Looking for some friendly advice.......

I don't know about the price. Things have slowed a lot since the start of June though. Your house looks to be a good sized house for a person starting a family. I would have thought somebody would go for it at €435K though I am not familiar with the location. I could not see a link for a map on myhome.ie by the way. It is usually the first thing I check when looking at a property on Myhome.

Zhou_Enlai wrote:

I don't know about the price. Things have slowed a lot since the start of June though. Your house looks to be a good sized house for a person starting a family. I would have thought somebody would go for it at €435K though I am not familiar with the location. I could not see a link for a map on myhome.ie by the way. It is usually the first thing I check when looking at a property on Myhome.

Is your house still on Seathrún's map of the rising sea level? If it is you could start a panic amongst all those off the map, thereby augmenting the desirability and price of your property

(Thinks ... negative marketing is cruel)

I think eoinm is right and that sellers tend to find it hard to drop the price from the one they had in their head a year ago, even though they may get more now than they would in a year's time. Your ability to compromise on price depends on whether you still have a big mortgage. If you have paid quite a bit off, it may be best to drop the price a definite 3 or 4,000 lower than other sellers.

House dressing for sale is important when the buyers then come flocking in. It is really worth decluttering thoroughly, hiding the family photographs and wedding present ornaments, stashing the teddies in the wardrobe, putting a rug over the burn mark and buying a bunch of lilies. I swear I did all that, baked instant bread and played Mozart when I was last selling, and there was a buyers' bidding war.

Johnny Keogh wrote:

Ard-Taoiseach wrote:

I have an idea. Why don't we all chip in a few grand, buy Johnny's House and declare it the physical realm of the Machine Nation? As citizens we would all have the right to live there, we'd just work out a rota here on the site. It'd also be our Irish embassy since we would in fact be an independent state.

I could always raffle it.
What would be a fair price for a ticket? A grand?
450 tickets. bingo.

Barney Curley did this in the 1980s with a large place he had in Co. Westmeath and subsequent to that, I believe, the law changed. It's a good idea in a depressed market, but, as with many good ideas, they found a way to make it illegal.

Hi. Just a couple of points. Firstly, the spelling should be sorted out on the ad. It's deceptively not decepively. Also I would suggest either dropping the capital letter on deceptively or put capital letters on the other words in the title - it looks neater. It is an engaging residents' association not engaged. Sorry for being pedantic but those kind of things drive me mad when I'm reading some text.

Secondly, many people simply ignore ads without a price on them. It is much better to even give a ballpark figure. You need traffic through the door to get a bite at the market. When the market started heading south there were floods of houses on Daft saying P.O.A. because nobody wanted to admit how low they were prepared to go. You will notice that this trend is on the decrease.

On a positive note, I think the photos are great and the house is in a good position. I agree with an above poster that it should sell for around €435,000. The important thing is to have patience. A friend of mine had a house for sale in Ranelagh at a reasonable enough price but still had to wait almost six months before sale agreed.

Good luck

Quote :

It is an engaging residents' association not engaged.

Not necessarily - they are two entirely different things; the former implies that they are friendly, chatty and interested people, whereas the latter implies that they enthusiastically get involved in projects and plans.

Quote :

House dressing for sale is important when the buyers then come flocking in. It is really worth decluttering thoroughly, hiding the family photographs and wedding present ornaments, stashing the teddies in the wardrobe, putting a rug over the burn mark and buying a bunch of lilies. I swear I did all that, baked instant bread and played Mozart when I was last selling, and there was a buyers' bidding war.

Cactus, I had no idea you were Ann Maurice in a prickly disguise.

You're right though; a prospective buyer wants to see how they can make the house their own, so personal stuff (like your collection of PD memorabilia) and a lot of ornamental things should be packed away; you might find that you're happier living without it as you wait for the house to sell.

Moving is a great opportunity for you to de-clutter anyway and it's such a wonderful, cathartic experience. I did it a couple of years ago with the help of a book by Karen Kingston called Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. I accepted it reluctantly from a friend and found it really useful.

Kate P wrote:

Quote :

It is an engaging residents' association not engaged.

Not necessarily - they are two entirely different things; the former implies that they are friendly, chatty and interested people, whereas the latter implies that they enthusiastically get involved in projects and plans.

I agree with you about the former but I can find no defintion to match your latter in the Oxford English.

I'm surprised. The first entry under 'engaged' in my Oxford Concise says 'busy or involved' and on dictionary.com I've found

Quote :

adjective

1.	busy or occupied; involved: deeply engaged in conversation.

and also

Quote :

en·gaged

//


Audio Help (ěn-gājd') Pronunciation Key
adj.

1. Employed, occupied, or busy.
   
2. Committed, as to a cause.

and

Quote :




adjective
1.	having ones attention or mind or energy engaged; "she keeps herself fully occupied with volunteer activities"; "deeply engaged in conversation"

In all cases it's used as an adjective.

