How to sell up as quickly and cost-effectively as possible?
Discussion
(The short version)
For anyone who can't be arsed to read all the spiel below, I'm looking for some advice on how to sell my house quickly in order to get away from my vile neighbours.
Tips and tricks to easily & cheaply increase the buyer appeal of the place, expensive pitfalls to avoid, ways to cut down on the various fees and charges - anything that makes the process of selling up faster, easier and less expensive!
Hopefully before the end of 2010 my house will be in saleable condition, at which point I want to offload it and f**k off into the sunset in double-quick time. WITHOUT resorting to letting "we-buy-any-house-dot-com" pay me half what the place is worth!
My intention is to simply sell up without buying another property - having "no chain" should increase the appeal to potential buyers, and should make getting away much quicker. Then I'm in a virtual "first time buyer" position, again with no chain on my part to hold up the eventual purchase of a new house (and of course I will be thoroughly vetting potential neighbours first).
(The long version)
For those who couldn't resist reading about the gory details, here's my tale of woe and misfortune for your amusement:
Some of the PHers who frequent this section regularly will be aware that I had a spot of aggravation with my delightful neighbours recently.
Y'know, the twunts with the fence.
Well, after a brief period of relative peace, more aggro has ensued. To explain all the details will make for a long and dull read; suffice to say that their continuing refusal to do anything about their constantly-barking dog, a broken window on my shed which Mrs F***wit denies any knowledge of (shed window faces their garden, their snot-nosed brats are always hoofing footballs about, nothing nicked from the shed... doesn't take a genius, does it?), and the most recent occasion where Mrs F***wit has pretty much said "f**k you, we can do what we want", have all pushed me to the point where I can't tolerate any more of this b*llocks.
Simply put, I want out. ASAP.
I don't care if The F***wits "win". I just want to be away from them, permanently. The noise, the trespassing, the recent breakage and the ongoing rude, arrogant, "f**k-you" attitude have ground me down to the point where I just hate coming home.
On the surface it no doubt looks to be a handful of small things that aren't desperately bad, but to have to live with it every day becomes mightily depressing, I can assure you. The authorities are bloody useless with this kind of low-level anti-social unpleasantness and I've run out of solutions that don't involve murder or otherwise lining myself up for a stint behind bars.
My "sell up and sod off" plan is held up by being part way through renovating the house internally and have a lot of work left to do before it's gonna be saleable for anything approaching what I paid for it. I happened to buy at just about the worst possible time, i.e. just under 3 years ago right before the arse fell out of the housng market. The intention at the time was to spend 4-5 years and a few grand tarting the place up, building up some equity, then flog it on at enough of a profit to cover the renovation costs and move on with a nice juicy deposit for the next house... yep, I can hear the sniggers now - another muppet burned by the property boom-n-bust
To speed things up, I'm enlisting the help of a few good mates and planning to rattle out 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a utility room and a load of odd jobs around the house and garden in the space of a few months, for minimum £.
Once it's all done and sold, I intend to rent somewhere cheapy-cheap for a while until I've (a) built my savings up to a useful deposit and (b) found a decent house with nice normal neighbours! I'm fortunate in that my job gives me free access to plenty of secure storage and some nice big vans - so no removal costs and no storage costs, at least.
Now I've pretty much accepted that I'm going to lose money on this house. Even if I can flog it for the £100k I paid for it in 2007, I'll have put probably £10k into doing it up by the time it's finished. And the costs of selling (estate agents, HIP ripoff, solicitors) will likely add another £3-4k on top of that. So I could potentially be dropping £14k for the sake of my sanity - if that ends up being the case, then so be it. But of course I want to do everything I can to minimise my losses and speed up the sale, hence my asking for the ideas, suggestions and wise words of the PH mob.
Cheers all.
Jonny
For anyone who can't be arsed to read all the spiel below, I'm looking for some advice on how to sell my house quickly in order to get away from my vile neighbours.
