Selling Property in a Falling Market

Things have changed in the UK housing market in recent months - no doubt about that. But you can still sell your house in a falling market and selling privately makes even more sense when you need to maximise the profit from your sale.

The true cost of using an estate agent is not just the commission you pay them, an average of £5,500. To understand the real cost, you need to look at how much your property has increased in value since you bought it and what the agent's commission represents of that figure. For instance, if you bought for £170k and sell for £200k, paying 2% commission at £4,700, that’s actually 16% of the £30,000 capital you have earned on your property. To work out the real cost of selling your property, try this "Real Cost of Selling" Calculator here:

Real Cost Selling Calculator

If the value of your property is falling, you might feel reluctant to let an agent take such a chunk of your capital, particularly if they do so little to earn that money. Selling privately costs as little as £47, a tiny percentage of your home’s value. A £199 package gets your property an online brochure with twenty colour photos, advertised on an extensive number of property websites (reaching up to three million house-hunters each month), plus a For Sale Board, important at any time, but vital in a falling market as you need maximum exposure in your own local area.

Think what you could do in your new home with the £5,500 you save in estate agents fees, which will stay in your pocket, instead of lining an agents. New kitchen, bathroom or garden makeover! Or to cover the other costs of moving house - removals, legal fees, stamp duty on the house you are buying. You could even use it to help secure your buyer - people often share the saving they make with their buyer - it’s a great negotiating tool too.

You might also be worried that there are no buyers out there. But there are always people who are looking to move because of changes to their personal circumstances - a new baby means that one-bedroomed flat just isn’t big enough, a new job makes a difficult commute impossible, or reaching sixty-five means downsizing to free up the capital to fund retirement.

So if you are want to sell but think now’s not the right time, think again. Putting your property on the market now could be a good tactic, particularly if you share the view of some housing market experts, that prices will fall further still. There are bargains out there to be had now and there are people who are looking to move but can’t find the right property. Is your property the one for them?

Selling privately gives you the option to find out with minimal risk. A small upfront fee and no commissions to pay. Apart from HomeMarketeer, a good site to use is HouseWeb. They‘ve been established since 1996 and pioneered private selling on the Web. It shows as their site is very simple to use and your property can be on the market within thirty minutes. This accounts for some of the time saved when selling privately versus an estate agent. Alliance and Leicester’s survey showed that the average time to sell privately is one month quicker than using an agent.

Finally, don’t forget your Home Information Pack (HIP) when selling. HouseWeb HIPS offer a very low cost HIP at £279+VAT - one of the cheapest on the market.

The Credit Crunch

Banks lent too much money in the form of "financial instruments" to American Banks who lent the money to people who could not afford to pay it back. But that would be OK wouldn't it because house prices always go up? Don't they?

So the greed of banks have caused issues in the UK and in fact around the world. Nobody when trading these financial instruments thought "what are we actually buying?".

The misery has been bourne by many mortgage borrowers and will probably have the fun of enjoying this burden for several years to come.

Are you one the lucky borrowers or savers from Northern Rock? Let us know what you think of what has happened.

Gordon Brown - Good or Bad for UK Housing Market?

The current housing market in the UK shows a chronic shortage of homes. This has led to house prices increasing to the extreme that first time buyers need to be well paid and often have to wait until they are older to afford a first property.

For those already in the housing market however, this can be good news - their property is increasing in value rapidly. When they are ready to down size, they will have a nice nest egg.

Gordon Brown in his time as Chancellor increased stamp duty, thus increasing the cost of moving. As house prices rose, this put more homes in the higher price bracket. This has had the effect of slowing down the housing market and increasing the profits of DIY chains.

In their changes to the housing supply, the government imposed quotas on local councils to build more houses. Inevitably, these were built on the flatest land to be found - flood plains. Now a new project to build a masive number of homes around the Thames estuary (the Thames gateway) is planned. With this massive housing development, it is hoped that many more people can buy their own home.