to lose sleep over not selling house?

[ginghamstarfish]

Have prev. posted on Property but now here for traffic - would really welcome all views as still dithering!
Selling empty house, on market for a year, killing us to pay for 2 mortages, 20 odd viewings, crap agent, no offers (trying to be brief!). Good condition, clean, well maintained, warm, (always have heating on for viewings), have left pictures, lamps, rugs, plants, but no furniture. It's rural, quiet, lovely views BUT woodchip everywhere, and some lines and ridges to ceilings where boards have dropped a little. Surveyor says purely cosmetic. Have dropped the price by £25k (in Scotland so Home Report gives the value), and at that are losing £15k on what we paid 2 yrs ago. We are wrestling with the dilemma of whether to spend on having ceilings done/woodchip stripped. Some viewers have commented on how they would knock through this wall and that wall, so would this be a waste of time? I can't get my head round it, as a buyer I would be glad to use this as a bargaining chip. Can't do it ourselves, I am disabled, DH works long hours plus looks after me, and is crap at decorating/DIY so we would have to pay professionals. Also can't decide if we need to furnish. Can't buy secondhand as we would have to collect, have no van/trailer so would do Ikea stuff I can get delivered. What would you do in my place?? Can't sleep for worrying about it!

Are you using an estate agent? They should be giving you advice on what would help the house to sell. It's their job!

There are companies that rent out furniture, soft furnishings and fittings to 'dress' a house for sale. Might be worth looking into?

And I would say yes, go for the redecoration as well. Lots of people want to move into a house that needs no work at all. It will cost you, but you're losing money every month paying 2 mortgages so it will probably be worth it in the long run.

Call Phil Spencer, you need a secret agent, or House Doctor.

Sales seem to be very sluggish at the moment. Is renting it a possibility for a year or two and then trying again? I personally wouldn't bother with the decoration unless it's a mess. Usually the advice is that if a property is correctly priced it will sell but the market is nervous now.

Have you had any other agents to look and value/ advise? I would certainly be moving agents by now if the existing one isn't doing their job.

Rent it out.

Hate to say it but it will sell in days at 'the right price' - cheap.
How low can you go? If you want rid, don't bother trying for a profit, just drop the price further to just cover your costs.

Can you post a link to your place on Rightmove and we can look! Maybe change agent if you can find one who has sold a few similar properties in your area. It's stressful i got mine sold in 12 weeks but it was awful.

I wouldn't go knocking through walls, but I would seriously look into redecorating and how much that would cost you. If it's not an excessive cost, I'd probably redecorate.

Just to add, I know you'll be making a loss on what you paid for it... When I said cover your costs I meant cover what you still owe the bank.

Sorry forgot to say, yes had local agent for the last year, very poor re feedback etc. Now cancelled and going with another agent. Re walls etc not me thinking that but some viewers have mentioned it so thinking it a waste of time for us to redecorate etc now. Really do not want to rent it, looked into it and seems to be not worth it as rents are very low round here (have been told £600) and have to pay for landlord insurance/electric certificates/ etc etc and would dread bad tenants.

elodie2000 - no question of profit! Already priced at £15k less than we paid 2 years ago!

If we were in profit I would probably not hesitate to redecorate and do ceilings etc ... but don't want to throw good money after bad!

How much interest are you paying every month on the mortgage? If it's more than a couple of hundred decorate.

The decorating is going to cost quite a bit - it involves stripping woodchip off every inch, including ceilings - this might bring plaster off, apparently, so it's more than just a simple repainting job which we would manage ourselves.

If you are thinking of furnishing it, don't dismiss second hand. You can fairly cheaply get a man with a van to collect and deliver furniture. On ebay there is a feature where you put in the sellers address and your address and van drivers quote you to try and win the business.

Do you not have friends or family you could ask to hire van to get furniture? Then you could rent via Airbnb until sold?

If you really want to sell it you'll have to price it lower.

If you can't sell it at a price you can afford i.e. not covering the debt - then you will have to rent it out.

Sorry you're having issues selling.

We were advised not to bother doing any redecorating when we sold my late DM's earlier in the year. It sold within a fortnight. Similarly we sold our own 1960s monstrosity a couple of years ago as a project. I think it's more likely to be a more significant factor like location, schools or simply the current state of the market. Can you get a letting agent and rent it out for the time being?

PS renting is what we had to do with our first property. We then sold it nearly three years later at a modest profit.

Can you post a link OP? We might be able to see something you're missing

Yes, post a link?

Thanks all, not sure I want to post a link though as it's identifying! Re furniture don't know anyone with van here and would have to pay someone each time, to pick up a bed here or sofa there etc, unlikely to find a houseful in one go! As I said before we're struggling to see what's stopping ppl from making an offer - price I suppose, just scary to think of reducing more as we're already losing quite a bit on it.