Any tips on selling my house?

Hello,

We have put our home up for sale and would really appreciate if people could give us tips on how to sell in a very slow market!

We have already done the following:

- price: our house is priced about 50K below other houses (although in grt condition) but other houses have been on mkt for a while. House were selling for about 600k in 2006 so down 150K from there
- we have completed decluttered
- put plants and flowers in house
- repainted in neutral colours
- tidied garden
- agt: we are using an agt who is a sole trader. Other agts rang us when they saw sign up to tell us we had made wrong decision. He has a v good name but does not have office in the immediate area. Do people think this is important?

Finally, house is up on websites since Mon but no calls - when should we expect to have people viewing. Agt had said people were on his books but no one seems to be biting. Is it just a v slow mkt?

Thankyou so much for your help.

Re: How have you sold your house?

"Is it just a v slow mkt?"

Nail on head. Good luck - you may be lucky but it is more likely ( certainly in my experience) that you will not find a buyer at any price you are willing to accept.

mf

Re: How have you sold your house?

If its only up since monday then there are going to be few calls if any this week. It is a slow market but a lot slower than i think you expect. The asking price 2 years ago is consigned to history and shouldn't be thought of but you are right in dropping below your neighbours. On the agent front i would have gone with a decent reputation and someone that will get you the most coverage in your area. The line 'we have people interested on our books' is generally a hook to reel in a client so don't be too optimistic on that front. If it is marketed right and you really are ahead of the market price wise then you may have some luck its just at that end of the market you might have to be ready to accept bids of another €50k down. Obviously I don't know the area so advice should be taken with a pinch of salt but if you are talking €450,000 then there are few with this kind of cash ready and available and those that have are looking to maximise their advantage. Good luck & keep an eye on your agents site and advertising strategy.

Re: How have you sold your house?

Even in normal times the few weeks after Christmas & New Years are slow.
You will need to be patient, I've seen in the US media they define it as a sellers market when a house takes an average of less than 6 months to sell, & a buyers market when its more.
Not sure if the US figures apply, but it's definitely not a sellers market at the moment...

Re: How have you sold your house?

We do want to sell due to our personal circumstances. Like all other people we want to sell at a price that someone will buy!

I understand it is early January so things are slow and even slower given current climate.

How long would people wait to ask qns of agt (& make changes to price) if
a- no viewings
b- no offers

Thanks very much.

Re: How have you sold your house?

The current average time on the market it 280days.

So I think monthly reviews would be wise. Remember stamp duty cost is something that people used to borrow/ use thier equity to pay for. Now alot are left with little equity and can't borrow.

I am sure you can sell the house but your expectations may be too high. Depends how quickly/urgent it is for you to get rid. If i was buying I personally would bid at least 25% below any asking price at the moment.

If you want to start the ball moving knock 30% off and say priced to sell? If you get Interest you know you have hit the ball park with price. If no interest it a case of moving lower. Remember you don't have to accept offers if they come in.

Re: How have you sold your house?

I saw a sign with 'priced to sell' on it the other day- it was the first time I saw this type of sign outside a house. This to me means you need to sell so might stir up interest.

My friend had to sell last year and ended up taking €50K of the original asking price (which was only €180K for a 3 bedded with a garden).

Re: How have you sold your house?

We were lucky enough to sell back in July. The house was only on the market for one week before we got sale agreed on it. Had a couple of viewings after the first weekend. We put it on the market for 270k when all our neighbours said we were mad and we'd get 300k for it. We wanted a quick sale and were happy to accept 267k for it.
The de-clutter, neutral colours etc all seem like the right way to go. You need to ask youself the question "would I buy this house if I seen it on the market ?" If not, why not ?
Ask yourself why you want to sell it and if you come up with a sound reason, try to make sure prospective buyers dont see that as a reason.

Bottom line, I think luck plays a huge part in selling a house. If someone wants to buy in that area, you stand a chance if you present the house well and dont overprice.

I wish you all the luck in the world with it.

Re: How have you sold your house?

dtwhaler said:

Bottom line, I think luck plays a huge part in selling a house. If someone wants to buy in that area, you stand a chance if you present the house well and dont overprice.

I wish you all the luck in the world with it.

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I agree. My friend had 3 firm offers one after another in July as it happens. The first one offer were refused a mortage as he was in construction. She had accepted a second offer, when a third offer came in at €5K more. As she 'had' to sell she stayed with the second offer as contracts were almost ready.

Re: How have you sold your house?

I had my apartment on the market since the week before xmas and just went sale agreed after the first viewing (multiple viewing) last week. IMHO it comes down to pricing correctly, there are buyers out there. I priced at 40% below the peak price (Dublin 8). Move on from the denial stage, unfortunately some estate agents aren't realistic with pricing nor are most vendors. Prices vary so much for the same apartment/house type so buyers will only look at those which are priced realistically. It's simply market forces at work (just like it was when prices were increasing).
Do some research on what price the local market is at and lower your price to below the competition, be ahead of the market curve, ie cheaper than the competition. If you're not prepared to do this then you are wasting your time, take it off the market. hth

Re: How have you sold your house?

Thanks guys.
Am really hoping that luck will come our way.
There is really not much wrong with the house - good transport, schools etc - we are just looking to move because work location has changed.

Good to think that after 1 month we will reassess.

Re: How have you sold your house?

Forget about 2006 prices, I wouldn't even use them as a reference for anything.

But if 600k was the 2006 price, you have absolutely no chance of getting 450k for it, no matter what price your neighbours are asking (500k from the sounds of it.. cuckoo land stuff).

