PomPomBuckley Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Hi folks :-) Please excuse me if this question has already been asked recently. I have done a search and nothing relevant appeared hence the new thread. We are looking at emigrating in a couple of years (OH is from Brisbane) to live with family. After researching a little it would seem opinion varies on when to put the house on the market when selling to emigrate. We live in a terraced house in Yorkshire and with the market being a bit more fluid recently up t'north I hope it won't take long to sell, when the time comes. We think that first time buyers and landlords will be the main interest. My main question is what area do you live and how long before you planned to leave did you put the house on the market and how quickly did it sell? Do you have any tips for me? I am starting renovations soon (I am a big planner!) as it's quite an old house but mainly just decor and replacing flooring in the works. Any advice appreciated. Thanks! :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyv Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Hi. I would say you just never know! We haven't got our visas yet -hoping to get by the summer. Decided to put our house on the market so we would be 'ready to go'. First viewers put an offer in after 1 week on the market. We live in Derbyshire/Cheshire border. So...going to move into rented soon! Eeek! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PomPomBuckley Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 Hi. I would say you just never know! We haven't got our visas yet -hoping to get by the summer. Decided to put our house on the market so we would be 'ready to go'. First viewers put an offer in after 1 week on the market. We live in Derbyshire/Cheshire border. So...going to move into rented soon! Eeek! Wow! That's fantastic! How exciting! We are in Halifax, West Yorks. We are going to price realistically when the time comes but we haven't even applied for the visa yet. Will have to drill it into my OH not to mention the words 'emigrating' or 'australia'...or the price might drop a few K's! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyv Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Haha...to be fair we didn't have a problem with that. In fact I think prospective buyers like the fact that there is no upward chain. Just put it on a little higher than the price you want to get and let them think they've got a bargain when you accept an offer a little less! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Wow! That's fantastic! How exciting! We are in Halifax, West Yorks. We are going to price realistically when the time comes but we haven't even applied for the visa yet. Will have to drill it into my OH not to mention the words 'emigrating' or 'australia'...or the price might drop a few K's! In fact that would be a major plus. You have a good reason for selling (so buyers won't second guess that there may be something wrong with house, neighbours or area) and there is no onward chain so your house is available when they want it. Houses around here rarely last a week on the market currently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Are you sure you want to sell it? It's often a sensible option to hang on to it to keep a foot on the property ladder - you never know when you might need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyv Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 I guess it all depends on finances. We need the equity out of our house to fund the emigration. As it costs about £20k so unless you have substantial savings or a very small mortgage it might not be possible to keep a property in the UK aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Nor desirable. We could afford to keep our house but don't like the thought of owning a house that is on the other side of the planet. Not all houses are suitable really for the rental market. If I returned it would not be to the same house anyway and there are tax implications too. Fair enough keep it if you are going on a temporary visa but for PR I think it would generally be better to sell up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyv Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Yes good point! I would be far too stressed wondering if my house was going to be trashed by tenants! Of course, you could get wonderful tenants but it wouldn't work for me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 I probably would not put on the market until you have the visa, not with the market picking up and things moving more quickly now. Otherwise it might go quicker than you want and I would prefer not to move into rented before moving out. I also suspect prices will increase in next six months so you will get more for it by waiting too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tina0101 Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 We sold ours middle of April, so are currently going through all the paperwork with solicitors. It was on for just over two weeks before we accepted an offer. We are wanting to fly out on 1st september. We are lucky because our buyer is happy to exchange fast and then let us stay in the house until the middle of August. