Quick Sale Of House

Trying to get a quick house sale in 2011 will be no laughing matter. The Bank of England may have held interest rates again, but we all know our ultra-low interest rate environment is reaching the end of its life. There is also no sign whatsoever that the banks are going to be more generous with their lending to homeowners. It would in fact suit the Government rather nicely if we had house price deflation for the next 5 years. Cold comfort for the rest of us.
So here is the problem.
You must get a quick house sale despite the fact that confidence within the property sector is ebbing away. 2011 and beyond will undoubtedly be problematic years. With patchy house prices leading values to plummet in some regions of the UK, it does beg the question, can you afford to sell quickly?
If you are very one of the top 5 companies offering quick house sale services in the UK may offer you about two-thirds of the value of your home. The quick sale of a house was never quite so expensive. Of course some may advertise they offer more but will usually find a reason not to.
If you need more (and let’s face it most people do) there is possibly an alternative or two but they offer no guarantees.

The assisted quick house sale

You see, as with most things in life when it comes to disposing of property there are trade-offs. If you need a guaranteed sale within a week, your house price drops through the floor. If it’s not essential you sell in days, it is possible to get more for your house by taking advantage of an ‘assisted sale’ program.
Former property buyers are helping owners sell rather than buying their property directly. You may think this is money for old rope, but we speak every day to people who have had their house on the market for a year or more!
An assisted house sale is a way of achieving more than you would selling to a cash buyer but you’ll get less (typically) than your agents valuation.

Express estate agencies

These are estate agents in name, but may be an off-shoot of an established cash buyer. They tend to charge slightly higher fees than your average agent. Intended for people looking for a quick house sale but not an immediate house sale, they focus on matching qualified buyers with finance to properties. This type of set up may suit people who can’t or won’t discount 33% to sell, but do want a fast sale. Some may have already tried a conventional estate agent and got fed up. Some of these agencies may offer a part exchange program.
These options are to be welcomed if they give sellers more choice about how to arrange their quick house sale. But there will be times when these options can’t deliver the speed to sale needed. At the end of the day neither of these options controls the buyer.
The best route for getting a quick house sale will depend on your circumstances and personal taste.

Is a quick house sale a thing of the past? 2010 revealed mortgage lending to be at it’s lowest level for ten years. Predictions indicate lending levels will be even lower in 2011.

Lending restrictions will impact the market for selling in two important ways. Prices will at best be static, but I think we are all braced for further falls. Second, fewer people will be able to afford to move.

Add inflation into the mix, and we could be looking at a severe depression in the market if interest rates rise. We hope the powers that be realise the current drivers of rising inflation won’t be positively impacted by a rate rise i.e. drivers linked to rising prices for commodities.

For average houses in average streets across the UK a quick house sale could be a distant memory. It’s already tough enough out there for sellers.

We’re all being encouraged to think more long term when it comes to home purchase and that’s not bad advice if you’re not facing pressure to move. But what if you really, really want to sell your house?

Those trading down the property ladder probably have most to lose in cash terms. However, if realising the best possible cash gain is not your top priority this group of seller scan probably afford to be the most flexible.

Moving up the housing ladder will be the most expensive type of move. Negotiate hard but don’t start your search until you have found a buyer.

We may all have to adjust our thinking on the timescale required for selling. Start before you need too, and get your finance sorted out early on. Anyone with a house under offer and finance in place will call the shots now more than ever.

When two worlds collide there will be hell to pay.

In the blue corner we have the FSA. Hell bent it seems on restricting access to mortgages. In the red corner we have the banks, who are already restricting lending for their own rather different reasons. You want to sell your house? If you aim to sell to buy another, your plans may succeed or fail depending on whether you can get another mortgage!

Banks and building societies have announced they can see no short term recovery in the mortgage market for at least the next year. With mortgage lending at a ten year low, and barely a third of the level it was three years ago this can only drive house prices down further.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA), has put banks and building societies on notice that it will require stricter assessments of mortgage applicants’ income and ability to pay, particularly if there’s a significant rise in interest rates. What this means precisely, I am not sure. It depends if the FSA lets the banks and building societies self regulate on this.

The irony here is lenders warn that this tougher regime for mortgage approval would have prevented half of recent borrowers from getting a mortgage. Exactly where the CML get’s these sound bites from we don’t know, but it sounds quite damming. A wrong doesn’t make a right.

It’s not that mortgage’s don’t need an overhaul. They do. But if everyone’s pouring cold water on the housing market the picture for selling only get’s bleaker.

It seems the millionaires in the Cabinet aren’t bothered. We’ve seen no measures that are likely to help.

The sale of a house that needs work doing to it is easier at some times than others. The question is: when is it a good investment to spend money getting your house ready to sell?

If your property is not looking its best, you can probably still sell it regardless of wider market conditions. But in a slow market you’d have to reflect the condition of a property in the asking price.

Most homes have a lived in quality that reflect the owners taste. Or sometimes reluctance to go through the upheaval of updating interior decor.

It’s ironic that many of us only decorate when we want to sell, and don’t get the full benefit of all the hard work.