It's also quite a current phrase used a lot to describe how people interact with, for example therapy, a course or or as mentioned above, a cause.

Kate P wrote:

I'm surprised. The first entry under 'engaged' in my Oxford Concise says 'busy or involved' and on dictionary.com I've found

Quote :

adjective

1.	busy or occupied; involved: deeply engaged in conversation.

and also

Quote :

en·gaged

//


Audio Help (ěn-gājd') Pronunciation Key
adj.

1. Employed, occupied, or busy.
   
2. Committed, as to a cause.

and

Quote :




adjective
1.	having ones attention or mind or energy engaged; "she keeps herself fully occupied with volunteer activities"; "deeply engaged in conversation"

In all cases it's used as an adjective.

It's also quite a current phrase used a lot to describe how people interact with, for example therapy, a course or or as mentioned above, a cause.

Ok. You got me. [slaps self on wrist]. It's funny I would have always considered the adjective 'engaged' as quite negative, as in the toilet's engaged, the phone's engaged, oh shite-I'm engaged (not really)

Kate P wrote:

Quote :

House dressing for sale is important when the buyers then come flocking in. It is really worth decluttering thoroughly, hiding the family photographs and wedding present ornaments, stashing the teddies in the wardrobe, putting a rug over the burn mark and buying a bunch of lilies. I swear I did all that, baked instant bread and played Mozart when I was last selling, and there was a buyers' bidding war.

Cactus, I had no idea you were Ann Maurice in a prickly disguise.

You're right though; a prospective buyer wants to see how they can make the house their own, so personal stuff (like your collection of PD memorabilia) and a lot of ornamental things should be packed away; you might find that you're happier living without it as you wait for the house to sell.

Moving is a great opportunity for you to de-clutter anyway and it's such a wonderful, cathartic experience. I did it a couple of years ago with the help of a book by Karen Kingston called Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. I accepted it reluctantly from a friend and found it really useful.

so my life sized poster of Dessie O'Malley, Mary Harney, Micheal McDowell and Ciaran Cannon in long black leather macks and black sunglasses standing on top of a pile of semi-destroyed "PDs:Gone by xmas?" placards will have to come down?

shite. I thought that was a strong selling point.

Interestingly my estate agent called me today and said I would have to drop the price by 5% if he were to start "aggressively" selling it.

To be honest, he sounded a little more desperate than hopeful, God love him.

I said I would think about it over the week and let him know. September and October are usually a little bit busier than July and August.

I think I'll leave well enough alone for a month or two. Its like most other houses in the area except that it is literally in the middle of the village. best location for a B&B or a home based business.

The lovely Chris runs her Holistic Massage therapy from here and does really well because of the location.

Machine Nations genuine property experiment is in full swing.

Perhaps you could write a best selling handbook on how to sell your house in a recession ?

Johnny Keogh wrote:

Interestingly my estate agent called me today and said I would have to drop the price by 5% if he were to start "aggressively" selling it.

Spanish prices are probably dropping by the same fraction if not more. Where are you going to go in Spain anyway? I've see property in some lovely mountain villages for around 50k near the hippy towns around the Alpujarras, South of Granada (name of a book too by Gerard someone or other). You are 1 hour from the coast, maybe a little more, and in some of the greenest spots in Andalucia where you will have a whiter Christmas than here yet still be a spin from 15º coast with plenty of sun in the depth of winter.

Jesus I'd nearly go out there again myself on my own recommendation there...

Auditor #9 wrote:

Johnny Keogh wrote:

Interestingly my estate agent called me today and said I would have to drop the price by 5% if he were to start "aggressively" selling it.

Spanish prices are probably dropping by the same fraction if not more. Where are you going to go in Spain anyway? I've see property in some lovely mountain villages for around 50k near the hippy towns around the Alpujarras, South of Granada (name of a book too by Gerard someone or other). You are 1 hour from the coast, maybe a little more, and in some of the greenest spots in Andalucia where you will have a whiter Christmas than here yet still be a spin from 15º coast with plenty of sun in the depth of winter.

Jesus I'd nearly go out there again myself on my own recommendation there...

I'm going to a place called Frigliana as a base first.
The Alpujarras/Seirra Nevada is the spot I like best. Couple of nice spots up there, like Orgiva or even Trevelez. Ski in Winter and Sun in Summer.
Sure you could'nt beat it with a big stick....

Frigliana? sounds cold.

Sure, Orgivans will accept you in a tent or caravan you know There's a hippy commune up there in dem there hills and apparently it's a free land, no one owns anything, free love, smoke your brains out kinda place.

Great for the kids of a weekend.

eoinmn wrote:

Ard-Taoiseach wrote:

I have an idea. Why don't we all chip in a few grand, buy Johnny's House and declare it the physical realm of the Machine Nation?

Love it!