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 How long is a piece of string, really.....not very helpful I know but selling houses depends on a load of factors: a) The general level of demand in your particular area - and this is affected by many things including interest rates, current economic situation of the UK and the area, how "desirable" your neighbourhood or street are, peoples' perceived economic outlook including media hype, availability of credit, etc etc etc. b) How well your individual property works for your target market in terms of layout/size and so on c) How well you present it d) How good your agent is at selling it e) The price! You can't do anything about a)......everything else you can either directly control or at least influence. c) and d) are the absolute musts, that cost very little but just require some effort. It's all well-known, but get rid of clutter, make it spotless, do cheap stuff like repainting or putting in cheap curtains or other dressing if rooms need it....everyone knows the drill but plenty still pay lip service to it. Work out your target market (you appear to have already done this) - and go round the property (or get a friend to, if you can't see the wood for the trees) looking for what will be downsides or possible dealbreakers for that market. If you're trying to sell to professional couples and there's no public transport, can people park a car, or 2 for preference? If a terraced house, where's the bathroom? Downstairs only will matter less to landlords (renters have to take what's available more than buyers), it will make your house less desirable than one with an upstairs bathroom. On the other hand, landlords are likely to be driven by hard-nosed calculations of yield, so they want to see no potential maintenance liabilities and are unlikely to pay over the odds, so you might ultimately do better on price selling to a FTB as they are susceptible to falling in love with a property if you present it right, BUT of course they don't tend to have that much money to throw around. Throwing in things like appliances if you're emigrating and don't want to take them, can sweeten the deal a lot for FTBs - buying all that stuff on top of moving & buying costs is always a strain for them. What's the rental market like in your immediate area? Got something like a hospital (tons of young professionals needing places to live) nearby? Etc etc etc I have always worked on a rule of thumb of at least getting to offers accepted within 4-6 weeks, unless demand is completely dead. We last sold in 2011 (when it was very very quiet) in less than that. If it takes longer then something's not right - not being marketed to the right people, got a dealbreaker or two that's putting people off (work your agent, push them for honest feedback, it's part of their job, make sure they and you agree on what your target market is and find out from them what's wrong if you're getting viewings without offers), not presented well enough and I'm afraid the usual reason is overpriced. Ultimately even in the most dead market there's always a price at which you can sell, it just might not be one you can live with, but (if paraphrasing Thatcher is allowed), you can't buck the market; someone has to be willing to buy it at a particular price, "Oh, but I can't sell for x because it's worth y" is the most used lie to oneself in the world - it ain't worth y unless someone will give you y for it.... Also, initial selling price is important. If a house is overpriced and gets no interest, and you drop the price then buyers will see that it has been on the market for ages (they are all scanning Rightmove etc all the time) and see that it has dropped in price, and you will get even lower offers; they will think you are desperate and will push their luck. Putting it on the market for too much and "holding out" for the right buyer is rarely an effective strategy - so when you are selecting an agent, don't just go on their valuation, nor on their fee; remember agents are often tempted to inflate the valuation as they'll be telling you something you want to hear, once you're on their books it's hard for you to leave so they'll start talking the asking price down if it hasn't sold. This doesn't necessarily work for you, for reasons see above. Also remember that once you're on an agent's books, the best profit for them lies in selling it as quickly as possible, not just for the highest price - 1% of 150K GBP, or 1% of $145K GBP is neither here nor there for them, it's only 50 quid, but not selling it at all earns them nothing. So get a range of agents around and go with who you think has the right selling strategy AND a decent fee AND a sensible valuation, AND you like them/feel they are someone you can trust - buyers may feel the same. Upshot of that is don't stick it on the market too soon, if you're not moving for a couple of years then look at the target market and potential dealbreakers first, as you have time to resolve them if possible, and/or make a plan of tarting the place up to sell, which will take a few weeks or months depending on current condition. Money spent on doing places up to sell is never wasted IME. I'm convinced over the years (maybe sold about 10 properties?) I've had multiples of 3 or 4 times every pound spent in the eventual sale price Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PomPomBuckley Posted May 7, 2014 Author Share Posted May 7, 2014 How long is a piece of string, really.....not very helpful I know but selling houses depends on a load of factors:a) The general level of demand in your particular area - and this is affected by many things including interest rates, current economic situation of the UK and the area, how "desirable" your neighbourhood or street are, peoples' perceived