Anyone else finding it difficult to sell a larger family home?

[Pickleandwhizz]

Anyone struggling to sell their home, ok we have only been on a month and ive not moved for the last 15yrs. We are trying to downsize, we have a 5 bed detached in its own plot with double garage, brand new kitchen and boiler only fitted few days ago, log burner, its a 1980,s home so all the rooms are large, ive parking for 8 cars. Its was initially on for 425 but we reduced to 410, we are happy to take 395 for it but people who come love it yet they cant afford it, they want it for 375 but if i sold for that we couldnt buy what we want. Estate agents are saying people want something for nothing and its because they cant get a mortgage. Anyone else trying to sell?

Ah yes - I’ve found it too.

Things that stand out to me are the patterned artex ceilings and the garden would need a lot spending on it as few plants (also artificial grass I think which will put many people off). Fireplace is also very 70s and maybe not to everyone’s taste.

So it’s still a lot of work for someone to do.

Estate agents normally get a % of a sale price

as house prices have soared way above general inflation they have been doing rather well

they will absolutely not want house prices to decline steadily until they become more affordable for people without huge inheritances

they may be over pricing out of fear

How are you all finding the house! That's mad you can locate that based on the information here!

100%. What you need for your next purchase is of no concern to a potential buyer. Would it be the end of the world if you stayed put for a few years?

The OP has given quite a lot of info such as asking price, house age, location and parking for 8 cars which is quite specific!

Yes. I found it too. It just hadn't occurred. TBF to OP it is a very substantial plot and also is under the Zoopla estimate. None the less, would need modernising in parts and if it is a relatively low socio-economic area, this is going to be a hard one. Only people who want houses that size are families. Who probably as OP has said, don't have the cash given the area and it won't attract other types given location. No dig at OP. I live in a very similar type of area and a very similar but smaller house!

Sadly, I'm not young so do have some experience.
What is it they say, 'past performance is not indicative of future results.'
You might do well to not assume that everything will pick up in a couple of years. I'm pointing out that this is by no means certain.

Very easily on Rightmove. There was a lot of specific information which you can filter on.

That's another assumption. Perhaps property prices might collapse 20% in nominal terms in the next 2 years, more in real terms. If they stay the same, it's still a fall in real terms. I've seen lots of properties sat on the market for years. They keep slowly dropping their asking prices.

It’s been 18 years since interest rates fell, so the majority of people with mortgages have no memory of them being higher than they are now, and the rising interest rates are challenging budgets across the board. We have wage stagnation, the cost of work is significantly more than it ever has been in my memory, and mortgage companies are quite rightly very strict on affordability. People aren’t just stingy. There is a real limit to what they can pay. People who haven’t had any work done or made a major purchase like a kitchen in the last five years will have no idea of what sort of costs you’re looking at now - there are regular threads on here expressing shock at estimates received. It can cost £40 to do both with perfectly standard fittings.

We stretched ourselves for a large house as we have four children. It takes a lot of our income and we live too hand to mouth for comfort on what is objectively a healthy salary. We can’t afford any luxury spending, eg clothes are mostly off Vinted, holidays are UK, cars are being driven till they drop, and our savings aren’t adequate, and I don’t blame anyone who wants to retain some of the things that make life more fun and life in a smaller house - I frequently feel we made a mistake. I suspect our house will be very difficult to sell so we are throwing everything we have to pay off the mortgage when we retire so we can live in it rather than have to sell. We won’t have any inheritance to rely on to pay anything off.

My sympathy for people who have decided their large house MUST be worth an amount and younger people are simply unrealistic or mean with money is limited.

In a rising market you will sell high and buy high. In a falling market, the opposite is true and I don’t understand why people can’t see that you may have to sell at a lower price than you wanted, but you will also buy at a lower price.

It really is a time of flux in the property market. Near where we used to live, on an estate of mixed houses, there are two identical houses on the same street for different prices. The one in the better position is asking less than the one in a worse position. They are both three bed houses with small gardens, but are detached. A little way away, is a semi with four bedrooms in a quiet cul de sac. It’s far better presented than either of the others, but advertised at 10K less. I know which I’d look at.

New-build sales in London were down 60% recently.

Wish ours was flying off the market!! 6 months and one offer and they can't sell.
Reduced it and still waiting

Exactly - there is no set price really and it’s all to do with how much a buyer is willing to pay.

I found this similar property near the OP, priced at £375K (the price they refused
to sell at).
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/174628991?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

Are they reducing their price? That is how the market will be made to work again, everyone reducing their price to what buyers can afford.

There do seem to be a lot of properties for sale in that area.

It'll be location and price that will be putting people off. Which doesn't matter if the OP isn't too bothered about moving

Traffic on the A470 is a nightmare at peak times, Pontypridd seems to be doing better now the trains have been upgraded and increased.

The monthly mortgage payments are nearly 2k a month, at still historically very low interest rates, and that is with a nearly 40k deposit over 30 years, you can buy a flat in some places for 40k! Sorry, this is way way over-priced.

What is the point of advertising a house for sale if you are not bothered about moving?

Good post, very honest, and I agree with the last sentence, people that greedy and stupid deserve all that is coming if house prices properly correct as they need to.

Sometimes people do it to see how much interest there is and then only move if they can attract the price they think it's worth, especially if they have their eye on a location like retiring to the seaside where prices are naturally higher.

Sounds like something you might have managed to do previously but not now in this market, kite flyers used to snag the odd person who "fell in love with the house" and was prepared to over-pay?

Still cheaper than the OPs at £410k. Says on RightMove that the OP house was last sold in 2011 for £220K.

In that case I don"t think the OP"s price will be taken seriously by any buyers.

This has been a fascinating read. All rules are irrelevant in today's property market. The house I want to sell is bigger and more expensive than the market can easily afford, and the jobs that pay for such mortgages are harder to come by. We bought our house in early 1997, for a price anyone under 40 would consider nearly free. (Less than half the cost of the 2 up 2 down terraced house our DC is buying now) But we bought it from the builder who built it for himself who had run out of money and options in 1992, and was forced to sell by the bank. We have spent a lot of money on maintenance and upgrades in 29 years, probably £5k every single year overall, so it is It is a difficult house for an estate agent to value. Neither of our neighbours is going to sell in the next ten years, so our house will be one of very few options.

We are relocating to an area closer to friends and family. Crucially, our DC is buying a house there before they can move to it, so we shall use it as a stepping stone. We'll live in their house while we sell and house hunt. Our relocation project moves us 200 miles away from where we've lived for 30 years.

Things are selling op and big houses too At on for more than yours.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/164901959#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/173895335#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/172510247#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/172510247#/?channel=RES_BUY

ao it’s not they don’t have the money and big houses don’t sell, as you can clearly see they do. All around you they are selling