The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: ellied on July 09, 2018, 11:43:24 am
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OK so after 17 years of living this particular dream I have decided that I need to sell up and move on. This isn't an easy process as I've 17 years of stuff in the house, the garden shed, the garage and pretty much everywhere I look! Anyway, that's what I'm sorting through at the moment but my next step is to get a valuation.
Now I have a solicitor but they're not known for advertising smallholdings so I plan to use them only for the conveyancing and advertise myself through various forum connections equestrian and smallholding, I reckon I can get enough interest that way and save some ££.
But I want to get a valuation to know where to price and the last 2 times (2008 and 2010) I bought home reports from Graham & Sibbald who do all the valuations in this area house and land alike. But I didn't actually sell and home reports are another expense that only last a wee while anyway so I'd end up paying another when I actually want to put the sale through in about November.
My actual house isn't des res enough for CKD Galbraith, it's a 2 bed 70s bungalow with 10 acres not a stone cottage of mansion.. They suggested (8 years ago!) that I use McRae & McRae who are more 'my level' but I'm not wanting to sell through an agent so feel I might be wrong to get the agents to price and not use them. Is that just what they expect and people do all the time?
Or do I work on some calculation of house price changes over 8 years and pitch where I think, then get a HR when I'm actually ready for viewings?
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I know it's not an exact science but have you looked at Zoopla? It gives a rough idea as to how much your property is worth. Take it with a pinch of salt though. It also gives you recently sold prices in your area.
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That's sad to hear, Ellied. Your place has bags of potential as either a smallholding or for horsey people though, so I don't think you'll struggle to sell it.
Zoopla valuations aren't all that helpful for unique rural properties IME. Personally, I would adjust the home report value from 2010 by the change in the Halifax house price index for your area, to get a rough idea.
The thing is, you can't officially advertise it until you've had a home report anyway, so why not wait until you're ready to accept viewings and then get a HR done and advertise all in one go?
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Thanks, I put figures in an online calculator but it came out about 2/3 of what I was quoted 10 years ago so is obviously based just on the house. The company called back tho and offered a free presale valuation so I know more or less where to pitch it and whether my previous advice is still valid re limiting works to internal decor and strimming etc rather than trying to do bigger things that stand out from my POV as kerbside offputting features ;) I have been persuaded to let them look next week while I'm still doing the prep, and as you say Womble I'll get the HR when it's ready to go to market.
Thanks again and maybe I'll be looking for new pastures shortly with any luck!
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I a bit thick what is HR ?
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Home Report?
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Sorry to hear that, Ellie :(
Yes, as Womble says, you can't legally advertise it for sale anywhere, whether it's you advertising it or a solicitor, without a home report. Who's your local agricultural mart run by? Do they do property as well?
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I've just looked up home report, good thing we wont be selling then , wonder how a 150yo croft house with no double glazing , insulation and heated by wood burner would fare.
I thought all this stuff was covered in the survey that would be done, or is this the replacement ?
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Why not get a proper valuation? Im confused you haven't got to sell it through them. I would never guess plus you can get as much feed back as poss.
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Sad you are selling up. Do you have plans yet for what to do in the future?
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Congratulations on making the decision, finding homes for the ponies that need to move on, and getting on with the next stage of your life :). :hug:
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Have you tried any of the new hybrid eatate agents? Purple bricks etc?
https://www.hatched.co.uk/blog/192/what-is-a-hybrid-estate-agent (https://www.hatched.co.uk/blog/192/what-is-a-hybrid-estate-agent)
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The company called back tho and offered a free presale valuation so I know more or less where to pitch it and whether my previous advice is still valid re limiting works to internal decor and strimming etc...
That sounds like a good move. I'm trying to sell my Father-in-Law's house at the moment, and the estate agents were really helpful as to which repairs / changes would pay for themselves and which wouldn't. They actually said that some changes would likely not change the selling price at all, but might make the house sell quicker, which was an interesting viewpoint.
We listed it with Purplebricks in the end, and they've been brilliant so far. Talk about tech disrupting established industries!
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I've just looked up home report, good thing we wont be selling then , wonder how a 150yo croft house with no double glazing , insulation and heated by wood burner would fare.
I thought all this stuff was covered in the survey that would be done, or is this the replacement ?
I bought something very similar to that a few years ago :)
Yes, a home report is basically a full survey, paid for by the seller, so the buyers don't need one (although many lenders will ask for an updated valuation before a mortgage completes). It shook up the system a bit when it came in - better for buyers, in that they weren't getting house after house surveyed and then not buying it because their offer over wasn't as over as someone else's, but worse for sellers in that it more or less ended the days of people paying well over the offers over price, because the house now had a firm valuation from the start.
