I thought that even in this markett any property would sell if at thw right price.

[twinsetandpearls]

We have just phoned the estate agent to drop our price again to lower than we paid for it but I thought if that is what has to be done that is what we will do and just tighten our belts a bit further to save whatever we loose. {although the belt is pinching already.

We were advised to put the house on at 155 ( up north) we put it on at 145 to sell, we have dropped anad dropped and were at 129,500 and wanted to go down to 124.500.

The estate agent has done it but his parting words were
"Your house is worth more than that, we sold an identical one recently for 150K, you are pricing yourself too low for your target market and the problem, isnt the price but that no one wants to buy"

I am sure there is some truth in that as we know other people trying to sell who are not even getting viewings, we are getting those at least but the feedback is lovely house but we are unsure of buying or we need to sell ours.

So what do we do? Our savings have all gone, we tried renting it out but
1 it wont cover the mortgage anyway,
2 last time we did this we were rippped of big style and had top redecorate top repair the damage
3 The renting market is flooded
4All that means is delaying while prices drop further
5 we need to buy in a falling market as we are buying up.

Sorry - went out. I don't think you can make a house so cheap that people won't look at it and I don't think your agent is holding out for more commission - the drop by £5k would mean £50-£100 depending on his rate and, in estate agency, a high turnover rather than high commission is the thing that keeps things afloat. But I do agree that in some parts of the country, especially places such as your town which, iirc, is a big seaside resort and therefore very seasonal and dependent on a feelgood factor, the market is dead and there are very few people looking. I think lowering the price is the right way to go but it needs an oomph to get thingsmoving that might just not be there. I am really sorry.

Twinset, I can't remember whether you gave us a link to your house last time, could you do it again? (if you are feeling brave)

I really feel for you as you have started your new life and yet can't cut yourself from your old one

Is your house now empty of furniture of have you left some in?

There is some furniture in although my sister has absconded with some of it and apparantly has left the house in a tip meaning that our viewing today did not go well.

I think there is dining room table and chairs, book case in dining room, bookcases and coffee table in front room.

Dp is going back up to tidy the mess my sister left, mow the lawns and put some art work back on the walls.

Most people come to Blackpool for the summer do it to get pissed and shag strangers, I really do not want that going on in my house. My neighbours would have a fit if I started taking in stag parties

We have just got to tighten our belt further and sit it out.

The estate agent wants to keep it on at a higher price because he is thinking of his % commission.
He won't want to put your house on lower than what he is saying is the 'current value' as he thinks that will have all the buyers thinking thats the going rate and he's worried all his other vendors will mutiny if a low price for yours sets the price for the area.
If you have got to the point where you are thinking of cutting your losses then you can tell him to sell at whatever price you like.
Stick to your guns and tell them what price you want or that you will go elsewhere.

The viewing may not have gone well because of the mess but the thing to hold on to is that you reduced the price and immediately got a viewing. If your partner can go up there asap and tidy it up you may find a trickle of other viewings follow on from that one. I think Blackpool is one of those places reliant on a bit of sunshine and holiday atmosphere to do well - I imagine that it has been pretty down in the dumps over the past few months thanks to the winter weather and everyone scaling down weekends away and so on. You will sell this house.

Yes you are right lala we lowered the price and within an hour had a viewing.

I think you have a point flibberty as we do seem to be creating a mini price crash as we went on far lower than everyone else and people keep dropping to match us.

I've just looked up the old thread about your house and you said that two houses had sold on your street for £125k, therefore you are not creating a crash, you are falling into line with the market. Please don't think about losing equity, try to think in terms of moving on with your life and being able to save the money you are paying out on mortgage and running costs on a house that you no longer want (your mortgage interest payments alone probably mean that you will be better off in a few months' time even selling for £5k less than you would be holding out for more).

The ones that had sold for 125K were from memory right at the other end of the road where they do go cheaper, there was also one that was across the road that was just a shell that went cheap.

When we put ours on there were a few near us on at between 150K and 170K, they have fallen to match us. But I may be wrong it feels like we have been on the market forever. A few people have commented to use that we put our house on very low and others are falling. But maybe we were in more dire straits so needed to fall in line with a falling market quicker. Not that it matters.

I am not thinking too much about equity, I was but to be honest I just want the house gone. It has caused a huge fallout in the family and I hate being reliant on other people to keep an eye on it. If we sell it that is 700 we save every month that can go into savings to replace any money we may "loose" selling cheap.

