House purchase - how to raise funds?
Discussion
Me and wifey have had our eyes on a newbuild property for a few months now, unfortunately our house isnt budging despite lowering the asking price from its already reasonable asking price. One viewing in four months!
(reasonable meaning lower than identical properties in the same area)
No point in being shy, here goes -
Current house value = £185,000
Equity = £115,000
Newbuild property = £250,000
The newbuild owner isnt interested in part exchange.
We dont really want to go any lower on our asking price (we dont want to give it away)
Dont really want to go down the 'buy to let' road.
Bridging loans dont seem to be available.
DONT want to sell the lotus!
Should we swap estate agents?
If the newbuild sells were going to kick ourselves for not trying hard enough. Any suggestions as to what to do next?
>> Edited by Dico on Tuesday 3rd January 17:45
(reasonable meaning lower than identical properties in the same area)
No point in being shy, here goes -
Current house value = £185,000
Equity = £115,000
Newbuild property = £250,000
The newbuild owner isnt interested in part exchange.
We dont really want to go any lower on our asking price (we dont want to give it away)
Dont really want to go down the 'buy to let' road.
Bridging loans dont seem to be available.
DONT want to sell the lotus!
Should we swap estate agents?
If the newbuild sells were going to kick ourselves for not trying hard enough. Any suggestions as to what to do next?
>> Edited by Dico on Tuesday 3rd January 17:45
Dico said:
Should we swap estate agents?
Yes you should change agents! Look around your area for the Agent with the most boards up, look on websites such as rightmove or findaproperty and also see who has the most places up for sale in your area.
Then go for that one.
Thats what we did, the first 2 agents where pants compared to the one with the most boards etc... ie: Our second agent we had 4 viewings in 4 weeks :thumbdown: the agent we sold through we had 2 viewings the day we went on with them and another 7 the following week and so it continued until we SOLD after only 3 weeks of being with them.
It work for us, so no reason it can't work for you.
Been in our new house now just over a month and loving it.
trevorw said:
Should we swap estate agents?
Yes you should change agents! Look around your area for the Agent with the most boards up, look on websites such as rightmove or findaproperty and also see who has the most places up for sale in your area.
Then go for that one.
Thats what we did, the first 2 agents where pants compared to the one with the most boards etc... ie: Our second agent we had 4 viewings in 4 weeks :thumbdown: the agent we sold through we had 2 viewings the day we went on with them and another 7 the following week and so it continued until we SOLD after only 3 weeks of being with them.
It work for us, so no reason it can't work for you.
Been in our new house now just over a month and loving it.
definitely change agents, mystery shop a few in your area (try mystery shopping your own agent with a friend who will report back to you) to see how friendly/proactive/knowledgeable they are and make a decision on who you prefer. I suggest finding another agent and going multi agency on your house with the existing agent - this is guaranteed to make both agents work their balls off to sell it as commission is paid on a winner takes all basis
ps yes i'm in the industry
Dico said:
Bridging loans dont seem to be available.
Avoid bridging loans at all costs
unless really necessary...........
They nearly all end in tears, mainly because the first property sticks, (sometime for years) leaving massive monthly repayments, which are unsustainable in the long term.
Thanks for the replies chaps.
With the bridging loan i was thinking that maybe if we borrowed another £10,000 then this would cover additional payments until the first property was sold. Probably make more sense to reduce the first property by (another!)£10,000 i know, but i'm gambling on first property selling before 10k runs out. (mad as a hatter or what?)
Didnt know you could multi agency, Interesting, will investigate further.
Whose sign would you have outside?
BTW the newbuild is actually built so the first reply wont be of use. Thanks anyway.
Oh, clutter - yep guilty i'm afraid, but with a 18 month old son and a live in father in law its not easy.
How the first one came about whilst living under the roof of the second one i'll never know! (one of the reasons for moving)
With the bridging loan i was thinking that maybe if we borrowed another £10,000 then this would cover additional payments until the first property was sold. Probably make more sense to reduce the first property by (another!)£10,000 i know, but i'm gambling on first property selling before 10k runs out. (mad as a hatter or what?)
Didnt know you could multi agency, Interesting, will investigate further.