We sold in England in the brief window where you needed a home report and bought in Scotland before the system came in, so got shafted on both ends of it! But a house near us that we looked at before we moved was on the market at offers over £95,000 and sold for £156,000, needing serious work - that almost certainly wouldn't happen now.
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Hi :wave:
I am across the Tay from you in Angus! This is My recent experience.
I had a large, modern new build with 3 acres.
I got Graham and sibbald in Dundee to value my property. This cost approx £150, but when I went ahead to get the HR completed, the £150 was deducted from the HR price. So basically I got a valuation for free to give me an idea the figures I was potentially going to be dealing with.
With Internet exposure, I don't think it matters who your property is on with, be it a solicitor or an expensive land and grand company ie. ckd Galbraith, rettie, savills.
I fired my house out everywhere, on here and every Facebook house for sale page I could find. I kept renewing/refreshing. Put it on my face book time line and got all my friends to share it.
On Facebook property pages, you can word it as so...
Awaiting home report, just putting my property out there to see if it generates interest, put on photographs, if you know someone with a drone, get some Ariel footage of all your land.
Facebook is an excellent way to get your property out there. Join every house group, so I joined houses for sale or rent in Scotland, Tayside, Angus, Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen, small holdings for sale. And this advertising was all free. People like it, share it, tag people in it. So maximum free exposure. You have nothing to lose. Also if you can arrange a private sale then obviously you won't have estate agency fees. It is definitely the way forward, if you make the time to keep a track of all the messages.
Can I finally add, The folks that bought my house, saw my house on here, not in tspc, right move, zoopla, but on accidental smallholder forum! :thumbsup:
Exciting times ahead, good luck
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The valuer that came yesterday was quite depressing, I am not sure where to go next but yes I went to G&S last time and just got a £150 survey for the sake of knowing and couldn't proceed at that point so may just do that again.
It's not apparently worth much more now as the last decade or so has been slow and my property isn't pretty, has cosmetic repairs required externally that I haven't given priority to because CKD said the house might be demolished or extended up (I have the drawings), and lacks specifically equestrian facilities like arenas, field shelters and stable blocks - to attract the 'horsey set' would would also probably need more than 2 bedrooms for the likely kiddies with ponies scenario of the lifestyle buyer. Tho I've had a native stud working here fine for 17 years alongside the smallholding as a single working woman and imagine there are couples looking who might only need 2 bedrooms short term..
I will probably just DIY online and see what happens. I was all ready to go for it until told to be more realistic with expectations - and spent last night close to tears thinking I may be stuck where I am because what I'm looking for next would be beyond my budget without a good sale/equity release.
Property was worth £300k (G&S survey) in 2008 and in 2010 Bell Ingram recommended marketing at o/o £290k with a view to £310k offers coming in. But she suggested max £320k now and I was looking at £350-400k as reasonable - and necessary for my future ideas to have a chance. Her best suggestion for making money was to get a developer interested in a 2 acre paddock where PP is likely as infill toward the village, selling that for £100k and the remaining 8 acres plus house/garden/orchard for the £300k mark, but as the developers offers are subject to PP it would be 2 years before I could actually get sold and moved.
Not sure I can bear another 2 winters here on my own or that I want to dig up arable land to make housing. I know it's possible a buyer would do the same but I want to sell it as a 10 acre+ piece of viable ground for someone else's dream like it was for me. I also know if I sold it with an uplift clause (pretty common now with agri sales) I'd be due a percentage if someone did go that way in future, up to 30 years I think.. so would rather sell and go and maybe get a wee boost to my pension one day ;)
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Ellied,That's hard to hear :raining: . Take heart though, just because your place isn't posh enough for most horsey people, doesn't mean it won't be great as a smallholding. Actually, the state of our place and the abysmal internet speeds were / is the only reason we could afford it, and weren't outbid by horsey people with more money. I reckon your place could be just the same, so market to that demographic, and forget the adverts in Studs R Us magazine ;) .
If you're set on moving (which its sounds very much as if you are), then I'd say tidy it up just a little (e.g. get rid of any junk lying around, mow the lawn etc) and get it on the market and see what happens. You might be surprised. If it doesn't sell at the price you want, then you still have the option of selling in bits later if you wish, or you could sell at a lower price and find another way to make your new plans happen.
