House back on the market - what should we do?

socks_uk

Way back in June, when we put our own house on the market, we viewed a 4 bedroomed bungalow, which was for sale with the same EA as we are using, at £127,000.
After speaking to the FA at the EA (gosh.. are you following this??) and previously an IFA, We really have to stick to a house at £120,000 or below, so we dismissed the house as too expensive even though we loved it.

Then, about 2 weeks later, on one of my internet property searches, The house had been reduced to £119,000. WOW! I thought and contacted the EA asking what we could do to sell our house quicker and to find out if the vendors would consider selling for £117,000? The vendors accepted our offer and the EA suggested we reduce our house by £2,500 for a quick sale which we did and it was changed on the internet almost imidiately! This was the Friday but the following Monday the EA rang to say the vendor have withdrawn it from the market!

So, we had reduced our house by £2,500 after only being on the market 2 weeks and no house in the pipeline. I can hear you all shouting 'don't view any houses until you've sold!'

Anyway, I'm still keeping my eye on the houses in my area and low and behold, it's back on the market, with the same EA as myself again, for £117,000! What should we do? Nothing, and see if it's still there when we've sold? Wait and see if the EA contact me? (why didn't they ring me and tell me anyway?? 2 potential sales here) Or contact the EA and tell them we're still intrested?

Please help, I've never sold/bought a house before (selling a 3 bed terraced £72,500 and don't have a mortgage on it).

Jill

jonesMUFCforever

Anyway, I'm still keeping my eye on the houses in my area and low and behold, it's back on the market, with the same EA as myself again, for £117,000! What should we do? Nothing, and see if it's still there when we've sold? Wait and see if the EA contact me? (why didn't they ring me and tell me anyway?? 2 potential sales here) Or contact the EA and tell them we're still intrested?
Quoted from socks_uk

Two things spring to mind
1. There might be a problem of some sort with the house.
2. Vendors might be in a chain and somewhere up or down the chain pulled out causing the sale to collapse.

If the full asking price is now £115000 then if you are sure its the one for you then try a slightly lower offer say of £110000.It might be that vendors are desperate to sell by now.
Eric

safesound

Personally I'd go around and speak to the owners myself. That way I'd know from the horses mouth why they took it off the market and if they were serious about selling this time. It would also allow me to gauge whether they would wait for me to sell my house or would prefer someone who is "proceedable".

socks_uk

The house is owned by an elderly couple and their disabled adult daughter. The reason they withdrew from the market in June (according to the EA) was due to ill health.
Should I play it cool for now seeing as the market is slow? We love the house and would be prepared to drop the price of ours again but I'm not going to reduce it again just in case they pull out again. If a firm buyer offers us around about £68 - 70 thousand I'll be happy. (Original value from 7 EAs varied between £79,995 and £69,995 and we put it on for £74,995)

Gosh, just don't know what to do!

Jill

terrierlady

get yours sstc then you can sort something out with them,Im pretty sure they would be more inclined to listen if you were under offer than just on the market.

GDB2222

My 2p-worth:

I would not worry at all about having reduced your ASKING price by £2,500. In this market, buyers will offer what they think the house is worth. Keeping your asking price towards the bottom end of what you are prepared to accept may be a good marketing strategy.

If you have nerves of steel, you could actually reduce the asking price to 'offers in excess of £40,000' say. That would spark a lot of interest, and I am pretty sure that you would end up being offered what the house is worth. Of course, if you don't get any decent offers, you don't have to sell.

socks_uk

EA rang today, 'Just a courtesy call' as he put it, to let me know the house we wanted is back on the market. I said we were still intrested but I don't want to put in another offer and be disappointed and left high & dry again.

I've heard of bridging loans but know nothing about them and I've also had 2 conflicting pieces of information about renting out our present house (whether I would have to pay capital gains tax if I sold). Don't really fancy renting it out and it getting trashed anyway.

Jill

LouLouHelen

Offer on it but keep your eyes on the market, have a plan B in your pocket. Everyone says sell before looking but if their honest everyone looks/finds before selling! Good luck - this housebuying thing is stressful but worth it!

ttoli

Re Capital Gains Tax, If The Property Is Not Your Residential Address You Will Be Liable For 40% Of The Increase In Profit Between The Date You Leased It To The Day You Sell It, Thats Why I've Decided To Sell( I'd Be Gutted Too If It Were Trashed)

sukey13

What rent could you acheive for your current house?

If it would cover a buy to let mortgage comfortably (plus pay the buildings insurance and an agent and gas safety inspection fees) it is worth considering.

However, you'd need enough equity to release to buy your home. (this advance would need to be paid either by you or factor it in to your renting out idea).

If you live in a property and then rent it out you have three years in which to sell and pay no capital gains due to PPR relief. (just check the inland revenue site if you don't believe me!)

socks_uk

sukey13 wrote:

What rent could you acheive for your current house?

If it would cover a buy to let mortgage comfortably (plus pay the buildings insurance and an agent and gas safety inspection fees) it is worth considering.

However, you'd need enough equity to release to buy your home. (this advance would need to be paid either by you or factor it in to your renting out idea).

If you live in a property and then rent it out you have three years in which to sell and pay no capital gains due to PPR relief. (just check the inland revenue site if you don't believe me!)

It sounds all too complicated for me to get involved with sukey13. 3 bed terraces rent for about £300 - £350 a month in this area and I'm not sure what the repayments would be on a £120,000 house (our limit buying if we sold our current house.
My 3 main worries would be...

The place being trashed,
Rent not being paid by tennant or by it being empty,
Maintenence costs.

I know at the end of a 20 year mortgage I'd have 2 properties but with CGT and adding the cost of all the repairs that might have been paid out in that period, is it really worth it?

What I should do is sell my house to a FTB and then find a nice dormer bungalow that is a deceased estate. Much less stress than trying to buy this house that we really love.

Jill