economic outlook including media hype, availability of credit, etc etc etc. b) How well your individual property works for your target market in terms of layout/size and so on c) How well you present it d) How good your agent is at selling it e) The price! You can't do anything about a)......everything else you can either directly control or at least influence. c) and d) are the absolute musts, that cost very little but just require some effort. It's all well-known, but get rid of clutter, make it spotless, do cheap stuff like repainting or putting in cheap curtains or other dressing if rooms need it....everyone knows the drill but plenty still pay lip service to it. Work out your target market (you appear to have already done this) - and go round the property (or get a friend to, if you can't see the wood for the trees) looking for what will be downsides or possible dealbreakers for that market. If you're trying to sell to professional couples and there's no public transport, can people park a car, or 2 for preference? If a terraced house, where's the bathroom? Downstairs only will matter less to landlords (renters have to take what's available more than buyers), it will make your house less desirable than one with an upstairs bathroom. On the other hand, landlords are likely to be driven by hard-nosed calculations of yield, so they want to see no potential maintenance liabilities and are unlikely to pay over the odds, so you might ultimately do better on price selling to a FTB as they are susceptible to falling in love with a property if you present it right, BUT of course they don't tend to have that much money to throw around. Throwing in things like appliances if you're emigrating and don't want to take them, can sweeten the deal a lot for FTBs - buying all that stuff on top of moving & buying costs is always a strain for them. What's the rental market like in your immediate area? Got something like a hospital (tons of young professionals needing places to live) nearby? Etc etc etc I have always worked on a rule of thumb of at least getting to offers accepted within 4-6 weeks, unless demand is completely dead. We last sold in 2011 (when it was very very quiet) in less than that. If it takes longer then something's not right - not being marketed to the right people, got a dealbreaker or two that's putting people off (work your agent, push them for honest feedback, it's part of their job, make sure they and you agree on what your target market is and find out from them what's wrong if you're getting viewings without offers), not presented well enough and I'm afraid the usual reason is overpriced. Ultimately even in the most dead market there's always a price at which you can sell, it just might not be one you can live with, but (if paraphrasing Thatcher is allowed), you can't buck the market; someone has to be willing to buy it at a particular price, "Oh, but I can't sell for x because it's worth y" is the most used lie to oneself in the world - it ain't worth y unless someone will give you y for it.... Also, initial selling price is important. If a house is overpriced and gets no interest, and you drop the price then buyers will see that it has been on the market for ages (they are all scanning Rightmove etc all the time) and see that it has dropped in price, and you will get even lower offers; they will think you are desperate and will push their luck. Putting it on the market for too much and "holding out" for the right buyer is rarely an effective strategy - so when you are selecting an agent, don't just go on their valuation, nor on their fee; remember agents are often tempted to inflate the valuation as they'll be telling you something you want to hear, once you're on their books it's hard for you to leave so they'll start talking the asking price down if it hasn't sold. This doesn't necessarily work for you, for reasons see above. Also remember that once you're on an agent's books, the best profit for them lies in selling it as quickly as possible, not just for the highest price - 1% of 150K GBP, or 1% of $145K GBP is neither here nor there for them, it's only 50 quid, but not selling it at all earns them nothing. So get a range of agents around and go with who you think has the right selling strategy AND a decent fee AND a sensible valuation, AND you like them/feel they are someone you can trust - buyers may feel the same. Upshot of that is don't stick it on the market too soon, if you're not moving for a couple of years then look at the target market and potential dealbreakers first, as you have time to resolve them if possible, and/or make a plan of tarting the place up to sell, which will take a few weeks or months depending on current condition. Money spent on doing places up to sell is never wasted IME. I'm convinced over the years (maybe sold about 10 properties?) I've had multiples of 3 or 4 times every pound spent in the eventual sale price Good luck Thanks northshorepom! You've given me a lot to think about there! The house needs work on the chimney and does not have gas central heating (fire powered backboiler can be used for radiators but we don't use it). It would simply cost us too much to do the work and it would need to be done in any event if we were to keep and rent it out. We just want to sell. We won't make a huge amount from the sale but a small amount to put towards our Aus nest egg. We are fortunate that once we get to Aus we will live with my husbands parents for a while so that takes the pressure off I guess, even