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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what to do when you just can't sell a house?

92 replies

lavenderlily · 16/10/2017 09:03

I bought my house in 2009 for £110,000.

(Please don't all start marvelling at how cheaply northerners live Hmm)

It is a three bed terrace. I have now relocated and we are CRAMMED into a flat. I want to sell the terrace. But it will not sell.

Reasons - well, no off road parking, which didn't bother me when I bought it but appears to bother everybody else Sad There are also wooden steps leading up to the garden which I love but everyone else seems to hate! The bathroom is ridiculously small and there is only one.

Since 2014 it's been let out and brings £500 a month. Should I just accept that it's mine for life and brings in £500 a month?

EAs have all valued it at £120,000 but I haven't ever got any offers at all, even so called 'cheeky' ones.

OP posts:
ShirleyPhallus · 16/10/2017 09:06

If a house doesn't sell it's almost always due to the price

What has stuff on your road gone for?

SleepingInYourFlowerbed · 16/10/2017 09:07

Are you getting viewings? I'm guessing the price is too high as that's normally the reason

Original poster
lavenderlily · 16/10/2017 09:08

Nothing has really sold recently. It's a cluster of six terraces and all are established. I think mine is the most recent sold; the others are elderly couples and one family who moved in when pregnant and their DD went to secondary school this September!

Similar terraces seem to go for a similar price - £110-120 bracket.

I just really don't want to stupidly drop the price and lose thousands, especially when bafflingly there have never been issues renting it out.

OP posts:
Original poster
lavenderlily · 16/10/2017 09:08

Not many viewings: only a handful.

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 16/10/2017 09:08

How long has it been on the market? No offers tends to mean it is over priced unfortunately. No matter what estate agents say' it is only worth what someone is prepared to pay.

Are you able to "fix" any of the things people complain about? Obviously the steps have to be there but is it the fact that they are steps or the fact that they are wooden? Is there any scope for creating off street parking? Is it possible to shave something off a room to make the bathroom larger?

Of course, you may not have the time, money or inclination to do any of these.

usainboltsleotard · 16/10/2017 09:09

We bought a house in 2006 for £180k. Valued at £210-£220k by every EA in 2015. On market for £205k no intertest - dropped (against ea advice) to £190 and got 20 viewing over 2 weeks and 4 offers accepted £185k which again dropped on survey to £182k.

If you lower the price it will sell, but you may well not make any money on it. In the U.K. We have been conned into thinking of our homes as pots of gold and it isn't true anywhere anymore.

Original poster
lavenderlily · 16/10/2017 09:09

Unfortunately none of those things are possible really, Soup - the steps possibly but I think it's that there are steps at all rather than them being wooden per se, if you see what I mean.

OP posts:
TheSnowFairy · 16/10/2017 09:10

Well, at least you have rental income.

I ended up looking at the ad the EA had written and rewriting it myself.

Re the parking / steps etc - it only needs one person to love it as much as you did when you bought it - I would keep advertising it.

SoupDragon · 16/10/2017 09:10

It sounds like the market is sluggish then.

Are the pictures really making the most of the property?

crimsonlake · 16/10/2017 09:11

I would keep it as an investment, the property market is said to be on the way up.

Original poster
lavenderlily · 16/10/2017 09:13

Probably weren't, being honest ... it's a strange one as when I bought it everyone was falling over themselves to say how nice it was! Now I wonder if they weren't being truthful Grin

I suppose the best thing to do then is to save up for a deposit and then apply for a mortgage and keep House No One Wants as a pension of sorts?

OP posts:
FormerlyFrikadela01 · 16/10/2017 09:14

You could be me. House bought by dp in 2008 for 110k and now on the market for 90k. We've had a few offers but all have been too low meaning we wouldn't be able to actually move. It's infuriating because I know it's the price but we're stuck. Especially when you constantly hear of the boom down south yet even 10 years on prices haven't recovered in my area.

LadypeneloPee · 16/10/2017 09:14

crimsonlake - you are joking!

purplecollar · 16/10/2017 09:17

How long has it been on the market? Have you been trying to sell it since 2014? I know for us it took well over 9 months to get a reasonable offer on quite a saleable home. For relatives, they've both waited a year. I think if you don't want to compromise on price, it's about waiting for the right person to come along sometimes.

purplecollar · 16/10/2017 09:18

You can part-exchange houses for new ones sometimes, as long as you're buying something more expensive - that might be something to consider? From memory I think Barratt do it.

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha · 16/10/2017 09:19

Personally I would drop the price by 10k and see if that worked. If it only brings in 500 a month and you are still paying a substantial mortgage, repairs, having to keep tax records etc it doesn't seem like a great investment.

Peeetle · 16/10/2017 09:19

£500 a month isn't bad. I'd keep it as a rental property personally. I'm assuming prices will continue gently sliding down for the time being so the only alternative is to knock a good chunk off the price and sell.

Theseaweed · 16/10/2017 09:20

I would take it off the market. Go and have a good look round with an honest friend and look at what you can improve. Sometimes it's hard to 'see' what needs doing yourself. Make sure all paint work is in good condition, flooring is decent and clean etc.
Then get new photographs done and relaunch the property with a slight decrease in asking price.
I'm surprised you are able to have the property for sale while renting?

2018babyonboard · 16/10/2017 09:21

Have you thought of selling it with a specialist investment estate agent? If it's tenanted, they can probably sell it quite quickly to an overseas buyer for cash.

Means the tenants can keep their home and you get your house sold.

scurryfunge · 16/10/2017 09:23

Do you think that having existing tenants is putting buyers off?

MrsOverTheRoad · 16/10/2017 09:24

Give us a link then OP....everyone else does! We can all help with advice and first impressions then.

BarbaraofSevillle · 16/10/2017 09:24

How long has it been on the market and can you afford to drop the price to £110-£115k? I know it seems like losing money but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. If selling cheaper and buying elsewhere allows you to move, the lower sale price would be partly offset by not paying rent on the flat you live in.

What is the outstanding mortgage and how much is the monthly payment - more or less than the £500 rental income?

Or is there any chance of remortgaging the house to release money for another house if you are happy/can afford to continue renting out the terraced house?

Would any of your tenants ever be interested in buying it?

The lack of off road parking is probably the most offputting thing. We too have only one bathroom that is ridiculously tiny (about 6 ft in each direction) and it's manageable. But when we moved here, we looked at three houses on the same estate that were very similar but immediately discounted the one with no off road parking. Any chance that you could convert the front garden to a parking space?

Guardsman18 · 16/10/2017 09:25

Might it be that there are tenants in there? It would put me off.

Original poster
lavenderlily · 16/10/2017 09:26

We aren't renting the flat barbara

It isn't currently on the market: I got disillusioned Smile

That's a good point about Barrett homes - thanks.

OP posts:
BritInUS1 · 16/10/2017 09:29

Will you be able to afford to continue renting it out with the changes to rental income ? A lot of landlords are looking at selling due to this

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