Thanks! It might be a runner if Johnny doesn't get a sale agreed in the Autumn. With mortgage approvals on the floor, people waiting for prices to fall further and trader-uppers caught in a falling market; it looks difficult for anyone trying to sell anything at the moment.

Sorting out the front garden is very good for kerbside appeal. Painting bollards whose paintwork is cracked, tidying up the lawn, sorting out the flowers, weeding and cleaning the driveway and planting bright and attractive flowers will improve the attractiveness of the home.

Have you thought of going with joint agents, Johnny? If you have your house with two estate agents, it can double your chance of selling the home and it greatly increases the visibility of the property. It would be a runner with estate agents who are in no position to reject you. They aren't getting much business so they'll be willing to do a deal re joint agency.

As well as that, have you done an energy audit on the property? With sky-high energy prices, a compartively efficient house would have a strong selling appeal. If you have had the house insulated, put in double-glazing, a new and efficient boiler and A grade appliances you could include energy efficiency as a selling feature. Energy accouts for a lot of a household's out-goings these days so if a prospective buyer is confident that your house is cheap to run, they'd be more willing to buy.

Little update on the MN Property Experiment.

I got an offer the other day for €390,000. I'm looking for €435,000.

My estate agent was furious with me for turning it down. (I could smell the desperation down the phoneline).
Anyways, I turned it down. I've had only two viewings since the start of August.

interesting days.....

Well there is a year's salary in the difference there.

Are you planning on going to Spain forever or just for a couple of years? Have you considered renting your place here out and using the funds to rent a place there? I would imagine rents here are alot higher than there.

It all depends what you want to do with it. Spanish prices are right down too.

johnfás wrote:

Well there is a year's salary in the difference there.

Are you planning on going to Spain forever or just for a couple of years? Have you considered renting your place here out and using the funds to rent a place there? I would imagine rents here are alot higher than there.

I will go for maybe 5 years and then see how things are. Cant rent because of multiple financial commitments here that my rent wont cover.
Still, I'm not too worried because I can still continue to work here and decrese my mortgage and maybe revisit this plan in 2 or 3 years time.

Johnny Keogh wrote:

Little update on the MN Property Experiment.

I got an offer the other day for €390,000. I'm looking for €435,000.

My estate agent was furious with me for turning it down. (I could smell the desperation down the phoneline).
Anyways, I turned it down. I've had only two viewings since the start of August.

interesting days.....

Has my advice been any help Johnny? I'd also recommend you get the property delisted from Myhome, Daft and so on for a day or two before relisting. This means that yours will be amongst the newest properties on the market and attract more search traffic to your house's advertising page.

Is the €435,000 a figure which has been revised down from a previously higher level? It might have been an idea to accept the €390,000 but I can understand that you want to get a price closer to the asking. Perhaps if you use this bid as a floor for new viewers, this might get you offers of a good few grand over €400k.

Also on viewers, if you have a couple coming to look at the house, try to schedule them all together on a Saturday/Sunday afternoon. If viewers see others coming out of the house before they have a look, it creates the aura of interest, activity and increased attractiveness of the property. It can help with first impressions and put you immediately in the driving seat when it comes to the viewing session. Buyers also like to re-view houses before making a final decision so you can use those re-views to create a buzz about your house as well.

I hope this can help you get the place sold so you can carry on with your plans.

cactus flower wrote:

Perhaps you could write a best selling handbook on how to sell your house in a recession ?

Well Cactus, I've done it; by lowering the asking price.

I got a buyer at €400,000 today and its propably as good as it gets in the current climate.
So I'm off to the sun for a few years come January.
I worked thru the last recession when all my mates emigrated. This time its my turn but at least I'll have a few quid in my pocket.

Hasta la Vista, baby......

Johnny Keogh wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

Perhaps you could write a best selling handbook on how to sell your house in a recession ?

Well Cactus, I've done it; by lowering the asking price.

I got a buyer at €400,000 today and its propably as good as it gets in the current climate.
So I'm off to the sun for a few years come January.
I worked thru the last recession when all my mates emigrated. This time its my turn but at least I'll have a few quid in my pocket.

Hasta la Vista, baby......

Well done, Johnny. That's exciting news. If you can hang on to the quid for a while and rent you should be able to buy something nice in Spain. Oh, those lovely sunny winters by the sea

Do you know the online newspaper "Sur in English" -it is a good read to keep up with Spanish news. Which part will you go to?

Congratulations

Just noticed this. I expect spanish prices to continue going down and down. Anyway now is a good time to buy. Perhaps a year down the line will be even better - who knows.

Spain is great really. Mind theres practically no law and order here, unless you are unlucky to meet the remnants of the Francoist state - the Guardia Civil.
I'm in the Alicante area and while I dont know how things are in Andalucia let me know if you have any questions or if i can help in any way. Basically the key to Spain is to be "enchufado". Auditor will know what I mean.

enchufado ? "plugged in" ? Does it mean "clued in" ?

I only spent two years there.