Is it too late to sell a house in Northern Ireland???

A question about : Is it too late to sell a house in Northern Ireland???

I put my house on the market at the very end of June as my better half and I are moving to England as she got a great job offer and her family are there. It's on a private lane and was valued at between £167k and £170k but I decided to put it on at offers around £165k and have only had two veiwings and no offers. My better half has moved to England already and it is putting our finances at great risk because we are now paying for two properties (she is renting an apartment). Another house at the end of my lane just went on the market on Friday for £160k but externally it appears to need some work whereas as ours has just been completely re-decorated and had a new kitchen, etc. fitted. Should I drop the price again, try to rent it out at a loss or is it just a matter of waiting for it to sell? :confused:

My current mortgage deal expires in January and we are due to get married next August and I would hate for us to spend the first part of out married lives apart, thus any ideas on what we should do would be greatly received.

Best answers:

• What a terrible position to be in. We were in the same position two years ago (but in reverse, we were moving back here) the only benifit we had was the house we owned was in the south of England so renting it out covered the mortgage (not normally the case over here now where rent is really cheap in comparison to house prices) Have you thought about putting it on with multiple agents? or not ideal but maybe selling it by auction (Wilsons Auctions have property auctions) Obviously it depends on what size your mortgage is and everyone wants the most they can get for their property but sometimes you just have to bight the bullet and take what you can get.. Dropping the price may not always increase viewings or offers IMO..
• Due to today's low inflation figures and the pressure banks are coming under with their finances I have a sneaky feeling interest rates may be cut in October, or more likely November. If that happens the housing market will start to pick up again IMHO, albeit slowly.
  Good luck.
• Try to hold on a few months before putting it on the market.
  The herd intinct among buyers is kicking in now, they are waiting for the house market to tumble which I can't see happening especially on houses in your price bracket
  Rent it out for six months to weather this 'storm'
  PS. Don't panic Mr Mannering
• Do some homework into the local market before you decide to drop your asking price. Ask your agent to tell you how many people are actively looking for houses in your price bracket and find out if similar houses to your's are selling. Look out for your competition and call their agents to see if they have offers on their properties. Maybe there are so few buyers in your market that you just have to sit it out for a while. Or maybe there are more people willing to spend 155k but not 165k. I don't know. However I think that if you dig up some more information you'll be able to make an informed decision about what to do next. Good luck. You will sell your house. It just may take some time.
• Also make sure you have the house listed with the right agent for the area and one that lists on Propertynews online. The cheapest quote is not always the most appropriate.
• Its half three in the mornin, I'm pretty sure thats too late.
• Message for championmongo1
  Whatever you decide to do I would be very grateful if you would periodically update us(a friend of mine is in the same position).
  All too often posters seeking for advice on this site never return and so don't help the rest of us
  Thanks
• I appreciate everyones comments but have a few questions/replies-
  If you put it on with multiple agents, do you have to pay all of them when the house sells or just the agent who sold it? It is currently on with Ulster Property Sales who have marketed it on their own web site as well as propertynews.com. Are they the best local agents? I seen that the are the current estate agents of the year.
  I hope you're right about the interest rates but with all the things that have gone on in the inter-banking markets, will people be able to borrow as much as before? Or will that change leading to a dramatic price drop in properties?
  Would it be worth putting it up for auction just to get the sale now before the market gets any worse? Or is it just a matter of waiting for the spring property boom and selling for the current price then? Local estate agents are just saying that the market is very slow with not much shifting unless it is someones dream home.
  I'm tied in to an Ulster Bank 100% mortgage deal that expires in January when the interest rate I pay will shoot up by 1.55%. Should I be take the hit of the extra repayments to save on the early repayment charge of approximately £2000 if I sell or take out a new deal? Or maybe change to an interest only mortgage?
  Renting the house out would cost me £150 per month (without letting agents fees) currently and would cost me even more when my current mortgage deal ends so should I still explore that route? My better half and I are currently covering all our bills but have little spare cash.
  I use moneysavingexpert almost every day in work so I will keep you all updated with any progress. Many thanks for everyones help.
• You have gave me some very sound advice leftieM and it is greatly appreciated! I think I will just keep it on with the same estate agent for now and then look into my options again come Hallowe'en as you suggested although I will phone them for an update to see if there is anything more I can do to the property, etc.
  One note though-I can't change to interest only untill my current mortgage deal ends in January but as I'm planning on selling would interest only be better than repayment since you don't really pay off much of the capital in the first few years? :confused: Then I would just take the Ј2000 repayment charge out of the house sale rather than spending extra per month out of a tight budget (by not taking out a new deal). My current mortgage is 100% LTV but the LTV value will be lower come the renewal time due to the increase in the market which hopefully mean I will be eligible for the best re-mortgage deals.
  I'm think I'm quite realistic and would probably accept around Ј160k (Ј5k lower than the current asking price and Ј7-10k below the original valuation)and take the Ј2k mortgage hit just to get the thing sold! Hopefully I will get lucky and get it sold and won't have to take on any more stress....
• Well if I were you I wouldn't bother with a new mortgage deal. You'll have to pay an arrangement fee etc which you wouldn't recoup so if you are still waiting to sell or are going through the legal process of selling then just take the interest rise and perhaps go to IO at that stage to keep your repayments low. I think you could do that without too much hassle.
• Championmongo1 You should read this post. A lot of people have found it very helpful.
  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...ad.html?t=5383
• Firstly, thanks for that leftieM again-that sounds like a plan to me. Also thanks to Francophile-the more information I can get the better!
  I have received a phone call from my estate agent who says the property market in Carrickfergus is moving again and that houses are starting to sell again. Other estate agents have said the same however they also said that most houses are listed at offers around rather than the old offers over ploy so if you get an offer within a couple of grand from a good buyer that you should seriously consider it.
  Anyway here's hoping and hopefully I will be re-united with my better half soon.
  Also I will keep you all informed and many many thanks to everyone for the great advice.
• 
  Quote:
• Hi ballyblack.
  I've seen a few more 'sold' signs go up over the past few days and according to propertynews.com there are more sale agreed now as well. Has anyone else any experiences of what is happening with the East Antrim area property market at the moment?
• Still no viewings booked! Starting to think 'the market is moving again' comment was optimistic! Does anyone know of anyone managing to get their house sold?
• 'WeeMoo' post Friday
  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...250361&page=22
• It's good to see that some houses are indeed selling again! Hopefully mine is next!