Good afternoon all,
I’m delighted to see this wonderful site is still going strong, as it truly is a great resource for people. I’m also pleased as I have a question that I’d be grateful to receive some replies on.
We are living outside of Ireland and are presently renting our Irish home. We bought a little before the financial crisis and have been waiting patiently for property prices to improve in our area. Now, we’ve decided to sell the property for a number of reasons and would be looking to put it on the market next year. The question is - should we wait to put the property on the market with an estate agent when the time comes next year and sell it to the highest bidder? Or should we consider to sell to an interested party now if they can arrange to buy it, and, if we can agree on the asking price?
If we sell through an estate agent next year, it's impossible to know if prices will rise or fall or remain stable in the meantime. While it certainly seems to be a seller's market at the moment, and that seems unlikely to change in the near future, there are many other factors that can affect demand. If we have to get the property ready for sale on the market, we will likely have to make a number of trips back to Ireland. There are direct flights and it's not far, but still...it equates to holidays, cost of flights, accommodation, car-hire and so on not to mention money to be spent on cleaning, painting, skip-hire etc. We have an idea of those costs but can imagine there will be additional costs that we haven't thought of or some that just pop up unexpectedly. Not to mention estate agent fees... Additionally, by selling to the highest bidder later via an agent, we may or may not make more money than we would by selling it now. It may turn out that it wasn't worth all the trouble in the end.
If we sell to an interested party now, we may sell at a lower price as there will only be one buyer instead of potentially a few bidders if we sell on the market. This could equate to a significant sum, that we could put to good use. Also, the transaction may not be as simple as we imagine - such is life; we need to do some more research on what is involved for each type of sale. On the other hand it may be better to sell to an interested party now, if we can, when we cannot be certain we will do better on the market next year - this is the quandary. When it comes to property, our timing always seems to be a little off somehow!!
Listening earlier this year to Eoin McGee on the Claire Byrne show, the main message I took is that while it seems to be a seller's market, no-one can predict the future. And yet all I hear and read is that there is a shortage of this type of property - which makes me wonder what to do, what to do... We would like to take a measured approach to selling the property, so that's partly why I'm posting here today.
The question is are there any points we should consider with regards to either of the above scenarios that we may have overlooked or that we may need to look further into as we decide which way to go?
Thank you in advance.
G
I’m delighted to see this wonderful site is still going strong, as it truly is a great resource for people. I’m also pleased as I have a question that I’d be grateful to receive some replies on.
We are living outside of Ireland and are presently renting our Irish home. We bought a little before the financial crisis and have been waiting patiently for property prices to improve in our area. Now, we’ve decided to sell the property for a number of reasons and would be looking to put it on the market next year. The question is - should we wait to put the property on the market with an estate agent when the time comes next year and sell it to the highest bidder? Or should we consider to sell to an interested party now if they can arrange to buy it, and, if we can agree on the asking price?
If we sell through an estate agent next year, it's impossible to know if prices will rise or fall or remain stable in the meantime. While it certainly seems to be a seller's market at the moment, and that seems unlikely to change in the near future, there are many other factors that can affect demand. If we have to get the property ready for sale on the market, we will likely have to make a number of trips back to Ireland. There are direct flights and it's not far, but still...it equates to holidays, cost of flights, accommodation, car-hire and so on not to mention money to be spent on cleaning, painting, skip-hire etc. We have an idea of those costs but can imagine there will be additional costs that we haven't thought of or some that just pop up unexpectedly. Not to mention estate agent fees... Additionally, by selling to the highest bidder later via an agent, we may or may not make more money than we would by selling it now. It may turn out that it wasn't worth all the trouble in the end.
If we sell to an interested party now, we may sell at a lower price as there will only be one buyer instead of potentially a few bidders if we sell on the market. This could equate to a significant sum, that we could put to good use. Also, the transaction may not be as simple as we imagine - such is life; we need to do some more research on what is involved for each type of sale. On the other hand it may be better to sell to an interested party now, if we can, when we cannot be certain we will do better on the market next year - this is the quandary. When it comes to property, our timing always seems to be a little off somehow!!
Listening earlier this year to Eoin McGee on the Claire Byrne show, the main message I took is that while it seems to be a seller's market, no-one can predict the future. And yet all I hear and read is that there is a shortage of this type of property - which makes me wonder what to do, what to do... We would like to take a measured approach to selling the property, so that's partly why I'm posting here today.
The question is are there any points we should consider with regards to either of the above scenarios that we may have overlooked or that we may need to look further into as we decide which way to go?
Thank you in advance.
G