How can I sell this f*cking house

[Instawars]

due to a relationship breakdown I need to sell my house. I am still living with ex and it’s absolutely hellish. The house has been on the market for 6 months and nothing in our area is moving.
ive spoke to the estate agent and they’ve said it’s not the price “the market is just slow”. We own as tenants in common so because the estate agent keeps saying it’s not the price I can’t get my ex to sell it at well below market rate to entice a buyer that way.
I am at the end of my tether and don’t know what to do. If I look on right move there are 25 properties listed in our area and only one is under offer- some have been on the market 9 months or more.

Could you buy him out, perhaps by letting any spare rooms? Might be worth talking to a mortgage broker. Then you could sell if its not working out

What type of property is it?
has the estate agent done any price reductions at all?
what sort of estate agent is it? (hopefully not an online one!)

If you post a link hundreds of people will post saying stuff like the photos are too cluttered and paint the walls blue.

But the reality is it is the price. It's always the price. Lower the price enough and someone will buy it.

Sounds like your ex is being awkward regarding the price just to make it difficult to sell perhaps to keep you there in misery longer. Call his bluff, tell him if he does not agree to a price change you are going to be forced to move out. Let him worry about the bills himself!
Try to get your EA online also by getting them to suggest a small decrease in price to sell it a bit quicker, ask for feedback on any viewings too, to see if there is anything in particular putting off offers.

can you put it in auction? much quicker to shift.

I think unfortunately if you had no interest six months ago it was already overpriced then and will be more so now in a falling market. If you're selling with a difficult person who refuses to drop the price I'm not sure what to suggest but I feel for you being in a difficult position.

Both you and your ex need to understand that this is the beginning of a very bad time for the property market which will probably take several years to change. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Potential buyers are far more risk averse than in the recent past and nobody wants to catch a falling knife. Reduce the price and get shot.

the estate agent keeps saying it’s not the price

It's always the price.

Make it cheap enough and someone will buy it.

If the price is right it will sell , house prices are falling at the moment though .
Anyone looking to buy will be wary of that and hold off till things level out again unless they are looking to move asap

Have you considered going to auction?

The sooner you sell, the better the price you will get.
Go to auction.
The auction hammer price is the market price. No ifs or buts.

Sympathise OP, I’m in a similar situation, although am not living there so I can only imagine the additional stress and pressure that brings. I am renting with the children and he is still in the family home as he wouldn’t move out. Viewings have dried up now and he is being pig headed about not reducing when that’s clearly what we need to do. Am so worried about being stuck in this position indefinitely. I am very financially dependent on him to help me pay my rent and that also eats up all the maintenance whereas when I’m able to get money out of the house I’ll be able to use maintenance for day to day living and the kids. The rental isn’t too bad and I know I’m lucky to have it but it’s tiny compared to the house he’s in by himself and was only meant to be a 6 month temporary measure.

Price is important! We sold ours in 2 days a few weeks ago. We went a little below valuation to drum interest and ended up with multiple offers and ended up taking nearly 20K over top valuation.

We did this as we followed what was happening in our local market and could see housing having to reduce and reduce and been on for ages.

I personally do what others have said and rent it for a while and then put it back on in a year priced to sell fast.

As I’ve been told many times something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it so it has to be the prices that make the market slow. If you sell, take a loss you can then effectively get that back if you can then buy a property you might normally be able to afford when the market is higher.

@OlivejuiceU2 you did it perfectly for a falling market. I think that houses that are overpriced and sit for ages being reduced probably wind up selling for less than if they were just priced competitively in the first place, plus the additional delays, stress and hassle factors.

A friend had me look over their house as it wasn’t selling, we got rid of a million plants everywhere , put light bulbs in a display cabinet to brighten a dark room, took down lots of old fashioned frills in their lovely bathroom, which instantly made it bigger and brighter. tidied the garden, and added bedding plants.
We generally did the things that you just don’t see yourself when you live in a property.
Their house was all newly painted, that’s always worth updating if you haven’t

Tell him the price needs to drop until it sells, or you are moving out anyway, and you will be charging him rent, equal to the cost of your share the mortgage, which he will then be responsible for paying on his own.

And do it. Just leave. Rent somewhere else. He equally responsible for the mortgage and if you dont live there then he will have to cover it. Hopefully the threat will be enough for him to agree to lower the price.

Price is always everything other than in the case of very niche houses like e.g. one that's in a very remote area or is itself very unusual somehow. Chances are that if you reduce the price to one that's say 5% less than similar properties in your area, you'll likely get an offer that week. If you reduce the price by 10% you'll likely get an offer that day.

or you are moving out anyway, and you will be charging him rent, equal to the cost of your share the mortgage, which he will then be responsible for paying on his own.

Is this legally enforceable?

I would imagine it's because interest rates are so high. You would do better to rent it out and split the income by how much shares you have in property. It would get you out of the hellish situation and allow you to move on. You would need to tell your mortgage provider though.

Can you tell us anything about layout, size style space? We might be able to suggest some things to make it more saleable.

Thinks we did to our house that made it more appealing to buyers because it was snapped up instantly at the top price were.

Cheap quick fixes: Paint it all light neutral colours, get some new carpets / flooring. Paint the kitchen if it's dated. Go to matalan or dunelm and dress it with some of the homewares. Change furniture if anything is oversized and looks cramped. Create some nice outdoor seating areas in sunny spots with a cheap bistro table.

Medium cost: Add lots of storage, even if it's just ikea Kallax. Convert a cupboard into a utility space. Add a downstairs loo. Converted a garage into an entrance if your front door goes straight into your living room.

Expensive : New conservatory roof, decent wood or tiled floors. Extended the driveway. Large garden deck. Woodburner or other focal point.

My dsis is in a similar postion had 3 viewings none made an offer ive told her its the price but neither want to lower it

i said its not worth the mental toture of having a few thousand pounds more

It's the price. It's always the price.

OP If you are that close to negative equity then how much could you realistically drop the price?

I use a widget called PropertyTracker, via Chrome, that tracks RM asking prices. I haven't looked at it for a couple of months. I spent some time using it this afternoon. Many have dropped their asking price by between 5-8%. A couple by 10-12% and one a whopping 21.5%! This is across one city (south East), and 4 villages (West Midlands and Lancashire).

These houses are across the price range board so not just those at the top to bottom ends.