Estate agent advising not to sell?

whizzbang

A friend of mine bought a house up in Dundalk about 2 years ao and has decided to sell as the rent isn't covering the mortgage. So he rang up the Estate agent and they advised him not to to sell as the market is going to continue going up. Does this seem odd to anyone? Why would an estate agent turn down a job? Are they that busy?

miju

i think someone summed it up best on AAM whizzbang when they said they may be trying to stem the flow of sellers , theres some good observations on your thread over there

obviously im no financial expert BUT this seems like a simple straight forward thing to me:

if the sums dont add up and he's hit negative equity simply sell up and take the capital appreciation that he would have gotten from the last two years

the flip side is

subsidise the property out of his own pocket / tenants and hope the property prices keep going up in order to sell a bit later on in the game

though either way you look at it he's in negative equity , interest rates going up , vulnerable to further increases and will be in a pretty bad place IF the market turns

my 0.02 cents for what it's worth , either way wish him the best of luck

whizzbang

miju wrote:

i think someone summed it up best on AAM whizzbang when they said they may be trying to stem the flow of sellers

just tring to get a few more opinions but maybe AAM and Boards is just all the same people!

miju

ah wouldnt say it's all the same i think theres only 3 usernames i recognise from AAM on boards (one being yours) unless of course everyone else is using different names on both sites ?????????

whizzbang

oh you never know! maybe they have multiple usernames on each, one bearish one bullish, depending on how they are feeling each day!

Supercell

I'm happy to hear this..in my mind it can only mean one thing...sales people don't turn away sales..

miju

whizzbang wrote:

oh you never know! maybe they have multiple usernames on each, one bearish one bullish, depending on how they are feeling each day!

i think the more accurate description would be: diversifying their portfolio :o

jdivision

miju wrote:

though either way you look at it he's in negative equity

Totally incorrect. Negative equity occurs when the outstanding loan is higher than the market value of the mortgaged property. It means that if you were to sell you'd lose money. That person wouldn't.

zAbbo

I'm looking to buy in Dundalk atm, and there is a good selection of houses for sale at the moment, as well as lots of buyers. A good time imo

Is the house on the market atm ?

miju

jdivision wrote:

Totally incorrect. Negative equity occurs when the outstanding loan is higher than the market value of the mortgaged property. It means that if you were to sell you'd lose money. That person wouldn't.

correct jdivision , i wasn't paying attention properly (working and posting on boartds does that do you sometimes)

anyways, first part of my post still stands IMHO

The_Conductor

I'd have to agree with a previous poster.
In certain areas (note not widespread *yet*) estate agents are noticing an increasing number of sellers in the market place and rather than depress property prices they are trying to even out the flow of properties hitting the marketplace. A friend who works for Property Partners has confirmed this. They are not trying to turn away business, rather trying to make sure a glut of property hitting the market does not turn into a property price rout.

Estate agents see a seasonal pattern whereby sales die down in late May/early June and then things start up again in September. This year instead of sales dying down in a traditional manner, the amount of property hitting the second hand market in May/June is so far up over 800% on similar time scale last year. (There is supposed to be an article on this in next Sunday's Business Post)

In short- they are trying to move the properties coming onto the market now, into the September marketplace, instead of having a massive overhang of property sitting on the market over the summer.

Obviously it appears to be an increasing number of people deciding to cash in their gains while the going is good- irrespective of the forecasts of continuing rises (or even hoping to harness the forecasts of continuing rises to their benefits, while they still can).

Supercell

First the owners of myhome.ie sell up ...then BOI do sale and leaseback.., now we start to hear stories about estate agents not wanting business, interesting times ahead I think.

dazberry

Longfield wrote:

First the owners of myhome.ie sell up ...then BOI do sale and leaseback.., now we start to hear stories about estate agents not wanting business, interesting times ahead I think.

myhome.ie was setup purely with the purpose of selling it on in the short-term for mega bucks but the dotbomb happened and put paid to that.

D.

Supercell

dazberry wrote:

myhome.ie was setup purely with the purpose of selling it on in the short-term for mega bucks but the dotbomb happened and put paid to that.

D.

And it was sold recently ..right at the height of SSIA madness...coincidance..don't think so - dotbomb, how about propbomb..

whizzbang

zabbo wrote:

I'm looking to buy in Dundalk atm, and there is a good selection of houses for sale at the moment, as well as lots of buyers. A good time imo

Is the house on the market atm ?

He is looking to ut it on the market but apparently his estate agent has other ideas! I don't think he has found a willing estate agent yet.

whizzbang

smccarrick wrote:

pattern whereby sales die down in late May/early June and then things start up again in September. This year instead of sales dying down in a traditional manner, the amount of property hitting the second hand market in May/June is so far up over 800% on similar time scale last year. (There is supposed to be an article on this in next Sunday's Business Post)

very interesting post, I will be reading tomorrows SB Post online to look for that article!

There is another way of looking at it, maybe this agency tries to maintain a low level of sales during the summer so they can all go off on Holildays? It could be their way of maintaining the seasonal norm for personal reasons rather than avoiding a property slump? either way I'd say we will find out in the next 12 to 18 months.

sandyg

I have a friend who is selling her house asap for a quick sale in castlebellingham if you are interested.

whizzbang

sandyg wrote:

I have a friend who is selling her house asap for a quick sale in castlebellingham if you are interested.

my friend is selling too! Thinks its not worth the effort to rent it out.

why is your friend selling do you know? Another person thinking we are at the top of the market?

sandyg

Shes saw the house of her dreams and hopes to purchase it. I sold mine only two months ago (sold within one week). I know from the Estate Agent i used that the price of mine has gone up over the last two months but im happy with what i got.

whizzbang

sandyg wrote:

Shes saw the house of her dreams and hopes to purchase it. I sold mine only two months ago (sold within one week). I know from the Estate Agent i used that the price of mine has gone up over the last two months but im happy with what i got.

fair enough! sounds like the market is still booming there!