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House not selling, any advice?

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 Denni 23 Jan 2015
Hi folks,
we have a house in Cromarty that has been on the market for 16 months. Home report price is 100k and over the past year, we have reduced it to offers over 89k.

Only had 15 views this year, all saying lovely wee house, great price but nothing else. I'm putting the non sale down to location. Been told by various agents that trying to let it is pointless again due to location because of travelling time to Inverness and even Dingwall.

Fairly well advertised and the estate agents are also at a loss as to why it has not sold. Typical property for the area, ex council house, 4 bedrooms and would be an ideal buy for someone. I'm even thinking of trying to rent it privately for half of what the mortgage payments are to try and get it lived in!

I've tried the council to see if they want to use it for themselves but they were not interested. So then, does anyone have any ideas at all what I can do to try and sell or even rent it? Heading up there in Feb to give it a spruce up so if I've got some ideas to hand when I get there, that would be great.

Thanks in advance, Den
 jonnie3430 23 Jan 2015
In reply to Denni:

Gimme 2 weeks and I might rent it off you.
 JJL 23 Jan 2015
In reply to Denni:

Doesn't seem to be on Rightmove.

Beyond that, I'm just reeling that 4 beds is £90k and I'm struggling to find a 2 bed house in SW London for £600k!
 wbo 23 Jan 2015
In reply to Denni:
How many houses have sold their this year. It's not a big place. Have you seen the ads for the houses that have sold?
 Phil1919 23 Jan 2015
In reply to JJL:

Shame there aren't any jobs in Cromarty.
 marsbar 23 Jan 2015
In reply to Denni:

If its the one I've found searching, the photos are not inspiring, an empty house, dark carpet and dated kitchen.

Nothing that would bother me, but most house buyers apparently want to see a house with furniture as they have no imagination.

Also the only photo without downloading is the outside.

Can you get some basic furniture back in, and get new photos done? Stupid things like posh bedding make it look nice.

I know its daft but according to daytime TV it works

 Maestro 23 Jan 2015
In reply to Denni:
be brave post the rightmove link.

If there isn't one then therein lies the problem....
Post edited at 22:07
OP Denni 23 Jan 2015
In reply to marsbar:

Hi guys,
Many thanks for all the replies.

It was advertised with better photographs but that has just run out so basic ones at the mo until mid Feb. (looked a bit more inspiring before but you're right, needs a revamp which I'm heading up to do!). Also with Rightmove, again, it was advertised with them but that ran out last November and I've been waiting to repaint it, tart it up a bit before submitting some photographs. When we originally submitted the photographs, they said they were fine but clearly didn't help that much.

Thought about putting furniture in and I'm considering doing that also, try and give it a bit of a lived in feel rather than a dull shell. Houses locally have sold either really well or badly which seems to have been the case the last 2-3 years. It's a buggerance being on the south coast, being a stay at home parent with a wife away with the Navy a fair bit. Trying to come up with inspiring ways to make it sell and finding time to try and get up there to sort it.

Have already contacted nearly all the estate agents, letting agents, solicitors etc in the region and hopefully I'll have a few visits arranged with them to hopefully reinvigorate the sale/let. It's a shame there aren't any jobs and the bloody ferry to Nigg isn't more regular! Never mind, onwards and upwards. Any more advice, let me know

Thanks, Den
 cuppatea 23 Jan 2015
In reply to Denni:

Zoopla has the pics without needing to download them

What's behind the net curtains? Are they hiding something that might put buyers off?

Might be lighter and brighter without them.
XXXX 23 Jan 2015
In reply to Denni:

Take it off the market. At the moment, it looks like a lemon because no-ones bought it for so long. Give it a few months and stick it back on after you've revamped it. People get to know rightmove.

Unless there is something wrong with it, nuclear power station in the garden, short lease, caravans and cars on bricks etc... then it's price. Either that or literally no-one is moving to Cromarty.

It took us two years to sell our last flat due to a short lease so I know how you feel. In the end we had to spend £15k renewing the lease ourselves and took a huge hit on the costs. We got rid in the end by putting it on with price on application. It got people interested and ringing up rather than just passing it up cos it hadn't sold for a while.

My one bed flat, by the way, at the very lowest point of the housing crash was nearly twice the price of your four bed house. This country is madness.