If you have a thoroughly dated property, a coat of paint isn’t really going to help you sell. You’d be better of simply making sure the house is clean and tidy. This is because the new owners are going to gut it! Some owners do attempt to smarten up this kind of property, perhaps because they have inherited a property. However there are two pitfalls to avoid. First, is failing to tackle work such as modernising the boiler or windows. Second, they often tackle the work themselves and fail to do it to the required standard.

If you have a modernised property that could do with being freshened up, a lick of paint may work wonders. It won’t add value, but it may help you sell more quickly.

The worst possible outcome is to do half the job!

Selling for the best possible price, no matter what the market is doing, means being realistic about what you can achieve. A house that’s not been touched for 25 years, no matter how smart, isn’t going to achieve what the same property could if thoroughly modernised.

With this type of property (often inherited) it is what it is. Unmodernised. Good for DIYers or someone wanting a comparative bargain.

If you feel you must spend money on old fashioned house before you sell, start with wiring checks and changing the boiler before you rush for a paint brush.

House prices as we draw into Autumn reveal a confusing picture.

In England and Wales the trend is down with more surveyors reporting a fall in house prices. In Scotland, the latest figures show prices are bucking this trend. Or do they?

In Scotland, a lack of supply is keeping house prices more steady. This surely won’t last as more people fear for their jobs.

Where ever you are in the UK, you may still be able to sell well if your house is unusual, there is little else for sale for the same type of buyers and your home isn’t a first time buyer property. If you don’t have these factors going for you, you may have to be uber realistic on price.

Unfortunately there are severe problems looming. Spending cuts and job losses. The ongoing dearth of first time buyers who are unable to get finance may pose the biggest risk of all.

Selling your house for ‘offers under’, rather than ‘offers over’ is certainly a novelty. One Edinburgh couple certainly got plenty of attention when they did just that earlier in the month. Gimmicky?

What appears to have happened is that a couple put their flat on the market at offers over the Home Report value.

Pleezzzze.

If you are wide of the selling price you’re not going to get viewings. This is exactly what happened in this case (one wonders who was advising them..or whether they were head strong?)

There is a tendency for people to put their house on the market at the figure they think they ‘deserve’. In a depressed (and frankly declining) market, there is no harm in chancing your arm. The Scottish system of ‘offers offer’ is strongly instilled. However a bid based system relies on a number of competing buyers, readily available finance and an unbroken chain.

These conditions tend to exist only for seasoned house buyers with serious levels of cash, pursuing the most desirable properties which are in short supply. The net result is that the market is still good for some upper end properties but can be hit and miss for styles of properties available in large supply and which rely on high loan to value mortgages. These are often starter homes, although they may not be ‘cheap’.

Now, what the offers under scenario did was attract lots of attention. So hats off to the sellers, Duncan Hall and Laura Jack for trying something different.

Selling your house for offers under is unlikely to catch on. But this example highlights two important points about the current market.

If your flat or house is simply average and there are plenty of similar competing properties for sale you have to use the price to attract interest.

The idea of selling your house for offers under did make people sit up and listen. If you can think of other incentives or quirky ways to make your sale stand out, we’d encourage you to give it a go!

Last month the FT issued a warning on so called property schemes. These schemes can involve buyers, sellers and tenants controlling a property without the issue of a mortgage.

Are these genuine alternatives for sellers, investors and potential buyers.

The FT article naturally managed to get quotes from people with an axe to grind. Pity.

A more balanced approach to the article would have been welcomed but of course examples of options helping people wouldn’t make such good reading.

However I would point out that in my opinion, so called “Sandwich Options” are too complicated, effectively multiplying the risk.

Lease options and their variants have been common in the US and Australia for many years.

There are a number of situations where a lease option should not be used. This would include anyone trying to circumvent the new regulatory regime for sell and rent back schemes.

However if all parties are independently advised, this can be a solution for sellers, buyers and tenants. As with all things to do with property you should always take expert and legal advice.

Should you ditch tenants before selling? A nice man from Wales asked me that this morning. Of course, he didn’t mean literally put his tenants out in the street. But the question was clearly worrying him.

As luck would have it his tenant was on a month to month tenancy agreement so he needn’t have worried.

It wasn’t my intention to start off with sinister news.

The FSA is looking at possible measures to curb excessive mortgage. Yeah right. Would have been useful four years ago.

First came the news that mortgage approvals are down again. But far more sinister was the news that the FSA is looking at ways to curb excessive lending. It is my personal opinion that the FSA while safe-guarding our financial interests, it not known for its light touch.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders who released the news, clearly has its own interests at heart.

The CML appeared to call the initiative well intentioned but misguided. Could this be another example of the FSA using a sledgehammer to crack a nut?

According to the CML, the FSA has already admitted its proposals will cause house prices to fall.

Should we be worried – yes. Absolutely.

We’re already in a climate where lenders do not appear to want to lend. Do not appear to want to pass the benefits of super low interest rates on to customers. Appear to want to use any excuse not to lend.

The UK home loans market was overheated for years!!!! The prospect of the FSA and CML stitching us all up just makes the implosion of the house market all the more likely.