Tips and tricks to easily & cheaply increase the buyer appeal of the place, expensive pitfalls to avoid, ways to cut down on the various fees and charges - anything that makes the process of selling up faster, easier and less expensive!
Hopefully before the end of 2010 my house will be in saleable condition, at which point I want to offload it and f**k off into the sunset in double-quick time. WITHOUT resorting to letting "we-buy-any-house-dot-com" pay me half what the place is worth!
My intention is to simply sell up without buying another property - having "no chain" should increase the appeal to potential buyers, and should make getting away much quicker. Then I'm in a virtual "first time buyer" position, again with no chain on my part to hold up the eventual purchase of a new house (and of course I will be thoroughly vetting potential neighbours first).
(The long version)
For those who couldn't resist reading about the gory details, here's my tale of woe and misfortune for your amusement:
Some of the PHers who frequent this section regularly will be aware that I had a spot of aggravation with my delightful neighbours recently.
Y'know, the twunts with the fence.
Well, after a brief period of relative peace, more aggro has ensued. To explain all the details will make for a long and dull read; suffice to say that their continuing refusal to do anything about their constantly-barking dog, a broken window on my shed which Mrs F***wit denies any knowledge of (shed window faces their garden, their snot-nosed brats are always hoofing footballs about, nothing nicked from the shed... doesn't take a genius, does it?), and the most recent occasion where Mrs F***wit has pretty much said "f**k you, we can do what we want", have all pushed me to the point where I can't tolerate any more of this b*llocks.
Simply put, I want out. ASAP.
I don't care if The F***wits "win". I just want to be away from them, permanently. The noise, the trespassing, the recent breakage and the ongoing rude, arrogant, "f**k-you" attitude have ground me down to the point where I just hate coming home.
On the surface it no doubt looks to be a handful of small things that aren't desperately bad, but to have to live with it every day becomes mightily depressing, I can assure you. The authorities are bloody useless with this kind of low-level anti-social unpleasantness and I've run out of solutions that don't involve murder or otherwise lining myself up for a stint behind bars.
My "sell up and sod off" plan is held up by being part way through renovating the house internally and have a lot of work left to do before it's gonna be saleable for anything approaching what I paid for it. I happened to buy at just about the worst possible time, i.e. just under 3 years ago right before the arse fell out of the housng market. The intention at the time was to spend 4-5 years and a few grand tarting the place up, building up some equity, then flog it on at enough of a profit to cover the renovation costs and move on with a nice juicy deposit for the next house... yep, I can hear the sniggers now - another muppet burned by the property boom-n-bust
To speed things up, I'm enlisting the help of a few good mates and planning to rattle out 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a utility room and a load of odd jobs around the house and garden in the space of a few months, for minimum £.
Once it's all done and sold, I intend to rent somewhere cheapy-cheap for a while until I've (a) built my savings up to a useful deposit and (b) found a decent house with nice normal neighbours! I'm fortunate in that my job gives me free access to plenty of secure storage and some nice big vans - so no removal costs and no storage costs, at least.
Now I've pretty much accepted that I'm going to lose money on this house. Even if I can flog it for the £100k I paid for it in 2007, I'll have put probably £10k into doing it up by the time it's finished. And the costs of selling (estate agents, HIP ripoff, solicitors) will likely add another £3-4k on top of that. So I could potentially be dropping £14k for the sake of my sanity - if that ends up being the case, then so be it. But of course I want to do everything I can to minimise my losses and speed up the sale, hence my asking for the ideas, suggestions and wise words of the PH mob.
Cheers all.
Jonny
My parents have had anti social neighbours for years so I have sympathy with your situation. Carry on with your improvements, enlist the help of as many mates as possible and turnthe place around asap.
Be proud of the fact that you are moving on and draw satisfaction that your a-hole neighbours will be stuck there for life. My parents have had the opportunity to move loads of times but the fear of taking out a tiny mortgage has kept them in the area they are forced to call home.
