Trying to sell the grade II family home at auction

[TeaLover18]

I hope there are some people out there who can help!

My parents bought a Grade II listed “school house” 45 years ago (built around 1700). It was boarded up and derelict when we moved in back in the late 70’s and all renovations, electrics, heating etc have been installed by my dad who sadly passed away a few years ago. My dad has never sought out any grants or help to maintain the house and to be honest, we have found no correspondence or documents from any local authorities with details of how the house should be maintained. Is this normal? I have no idea where to ask!

My mum has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Dementia, so the time has come to try and sell the family home as mum’s finances are tight, and she really needs the money. We originally put the house on the market in early ‘22, had only 2/3 viewings and no serious offers. So now we’ve opted to try modern method of auction, hoping that it can be sold quickly.

After having the sellers pack ‘Live’ for less than 2 weeks, we’ve not had 1 enquiry, and now the auction house want us to reduce the buyers guide price and our reserve. We do feel it
is too early to do this, and would like to know if anyone else has been in any similar situations, or can offer any advice? We feel the house is already under valued, even though we realise that work such as windows replacement and general interior modernisation is necessary.

If anyone can offer and advise or guidance on what to do next it would be greatly appreciated!

 

[mardinor]

Sorry for your difficult situation.
Unfortunately, it's worth what the market is willing to pay. And the market now is tough. You need to find out what is putting people off - you are getting so few viewings there must be something obvious. It will be hard to see that as it's your family home. Ask the auctioneers for candid feedback. Get estate agents back round to value it and ask them directly. Even get a friend or two to tell you what you don't want to hear. Then decide whether to do what it takes to make it viewable, or to put let the market decide.

 

[Mrs McG]

If new windows are needed then a buyer will need listed building consent for changes and this can take many months to get. Same for modernisation if it’s more than something like simply replacing a boiler. Listed properties can be gorgeous to look at and live in but it’s easy for buyers to think ‘money pit’ and ‘hassle’ unless the property presents itself as up to date, or mostly so.

Listed properties need ‘the right buyer’ so it’s not unreasonable to have fewer viewings than for a standard property but I agree that 3 in a year is very low.

I’m not giving advice, but you could think about contacting an equity release provider to release funds from the property (but this is really just kicking the sales problem out into the long grass).

 

[paulc]

We originally put the house on the market in early ‘22, had only 2/3 viewings and no serious offers. So now we’ve opted to try modern method of auction, hoping that it can be sold quickly.

I'm sorry to say, but the Modern Method of Auction will put a lot of people off. The only winners are the estate agent.
Having watched a few properties being marketed via the MMoA, they seem to stick around quite a bit longer than similar properties being sold the traditional way.

 

[CliffordPope]

I think it is important to engage the right sort of estate agent. Not the mainstream kind that just stick a photo in their window and that's it. There are I read pro-active agents who actually make it their business to sell your house.
I've only ever sold one house in my life and that was 40 years ago, so I'm hardly an expert. But a general principle is that if you have something unusual to sell then you need a specialist.

 

[LadyArowana]

The house needs to show its potential. A lot of people will scroll on by something that does not immediately appeal. They don’t look at the floorplan and the space and imagine it nicer. They look at the wall to wall pink or green fitted carpet, wing back chairs, faded souvenir pictures from an Italian holiday and dented sofa, think it looks old and dated so go elsewhere.

We faced this with my MIL’s house. We decluttered ruthlessly and cleaned….. well tbh I did whilst husband and BIL looked at old books… but that’s another story. Present as much of a blank canvas as you can. If necessary rearrange and dress it in a more modern way. For example, MIL’s had a bunch of old suitcases….. I cleaned and stacked them as a bedroom accessory, much better than them shoved in a a heap. Reduce kitchen countertop bits and bobs, people want to see space, a kettle and a toaster, but not the pot with the worn wooden spoons and the slightly melted spatula. You may have already done this in which case there may be other reasons for buyer resistance, I don’t mean to be harsh, but having dealt with the inlaws place I could see how it would look without some effort to present for photography / viewing.

 

[TudorCottage]

Before we took the plunge on this place, like most people I researched into the small wee hours on the rational of buying an older property. Many of the articles (mostly older) seemed to suggest that due to the rarity there would be a premium to pay for this sort of property.

In our case that couldn’t be further from the truth. Our cottage sits on a nice plot of land and if you replaced the cottage with a new build of the same square footage, I’m convinced it would have been be over £100k dearer.

And that’s on a cottage that had been well looked after by the previous owners.

The possibility of struggling to sell this place in the future was our biggest concern but that hopefully is along way into the future, so we’ll worry about it then.

One thing I do know, we’ve had lots of friends come over and swoon over our cottage, but when I look them in the eye, 90% of them wouldn’t live here

 

[noj]

If the place is currently for sale online then please share a link, we might have some constructive suggestions.

I'm slightly concerned that the house went from derelict to a family home potentially without documentation/listed building consent - that could raise barriers to purchase?