The only truth is that the estate agents have given up on it. What's their commission? I guarantee they've already spent it and everything they do now is being done at a loss.




 marsbar 23 Jan 2015
In reply to cuppatea:

Just seen that.

Storage heaters rather than central heating might put people off. I might see what the Estate Agent thinks about removing that from the description.

I think looking at the room sizes the angle of the photo makes it look small?
 RockAngel 24 Jan 2015
In reply to Denni:
If it's within a reasonable distance for commuting to work & has a good community, use that to your advantage rather than as a negative. Good local school, public transport links? Furniture can be found via freecycle/freegle. Most people actually want to pull out the kitchen & bathroom & put their own in now before they move in (or they do here) so maybe you could alter the asking price to reflect this if it needs a new kitchen. Or say that it's ready for their interior design to be implemented!
 Only a hill 24 Jan 2015
In reply to Denni:

My parents had their house on the market for three years before it sold. Good luck.
1
 goose299 24 Jan 2015
In reply to marsbar:

> Storage heaters rather than central heating might put people off. I might see what the Estate Agent thinks about removing that from the description.

We've just bought a house and it was the first thing we were checking when we were looking


 wilkie14c 24 Jan 2015
In reply to Denni:

Of no real help here but I hope to give you some ideas.

I need to sell mine this year. Its a 4 bedroom 'mid quasi' Its 3 stanard beds with an loft conversion and because of the tunnel/entrance to the rear, the stairs to the loft conversion have been built over this so no space lost due to stair case. Front garden and drive, conservtory and lawned rear garden with decking area. Combi boiler C/H, bay windows to front.

Estate agent priced at 90K as it is. It needs some work doing. He predicts a slow sell as it is as new buyers generally dont have spare cash to do these jobs after buying and moving in. I can however turn this into a quick sell with a bit of work.
Needs - 2 plastic windows to rear and a plastic back door (all other windows/door are done in upvc already). New kitchen with new gas hob (electric at the moment) and oven. Gardens tidying up a bit. Bright new paint throughout.
Garden wise I'm going to get rid of the rusty and scruffy 2 metal sheds and replace with a new wooden, large shed. New fence panels all around. Re-lay the driveway slabs and dump 2 ton of 40mm slate chips on the front garen to hide aging tarmac, already relaid the whole rear lawn last summer. I can fit windows and door myself and most of the kitchen. Put a full bathroom in last year and painting and making good everything else is easy but time consuming.
This can be all done with a 10k budget and the agent predicts a very presentable house ready to move in and would sell quickly for 105k+.
I'm happy to just break even on the cash im going to put in but the aim here is to sell reasonably quickly and near to asking price. At the end of the day its a 4 bedroom house with conservatory for 3 bedroom money. Got to make it better than the others and thats the key. Different to your situation I know.
 marsbar 24 Jan 2015
In reply to wilkie14c:

I have a brand new stainless steel gas hob going spare for a small amount if you want it. I got a bargain on an oven + hob deal and only wanted the oven.
 Phil1919 24 Jan 2015
In reply to RockAngel:

Cromarty had a great bakery when I was there. That's got to be a selling point.
 Stone Idle 25 Jan 2015
In reply to Denni:

If it helps my London house is not selling and that is near to Cross Rail. Try a national agency with a view to holiday homing. Them south east folks have plenty of bread - allegedly.
OP Denni 25 Jan 2015
In reply to Stone Idol:

Hi folks,
really appreciate all the advice and insight.
Have a few appointments lined up with various agents, holidy let people, letting agents etc so fingers crossed for more advice or even a sale/let!
Thanks again, Den
 wilkie14c 26 Jan 2015
In reply to marsbar:

emailed you
 Trangia 26 Jan 2015
In reply to Denni:
Ultimately it boils down to price. Probably not what you want to hear, but there is a saying "There is a buyer for every property out there - at the right price"

The reduction you have made was about 10% That's not enough to be significant. Try thinking in terms of about 20 to 25%, possibly more. It's got to look like a bargain to appeal.

Good luck.
Post edited at 07:38
 Neil Williams 26 Jan 2015
In reply to wilkie14c:

I've not looked at the Rightmove site for it, but supposedly magnolia and beige carpets sells because it has a warm feel to it yet is a basic canvas to start from if they want to redecorate.

I absolutely hate magnolia (would rather white if I had to have a basic scheme, though I've progressively changed mine to bright-coloured feature walls with either light grey or a nicer beige on the others) but I do see the point.

