aibu to think you cant expect the asking price.

[bedraggledmumoftwo]

Very long saga and backstory, but the crux of it is my dm wants to live near me, so they have been supposedly moving for three and a half years. They spent the first two years fannying about looking at houses, moaning about how expensive it is here vs where they now live, putting in lowball offers and not putting their own house on the market. When they finally did, far from the instant sale my df had envisaged they didn't even get a viewing for six months, and have now been on the market for a year and didn't have any offers until a month ago. They have now had two low offers and I have been subjected to my df being righteously indignant about how offensive these offers are, at around 11% under asking despite having put in some downright offensive offers himself

My df just wanted to tell them to go to hell but I insisted it was the starting point for negotiations, and they needed to go back with a number they were willing to accept. The number he came up with was within two percent of the asking price! Fine, but they have been on the market long enough to know it isn't a sellers market! Today I had my mum moaning about the work they claimed was needed to justify the low offer. I told her the reasons they give are irrelevant ( ie you cant just replace a few windows and they will then pay asking price!) it is all just a game, and noone expects to get the asking price, it is all a question of supply and demand, and the only issue is how much they are willing/able to pay and how much you are willing/ able to accept, and not a checklist for webuyanycar.com that takes £x off for dodgy windows!

Aibu to think that everyone knows the asking price is a guide and the chances of him finding a mug buyer willing to pay the asking price is similar to the chances of a pig flying past my window.

[F0rmerlyKnownAsXenia]

The house is worth what someone will pay for it . Full stop .

If that's all they can get aftre being on the market for a year, that's all it's worth today .

[Londonista123]

It depends on the housing market in the area as to whether it's a sellers' or buyers' market at the moment, but if it's been a year and the house isn't shifting, the price isn't competitive. Looking on RightMove, what can you get for the asking price in the area? What have houses like theirs (same number of bedrooms, condition, etc) sold for? Maybe showing them some cold facts will have an impact.

I personally angle for discounts in house prices (even in London) and try to find "hidden gems" / otherwise compromised properties to buy at a discount, but I don't think it's down to my abilities - sometimes the market allows it, sometimes it doesn't.

[PrincessTooty]

Sounds like it would be a good thing if they didn't move any closer to you. I'd be suggesting they move further away.

[bedraggledmumoftwo]

Princess, you may be right! I just want the whole saga over with so I don't have to hear about it any more.

[bedraggledmumoftwo]

It isn't a sellers market where they are, they moved somewhere rural and bought a big house that no one local can afford. I dont think it is badly priced, but there is not a market for big expensive houses there. Unfortunately my df is projecting the prices and rises here (London commuter belt) and is somehow assuming a corresponding price rise where he is.

I just cannot believe anyone especially my df, who is king of trying his luck with lowball offers would put their house on the market expecting to achieve the asking price. Which goes to show he has no intention of moving.

[Yarboosucks]

We offered below the asking price (5%) and that was accepted. Then some cheeky bugger came along and offered 2% over the asking price. By some miracle, the sellers replied that they already agreed a selling price and so we cannot accept. Their estate agent was truly gobsmacked as were we!

[MrsKoala]

I honestly don't think the reasons of a lower than asking price offer are irrelevant as you say (unless it's way overpriced). I think it's normal if you think work needs to be done to then knock that off the asking price, unless the asking price reflects that work in comparison to others which don't require that work on the local market.

We bought our house last year and it needed a lot of work. Other houses on the street were all done and were on at xk, the vendors of our house put this on for the same, despite the amount of work needed. They got no offers or very very low ones. They were incredulous and outraged they estimated 3k for ALL the work (it was about 50k - roof, damp proofing, kitchen, bathroom, flooring etc). We made our offer and backed it up with quotes, we were more than fair and didn't add any on for hassle of doing the work and living in a building site, just the work needed. They begrudgingly realised they either had to spend 50k to get it up to scratch or knock off 50k and accepted our offer.

