Advertise now or wait till 2008

angela59

Registered User
Messages
594
Hi,

We've had our house for sale since March 2007. Firstly we had it with joint agents who we were not happy with and changed to a different auctioneer end of June. Advertising for joint agent cost E800, we changed and relaunched in July and August, E2000 for advertising. For advertising in Autumn E1500. Total E4300. I'm wondering is it worth our while to advertise in the papers in the autumn, should we wait until early 2008 and save our budget of E1500 until then? We have reduced our price accordingly but so far no offers. Is it a waste to advertise at the moment?
 
Hi Clubman,

"maybe the price is still to high so" - I asked for advice about advertising. To answer your question the price it is now is the price it would cost to rebuild and finish to the level it is at now.
 
Hi Angela

I have spoken to a lot of Estate agents yes things are very slow maybe wait till the new year.Put in the buy and sell and any other place that is free.if you get a call well and good.What about private seller is that any cheaper.Maybe put it on daft.
 
Hi bob the slob,

Take on board what you are saying, have reduced price twice already.
 

Wow that's a huge amount to spend on advertising. Depending on the price of the property you're selling that could even be more than the comission.

I'm not convinced of the value of advertising in print media these days. Having the place on myhome.ie and daft.ie should be sufficient to attact most interested buyers, if they are indeed there. Some posters have mentioned previously, that Rural EA's have a tendancy to use print media and not use the online sites. So I guess it depends on the location.
 
Are there other houses in your area for sale at a lower price?
Have you had any viewings since it has been up for sale?
 
Hi,

With the first two agents we had 2 viewings in four months. Since we changed auctioneer, there was 9 viewings in July, none in August and 1 early september. It is a high end property ready to walk into, once off house on 1 acre of mature garden 8 miles from commuter belt town and 1.5 miles from local town. I think I've made up mind to hold off advertising till spring. It is on daft and my home. That is a good point about the advertising nearly being as much as commission.
 
the price it is now is the price it would cost to rebuild and finish to the level it is at now.
Be that as it may it's irrelevant if the market is not prepared to pay this price to purchase it now.
It is a high end property ready to walk into, once off house on 1 acre of mature garden 8 miles from commuter belt town and 1.5 miles from local town.
Not sure precisely what you mean by "high end" but it sounds like your target market might be more limited than normal here so perhaps you need a very targeted approach to marketing/advertising it? I would have expected a good EA to help with this. Maybe you just picked the wrong one(s?)?
 
Hi Clubman,

"High end" means the price is at the higher end of the market. You are right about targeted approach to marketing, it is on daft and my home but also with advertising in papers. I just don't want to throw away money on advertising in papers at the moment, I think I will hold out until spring time. I am happy with current EA, he is doing his best. Alot of buyers are sitting on the fence to wait and see what happens with interest rates and price drops, can't say I blame them.
 
I have recently gone sale agreed on mine. i think the amount of money you are spending on advertising is outrageous. both EA's i had my property with said not to bother advertising in the national press especially not at the moment as they are getting very little interest on any properties thay had previously advertised that way. DAFT, myhome and propertysales.ie are the websites i had mine up on. when i changed to 2nd auctioneer and dropped the price a THIRD time (so it was well below anyhting like it on the market,) it sold in 5 days....
 
Estate agents are charging high advertising fees as they need to recover some money. Personally, I would use daft.ie or privateseller.ie. The market has slowed, but your buyer is out there. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but one will appear.

Also, if your near an Easons, pick up Sarah Beeny's book. Have a look how to target your market.

Again, don't waste your money on advertising in the papers. When your buyer comes into the market, daft.ie will be one of there first port of calls.
 
Well the first thing that I could see from your post is that you got poor advice re: spending €2000 to relaunch in July, it is generally a time when advertising is pulled back due to decrease in numbers viewing for a variety of reasons (holidays, schools out etc). This is the time when you should notice a certain degree of advertising starting to come back on and new developments etc being show cased once again.

If anything I would hold off on your advertising now and let the EA try to get you editorials etc for free and work off of the websites. Make sure that the sales brochure is doing your house justice and that internal photos are complimentary. Maybe retake photos on a sunny day (if we get another). Scrutinise everything that the viewing public sees of your house and see what changes should be made. If you haven't sold it in the next few months definitely look at advertising again in Feb/march.
 
Estate agents are charging high advertising fees as they need to recover some money.

That is also a new one on me as charges are directly taken from the source i.e the press
 
Hi,

Thanks for all the replies. I agree advertising in the newspapers is a waste. With regard to advertising in July - this year wasn't a typical year with stamp duty and election and we did have a good few viewers in July. I think the price range it is at is a problem because of stamp duty 9%. When we put it up for sale we launched it at lowest price it was valued at, not the highest. From the lowest price we have dropped the price by 5%. I will buy Sarah Beeny's book. Thanks everyone for advice as it does help.
 
Yes I was aware of that today, but like I intimated the price I know of is for Limerick auctioneers, there is the possibility of Dublin agents being charged a higher price. I suppose I can only vouch for myself in any case.
 
I think I will hold out until spring time. I am happy with current EA, he is doing his best. Alot of buyers are sitting on the fence to wait and see what happens with interest rates and price drops, can't say I blame them.

There seems to be a lot of sellers holding out at high prices and hoping things improve in the spring of next year. It is a dangerous game as buyers affordability is not going to improve between now and then, and it is quite likely that sellers will have to accept that the boom is well and truly over and the only way to shift their house is with a substantial price reduction.
If you are selling into that sort of market with buyers able to pick & choose between a high volume of properties and dropping prices you could find it harder to sell then than you would now.
 
Hi Webtax,

I'd be willing to drop price again - have dropped it already by E35,000 and would be prepared to take another drop of E15,000 - below this price can't really go??? The story of my house - we're on 1 acre landscaped, electronic gates, 2800 sq foot house, spent E50,000 on sunroom 3 years ago - it is in immaculate condition but in countryside. If I or anyone were to turn around and buy 1 acre where I am, build, landscape and all the trimmings, finish to the standard it is finished it would cost E15,000 below what it is at the moment. I take on board it is the worst time to sell. The plan was to sell this house and build another house to suit our needs more. It may well be that we'll have to stay put.