna said:

Hello, we’re looking for a bit of house selling advice, We’re trying to sell MILs house. We’re a rural area but it’s on a new small estate, we’ve paid off her substantial equity release mortgage with all our savings to stop the huge amount of monthly interest and dropped the price from £245,000 to £215,000 but not even a peep! Should we try ONO or just drop it to 20K and see what happens? It’s been on since Christmas . 

What has happened to MIL such that you are selling "her" house? Is it now a probate house?

If not probate and she is now living elsewhere there might be a risk that any capital could be clawed up by the council is residential care is required.

Why did you buy out the equity release and at what price?

How did you protect yourself when you put your cash into her house? 

Did you just pay off the loan or transfer ownership of the house? If the Mil died after you committed your life savings and you had not transferred ownership was anything place in MIL's will to reflect your contribution and ensure it was not swallowed up as part of the overall estate?

How much do you need to cover, is there still headroom to spare at £200k or are you already trying to minimise your losses, ie you put £245k into it?

You asked about dropping to £20k! 

I am certain that was a typo and the figure was most likely £200k but at some point the losses for maintenance/bills/insurance/CT and possibly penalty rates of council tax will suck the benefit of achieved value, cash in hand, to below £200k anyway.

Also how much have you lost in opportunity from locking your cashflow into the illiquid property?

So do you sit there and keep paying increasing bills or adapt to a more realistic price for a quick sale and cut your losses to regain some cashflow, even if you still stand a large loss?

I feel we are missing quite a lot here that might indicate that was an unwise decision rather than letting the mortgage run its course and see what was left at the end.

Tough one but if you are sitting on a big loss already and the market is stagnant it may yet get much worse.

Herzlos

Caravanna said:

We’re not even getting any viewings😢 It’s been on since December and nothing! It’s a nice little 2 bedroomed end of small terrace, 20 years old with conservatory and well kept garden. I guess the market’s just not on our side! 

That's unusual, and makes me think it's not the price because if it was you'd get some viewers and low ball offers.

So you need to try and figure out whether people are being put off and why, or if they just aren't seeing it. 

Does it come up in rightmove searches?

Are the photos clear? Are the rooms presented well?
Is the description reasonable?
Is there a floor plan?

Is the agent reactive to queries? (this is where you'd need the mystery shopper friend). 

Are you using an agent local to the property or an online one?

ReadySteadyPop

Caravanna said:

Hello, we’re looking for a bit of house selling advice, We’re trying to sell MILs house. We’re a rural area but it’s on a new small estate, we’ve paid off her substantial equity release mortgage with all our savings to stop the huge amount of monthly interest and dropped the price from £245,000 to £215,000 but not even a peep! Should we try ONO or just drop it to 20K and see what happens? It’s been on since Christmas . 

Why is there a huge amount of monthly interest on a 200k - 250k house?

Herzlos

ReadySteadyPop said:

Caravanna said:

Hello, we’re looking for a bit of house selling advice, We’re trying to sell MILs house. We’re a rural area but it’s on a new small estate, we’ve paid off her substantial equity release mortgage with all our savings to stop the huge amount of monthly interest and dropped the price from £245,000 to £215,000 but not even a peep! Should we try ONO or just drop it to 20K and see what happens? It’s been on since Christmas . 

Why is there a huge amount of monthly interest on a 200k - 250k house?

Because it was an equity release mortgage which usually has a painfully high interest if not settled quickly enough from the estate. 

Bigphil1474

(Removed by Forum Team)

I think if you've got a lot of properties in a small town/village that aren't selling, then there's maybe something else going on. Are they all leaving the area? Has the local bus service been cancelled, no shops, school closed etc. It may have a big impact on people moving to an area if it doesn't have the services they need. We looked at moving to a large village near Whitby last year, fairly impractical from a commute point of view although I'd have given it a good go, but a really lovely place to live and a bit of a dream local for us. Unfortunately there was only one small general food shop, and the buses and train weren't exactly frequent. Even if the house we really loved had been half the price, we still wouldn't have bought it in the end.

Bigphil1474

@ReadySteadyPop

It sold a couple of months ago, we looked at it in April last year and it had already been on the market a few months. I did get the impression that the seller wouldn't budge on price, so maybe that was why it took so long. Still showing as Sold STC.

ReadySteadyPop

BikingBud said:

Caravanna said:

Hello, we’re looking for a bit of house selling advice, We’re trying to sell MILs house. We’re a rural area but it’s on a new small estate, we’ve paid off her substantial equity release mortgage with all our savings to stop the huge amount of monthly interest and dropped the price from £245,000 to £215,000 but not even a peep! Should we try ONO or just drop it to 20K and see what happens? It’s been on since Christmas . 

What has happened to MIL such that you are selling "her" house? Is it now a probate house?

If not probate and she is now living elsewhere there might be a risk that any capital could be clawed up by the council is residential care is required.

Why did you buy out the equity release and at what price?

How did you protect yourself when you put your cash into her house? 

Did you just pay off the loan or transfer ownership of the house? If the Mil died after you committed your life savings and you had not transferred ownership was anything place in MIL's will to reflect your contribution and ensure it was not swallowed up as part of the overall estate?

How much do you need to cover, is there still headroom to spare at £200k or are you already trying to minimise your losses, ie you put £245k into it?

You asked about dropping to £20k! 

I am certain that was a typo and the figure was most likely £200k but at some point the losses for maintenance/bills/insurance/CT and possibly penalty rates of council tax will suck the benefit of achieved value, cash in hand, to below £200k anyway.

Also how much have you lost in opportunity from locking your cashflow into the illiquid property?

So do you sit there and keep paying increasing bills or adapt to a more realistic price for a quick sale and cut your losses to regain some cashflow, even if you still stand a large loss?

I feel we are missing quite a lot here that might indicate that was an unwise decision rather than letting the mortgage run its course and see what was left at the end.

Tough one but if you are sitting on a big loss already and the market is stagnant it may yet get much worse.

Very good points.