How did the valuation with your EA go? Were you driving the price, or was he? Did you tell him to price for a quick sale?

Install the property bee toolbar for Firefox (www.property-bee.com) and register with them. Then browse your area on DAFT.ie, and see how long the properties in your area have been on the market at 500k for. If it is longer than 6 months at that price, then they are useless as a reference, they are being ignored in the current market, and you will likely need to come down a lot more than 50k off theirs to get some interest generated.

I would way wait a fortnight, then drop to 425k. Drop 8-10% every month until you start getting calls. Once you start getting calls, you know you have hit the kind of price you can probably expect to receive.

As someone else has already pointed out, you are under no obligation to accept any offers, so if they are lower than you are willing to go, then you can just withdraw from the market as you are not really participating in it.

HTH.

Re: How have you sold your house?

Work out the lowest possible price that you will accept, taking into account mortgage left to be paid, you next house price etc. This does not need to be your advertised price, but keep it in mind if you get an offer. I've seen a few people turn down offers 6/8/12 months ago that they would jump at now.

Re: How have you sold your house?

First off - if it's only been on the website since Monday, give it a few days. A lot of people will browse over the weekend, and decide what to start viewing the following weekend. Secondly, yes, the market it slow, don't expect to sell this week

You've decluttered and done the place up a bit, but as a friend to look at the photos that are going up. I find it very offputting when I see photos with an unmade (or untidily made) bed, "things" all over the kitchen counter, etc. For the sake of the photos, take everything off the kitchen counter except kettle, toaster, maybe a bowl of fresh fruit, take photo, put them all back.

Similarly with bedrooms - iron a duvet cover/plain sheet, put it on bed, take photos. Check the curtains/blinds are hanging straight etc.

Look at photos 2 and 3 on this listing to see what I mean. (No offence to the sellers of that place, it's probably clean, but from the state of the photos it looks like a disaster.)

I'm always amazed at the estate agents who don't tell their clients things like that.

Personally I would not employ an estate agent - unless you agree a fixed price first - which included advertising costs. I would advertise the property myself - local newspaper - websites (sellityourself/privateseller - there are others) & keep the agents fee for myself. After all you will be doing all the hard work - preparing the house for viewing etc.

Do not drop the price on a monthly or fortnightly basis as has been suggested as it does nothing but make people wait to see each month if another drop is coming and it can be monitored easily online. Also because people would accept a price now that they wouldn't 12 months ago is because they can now buy their next property at a much reduced price, it's all relative. What you need to consider is what is the lowest price that you would accept say in6 months if the house hasn't sold and drop it to close to that price now. You need to stay ahead of the market and when you have cash in your hand you can redeem your loss with your next purchase.
By the way now is now the time to be going it alone, you need a decent experienced agent and if you can find a straight talker all the better its whats needed a the moment.

when you do get a viewing have the place looking like a showhouse. do any minor paint repairs/caulking. basically you want to make the viewers want to live there. it should be pristine for every viewing.

TLC said:

Personally I would not employ an estate agent - unless you agree a fixed price first - which included advertising costs. I would advertise the property myself - local newspaper - websites (sellityourself/privateseller - there are others) & keep the agents fee for myself. After all you will be doing all the hard work - preparing the house for viewing etc.

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I recently went Sale Agreed, - no estate agent/auctioneer, sold myself as a private seller. Was Sale Agreed within a week. Advertised myself on daft.ie. Can't recommend it enough. In fact, I think most buyers thought it was a big plus as they felt I might be passing on the benefit. However, if you're not comfortable negotiating on large sums of money, - do acquire an estate agent.

Pricing is vital
What I see happenning at the moment is that a lot of people are chasing the market to the bottom. What I mean by "chasing the market" is this:

January: House asking price: 500K Market will pay: 480K
Come March, Vendor reduces price by 20K, BUT now:
March: House asking price: 480K Market will now only pay: 460K
Come May, Vendor reduces price by 20K, BUT now:
May: House asking price: 460K Market will now only pay: 440K
Come July, Vendor reduces price by 20K, BUT now:
July: House asking price: 440K Market will now only pay: 420K

Practically all vendors are doing the above, they're reducing their price over time but are one step behind the market. You need to reduce your price properly at the beginning to get to that market level, or if need be, below it. Its worth taking a hit early on in the process rather than slowly reducing but being one step behind the market.

I can't stress the above enough.

Photos are paramount. The house should look bright and spacious in the photos. If your agent took crap photos (many do), take them yourself on a sunny morning (whenever that might come...) and get him to use them.
IMPORTANT: Think of the photos as people doing viewings, because that's effectively what they amount to in this age of the internet.

Other things include,
- have plenty of mirrors in the house: they have plenty of light and space
- Don't just declutter, - you need to depersonalize. No photos of family or pets. Minimize the kids stuff around the house. When people do viewings they shouldn't feel like they are walking around someone else's house

Try to get a photo of the exterior on a bright day - some of the photos on daft are clearly taken on dull drizzly days and it gives a poor first impression.
I would not drop the price every month as someone suggested - I think it would be better to put a realistic price on it from day one. And to review this with your agent based on how the viweings (if any) proceed.
Ensure that your agent regularly updates the property on daft. I am looking to buy a house and keep a close eye on the listings and am amazed at how some of the agents put the house on the list and then never update it - it could easily be missed by a prospective purchaser if the purchaser doesn't happen to catch it when it is first put on the website.

Thanks for all the really positive tips.
Great to get good vibes and wishes.

Here's hoping for a Positive outcome!