Neil
 wilkie14c 26 Jan 2015
In reply to Neil Williams:

My house is mainly flat plastered walls. I've skimmed most rooms myself and they all have just a flat painted finish. Maybe a little dark or bright in some rooms for other peoples taste but I think I'll just point out to viewers that they are all skimmed and simple to paint. I hate magnolia like you! Floors are mainly laminate, I dislike carpets as they seem to be dirt magnets plus the cat likes to scratch them anyway. I think one has to view the house through the eyes of a prospective buyer. Ground coffee smells and freshly baked bread might work on daytime TV but in the real world we are trying to sell something that will be the biggest purchase in their lives
 ByEek 26 Jan 2015
In reply to marsbar:

> Nothing that would bother me, but most house buyers apparently want to see a house with furniture as they have no imagination.

That's a bit harsh. Don't forget that these buyers with no imagination are the same buyers not buying this house. More or less everything we buy is packaged and marketed to sell yet when it comes to houses, some people think that it should sell itself. Rubbish. If you want to sell and sell quickly, attracting the maximum number of potential buyers you need to make it look inviting and homely.
 Neil Williams 26 Jan 2015
In reply to wilkie14c:

Mine's all laminate downstairs (it sounds like our tastes are broadly similar!) but I went for carpet upstairs because I didn't want to have to redo entire floors if I needed to get to pipes or cables under the floor (given how shoddy most of the previous work on the house has been before me buying it, need for this access is not at all unlikely).

Neil
 jkarran 26 Jan 2015
In reply to Denni:

Why did you buy it? By that I mean what was it that appealed to you about it, has that changed, was it very specific to your circumstances, is that which made it appealing to you missing from your advert?

Looking at what I assume is the zoopla ad I see few uninspiring photos of a slightly dated looking empty house, the lounge one especially looks unnecessarily tatty with the stray wire and window strings catching my eye in a picture that says little about the room or view. Also there's no floor plan and the text is perhaps a bit dense/poorly laid out.

Also has the market really risen 450% locally since 2005 or is the last sale price inaccurate?

jk
 Bruce Hooker 26 Jan 2015
In reply to Denni:

Unlike most posters I think an empty house looks better, the rooms look much bigger. I've just sold one and we emptied it, repainted it all white after repairing any plaster that needed it then put new flooring, the clipsable stuff that looks like planking. Redid the kitchen but just ikea sink and cupboards and in the photos it looked huge. Did the outside too but left the old single glazed windows - gave the buyer a way of knocking a bit off the price, and it sold, 8% lower than asking price but we only had a single offer. Times are hard but I think presenting a house that is liveable without expense and clean, garden too, is the best bet.

Just before we sold a very old flat but on the basis of complete rebuilding required so it knocked the price down by about 20% A young couple bought it.
 Philip 26 Jan 2015
The problem might be Zoopla. It seems to suggest that a 4 bedroom house is worth only £30k in that area.

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/property/3-townlands-park/cromarty/iv11-8yy/1147220...

That might be one problem.
 malky_c 26 Jan 2015
In reply to jkarran:
> Also has the market really risen 450% locally since 2005 or is the last sale price inaccurate?

> jk

Reduced price due to being an ex-council tenant perhaps? My mum-in-law paid about 25% of the market value for her council house that she had rented for 10 years or so.

Interesting problem. This is why I was keen to move out of Inverness last time we moved - you get a lot more house for your money. In the end we decided we preferred the convenience of not having to commute long distances for work, and found a suitable place in town. Electric storage heating is a bummer, but pretty much standard out of town (another reason we opted to stay in Inverness).
 Neil Williams 26 Jan 2015
In reply to malky_c:
I'd move to the ends of the earth to avoid storage heaters. They are utter crap. Gas (LPG if necessary) all the way.

Neil
Post edited at 17:02
 Philip 26 Jan 2015
In reply to Neil Williams:

Air source heat pump - even better than gas. Cheaper to run and the current RHI scheme pays for the equipment. LPG is probably the most expensive heating.
 butteredfrog 26 Jan 2015
In reply to Denni:

Set fire to it and claim on the insurance?

(Sorry)
 Neil Williams 27 Jan 2015
In reply to Philip:

Not heard of those - look interesting!

A local Scout camp site has a ground-source one with a matrix under their large field - heats their building for next to nothing.

Neil

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