Sorrento I just looked back at an old thread of mine, well about a month ago and you were saying how ridiculous it was for people to rent properties out as things were only going to get worse. The complete opposite fo what you are telling me on this thread, just goes to show that none of us really know anything.

If the price was TOO low, you'd have got a ton of interest and a bidding war.

At the start of the housing boom a friend of mine had been trying to sell her house, an ex council house in a really dire area, for 2 years with not one viewing.

It was on at the price that the estate agent thought suitable, £32k (doesn't that price seem ridiculous now!).

She and her husband were getting so stressed about it, they just wanted to MOVE. So I said one day, 'would you pay someone £5k to just take you away from that house?' Her answer was a huge YES. So I said well drop your price by £5k, you will have to pay an extra £5k on the house you buy, but you'll be out of there.

That night she was telling her husband that they were going to instruct the agent to drop the price by £5k, the babysitter heard her and bought the house within weeks.

They bought a nice semi a couple of miles away that peaked at £150 value last year while those ex council houses on her old estate still sell for peanuts, if at all.

I know its not your exact situation, but it just shows theres a lot to be said for cutting your losses to move on. Many people thought she was mad for dropping the price but she did so much better out of it in the long run.

Believe me I want to cut my losses and flee the north.

Twinset - Sorrento talk alot of rubbish on the property threads, IMO!

Put it on at offers in excess of 120K?

Lynett when she's sold the house then you can say I told you so.
I do think things will get worse but what do you want me say your house will end up going for £60k if you hang on much longer ?
The truth is I don't think you'll sell it for £100k because look at the local salaries in your local paper and times them by 3, that's what people can borrow, so that's actually what your house is worth if the truth be told.

I suggested that to dp noddyholder the estate agent has put it on at a fixed price, but I dont think there is a fixed price in this market.

Thanks Sorrento my house is not a first time buyers house so I dont quite think that works,

Looking at your house on the link, that's exactly what is I would say.
First time buyers at the moment are in their 30's and want to have babies, the days of 20 year olds buying a terrace or a 2 bed flat (for a £100k )and using the capital to jump up to a 3 bed semi are long gone, plus who ever buys it will have to have a £10k deposit and it needs money spending on it too.

I wish you the best of luck.

I think fist time properties are going for about £80K, I think our average wage is £17K. I am not sure at what rate estate agents lend but if both partners are working that is about 2.5X joint salary.

Twinset - people are having a nightmmare getting mortgages atm, and not just first time buyers. There are cash buyers out there though, and I'm a big beliver in if you throw enough mud at a wall some of it will stick, ie if you get enough viewers aound your house, someone will want to buy it eventually.

Take the fact that the agent couldn't do a viewing as a good sign - a fully booked agent is an agent doing lots of viewings, which s/he wouldn't be doing if there was no one looking to buy.

There has been a bounce in the market - wheather this is a "spring bounce" or not, only time will tell.

that your sister left it in a mess, that's really bad behaviour. If she were renting from a real landlord they would have retained her deposit adn used it to pay a professional cleaner to sort it out.

I remember your house from the other thread twinset. It's lovely and surely worth more than what the agent is suggesting. Sometimes it is a question of just waiting for a buyer to come along. I bought my house some years ago. I started looking in April and from seeing this house to moving in was 20 days. The house was on the market in December, sold beginning of January and then the buyer just messed the vendor around so much so that they put the house back on the market in April, which is when I saw it. I viewed the day it went back on the market, offered the same day, refused to be messed around by the pushy agent (I'd offered the asking price but she tried to push it up!). They were buying in London and desperate to sell. I was renting, had friends who did conveyancing and a bank manager that arranged my mortgage (I didn't think I'd find something I liked so quickly).

Lots of people start thinking about moving around Easter with a view to being moved in for the summer holidays so you might see a bit of an improvement. I think the market will pick up a bit with interest rates as they are and more money available to lenders.

I'd do some research, find out which estate agent in your area SELLs the most houses and go with them.

Your house isn't necessarily a first time buyer house at all and Sorrento is taking the doom mongering far too far in my opinion. If you leave buying a house until you are 30 and want a baby you will never be able to afford a semi in a nice area. It is completely untrue that no-one buys younger - I am 31 and we bought our first house when I was 23. What ^is" true is that young people have struggled a great deal over about the past 4 years.

But please look at the agent - it's worth paying more commission if you actually get a sale - round here there are two who have quite high levels of sales and one which has proportionately the highest. They are seen by people as the one who price the houses consistently to sell. The problem with keeping dropping with an agent who puts it on for what you want is that people think there is something wrong with it.