if a sale hasn't gone through. But as you say, at the right price it should sell. I think as mentioned previously, we will wait until after a visa has been granted then at least we know there are no hold-ups there. Thanks to everyone for you input and advice :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny842003 Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 I put my terraced house in an industrial town in Cumbria (so probably quite similar) up for sale in October i accepted an offer in December but due damp being found on the survey did not complete until mid February. I haven't even applied for my visa yet but I know its all done and dusted, money in the bank and putting a fortune in the emigration fund every pay day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PomPomBuckley Posted May 7, 2014 Author Share Posted May 7, 2014 I put my terraced house in an industrial town in Cumbria (so probably quite similar) up for sale in October i accepted an offer in December but due damp being found on the survey did not complete until mid February. I haven't even applied for my visa yet but I know its all done and dusted, money in the bank and putting a fortune in the emigration fund every pay day. Thanks Danny842003. That really helps...so took about 4 months or thereabouts? We will be quite upfront about the work to the roof and chimney and price accordingly. We will apply for our visa towards the middle of next year I think with the view to putting the house on the market around feb/march the following year. It helps to have a plan though and the house does need a bit of decorating doing here and there but nothing major. Can't wait till we get to visa stage! We have 2 children and need to sort there citizenship certificates and Aus passports too before that. It seems ages away, but I know it will fly! Good luck with your application and Aus travels :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest km75 Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 We put our house in the Scottish Borders up for sale in Aug 2011, we got our first and only viewing in Oct 2012 (so 14 months after it went on the market), and thankfully they bought it!! It was a beautiful house, new build, fab condition, big private garden, great views etc. just people no longer consider it commutable to Edinburgh due to the price of fuel! My mum has had her house on the market just shy of one year. There may be a bubble in London, but it's not translating to the south of Scotland. Good luck with the sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mariewellu Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 We moved over a year ago now, we put our house on the market in January we sold it on our first viewing! I also put it on for £10k over what the estate agent had said bt that is cos I knew the area we were selling in sells really well and market prices for it!! We actually only dropped the price by £3000 so made more than estate agent advised!! We moved over in April last year bt it didn't take that long to complete as there was no chain. we moved into a holiday let in Derbyshire as the guy who owned the properties was ok with us letting short term as it was still a regular income for him, obviously we paid more for rent than we would have if we just rented a normal house, bt saying that we didn't pay gas electric etc plus we did end up moving earlier so it actually worked out cheaper in the long run!! We would have had to pay 12 mth rental as we couldn't find 6mths.. good of luck with the selling of your house and the move over to oz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 I put my terraced house in an industrial town in Cumbria (so probably quite similar) up for sale in October i accepted an offer in December but due damp being found on the survey did not complete until mid February. I haven't even applied for my visa yet but I know its all done and dusted, money in the bank and putting a fortune in the emigration fund every pay day. You're taking a lot for granted Danny if you haven't applied for your visa yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny842003 Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 You're taking a lot for granted Danny if you haven't applied for your visa yet. Well I'm applying for a partner visa, so theres no real reason I shouldn't get a grant and if I don't she will move here and we still wouldn't live in the house so its win win really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny842003 Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 Thanks Danny842003. That really helps...so took about 4 months or thereabouts? We will be quite upfront about the work to the roof and chimney and price accordingly. We will apply for our visa towards the middle of next year I think with the view to putting the house on the market around feb/march the following year. It helps to have a plan though and the house does need a bit of decorating doing here and there but nothing major. Can't wait till we get to visa stage! We have 2 children and need to sort there citizenship certificates and Aus passports too before that. It seems ages away, but I know it will fly! Good luck with your application and Aus travels :-) Yeah about 4 months. It maybe worth doing any work thats going to show up on a survey yourself. In the end I paid for the work myself and took a small hit but got the asking price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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