In answer to your question, make sure your fixtures and fittings are nondescript. I mean ones that appeal to the masses. If you have particular tastes then don't let them bleed over in to your property. Keep it fairly neutral.
Market it realistically first time around and research what other similar properties have sold for recently. Nothing worse than an inflated unrealistic price.
Good luck by the way, sure others will be along to offer advice shortly.
Oh, you may as well enroll them on every mailing list known to man and cause them a little inconvenience whilst you're at it.
Be proud of the fact that you are moving on and draw satisfaction that your a-hole neighbours will be stuck there for life. My parents have had the opportunity to move loads of times but the fear of taking out a tiny mortgage has kept them in the area they are forced to call home.
In answer to your question, make sure your fixtures and fittings are nondescript. I mean ones that appeal to the masses. If you have particular tastes then don't let them bleed over in to your property. Keep it fairly neutral.
Market it realistically first time around and research what other similar properties have sold for recently. Nothing worse than an inflated unrealistic price.
Good luck by the way, sure others will be along to offer advice shortly.
Oh, you may as well enroll them on every mailing list known to man and cause them a little inconvenience whilst you're at it.
Edited by Pferdestarke on Sunday 25th April 19:30
Puggit said:
I think your downfall was buying a house for £100k !
Not convinced - the house itself was, at the time, quite keenly priced given its size and construction. The area isn't perfect but neither is it the Gaza Strip, and at first glance my rotten neighbours looked to be an ordinary and semi-respectable family - tidy house, tidy and fairly modern cars, no outward signs of the chav f**kwittery that only became apparent once I'd moved in. Besides, at the time £100k was as much as I could afford. Got to start somewhere!
Pferderstarke: Thanks very much for the advice and the sympathy
I've been aiming for a fairly neutral look from the off; we're talking plain creams and light browns for walls and carpets and white ceilings all round. Kitchen will be the ubiquitous oak-effect unit/cream wall tile/black floor and worktop scheme, and the bathrooms will also be cream wall tiles and black flooring with white fixtures.
Unfortunately there's not much for sale round here at the mo. Been keeping an eye on Rightmove to see what's going; slightly smaller properties in "finished" condition are going for around £85k, a larger one in "finished" condition is listed at £105k so my estimate is that if I finished all the work tomorrow I could expect around £95k.
Pferdestarke said:
My parents have had anti social neighbours for years so I have sympathy with your situation. Carry on with your improvements, enlist the help of as many mates as possible and turnthe place around asap.
Be proud of the fact that you are moving on and draw satisfaction that your a-hole neighbours will be stuck there for life. My parents have had the opportunity to move loads of times but the fear of taking out a tiny mortgage has kept them in the area they are forced to call home.
In answer to your question, make sure your fixtures and fittings are nondescript. I mean ones that appeal to the masses. If you have particular tastes then don't let them bleed over in to your property. Keep it fairly neutral.
Market it realistically first time around and research what other similar properties have sold for recently. Nothing worse than an inflated unrealistic price.
Good luck by the way, sure others will be along to offer advice shortly.
Oh, you may as well enroll them on every mailing list known to man and cause them a little inconvenience whilst you're at it.
Paint all the walls magnolia, ceilings white, clean the carpets (assuming they are non-offensive, if they are replace then with cheap non-offensive bland), make the garden look neat and simple.Be proud of the fact that you are moving on and draw satisfaction that your a-hole neighbours will be stuck there for life. My parents have had the opportunity to move loads of times but the fear of taking out a tiny mortgage has kept them in the area they are forced to call home.
In answer to your question, make sure your fixtures and fittings are nondescript. I mean ones that appeal to the masses. If you have particular tastes then don't let them bleed over in to your property. Keep it fairly neutral.
Market it realistically first time around and research what other similar properties have sold for recently. Nothing worse than an inflated unrealistic price.
