Many home owners struggling to sell their properties are reducing the price in a bid to attract an offer, writes Caroline McGhie. 'The Telegraph,'
Ivan Kissane and Karen Pugh, have what you might imagine to be the ideal Cotswold barn conversion, at Sulgrave in Oxfordshire. Downstairs is a kitchen with limestone floors, children’s bedrooms tucked into the old piggeries, and a bedroom and bathroom for the grandparents.Upstairs is a cathedral sitting room overarched with oak beams, a master bedroom and bathroom. Since it went on the market in September, they have had one viewing per week. People “ooh”and “aah” over it, but they haven’t had an offer.
Now is the time for a new strategy. They have seen a house they want to buy which has more space for the grandparents, they have a new baby imminent, and they want to make the move, so they asked their agents to drop the asking price from £800,000 to £750,000.
“Oak Barn was an emotional purchase for us when we bought it two years ago, just before my son, Ewan, was born,” says Karen. “We had to have it. So it will be the same for our buyer. The interest is there. We have been amazed by how many cash buyers from London are looking, but they are not in a hurry.” She believes the New Year is the right moment for a fresh approach.
“The key lies in keeping the differential between the property you sell and the one you buy,” says George Philip of Strutt & Parker (01295 273592), which is selling Oak Barn. “If you lower the price you are asking, you can make an offer on the house you are buying.” He says he is having conversations like this with clients every day. “I recommend that the asking price should be the equivalent of the lowest offer you can accept. If a lower offer is made you can always turn it down, or think of it as giving you options on the house you want to buy.”
A lot of sellers are now rethinking their strategy. Full Article .....
Price is right: Ivan Kissane and Karen Pugh with two-year-old son Ewan, have reduced the price of their house in order to make a quick sale.
