HOUSING DILEMMA....your input please!!!!

[kimdownie]

Hi guys can anyone shed some light for me????

We are about to put our house on the market, but are a bit frustrated!
Our house is worth £260,000 but know that people will not entertain it because they will have to pay stamp duty over £250,000, so we are considering 2 options.

1) put it up for £249,950 and know we will sell it really quickly then have to pay estate agents fees on top
OR
2) put it on for £260,000 and offer to pay their stamp duty and make £152,200 which will help towards the agent fees!!

Has anyone ever done this or heard of this before???, do you think it could work???? cheers Kim

[KazzE]

I don't understand

what is the difference £ in your pocket??

If I was your buyer I would prob go for it but Gill will probably have a better idea if it is a viable option

We are thinking of putting our on the market before 1st June to avoid £500 HIP even tho we have not put our visa application in yet

[kimdownie]

hi Kazze,
The difference in my pocket would be that instead of getting £149,950 and then having to pay estate agent fees it would reduce my income from the property by about £2,000

where as if I sell for £160,000 and offer to pay the stamp duty of £7,800, that would give me the £2,200 extra to pay estate agents fees and give me £250,000 for the house.

I know £2,200 isnt a lot but every little bit helps!!

what do you think??

[anna&steve]

Why dont you put your housr on the market yourself without using an estate agent, you know the value and they never do anything worth their fees. Dont know which option gives you more money in your pocket but do which ever and save on agents fees. give yourself a time scale if you have enough time then use an estate agent if you have no luck.xx

[mandyg]

Hi just reading your post and i honestly think the best option for you is to offer to pay the stamp duty providing you get your asking price on your house. We was in a very simular situation last year when we sold our house and was looking for a bigger one, we knew our price range that we could afford but it was the stamp duty 3% after 250000 that was going to kill us. We so some very nice houses that we could afford but because there was just over the 250 mark it was the stamp duty that prevented us from buying them so in the end we bought one just under 250 to prevent paying 3%. If i was you id go for what ever benefits you personally but if your wanting to get a quick sale id keep it under the 250 by say 249995.00 that way your buyer only as to pay 1% stamp duty and you get a quick sale. You will find you will have more viewers keeping under the 250 mark if not sell it for more but make sure you state you will offer to pay the stamp duty providing you get your asking price as remember buyers will always try to knock the price down slightly. hope all goes well for you .
mandy

[kimdownie]

yeah it does sound good, I suppose If we tried to do it by ourself for 3 weeks then we would still have time to get with an agent before the HIP deadline of june if we didnt manage to sell.
Thanks

[mandyg]

Now heres another idea now bear in mind this is very cheeky but its something i did with my house lol hope theres no estate agents here lol Right r u ready for this ! Get estae agent round value your house stick it on the market with them, viewers start turning up and if any of them appear to be very intrested then give them your home tel no and ask them to call you directly if they want to come back anytime. Right now then lol If they do arrange through you another viewing then they seem very very intrested then say to them if you want to buy it through yourselfs and blow the estate agent out then you will reduce the price by £1000 bearing in mind most estate agents charge 2% of the sale price so say you was selling for 250 you would pay £5000 to the estate agents if there fees were 2% or if they were 1% wich some are your fees would be £2550.00 so your buyers saving a grand on the morgage and your saving either £1550.00 OR AT 2% £4000.00. Then if they agree to blow out the estate agents wich most of them do as there not really botherd as long as they get there house. What you do next is phone the estate agent tell them you have decided not to sell put this in writing with one months notice and most dont charge you a penny if they dont sell your home then you sell it privately to your buyer and there none the wiser poor old estate agent lol well they do vertually sod all anyway cheeky i know but thats what i did and the extra cash is better in your pocket then theres.

worked for me anyway lol mandy

[kimdownie]

oooooooh you cheeky girlie....hmmmmmmm very tempting, I thought that they did charge if you cancel your contract within 3 months. Maybe im wrong
Cheers pal xx

[mandyg]

lol emm never heard of that before here none of them do they wouldnt get any buisness at all if they did that as lots of competition here but dont know about your town. We only have one state agent here that charges you for cancellation and thats £50 for the photos of the house but i stayed away from them mine never even got to the photo stage i sold it in a week well had the viewer in a week and agreed a deal with them and within 9 weeks i was moving out it can happen if your one step in front of the estae agent and keep your mouth shut and tell no one in your area then just tell neighbours after your months notice with the agent is up that you have found your own private buyer be aware though spme agents are getting aware of this happening so if they do happen to question why you decided not to sell just say your visa been turned down lol little white lie but more cash in your pocket to take to oz lol

[ali]

Good point about getting the asking price Mandyg, not many people offer the asking price these days, would you still want to pay the stamp duty if they offerred £10,000 less kim?