Good luck by the way, sure others will be along to offer advice shortly.
Oh, you may as well enroll them on every mailing list known to man and cause them a little inconvenience whilst you're at it.
Edited by Pferdestarke on Sunday 25th April 19:30
Move as much furniture as you can out.
Get rid of pets, make sure the house smells of fresh coffee and bread for every viewing.
Get the best estate agent in your locality, set a sensible price, with a bonus to the agent if the sale completes through them within 3 months.
Do not set fire to neighbours house until your sale has completed, as pre-sale you are the best of friends.
Firstly my deepest sympathies with your situation. It happens to be my worst nightmare with anything house related. We've been very luck in our current place. But are moving and neighbours was top of the list (along with a detatchec house to make doubley sure).
Anyway, from my very recent experience it is ALL down to price.
So you will need to decide how much the situation is worth to you. If you can tart the place up as you are. And one is on the Market for 105k I'd go in at 95 and take an offer on 90. Might sound financially painful, but your sanity is more important IMO. The price for your sanity is your own call! But rest assured if you overprice (even by a grand) you will be sat on it for months. To get out quick you will have to take a hit on price.
In more positive news others houses you are looking to buy will also be open to a good deal. In context we sold ours for 5k less than asking (to a cash buyer) but managed to get 25 off our next place. So a quick drop now to get you put of he'll may well be not that bad in the long run.
As for selling, as suggested, nice and neutral not much 'personal' stuff (pictures etc..).
Also avoid bread / coffee, very very cheese IMO. And 'trying too hard'.
Good luck and my best wishes for your situation. Try to keep mentally strong too!
Anyway, from my very recent experience it is ALL down to price.
So you will need to decide how much the situation is worth to you. If you can tart the place up as you are. And one is on the Market for 105k I'd go in at 95 and take an offer on 90. Might sound financially painful, but your sanity is more important IMO. The price for your sanity is your own call! But rest assured if you overprice (even by a grand) you will be sat on it for months. To get out quick you will have to take a hit on price.
In more positive news others houses you are looking to buy will also be open to a good deal. In context we sold ours for 5k less than asking (to a cash buyer) but managed to get 25 off our next place. So a quick drop now to get you put of he'll may well be not that bad in the long run.
As for selling, as suggested, nice and neutral not much 'personal' stuff (pictures etc..).
Also avoid bread / coffee, very very cheese IMO. And 'trying too hard'.
Good luck and my best wishes for your situation. Try to keep mentally strong too!
Easy.
Do not touch it, do not bother doing anything more to the place. Just make sure it's tidy, looks clean (no s
t in the pan and no washing up) and un-cluttered. People will do things like the kitchen and carpets to their taste. I started down the "magnolia walls" route but didn't bother as I hated the places thanks to various issues in the street (loud music, parking, little gang forming at the end of the road, car marked by bad parking from a guy up the road who regulary was seen bumping cars to get in a space..)
ETA, Mine sold with old knackered windows, no C/H downstairs, loose bog, gas water heater, fence kanckered (not on my side) and loads of other issues.
Put it on the market now, it's the time of the year. Do not get a sign outside saying it's for sale. It puts the idea in other people's heads and you may suddenly find other houses nearby competing with you for buyers.
Let the agents show people around, don't be in to get asked about the neighbours.
However, once sold there is a form you have to fill in that will ask you "Are their any disputes (and some other lengthy wording about this) or have you ever been in dispute with your neighbours? Take advice from your solicitor before filling it in.
Good luck, get going, honestly you won't regret it.
Do not touch it, do not bother doing anything more to the place. Just make sure it's tidy, looks clean (no s
t in the pan and no washing up) and un-cluttered. People will do things like the kitchen and carpets to their taste. I started down the "magnolia walls" route but didn't bother as I hated the places thanks to various issues in the street (loud music, parking, little gang forming at the end of the road, car marked by bad parking from a guy up the road who regulary was seen bumping cars to get in a space..) ETA, Mine sold with old knackered windows, no C/H downstairs, loose bog, gas water heater, fence kanckered (not on my side) and loads of other issues.