MIL was quite similar to your parents OP, she self valued their house at a very inflated price and then was very offended at anyone offering less, also furious with every agent who valued it realistically. So much so they wouldn't move for years, living in a house in the middle of nowhere they hated, they never left it and it became like a prison. Mil then got cancer and died this summer. They cold have lived near their son and gc's but instead stubbornly held out for this mythical amount of money they felt they were entitled to. When mil died she really regretted clinging on to it.

[bedraggledmumoftwo]

Thing is I think all houses need work and that is intrinsic in the pricing. But I also think all sellers should be open to offers. I really think the asking price should be representative, IE older house needs more work hence price at £y, newer house nearly new at £x

[PennyPants]

Yabu to expect your parents to listen to any sound advice. Mine don't neither do Dh's. It's like role reversal. Both live in unsuitable houses now and missed opportunities to move/sell because of one or the other being stubborn.

[Hoplikeabunny]

Not necessarily. We sold our end of terrace house in a rural location last year, it was on the market for less than a week, we ended up with a bidding war between 3 people, and ended up getting 15% above the asking price! I still have no idea whether it was priced completely wrong to begin with, although the house next door was on the market at exactly the same time, and our price was in line with theirs, so I don't think so, I just think we got really lucky!

[KitKatCustard]

Just got full asking price for my house after 3 days on the market.
Mind you, I did get £15k off the next one, so it is most definitely what someone is willing to pay.

[Twowrongsdontmakearight]

Some people do get over the asking price but that is often a desirable 3-4 bed in a sought after area.

Wrong house or wrong area can be tricky whatever the price. PIL have a lovely house but over the years they have personalised it a lot. The arrangements suit them but not sure if they'd suit everyone. It will be interesting when they come to sell how their house will fare compared to neighbours.

[TheCatsMother99]

yarboo, my Dsis did that, she had two offers on the table and went with the lower one. The lower one was a first time buying young couple & the other was an investment buyer/landlord. My Dsis is very much a 'pass the favour on' type of person & wanted to go for the underdog so to speak (plus she was lucky she wasn't heavily reliant on achieving the highest possible price).

[MrsKoala]

I don't think all houses need work at all. Round here (and everywhere i have lived) the houses are developed to a high standard and that is the ceiling price and then there are some which need work and are priced accordingly below the that ceiling price. We saw loads which needed 50k of work and were priced at exactly 50k below the ceiling price, the agents always made it very clear that no offers below this price would even be considered as the price had already taken the work needed into consideration. No negotiation. They all sold because that was a realistic price for them.

My neighbours just sold theirs (no work needed) for 5k over their asking price to the first people who saw it and my parents had 3 asking price bids from the first 3 viewers.

Pils house needed new plumbing, heating, electrics, roof, windows, a lot of decorating and were told IF this was all done to a high standard they could get x price. They then wanted x price without doing the work because they believed the work was unnecessary (no one really needs heat and hot water do they? why can't they huddle under duvets in the dark like them etc). They ruined the end of their lives thru greed. it was very sad.

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

Perhaps your parents don't want to move? They don't seem very proactive.

[bedraggledmumoftwo]

Mrskoala, I can see my parents being stuck there like your mil. The houses they are looking at near me have already gone up so much that the gap between theirs and here is widening, and that is making my DF even more adamant he needs the asking price. Even though the market where they are is stagnant and after being on the market for a year it is pretty clear it isn't going to be selling like hotcakes!

Their house doesn't need much work at all to be fair, but it has been on the market a long time, they haven't dropped the price, and it is a lot of money where they live, so I don't blame the guy for chancing his arm. The point I was trying to make to my mum was that I doesn't matter what his "excuse" is, that is the amount he has decided he is willing or able to offer, and they have to negotiate from there and try to meet on a price acceptable to both.

