Emigrating and Selling Your Home

baz6679

Hi All
Just looking for some general thoughts or advice. Moving to Australia next year. Just waiting on the visa. Is anyone else in a similar situation? Trying to sell my home in Donegal and I knew how difficult it was going to be but surely there are some bargain hunters out there? Has anyone managed to sell their home who is in the same situation. Keeping it is not an option for me. want to make a clean break from Ireland due to recession, personal issues. Anyone offering advice or thoughts would be much appreciated.

Scambuster

It's hardly rocket science to sell you home. Stick it in an auction with a low reserve and guide price (50K and 80K perhaps).

baz6679

Point taken but it just seems like there are no people interested out there. I have had it on with an estate agent for ages and had a couple of viewings. Have you ever done it yourself. I dont think it is as easy as you ay

Scambuster

It's an illiquid asset but it will sell within a month or two max at the right price.

The problem these days is that sellers have unrealistic expectations and leads them to believe that there is no market for their house.

baz6679

I do agree with you. Thats why I have reduced the price to the absolute rock bottom. Basically if i sell the at the price I am asking for then I will just clear the outstanding mortgage. And believe me its not a big mortgage compared to some of the poor people in this country of ours right now.

Scambuster

baz6679 wrote: »

I do agree with you. Thats why I have reduced the price to the absolute rock bottom. Basically if i sell the at the price I am asking for then I will just clear the outstanding mortgage. And believe me its not a big mortgage compared to some of the poor people in this country of ours right now.

Your current mortgage has no bearing on the market value of your house, I think that is your problem.

magneticimpulse

alot of houses were purchased because there were 2 incomes coming in...and now alot of people are dependent on 1 income or no income.

hence your current mortgage is not a reflection of how much the house is actually worth...fair enough if you bought your house for 40K, then you would sell it. but if your talking 175K, then it will be difficult to sell it.

my friend has been trying to sell her house in dublin for 3 years now and its at 175K asking price and nobody has even come to look at it...i suspect if people really want to sell their house, it is necessary to rethink about it.

do you want to pay a mortgage for a house that you have no intention of living in? you could be wasting money paying a mortgage back for the next 5 years while you live in australia. or do you want to reduce the price further and maybe lose a bit of money from the mortgage, but get rid of it.

point is, the prices of houses are still reducing alot. you will get the most of it now, instead of waiting 5 years without any interest and then selling it at a further loss.

there is a market...you just need to drop the price to get in some buyers

There are now 4 bedroom houses advertised for 65,000 euro of daft.ie.....so you need to think about what is the current "price" for a house similar to what you are trying to sell.

you also need to consider peoples salary in the area. For instance alot of graduates after university start on 30,000 euro in Dublin...and only slightly increase. Are people on that salary in your area? Also the "realistic" mortgage used to be 3 times someones salary...thats 90,000 euro!!! So that would put house prices at 90,000 euro in Dublin and somewhat less elsewhere in the country. It really depends on peoples salary!! And most people/couples just have 1 salary incoming at the moment. Hence your talking 65000 - 90000 price bracket to be obtained in Ireland for house prices...

Obviously we dont know much about your house or what features you have. But people will only spend what they can afford...and this is usually based on salary. The whole point of the property bubble is that peoples wages did not have such an increase each year to justify the costs of houses. Its all just becoming reality now. House prices will never reach whatever mortgage values they currently have again or at least id say for 20 or so years. Do you really want to wait 20 years?

the_syco

magneticimpulse wrote: »

hence your current mortgage is not a reflection of how much the house is actually worth...fair enough if you bought your house for 40K, then you would sell it. but if your talking 175K, then it will be difficult to sell it.

my friend has been trying to sell her house in dublin for 3 years now and its at 175K asking price and nobody has even come to look at it...i suspect if people really want to sell their house, it is necessary to rethink about it.

Regarding the 1st part, I find you must sell it at "the right price". Too dear, people will ignore it, too small, and the buyer will be looking for "what's wrong with it" to cause the small price. Sell it at X, allow buyer to "negotiate" the price downwards, but above the lowest price you'll sell it at.

And thus the 2nd part; if she's selling it too high, no-one wil come. Too low, and people will think it's a hole. Think of two shops, selling the same thing. If you want it quickly, you'll join the one with the smallest queue. If you only settle for the best, you'll join the longer queue, as so many people can't be wrong...

Pkiernan

Unless the price is incredibly low, no one will be buying your house.

The economy sucks, banks are not giving out money, and to cash in hand buyers looking for an investment, Donegal is not a particulary profitable market.

Best bet is to rent it out if you have someone there who can take care of things when you go to Oz.

mathie

baz6679 wrote: »

Point taken but it just seems like there are no people interested out there. I have had it on with an estate agent for ages and had a couple of viewings. Have you ever done it yourself. I dont think it is as easy as you ay

If you reduced the price to 1 euro do you think you'd get viewings?
Yes you would.

So the ONLY problem here is your price tag.
It's too high.

Wildebrian

You should consider renting it through the Residential Accomodation Scheme,they will take it off you for up to 5 years by which time the market will have normalised

mrmitty

Wildebrian wrote: »

You should consider renting it through the Residential Accomodation Scheme,they will take it off you for up to 5 years by which time the market will have normalised

Define "normal" ?

I belive that we are at 2003 price levels at the moment.
I belived then (as I still do) that Ireland was in the middle of a property bubble in the early 2000's.
I belive that "normal" will be eventually defined as circa 1995 prices adjusted for inflation.

Sydney2007

3 bedroom semi in perfectly respectable estate in Inishowen advertised one or two weeks ago for €65,000, and now it's 'sale agreed'. So houses will sell - at a price.

magneticimpulse

Wildebrian wrote: »

You should consider renting it through the Residential Accomodation Scheme,they will take it off you for up to 5 years by which time the market will have normalised

My friend tried doing this with her house in Dublin and they had no takers. Its not as easy as it might seem. Sure definitely go ahead and try doing that process.

At the end of the day, do you want to hang onto the house and have to pay the mortgage while living and renting/buying a house in Oz. I could imagine it makes more sense to get rid, be done and dusted. Have some cash for your new life in Oz.

ricman

you can sell if you lower the price, in theory but the prospective buyer may find it hard to get a mortgage,unless they are in a good job with a large amount of savings, a house is worth only what someone will pay for it.if the price is good someone will buy it.

NKearney50

Maybe its the location?

Donegal is the most beautiful county in Ireland but it needs a roof and its also an unemployment black spot at the moment.

I am a regular visitor to Donegal but I understand that alot of people there are having issue selling their homes. My bro and his wife want to do the same as you and they too are in Donegal but for alot of people its a no go zone at the moment unless someone can afford a second home.

All the best and I hope it works out for you.