Put it on the market now, it's the time of the year. Do not get a sign outside saying it's for sale. It puts the idea in other people's heads and you may suddenly find other houses nearby competing with you for buyers.
Let the agents show people around, don't be in to get asked about the neighbours.
However, once sold there is a form you have to fill in that will ask you "Are their any disputes (and some other lengthy wording about this) or have you ever been in dispute with your neighbours? Take advice from your solicitor before filling it in.
Good luck, get going, honestly you won't regret it.
Edited by dfen5 on Monday 26th April 07:22
I was in a similar position (needing a quick sale) when I sold my house, not because of neighbours but because it was the beginning of 2008, I had just bought somewhere else and I could see where the market was going.
I had been working on the house for a few months getting it to look like a showhouse. (there seemed to be programmes on the TV almost every day back then on making your house more appealing. I had rented a unit for my cars and stuff so I was able to clear the house except the "dressing". Complete paint, new flooring painted windows barge boards etc, etc. I invited friends round to act as dummy buyers and criticise and then followed any advice. Kitchen and bathroom were cleaned, cleaned and cleaned again. I even touched in any of the fittings or appliances (like it was a concours!)
Sounds well OTT? I invited the estate agents round for valuations (total waste of time) They "um" and "er" until they eventually get a price from you as to what you think and then agree with you. If you give a stupidly low price they put it at the bottom of a small range, likewise if you give stupidly high the put at the top of a range. I checked all the other properties in the area and gave mine a plus or minus value on comparison. Then I checked what hadn't sold
I had been working on the house for a few months getting it to look like a showhouse. (there seemed to be programmes on the TV almost every day back then on making your house more appealing. I had rented a unit for my cars and stuff so I was able to clear the house except the "dressing". Complete paint, new flooring painted windows barge boards etc, etc. I invited friends round to act as dummy buyers and criticise and then followed any advice. Kitchen and bathroom were cleaned, cleaned and cleaned again. I even touched in any of the fittings or appliances (like it was a concours!)
Sounds well OTT? I invited the estate agents round for valuations (total waste of time) They "um" and "er" until they eventually get a price from you as to what you think and then agree with you. If you give a stupidly low price they put it at the bottom of a small range, likewise if you give stupidly high the put at the top of a range. I checked all the other properties in the area and gave mine a plus or minus value on comparison. Then I checked what hadn't sold
OK everybody can have an opinion about this, but here is my tuppence worth,
I was in a similar position (needing a quick sale) when I sold my house, not because of neighbours but because it was the beginning of 2008, I had just bought somewhere else and I could see where the market was going.
I had been working on the house for a few months getting it to look like a showhouse. (there seemed to be programmes on the TV almost every day back then on making your house more appealing). I had rented a unit for my cars and stuff so I was able to clear the house except the "dressing". Complete paint, new flooring, painted windows, barge boards, doing the garden etc, etc. I invited friends round to act as dummy buyers and criticise and then followed any advice. Kitchen and bathroom were cleaned, cleaned and cleaned again. I even touched in any of the fittings or appliances (like it was a concours!)
All these things took a lot of time but not so much money.
Sounds well OTT? I invited the estate agents round for valuations (total waste of time) They "um" and "er" until they eventually get a price from you as to what you think and then agree with you. If you give a stupidly low price they put it at the bottom of a small range, likewise if you give stupidly high the put at the top of a range. I checked all the other properties in the area and gave mine a plus or minus value on comparison. Then I checked what hadn't sold quickly (most of them) and rated those at a lower value. That gave me a figure that I could work with. Basically it will probably be about 5-10% less than the asking price of a similar house.
Ok that's all pretty obvious, but after a bit of research I found that you should never lower the price of your house once you have advertised it. Sends out all the wrong signals. Start with the minimum price you want and be clear about that.
