wondering what to sell our house at

[FCEK]

We've been staying in this house (our first house) for 9 years now. Its a small 2 bed semi. We have a 5 year old and we really need to move into something bigger (ideally detached) because we need more space for DD and for DH who works from home.

We need to sell it at a good price so we get enough of a deposit for the kind of house we have in mind.

I'd like to sell it for about 110,000 min to get the right kind of deposit. An estate agent friend of my father's said we could get that also. we bought it for 107,500, more than we should have paid we think but we were inexperienced first time buyers. DH doubts we'll get what we paid for it and thinks we'll make a loss :(

I've tried to look at other houses in this estate to get an idea of what we could get for this. The problem is that prices are really varying. By about £20,000 for similar houses on the market. Same for houses that have sold over the past few years - the sold prices vary.

There's a house similar to ours for sale at £102,000. It doesn't have a conservatory (we do) or a south facing garden with a view over two rivers (we do). Yet another similar house has a similar garden but no conservatory and is on for £113,000. So prices vary and I'm stuck as to what we could possibly get. I'm just worrying really that we put it on for too much, or too little.

If anyone wants a nosey at my house, my neighbour bought there's for 110,000 6 years ago and its still on the rightmove 'sold house prices' list. Its identical in size, view, conservatory. The interior isn't as nice but I can PM a picture to give you an idea if anyone is interested. It would be good to get some feedback as to what its value could be. I don't want to out myself by posting on here.

Oh I should say that in about 2008 another agent valued our house at 120,000 but I think that's too high!

I'm pretty clueless about selling houses as this would be the first one we've sold. I want to sell quickly for the best price possible (don't we all?) but so many houses here are sitting on the market for ages. I can't remember the last house in this estate that sold quickly :(

Anyway, any feedback/tips etc would be welcomed.

Get 4 estate agents round to value your property. Most people then look at their figures and select the middle-ish value.

Get 4 estate agents areound I agree. If prices are back to their 2007 levels, you could ask 2020. Why not start there anyway to test the market for a month or two, then lower it to 1015?

I agree, you need to get some agents round. I had 5 come and their prices varied, we went with the one who we felt gave us the best information about how we could best exploit the current market. It was really useful to get all of their opinions and question them on their local knowledge.

I think if you are thinking of selling in a market where things are not moving quickly, you need to be look at it in terms of value for money. If you put it on at a higher price than next door then you need to be able to justify why. Is it well presented or is there things that need doing? Is it worth spending a few hundred quid on getting it up to show home standard, or is the market flooded with properties like that?

These are all things that a good agent will be able to advise you on.

I reckon as people make cheeky offers they won't care if you put it on at realistic or madly optimistic. To get their attention you need to first lure them in. Views are lovely but are you overlooked? How old is the kitchen and bathroom suite, do you have insulation, do you have pets, what do you have or not that the other places haven't? Play up the conservatory as that is the major thing your competition lacks - get some cracking photos. How long has your neighbour had theirs on for? Your garden probably looks better now than 5 weeks' ago, your photos will look pleasing.

If someone makes us a good offer we kick ourselves for not trying for slightly higher but then they might not be drawn to it in the first place.

I would go for £112.5K. That's between both the other houses. They'll think oh they ask less than £113 but we'd get a conservatory.

thanks for all the tips. Yes we'll be getting several estate agents in and tidying up the house a bit and hopefully have it on the market by August.

No we aren't overlooked, we are on a hill and whilst there are houses behind us, they are further down iykwim?

Kitchen is the original kitchen, but we got new tiles when we moved in 9 years ago and new work surfaces also. Bathroom was replaced 9 years ago (was a horrible pink one before). We have insulation. No pets. DH is a photographer, wonder if we'd be able to take our own photos for EA to use?

Yeah you can use your own photos, my sister redid hers herself after the ones the EA did were so awful.

Definitely use your own photos especially if you need to catch a lovely sunny day for that important exterior shot. Like Chunkamatic said look at the competition, think how your place measures up to the next.

I asked friends recently, their advice was:
Not everyone's a gardener but at least make sure your house has 'kerb appeal' nice and tidy.
Anything piled up, anything stacked up, lose or re-distribute. People don't want to see clutter and think they're being asked to pay for less space than they have at present. Even down-sizers don't want storage problems.
Sparkling windows, fresh air circulating beforehand so no fustiness.

No curry or fish pie the night before people look round.