House won't sell - desperate

[louby44]

Hello, so after a relationship split in Dec desperate to sell the house. I have all the equity and am giving him £5k as a good will gesture as he has contributed to the mortgage etc over the 5 years we've lived here, once debts etc are paid off there will nothing left. We won't have made anything on it and the £5k is coming out of my lump of equity.

House in north staffs, new 5 years ago. On a good estate in a lovely area. 5 beds, 3 bathrooms, 3 storey, modern, very large garden/decked area, south facing garden, modern, well decorated and presented.

Have dropped the price to what we paid for it. Exp wanted it on at £25k more when it first went up for sale in January. So price is realistic.

I've had 4 interested parties, 1 of which viewed twice and another who made an offer under the stamp duty threshold.

I just can't understand it. I have little money and need to move on and buy my own place. It's on Right Move and I've had an open house, estate agents are good, I've agreed to rent if someone wants to move fast.

Help!!

Thanks everyone.

If I lower the price I'm looking at a massive hit on my equity. £30k is a lot!!! From £280k to £250k.

I'm going to get the estate agents to come and take some better pictures. I'm paying them enough after all!

Is there any alternative to selling?

Renting out rooms or dividing part into a self-contained flat or annexe? Renting it out for the price of the mortgage and living in cheaper rented elsewhere?

can you afford the mortgage if you extend it, ask about interest free or whatever?

It's a big hit to take all to be able to give him £5k....

In my experience 'offers over' puts people off rather than if you just had an asking price

If you only need to give your ex 5k could you do that without selling and stay put?

I agree with what everyone else has said about the pictures.
Also, I would try a different estate agents, maybe Whittaker and Biggs or butters john bee? Check to see if you have to pay any fees if you take it off the market with RR first, sometimes they have a minimum selling time.

Oh, forgot to mention, the lights are on in the photos - it could give the impression of a "dark" house, if you know what I mean.

Don't want to live here so no option but to sell. Want all links with ex gone, want to move back to my village 11 miles away where parents/friends are, plus closer to work/school.

So, my plan for tomorrow is to ring the estate agents and get them to:

• remove the open house details
• remove offers in excess of and just leave at £280k
• get them to take new photo's, particularly of living room, front aspect & garden

Will look at HATCHED.

Thanks everyone. Feel so much better doing something

We are also in Staffordshire (but further south). We live on a new-ish estate too, and some of the houses similar to yours have been quite slow to move, although things seem to be picking up again now.

Obviously, the stamp duty threshold will be an issue for some Buyers - especially if other (albeit not quite so nice) five bed detached houses are available in virtually the same area for just under the £250k.

Now, if you could move it down the road to Lichfield, it'd sell within the hour at that price . Unhelpful, I know.

Good luck.

Just had a look as this will be the size/budget of the next house we buy. I don't know the location so can't comment on price but a few suggestions;

repaint into a neutral decor. Particularly the lime green bathroom.

Remove the desk from the landing and replace with armchair or sofa.

The childrens bedroom photos don't do the room justice.

get some flowers around the garden and make more of the features.

Sorry I think it's overpriced too. I know it must really hurt selling for less than you paid but property is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. There are loads of 5-bedroom properties available in the general region for way less than your asking price - I don't know anything about the areas in question but if I was moving to the area I would be much more likely to consider one of these before viewing yours. Second-hand newbuilds do tend to drop in price even if there hasn't been a market crash. The Zoopla estimate of value for this size of house on this road is about £270k so I'm not sure even £275k is going to be that attractive. I know you like your house and think it's got advantages over other houses nearby but buyers aren't going to be swayed so much as to hand over several thousand more in cash. tbh I think the right price is nearer £265k, but perhaps you might have more joy if you put it on for £270k and add a sweetener that you will give the buyer a £5k contribution towards Stamp Duty on completion.

