Putting house on market, tier 3

[dancingqueen345]

Just canvassing opinion really...

I own a lovely 2 bed property in a good area, bought 3 years ago and have since done a bit of work to it. It's now at the top of its 'house' value I would say, although the area is getting better so will probably have a bit further to go with the market. (Just for background).

Similar properties to mine have been flying, selling within a week for over asking price, and it got me thinking (in August) about moving somewhere else to have another project house to work on.

Anyway, because I'm over cautious, didn't want to be in the position of having sold but not found anywhere else I like, and just all round seem to miss every boat there is 🙃 I haven't done anything about it until yesterday, when I found the perfect property to buy and instructed an agent to come value mine on the strength of it.

Then my area got put into a Tier 3 lockdown...

Am I daft to try and sell right now? I really don't want to put it on the market and it just sit there for months because people aren't buying. Or are people always buying? Does Tier 3 really make any difference?

I'm in no rush really, the house values we're talking about mean that whilst the SDLT holiday is nice, it's not playing a role in wanting/needing to sell before then.

Any pearls of wisdom welcome!

You sound like you are in the same position as me, not in a rush to sell but would like a new project. We did the same saw one we liked so instructed on ours the next day but it had already been snapped up by the time mine went on the market, this was 2 weeks ago.

I've not had any interest in mine, although we did price it at the higher end as we are not in a rush to sell.

I just thought I will see what happens as another one i fancy might come up and i would likely miss out again.

Maybe just put it up and see what happens, the market has definitely slowed down tho and I am in tier 3 too!

The market has gone a bit dead by us both coming on and people viewing but the odd one is still selling. If yours is very saleable - good condition with decent sized garden it may be worth going on.

I think Tier 3 may only affect things if people from another Tier 3 are your target market as people aren't supposed to leave. So say you are in Tier 3 area B and target market is people living in Tier 3 area A there could be a problem as they can't get to you.

@Icantfindausername it all comes down to timing and a bit of luck doesn't it!!

That's the thing, I've seen this one that I really like but what's to say it'll still be on the market by the time mine actually gets on the market and viewings start (assuming there's interest), and then if it's not, will I still want to sell... you understand the circular predicament 😂 it's just so chicken and egg

@KoalaRabbit that's a really interesting point about where your buyers are coming from, hadn't considered that. But I think I'm okay there, I'd expect my buyers to be fairly local anyway

I'm only Tier 1, but we've been told unless we have an offer on our house, we can't view houses due to Covid rules. And places are shifting stupidly quickly. So you'd do well to put yours on ASAP so you can get an offer and then view.

Or be prepared to lie 😂

@PrincessWatermelon yeah I'd heard that too, but when I mentioned it to the EA they said it was up to the vendor as to whether they required yours to be sold before allowing a viewing!

The one I like are letting me view on Friday before I've even had mine valued!

Well that's good news. I got thrown, as one agent said I had to have a complete chain - so not just an offer on mine, but they had to have buyers who were ready to go and them as well! Seems a very strict and difficult way to go about things.

I think it depends on how the market is where you are. We put ours on the market in August and things were busy and it sold within a few weeks. We're watching now and houses are being reduced in price and languishing for ages. There's less stuff going on, less stuff moving and it all seems to be slowing a bit. On one hand this might mean the house you've seen is an option and won't be snapped up immediately, but it might also mean it takes a while for you to sell.

From what I understand though, tier three isn't supposed to impact house sales, and as a buyer I'd be happy to view still with mask / hand sanitiser aplenty.

We are tier 3, but sold our house a couple of months back.

It was an experience to say the least, completion is taking longer due to searches/surveys taking longer.

Solicitors are frustrating as they are all working from home and rarely answer calls.

We should be done by next week, but it has been hardwork to get it sorted this "quick".

Also, our estate agents took 360 photos, so people could do virtual tours.

We did have people in to view but only ones who were interested and wanted to put offers in.

Masks were worn and I followed around with a can of dettol

Worth a try; you might find a buyer without much of a chain. You need not to mind about EAs, photographers, surveyors etc trooping through, as well as potential buyers. If it doesn't go quickly, perhaps whip it off again fast (checking how long it needs to be off to qualify as a new listing on Right Move?).