Whose sign would you have outside?
BTW the newbuild is actually built so the first reply wont be of use. Thanks anyway.
Oh, clutter - yep guilty i'm afraid, but with a 18 month old son and a live in father in law its not easy.
How the first one came about whilst living under the roof of the second one i'll never know! (one of the reasons for moving)
Dico said:
Didnt know you could multi agency, Interesting, will investigate further.
Whose sign would you have outside?
dead easy, you have a sign for each of the agencies competing to sell your property.
multi deals can be done with two three or more estate agents, you might have trouble getting more than three agents to compete for winner takes all without committing to a large fee though to make it worth their while ie 3.5%
all you need to do is find another agent you'd like to jointly market the property with and let them know you're intending to stay with the existing agent, as long as you're out of the binding part of your contract with the existing agent (typically 16 weeks) you can renegotiate it at your leisure.
Why aren't you putting in a lower offer to the new build? If the market is slowing, which it is, then the fact that you're having trouble selling your place, also implies the developer will be having trouble selling their places.
Everyone else wanting to buy a new build will be in the same boat as you i.e. unable to sell there existing properties....... that's why the developer doesn't want part ex, he knows he'd be stuck with a hard to sell second hand property.
You may have to lower your asking price further, but in turn the developer is going to have to accept even less for his new houses as ther market slows. Remember he has financing costs to cover whilst those houses sit empty.
Everyone else wanting to buy a new build will be in the same boat as you i.e. unable to sell there existing properties....... that's why the developer doesn't want part ex, he knows he'd be stuck with a hard to sell second hand property.
You may have to lower your asking price further, but in turn the developer is going to have to accept even less for his new houses as ther market slows. Remember he has financing costs to cover whilst those houses sit empty.
my advice is don't do p/x - you will always be worse off than if you sell privately, plus you should get a nice discount on the new build if you are under offer, so concentrate on getting yours sold for as much as you can - this may even involve spending some £££ on your existing home. 4 viewings is not alot - don't give up - i've never had less than 20 viewings on any property i've sold! have you had any feedback from the potential buyers/timewasters?
get some useful advice on what you can do to sell your home (make the agent work for you) - if you need to spent £10k and it gets sold for £10k more then it's worth it - not everyone is into DIY. it will put them off more than you think.
Your estate agent needs a rocket up their backside pretty sharpish. First of all, demand some kind of feedback from them re viewings - any agent worth their salt and wishing to actuallt EARN their fee, will hassle like hell people who have viewed your property for feedback which they then pass onto you ... no, the 1982 Cavalier in the front garden with a wing missing didn't help sell the property - that kinda thing.
Also, what's their fee in per cent terms - not more than 1.75 I hope - which they'd probably ask as a sole agent - can double if you get more than one agent involved.
As others have said, keep your eyes peeled and note who has the most boards up in the local area - then invite them round (after your contract has run out) which ought to be soon.
My mum sold her house in four days cos the agent had someone on their books who wanted a bungalow in that area - the jammy sods got their percentage for basically doing nowt. But that's the game - they sold the house very quick so no one could complain really - in fact they did their job very well.
I remember phoning the bloke to tell him we were going to put it on with him and he nearly had an orgasm over the phone he was that delighted.
Baby and father-in-law in the house also - well done mate!
Also, what's their fee in per cent terms - not more than 1.75 I hope - which they'd probably ask as a sole agent - can double if you get more than one agent involved.
As others have said, keep your eyes peeled and note who has the most boards up in the local area - then invite them round (after your contract has run out) which ought to be soon.
My mum sold her house in four days cos the agent had someone on their books who wanted a bungalow in that area - the jammy sods got their percentage for basically doing nowt. But that's the game - they sold the house very quick so no one could complain really - in fact they did their job very well.
I remember phoning the bloke to tell him we were going to put it on with him and he nearly had an orgasm over the phone he was that delighted.
Baby and father-in-law in the house also - well done mate!
