Gavin,
I am looking for some guidance on a how to sell what seems like an unsellable property. The more I think about it the more stressed I become and I am really struggling to come up with any ideas on how to resolve this situation.
Myself and my girlfriend bought our leasehold converted mill apartment in May 2005 with the aim to enjoy living there until we came to starting a family and then move into a larger more suitable property after a few years. We went traveling last year for 6 months and when we returned we noticed that the apartments that were up for sale when we left were the same ones on the market after the 6 months.
It caused a little concern but as we were not looking to move we weren’t overly concerned. The more months went on the more our concern grew. We were thinking that if these properties weren’t selling then how would ours and even though we weren’t desperate to move we placed our property on the market with a local estate agent in April this year. At the time I spoke to some of the local estate agents trying to build up a picture as to why these apartments weren’t selling.
I had various responses including that someone had put rumours in the local press that refugees were being placed in these apartments etc, which was ridiculous. The agent we went with seemed ok and we were all hopeful of getting viewers round and seeing what would happen.
We are now nearly in November and having no viewings whatsoever knowing that we’re now in the worst time to have a property up for sale. We have added an offer of cashback to the buyer on completion but still no joy.
Faith in the Estate Agent is low but to be fair I’m unsure what else they can do, although some communication/correspondence would be nice. I am getting very concerned as other apartments are coming on the market at lower prices therefore making it even more difficult.
We are prepared to reduce the asking price but my main worry is that we are losing money already and it’s horrible to think we’re going to lose more. We paid £152,500 for the property in May 2005. We are currently marketing it at £149,995 with £5000 cashback on completion.
Last week a similar property came on at £119,995. The sickening thing is that we have a £100,000 mortgage and the deposit money came from my girlfriend’s inheritance after her father passed away. All I can see is us struggling to sell and having to owe money to the mortgage lender once we finally do. In this case we will have lost all the deposit which is deeply upsetting to my girlfriend considering where it came from.
I understand the market isn’t what it used to be and as strange as it may seem we didn’t set out to make any money from this property but to look like we’re going to lose £30,000 – £50,000 in 2 years in hard to stomach.
We have thought about looking at possible part exchange schemes on a new property (non specific) but are really skeptical on buying another new property after this experience. There is also no guarantee that the developer would take our property or that we would get a suitable value.
I have spoken to some quick home buyers but felt that I was dealing with insensitive wide boys etc apart from one who said they’ve had inquiries from other people from the same building and they were not prepared to take the properties on as they were not commercially viable.
If I could go back to when the reservation cheque was written I would and walk away from the property. The joy of everything associated with buying your first home has disappeared and been replaced with the horrible thought of how are we going to get out of this. We want to start a family next year but at the moment we can’t consider this as there’s no way we want to be stuck in a 5th floor apartment with a balcony with a small child.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also what are your thoughts on the loss we will make? Surely this is pretty bad and either the developer has over priced? Or has the mortgage lender not been overly bothered about getting the right valuation?
Any comments/ideas would be greatly appreciated.
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Dear Brendan, thanks for writing in. I will email you back shortly with my recommendations.
Need advice on how to sell my house / online conveyancing solicitors / how to stop repossession / sell house rent back schemes or anything else property related, feel free to get in touch.
Email me – editor@theadvisory.co.uk
Happy house sales!
Gavin Brazg (Editor)
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