Should I stretch myself - mk II

[Breeks]

First time post.....I noticed someone has just asked the same question as me, but from the opposite end of the age scale!

I'm 48 with two young kids, live in a house that's now a bit too small and with neighbours who have made our life a bit difficult over the last couple of years. We've reached the decision that we need to move house.

Mortgage is currently approximately 15% of household monthly income and has roughly 15 years to run.

I'm not convinced my current house will sell quickly, it's in a semi-rural location and other houses round about take quite some time to sell. Added to that there's a fair amount of new builds going up relatively close by which I assume will impact us in terms of selling.

Have been tempted by the ( assumed ) hassle free approach of doing a part-ex with a new house builder but to qualify for that I'd be looking to pretty much double my mortgage which makes me very uneasy taking my age into account.

So my quandry is :

1) try and sell privately and accept that it might be a long haul in the meantime live with lack of space & problematic neighbours.

2) take a risk and part-ex in the knowledge that disposable monthly income takes a big hit but life would be easier in other aspects. In addition I suppose I could view the house as just an asset, if things didn't work out I could sell and move on again to something more appropriate.

What would you do???

Edited by Breeks on Tuesday 30th May 13:59

Edited by Breeks on Tuesday 30th May 13:59

[rustyuk]

Get your house ready and then place it for sale. We thought our last house might be on the market for a few months due to a subsidence claim but it sold within 7 days.

We came very close to trading it in without trying to sell it first as we were convinced it wouldn't sell.

Good luck!

[Lesgrandepotato]

We've partex'd before successfully, but in your case you are mentioning selling on the next place perhaps in the non to distant future. Selling new builds when they are still going up around it is not easy... most people will want the brand new house experience.

[HairyMaclary]

I've recently done this albeit am 35.

Get off the internet and speak to a decent financial adviser or mortgage broker to see what options you have.

Speak to some local agents.

Get a feel for what the local market is like. Not everyone wants to live in a new build. There are loads of new build developments near us but our semi rural mid 80s house sold in 10 days. We looked at the new builds but they weren't for us. I've lived on two new build developments and cant stand the thought of living on a building site nor the fact they are so overlooked.

Plan A should always be to sell yours. I imagine you will get royally screwed by the developer, possibly put your family in a worse financial position and will regret it.

You may get lucky!

[toon10]

Be prepared to take a big hit if you Part Ex. I had a small 3 bed semi which was worth approx £150k and they offered £120k against a new build at full price, or if I sold privately, I could get £20k worth of discounts so in effect, it would have cost me £50k. I decided to sell privately. My house needed updating so I spent a small amount but put a lot of effort in (painted every room, updated the kitchen units but used the original carcasses, updated the bathroom flooring, re-painted all the fences, etc.) It took a few weeks effort and approx £1000 spend but I sold mine to the first people to view it. The whole thing 6 days from signing up with the estate agent to accepting the offer. It would never had sold had I not put some effort into doing it up though.

[Breeks]

Thanks for replies.....have spoken to a local agent, who stated that market in this specific area was "slow" so my expectations for a fast sale are low already.

I guess I'm looking for a quick fix using partex - as young kids = clutter and time, therefore getting a house ready to sell is a hard slog, however, if I take a big financial hit for the privilege then it does seem a bit silly.

[toon10]

Breeks said:

Thanks for replies.....have spoken to a local agent, who stated that market in this specific area was "slow" so my expectations for a fast sale are low already.

I guess I'm looking for a quick fix using partex - as young kids = clutter and time, therefore getting a house ready to sell is a hard slog, however, if I take a big financial hit for the privilege then it does seem a bit silly.

It's worth getting a couple of estate agent valuations and then getting a part ex quote. Depending on how quickly new builds are selling in your area might give you some leverage. If they are not selling fast you can use the "I'm definitely interested if I can get a good price for mine part ex" approach.

[MadProfessor]

I would sell it yourself but use the part exchange price as a guide i.e. you can have some perspective when accepting or negotiating on a potentially cheeky offer.

Generally houses don't move when they are overpriced and/or poorly presented. So I would invest a few weekends and a little bit of effort in sprucing the place up (e.g. painting, fixing anything obvious that's broken) and putting stuff into storage. Yes, you may have to live a few weeks or months with less stuff but it will shift your house quicker.

Consider other strategies such as open days, offers in excess of (to create a lower anchor price), etc.

If the market is truly slow then it should also apply to new builds where they're basically causing their own problem.

[HairyMaclary]

Breeks said:

Thanks for replies.....have spoken to a local agent, who stated that market in this specific area was "slow" so my expectations for a fast sale are low already.

I guess I'm looking for a quick fix using partex - as young kids = clutter and time, therefore getting a house ready to sell is a hard slog, however, if I take a big financial hit for the privilege then it does seem a bit silly.

Declutter it, spruce up the kitchen, bathroom and tidy the garden if needed etc.

Speak to a couple of agents. The first one I spoke with who is based in the village was very pessimistic and was the lowest valuation. I was left with the impression that the low ball valuation was because she knew it was minimal work for them to shift.

I had one from the town come out. He was spot on and I would have gone with him, but..

Then I had one random who we actually used from a totally different area. Proper stereotypical agent... Valued at £20k more than the first who apparently knows the village and who actually sold the house to us. Thought I'd take a punt as there wasn't anything that we liked locally at the time.

Personally, I've put up with the lack of space, baby still in our room for 16 months etc long enough. A couple more months doesn't seem too bad as there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Fingers crossed it goes through. We're all good to go just waiting for the final searches to come back.