Choose the estate agent that has the most properties in your area (and one that is linked to the main websites, but for sure the one with the most properties will be!)
Result was that within one calender month of the first estate agent walking through the door the money from the sale was in my account. Bear in mind this was March 2008.
I was in a similar position (needing a quick sale) when I sold my house, not because of neighbours but because it was the beginning of 2008, I had just bought somewhere else and I could see where the market was going.
I had been working on the house for a few months getting it to look like a showhouse. (there seemed to be programmes on the TV almost every day back then on making your house more appealing). I had rented a unit for my cars and stuff so I was able to clear the house except the "dressing". Complete paint, new flooring, painted windows, barge boards, doing the garden etc, etc. I invited friends round to act as dummy buyers and criticise and then followed any advice. Kitchen and bathroom were cleaned, cleaned and cleaned again. I even touched in any of the fittings or appliances (like it was a concours!)
All these things took a lot of time but not so much money.
Sounds well OTT? I invited the estate agents round for valuations (total waste of time) They "um" and "er" until they eventually get a price from you as to what you think and then agree with you. If you give a stupidly low price they put it at the bottom of a small range, likewise if you give stupidly high the put at the top of a range. I checked all the other properties in the area and gave mine a plus or minus value on comparison. Then I checked what hadn't sold quickly (most of them) and rated those at a lower value. That gave me a figure that I could work with. Basically it will probably be about 5-10% less than the asking price of a similar house.
Ok that's all pretty obvious, but after a bit of research I found that you should never lower the price of your house once you have advertised it. Sends out all the wrong signals. Start with the minimum price you want and be clear about that.
Choose the estate agent that has the most properties in your area (and one that is linked to the main websites, but for sure the one with the most properties will be!)
Result was that within one calender month of the first estate agent walking through the door the money from the sale was in my account. Bear in mind this was March 2008.
dfen5 said:
Do not get a sign outside saying it's for sale. It puts the idea in other people's heads and you may suddenly find other houses nearby competing with you for buyers.
Definetely go with this - agents will push for a sign but firmly tell them no sign. Besides, you don't want to alert your neighbours for obvious reasons.We always ask the agent to use photographs that we have taken and not their own. This means you can take a nice set of photos, having staged each room to look good and wait for a sunny day when the sun is streaming through the windows.
If you have a mate who is good at photograph it'll halp as using a wide angle lense will make the rooms looks bigger than they really are
My in-laws tried to sell their house recently and the photos on the advert were shockingly bad. If I had been looking I would probably have passed it by on right-move for this reason alone.
You can save a load of money on your HIP by getting it done yourself. Lots of people here have used "my hip home" (I think thats what its cvalled anyway). Agents will charge up to 5 times more than these guys charge for the same thing.
Dont be tempted to advertise it before you have finished the work. People may come and view now but be put off by the things that need to be done. However, they wont come back when its finished because they'll see the house on the web and think "we've seen that one already"
If you have a mate who is good at photograph it'll halp as using a wide angle lense will make the rooms looks bigger than they really are
My in-laws tried to sell their house recently and the photos on the advert were shockingly bad. If I had been looking I would probably have passed it by on right-move for this reason alone.
You can save a load of money on your HIP by getting it done yourself. Lots of people here have used "my hip home" (I think thats what its cvalled anyway). Agents will charge up to 5 times more than these guys charge for the same thing.
Dont be tempted to advertise it before you have finished the work. People may come and view now but be put off by the things that need to be done. However, they wont come back when its finished because they'll see the house on the web and think "we've seen that one already"
Edited by Goochie on Monday 26th April 12:53
I'm no expert but if it was me I'd just get it clean and on the market. Just so long as it doesn't turn people off or if it does it is relfected in the price. I think buyers would see through hastily addedd bathrooms etc. Then keep your friends' good will to help do up your new house.
Good luck
Good luck
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff