Anyone else trying to move house pre-referendum?

[Dig4Victory]

Hello everyone. We aren't in a great hurry to move so thought we would try out an online agent. Although we haven't had many viewings (about 10), we have had people who blatantly tell us "we can't afford it but we've always wanted to have a look at it" I don't want to post a link as when I wouldn't do that on the MSE forums I got more abuse than I could handle, and they dug around and found out anyway, pulling me to pieces. I won't post on their forums again. I know the ladies on mumsnet will be more respectful of privacy.

We chose the price recommended by 3 high street agents. Yes, I know they up their suggested listing price to get the business, but we expect a little negotiating. Other 4 bed houses in the same lane are going for £200k more than ours and they don't have our big garden and outbuildings, but are in better nick, hence our lower price.

Anyway, my question is, has anyone else who is trying to sell their house at the moment (June 2016) had silly offers (ie. 60% of the asking price)? Is it the referendum or because we chose an online agent people think we will take a low offer?

[helpbuyingahouse]

Hi

I have looked to buy in the past few months. Most of the houses I have seen are still there to be honest, I don't know if it is the referendum or general weakness in the housing market.

I went in with the idea of negotiating about 20% off similar properties. We got really lucky, the vendor wanted to sell and had priced low and we paid about 30% less than an identical house (which was in better conditions admittedly). This is 15% below the asking price. This is prime London by the way.

So, if you want to sell you need to take a really good haircut.

If there is Brexit, demand will decrease. If there is no Brexit, interest rates will go up so house prices could decline even in that event (they are already falling).

So, see what is the minimum you would accept and cut the price. If your house is expensive (over £1m) and it is in a prime area (London/South East) you won't get what you were hoping for, believe me. Online agent or high street agent wouldn't make a difference for me. The only thing is, I would be thinking that you are a chancer with the price as it has not been determined by a proper estate agent.

Good luck with the sale

[coolpatterngirl]

Are comparable houses selling in your area or do they all tend to take awhile?

[PotteringAlong]

Remember the cardinal rule of buying a house: if you're not embarrassed by your first offer then it's too high...

[RunRabbitRunRabbit]

It's because you have an online agent. They are trying it on.

[SilverBirchWithout]

We are trying to sell 2 properties at the moment, PIL have passed away after moving into sheltered accommodation. Lots of viewers, we have dropped price and still no offers.

EA has advised us the referendum has made the market very sluggish and no one is keen to buy knowing house values are likely to plummet if the country votes for Leave.

We're waiting until afterwards to take stock and maybe reduce the price again if the vote is for Brexit.

[PotatosMum]

In my area houses are selling the moment they hit the Internet. My flat sold in less than 24 hours. Partners house took 6 weeks but that was because the original estate agent was sending people who weren't looking for that type of house as soon as we changed estate agent it sold in days.
Most of the houses we wanted to see had sold within days of them going on line. The one we're buying had 3 offers on its first day of viewings. We were lucky to get it.

[TinyGoldfish]

My experience is the same as Potato's. But then these are only the well priced/pretty/spacious ones. There are some (frankly overpriced) properties that have been hanging around for absolutely months.

[Dig4Victory]

Thanks for your replies. In answer to your comments:-
Pricing - As I said, we based our price on the 3 local agents, all coming in within 5% of each other. We decided to sell partly to pay the Inheritance Tax Bill on the Probate valuation. The Revenue valuer calculated the house being valued at nearly £70k over what we are actually asking (December 2015). For information: Probate valuations are done by a Chartered Surveyor and then he negotiates with HM Revenue, so even if the price has fallen in the last six months, I can't believe we are 'chancers' as helpbuyingahouse suggests. The other side of the coin is that if the house can be revalued at a lower rate we may have a smaller Inheritance Tax bill, although we only have a year's grace to appeal. In comparison to the other properties that are available in our lane, I cannot see that we are overpriced either, please see first posting.
We live in the catchment area for two top-rated grammar schools which pushes the prices up to silly money. We've lived here 20 years, and often had people ringing the door bell and making us offers to buy when we weren't even up for sale.
We are hoping to move to the West Country, where property is cheaper; my partner having lost his job and my arthritis forcing me to give up mine. Although we can pay the tax bill it will wipe out our savings.
Online agents - Our online agent doesn't vet the viewers like a high street agent would, as people can just give a name and phone number and book online. We have had at least 3 couples who live locally, don't even have their house on the market, and 'just wanted a look'. This is annoying when you have spent the morning preparing the house for a viewing only to hear those words when they walk through the door.
Perhaps once the referendum is out of the way we may try our local agent who has offered us 0.75% fees instead of the usual 1.25%. We actually bought the house off his previous agency, so know him quite well.
Thanks for the good wishes

[coolpatterngirl]

I'm not familiar with inheritance tax but surely you'd be taxed at what it sells for?

We're buying an inherited property which hasn't been maintained or even updated since the 70's. It was overpriced but the vendor was willing to wait over a year to sell at the price he wanted.

Is your area active? If your house isn't attracting genuine viewings I'd say it's the price.

[SilverBirchWithout]

A probate valuation is based on the value of the property at the date someone dies, not necessarily what it subsequently sells for (up or down). Obviously there is the opportunity to appeal if the valuation is excessive as the OP mentions.

If the price increases between the valuation and the sale (& the property is not the beneficiaries main residence) you will be liable for capital gains tax or if the sale price is less you can offset the loss against other capital gains tax liabilities. Everybody does have an annual capital gains allowance so it's only the profit above, this for each beneficiary, that is taxed,

[Dig4Victory]

Yes, the Chartered Surveyor negotiated the 'value' down a little with the Revenue, still comes in over what we have it on the market for. As I understand it, we will only pay the tax on what we actually sell it for, the Revenue think it is worth more, and we weren't going to sell until my partner lost his job and it became a fait acompli.
As far as I can tell the catchment area used to make it a very active location, with properties being snapped up within 2 weeks. The 2 bed flats just built at the top of the road were on the market for three quarters of a million, they all sold. We are further down, in the 'rural' end of the road, so maybe that is a factor.
What I really can't understand why someone who can only afford 60% of the asking price is even looking at nearly twice that. We certainly aren't, as it leads to disappointment when you look at what you actually can afford. I wouldn't have the cheek to offer so far below asking price anyway.

[coolpatterngirl]

My apologies, I misunderstood and thought you had used the Estate agents valuations.

[BlueJug]

Me too. No interest. But I haven't pushed it. EA says everything v quiet.

[Flambola]

I'll be honest with you - I've seen your other thread. I couldn't tell you whether the price is right etc but I do think you're making a mistake using an online agent for such an expensive property.

The estate agent I used wanted to see our AIP before booking viewings.