Axeman30 said:
Why aren't you putting in a lower offer to the new build? If the market is slowing, which it is...
the market definitely is not slowing, it has slowed but is now picking up again. data received from the four measurements of house prices show increases in most areas across the country with double figure rises still happening in scotland and northern england, and london is picking up again (london tends to lead the cycle).
across the 370 offices my company has we have registered on average 6000 more applicants who are new to the market per week in 2005 than in 2004 , many of them FTB's which is a key indicator of market activity
fido said:
my advice is don't do p/x - you will always be worse off than if you sell privately, plus you should get a nice discount on the new build if you are under offer, so concentrate on getting yours sold for as much as you can - this may even involve spending some £££ on your existing home. 4 viewings is not alot - don't give up - i've never had less than 20 viewings on any property i've sold! have you had any feedback from the potential buyers/timewasters?
get some useful advice on what you can do to sell your home (make the agent work for you) - if you need to spent £10k and it gets sold for £10k more then it's worth it - not everyone is into DIY. it will put them off more than you think.
good advice, P/X is a bad move as the developer will only take it on if they can shift it quickly and still make a profit ie you will get shafted on their offer for it..it's only good if the offer you've had accepted on the new build is a stunningly good discount (usually last few propertied in a development or end of year).
your agent should be embarrassed they have only provided 4 viewings for you, you ought to have received vendor care feedback after every viewing along with weekly advice on the state of the market, also after 2 months I would expect the agents to offer a 'caravan' (no idea why it's known as this btw) which is when a negotiator or two will come out to your property and meet you to look around the property and discuss with you potential ways to make your property more saleable. every negotiator should be familiar with every property on the books.
sound to me like you've got a crap agent
if it hasnt sold its overpriced.
Who valued it? did the agent value it or did you tell the agent what you wanted?
Clean and tidy or a mess? Cheap and cheerful agent or paying a fair commission rate?
Certaninly get multi agency, and ask for a price they are confident it will sell at, not an inflated price.
Who valued it? did the agent value it or did you tell the agent what you wanted?
Clean and tidy or a mess? Cheap and cheerful agent or paying a fair commission rate?
Certaninly get multi agency, and ask for a price they are confident it will sell at, not an inflated price.
Definitely need to de-clutter. When I sold my house I went to all the agents as a buyer to see what the service was like. Then had a shortlist and got 3 around to value the house. One totally overpriced it, no thanks, one I decided I didn;t like, and one valued it at around the price I was expecting.
I then redecorated a couple of rooms painting them pale cream, and put a new cheap carpet £150 worth) on stairs, landing and one bedroom.
Went back to the agent I had chosen, at a price £5,000 above his recomendation. 4 viewings with 48 hours, wasn;t even in the paper, 2 people had 2 viewings, one offered asking price within the 48 period. Job done! Only snag was the difficultly in then finding a house to buy and finally exchanged 6 months later!
Is the house currently on RightMove as a lot of people look there?
I then redecorated a couple of rooms painting them pale cream, and put a new cheap carpet £150 worth) on stairs, landing and one bedroom.
Went back to the agent I had chosen, at a price £5,000 above his recomendation. 4 viewings with 48 hours, wasn;t even in the paper, 2 people had 2 viewings, one offered asking price within the 48 period. Job done! Only snag was the difficultly in then finding a house to buy and finally exchanged 6 months later!
Is the house currently on RightMove as a lot of people look there?
chrisgr31 said:
Definitely need to de-clutter. When I sold my house I went to all the agents as a buyer to see what the service was like. Then had a shortlist and got 3 around to value the house. One totally overpriced it, no thanks, one I decided I didn;t like, and one valued it at around the price I was expecting.
I then redecorated a couple of rooms painting them pale cream, and put a new cheap carpet £150 worth) on stairs, landing and one bedroom.
Went back to the agent I had chosen, at a price £5,000 above his recomendation. 4 viewings with 48 hours, wasn;t even in the paper, 2 people had 2 viewings, one offered asking price within the 48 period. Job done! Only snag was the difficultly in then finding a house to buy and finally exchanged 6 months later!
Is the house currently on RightMove as a lot of people look there?
commendable actions sir
if only every one of my clients did that! 
as an aside, if the agent does not advertise on rightmove.co.uk then I would ask myself why...as it's so cheap to do so, and so very very, effective
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