[vdbfamily]

It is the estate agents job to come up with a price that represents the current market but entices enough people in to view. They also seem to have different ways of pricing. Some give an asking price, some say 'offers above' some say guide price between 2 figures. We recently went on the market at a guide price of between 335 and 350. Estate agent managed to squeeze offer of 342 out of someone. They later pulled out as a previous property they had missed out on was offered to them. After lots more viewings and no offers they suggested we drop the guide to between 325 and 340 and we were offered 325 quite quickly. This is what we originally thought our house was worth and we thought the estate agent had pushed our first buyers too far which might have contributed to us losing them.
The house we want to buy was on the market for months at 550 and eventually dropped to 525. We offered 500 and they accepted 502500 so a big drop for them.
It really just depends on the local scene. When our first buyers made the offer we had 3 couples booked in for second viewings so I am sure the agent would have used that to push the price up too. Its a stressful time selling a house. I think some people have to hang on for the asking price out of financial necessity and if they cannot sell just stay put. If you are desperate to move and can afford to accept less then you can.

[bedraggledmumoftwo]

No, my dad doesn't want to move, my mum does. He agreed to but has been doing everything in his power to make sure it doesn't happen. He is just leading her up the garden path.

[bedraggledmumoftwo]

We have only sold once ourselves, we actually lost money due to buying in 2007 . I was assuming we might get offered 10%under and go from there, but someone offered 5% under and we bit their arm off. But we did need to sell as we were already buying this place and I was pregnant.

[ShebaShimmyShake]

My grandfather always said that in selling houses (or anything), you add on to knock off, or knock off to add on. In other words, I always assume house prices are up for some degree of negotiation. We put in an offer that was a few grand below the asking price and a bit lower than we really expected to pay, the sellers met us bang halfway between the two, job done.

If they have a survey done and do some research on zoopla for what other houses of the same size and build in the area have sold for, they'll find out what the house is reasonably worth, and they could offer to knock off a few grand for a quick sale. It's really not that much when you're dealing with that sort of scale.

[JeffreysMummyIsCross]

My parents are like this. They have a second home which has been sitting empty for the last six years because they cannot accept that it is not worth significantly more than every other house in the street. They have had a couple of "insulting" offers, and virtually no viewings. Best of all, the house is 180 miles away from their main residence, and so my parents have to drive up the M1 (my dad is 78, my mum doesn't drive) to check on the house every so often and sort out any repairs. Ordinarily, I would help them out with anything, but I refuse to get involved with dealing with this particular problem that is of their own making and that they could end tomorrow if they so chose by marketing the house for a realistic price. And, of course, the longer the house is kept empty, the more likely that serious maintenance issues are to arise. I am tearing my hair out worrying about them driving up and down the fucking motorway.

They have already made £180k from this second home (assuming selling at the estate agent's realistic price), but apparently that is not enough for them.

[ShebaShimmyShake]

facepalm JeffreysMummy.

How much are they spending in petrol money, time and energy in doing these 360 mile round trips, and continuing to maintain a house that nobody lives in? £180k is more than my house is worth.

[circlelake]

My PIL are the same. Still living in their big ridiculous house that they want to sell, but couldn't because they only believed the estate agent with the highest valuation. They refused to entertain offers and won't drop the asking price. It's off the market again now.

My parents started the same but eventually sold up and moved.

There's also a house round the corner from us where the guy is stubbornly holding out and failing to sell for at least two years.


Yanbu

[JeffreysMummyIsCross]

Yes, mine is worth less than that too, Sheba!

It's exasperating. Last year they were driving home from the second house and got to within 50 miles of home when they found the M1 was closed and there was a diversion. So, being able to navigate their way home, they simply turned around and drove all the way back to their second home. Like I said, I'm tearing my hair out. But, of course, my advice is not welcome, and they know best.

[TestingTestingWonTooFree]

I think some people in their 60s have a massive sense of entitlement, perhaps they're Daily Mail readers. When you look at how much their houses have gone up with inflation I think some of them think it's down to the work they've done but it's really not. We tried to buy a house from a couple who wanted to retire abroad. We offered a bit less than the asking price and explained we couldn't go any higher because then we'd have to pay stamp duty, so a bit more to them would cost us a lot more. We weren't in a chain and had offered a late completion to allow them to remain in the house but know that we'd definitely buy it. They dug their heels in and refused to we bought elsewhere. A year later they sold the house for the same amount we'd offered.