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

[lavenderlily]

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

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

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 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.

@grumpy

....if only that were the case

Round here the market goes crazy in January for some reason! Perhaps the though of spending one more Christmas together . Could try getting better photos done and then putting it back on early next year at £117k or something?

theseaweed - why wouldn't op be able to have one property for sale and be renting another? There's no regulations against it is there? Or do you just mean affordability? I know you're not renting op just didn't understand this point!

A house isn't what someone in a cheap suit tells you its worth; it's what someone will pay you for it.

tunnel what's the quality of someone's suit got to do with anything? What an arse-like thing to say.

We moved out of our house four years ago, bought it just before the crash, found it had halved in value. House prices in the area haven't improved massively so we probably have £25,000 negative equity.

Can't rent it out without spending a lot of money to get it up to a decent standard (bathroom definitely needs work, due to botched DIY done by previous owner).

So it's sitting there empty costing us money.

Have you looked at selling via an auction house?

We part exchanged ours for a new house and got 5k below asking price for it which was good.

Anything will sell at the right price.

Have you done all the cheesey things they say in the program?

Definitely have a floor plan in the advert. It helps me so much gauging size of a house and the dimensions of the rooms.

Is it all De cluttered and “fresh” looking?

Does it have kerb appeal? Or does the outside look dark and dingy with dirty net curtains?

Can you post a link to the add or pm me?

The market slumped a while back when the 100% mortgage fell through. If you've got tenants in now then an investment buyer is going to be wary as they are unable to quickly renovate & jack the rental price up. If you have buyers that want to make the house their own, they are not going to buy until there is vacant possession as they will not handle eviction costs.

Once Our agency had the same motto - just like people look for a new job, go to the gym etc, the best time to push property is the New Year!

Have you compared other houses in your general area that have actually sold for £120k? Does your house match up?

The bathroom is probably a sore issue. Most houses in my area have 2 bathrooms, potentially an ensuite too - let alone one tiny one. Potential buyers will probably see this a renovation project

The area/current decor/amount of work needed etc are might not warrant the current price. Buyers aren’t emotionally attached to your house like you and will be much more critical

Who is the target buyer?

Young families will want enough bathroom room space to bath small kids. If you only have a shower then try to put in a 1500 length bath with shower over.

Likewise the steps down to the garden might be off putting so make them really safe with good rails and anti-slip stuff.

Make sure the listing says that there's plenty of on street parking (say if it's residents only)

Ask your estate agents for honest feedback - it's their job!

Braken PM'd me too about our house.

We had this problem (but in Scotland). Bought house - detached 3 bed - for £250k in 2013, lived there less than 2 yrs and then moved away. In Scotland you have your house valued by a surveyor as you have to provide a Home Report, so we had no say in that. It was valued at £260 but we thought £250 was more realistic. Well, it took 2 years to sell, and sold only after several price reductions - at our instigation as the agent was useless. We thought about renting but decided it was not worth it as we were told we could get only about £600/month, and would have to pay for landlord registration/landlord insurance/cover for boiler and appliances etc, and possibly risk having tenants who turned out to be a nightmare. All this time the house would need maintenance, and this during a very slow and uncertain housing market. All the time the house was on the market we were paying council tax, higher insurance (as ins. companies don't like unoccupied houses), utility bills, having to clean/maintain/do the garden/do viewings etc. We sold at £220k a couple of months ago and to be honest would have taken less as we were so relieved. It felt like a millstone. If interest rates are starting to go up then we would rather have that money to invest.
If you have good tenants though and are not in need of the capital tied up in that house, then I would rent for another 6 months and see how things are in the spring. This is not a good time of year anyway for selling

Have you managed to sell your house after all this time? I am in the same situation as you and have been browsing around for advice