It's probably true that there's not much point in upgrading the house, but the same was true even for my Father-in-Law's never lived in new build. The EA there told us not to have it carpeted, since there's every chance that a new buyer would have different taste anyway.
Does that help, or am I just rubbing salt into the wound? :bouquet:
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In my usual blunt fashion, here's my advice.
When you are selling a property you want as much money as you can get so -
1. do a tidy up,
2. do quick paint jobs to make it look nice. ##
3. have nice (cheap) bedding on the beds,
4. don't have piles of books lying around,
5. no boxes/bits of wood lying around outside.
6. Tidy up ropey chicken runs
7. Get rid of all weeds.
8. Tidy flower borders
9. Tidy fruit/veg beds
10. Get friends round to help you
Then forget what's likely to be done with it after its sold - it is not your house after that.
You want as much money for it as you can get, so pay for outline planning on the field alongside.
It shouldn't take too long to come through as you've no really near neighbours who might object.
It's in a lovely setting but it's a busy road, so take note when it's usually quieter and only allow viewings during those times.
Think of things you'd do if you had pots of money to do the place up, (en suite) master ensuite bedroom in the loft etc), extend that garden by borrowing a bit of the field at the back and terracing; make a list of them, draw plans, and refer to them when viewing to let potential buyers see what they could do - people can't envisage things so you have to do it for them.
Happy to help with anything light
Annie
x
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Sorry to hear your decision [member=6264]ellied[/member]
Keep us all updated when the time comes and make sure you put the sale up on here.
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Ellied - you've got some useful and constructive advice here which is worth considering.
It would seem that maybe tidying up your house and grounds to some extent is likely to make your property more appealing to prospective buyers. Remember you only get one chance to make a first impression.
However, your real money maker would appear to to be your 2 acres with planning potential. And quite honestly removing 2 acres from the deal when there are already 8 acres remaining, will not detract much from the price. It is still a very attractive proposition with 8 acres, which is still more than twice the amount of land that is more commonly sold with a house.
Forget about the 10 acres being someone else's dream as a smallholding! It's just as likely to be their dream to have 2 acres to sell for building and still have ample land left over for the good life and to make your cottage into a palace.
I have myself recently realised that now that I have to cut down on my animals, it's no good just keeping the fields that I love just for sentiment, as if I don't sell them for development then someone else will. So it might as well be me!
As for planning permission - it should only take about 8 weeks from when you put your application in - so shouldn't be a case of waiting 2 winters before you can move. Also, if you sell the land with pp while it is still part of your home (ie before you sell up) then you don't pay capital gains tax. But if your house sells before the land then the land is no longer part of your residence (because you've sold it now) and so you would be liable for CG tax. And that will be a considerable amount of money.
Finally, building land is worth a lot more than £100k/acre - so do make sure you get it properly valued. Don't just take the first offer. Those 2 acres should in fact be worth more than your house and the rest of your land. So if you do things properly you will still have the potential to move on, in comfort, to the next stage of your life. :sunshine:
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When we were looking to buy we looked at a small house with land and they are as rare has hens teeth.
In the end we bought an unmortgageable bungalow and built something. Now we want to sell that and build something smaller at the side to get what we originally wanted.
I would try and get the planning permission, it doesn't cost that much if you do it yourself, or put the word out locally you would be interested in selling building plots and see who comes along.
The market is a bit dead at the moment, even in the south it has slowed a bit, but estate agents only make money when they sell so do not be pressured in to doing something you are not happy with.
The will be someone who wants your home, probably for the same reason you bought it, its just finding that person, so a specialist estate agent may be a better seller.
It splitting the land makes more sense, sell some, you can only get a mortgage of a house and so many acres, anything over is discounted. Someone may pay over the odds for a two acres pony paddock.
I would agree tidy is really important. The originally viewed our now home when it was owned by the family who had it for over sixty years, everything was old, well worn but tidy. We could not sell our house so someone else bought it and in two years trashed the land and it was strewn with litter. I am still clearing ragwort. So get the fields and hedge tidied, declutter the house even if you store everything you want to keep in a shed.
If you can not mow it all just concentrate of the front 'kerb appeal', the colourful potted plants out the front. I had show house towels in the bathroom and a throw to cover up the cat hairs on the bed. I bought cheap Ikea sofas to dress the living room, the Ektorp is great because you can buy different covers to give a different look.
Think of it as a job but if it makes you £20,000 more its time well spent.
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is it possible to split plot up
2x 1 ace plots £75,000 each