I think you are being unrealistic to price it / refuse to price it based on what you want/need to buy your next property. That is not the buyers problem. I hate being harsh over someone's home but if we are getting down to the nitty gritty in this context, you are asking for the same new build premium that you paid for a brand new house. Buyers in that market will look at 'proper' new builds.

If I was being fussy based on your pricing, the kitchen and bathroom look dated already, the tiles in the bathroom especially, nothing at all wrong or offensive about these rooms but in this context buyers can get the 'latest' look/ brand new kitchen in a house and pay their own applicable premium for a 'proper' new build, buyers will know what you paid and yet already for some, your house will require some TLC and work, their decor choice is obviously not your problem but it can become your problem when they could buy brand new to the latest spec for less/same. I really think you are being unrealistic and I am sorry to say that and sound mean :(

It takes years for a new build to stop losing money, they are not the property to make a profit on in 4 years.

There's no big mystery here op.
It's too expensive. The price isn't realistic in today's market.
I'm sorry.
I know that's not what you want to hear.
My sis and bil are in a very similar house to yours and ATM they would be lucky to get £250k for it.
And our area (east mids) is quite buoyant atm
Fact is if you drop the price to £250k it would probably sell within a week.

The thing is, you say you "need the equity for your new place," but, to be brutally honest, there will be no "new place" unless you sell this one - and it doesn't look like you will be selling this one unless you drop the price.

Your house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it op.
Harsh, but true.
Take a hit and get on with your life is my advice.

That said, we are in the Home Counties and prices are going crazy around here at the moment. We're back to bidding wars, open days and sealed bids. I wonder how long that will take to seep Northwards.
Can you wait a bit?

Hi,
I don't know if you would be able to consider paying the buyers stamp duty. This would mean that you'd loose around 8k but it may make the buyers more likely to choose yours and pay nearer what you want . This is what happened with the house we brought - it was great because although the bank would lend us money for the mortgage this was only for the price of the house so the rest had to come out of our equity (which wasn't much!) so we could pay more for the house. Your solicitor would just need to put something in the contract.
Good luck with it all - I know how hard it all is.

If you are changing the photos:
Can you get one of the decking in the sun, not the shade, and also not showing that next door have got a conservatory and you haven't.
Is the bath very small or is it a bad photo?

I would certainly ask the agent to update the photos to show the house in summer. At the moment, the photos look a bit wintery-dull. I didn't feel that the photos flowed very well either - bedroom 2 looks to be small whereas bedroom 4 looks spacious. Whilst I get annoyed with photos which make rooms look so much bigger than they clearly are, your photos seem to make the house looked cramped, which I'm sure it can't be.

The main photo of the house, with the house at the back peeking over the garage roof suggests overlooking - maybe another photo at a more flattering angle might encourage interest. I was also surprised how few photos there were for such a large house - I would have expected to have seen some of the rooms from a dual aspect and I didn't quite get the landing photo either.

Perhaps its time to review the photos and the price slightly and look at appointing another agent instead of, or to work alongside, your existing one.

Good luck!

Why don't you offer to pay the stamp duty?

I could but then I would take an £8k hit, easier to just lower the price! I have discussed borrowing the money off my parents, so could be an option.

Photo's need to be updated I agree.

Bath is in a recessed area and is really nice. Landing area with desk/computer is large and I've had loads of positive comments about what a good family friendly space it is, area for kids doing homework etc that parents can keep an eye on!

Our third floor has a large bedroom and smaller bedroom. The house flows really well and is very light.

I agree re. paying the stamp duty. It was that offer that got us through the door of the house we ended up buying.

Louby I'm afraid you are going to get lots of bids around £250 as you are not far enough over the threshold to make people want to pay the extra stamp duty.

But taking a hit of £8k if it gets you an offer of £275 has got to be worth considering.

In the end it is only worth whatever someone will pay, be that 250k or 280k. Likelihood is anyone offering over 250 will try to get it down over survey etc. I fear you are going to have to accept less if you really need to move and just have to hope you can negotiate on your next move. At least you aren't in negative equity.