Help me to stand firm on our property price

[SaturndayNight]

We have a property on the market. We don't live in it, we are chain free. It's not an investment property or let out, it was ours, we moved and kept it empty. DH really wants to sell it. I'm not so eager. Buy we have agreed to sell it. It's been hanging around the market a while, which hasn't bothered me, we now have an offer from a very keen buyer.

Prices edited for privacy but this gives the general idea:

On at 495k, reduced after 6 months to 460k. Offer made at 405k then increased to 415k.

We have told agent to take clear message back that we will not sell for less than 435k, a decent discount on original price imo.

The agent is desperate to get this place sold, more desperate than we are. He has come back today with a message from the buyer that they really love and want our property but they do not want to go much higher and he suggests we meet in the middle.

I realise his job is to make the sale happen. But we don't need to sell. I think we should call their bluff and say sorry, 435k is our lowest price. DH wants to make a deal. Am I being a hard ass to try to get buyer to spend more??? I think they are already getting a fantastic place at a good price.

[SouthySa]

It’s an empty house. People should be shouting SHAME at you on the streets.

Sell the fucking house. Don’t just leave it empty because you can

[sinceyouask]

A house is only worth as much as people are willing to pay for it. In the nicest possible way, if no one is willing to pay £435k, it's not worth £435k. If you had to choose between it never selling, and dropping to a price people are willing to pay, which would you go for?

[Bluntness100]

You just want to leave your house empty? Why would you want that?

For me, your husband is right, sell it, invest the cash and it's only worth what someone is willing to pay. You clearly over priced it to start with , and heavily so.

[SaturndayNight]

Yes, I agree it's only worth what someone will pay, of course. I suppose I feel the buyer is trying to get a bargain - which I also totally understand. And if we were in a chain I'd probably split the difference and sell, but it does feel a bit cheap. I'm wondering if we should hold out until the new year - when people start house-hunting again properly.

[SaturndayNight]

Well bluntness we initially put it on at the price that 5 different agents advised us to go with. They all gave the exact same valuation.

[IAmAShitHotLawyer]

Yanbu

House is on market
Buyer offers 10% less

[IAmAShitHotLawyer]

Yanbu

House is on market
Buyer offers 10% less
Sellers says they will take 5% less
Deal done

Isn't that how it usually is?

[SaturndayNight]

I suppose I'm specifically asking about the psyche of someone who says they love your property but don't really want to increase their offer. What are they saying? That they won't increase? Or that they will if you insist but would rather not??

[mateysmum]

If it's been on for more than 6 months and this is the only offer you have had, the market is telling you that your property is over priced. An empty house is never that attractive and it will continue to cost you money - paying council task and maintenance and will start to look "tired".
In the end only you can decide whether hanging out for a better deal that may never come along is worth it, but just leaving the property empty seems the worst thing of all.

[LadyGAgain]

Wait until the NY OP.

[Bluntness100]

It's very unusual for five agents to value it at the exact same price and for that price to be so drastically wrong. If it was right it would have went in the first few days.

You think the buyer is getting a bargain, the buyer feels you are over pricing. Everyone else agrees with them, because no one else is wanting to buy and even the agent agrees because they are advising uou negotiate.

So the truth is they aren't getting a bargain, this is the value of the property.

[SaturndayNight]

I absolutely agree mateysmum I wanted to do it up and let it tbh, hate it sitting empty. It's only empty because we couldn't agree what to do with it.

We had a higher offer at the beginning but turned it down because the agent felt we could do better! It's on with a different agent now.

[WatchingFromTheWings]

What are they saying? That they won't increase? Or that they will if you insist but would rather not??

It could be that they can't afford to go higher. The house we're in now was out of our price range. We offered a ridiculously low price hoping to settle in the middle, which we could afford. And that's what happened. It helped it had been sat empty on the market for 2 years with no other offers and they were desperate to sell.

[JoJoSM2]

The house has been on the market for over half a year with no other offers... It's chain-free which is a massive bonus but still not shifting for anything near what you'd like to get for it. It's very clearly not worth the money or it would have been snapped up.

It is also possible that with no-one living in it, it's cold, damp and dirty with a rundown garden so buyers are put off.

And EA 'valuations' at a similar overpriced level don't mean anything - they have a tendency to inflate to win your business. When there are no viewings/offers, they tell you to reduce it.

[befbiund]

I would probably call their bluff op. Depends how the offer has been put to you. Don't listen to people saying that it's overpriced if it hasn't sold - that's not necessarily true particularly at the price point you are at.

That said it's a difficult market out there right now and I have noticed stuff dropping a bit around me. It's all brexit uncertainty of course.

And there is no shame whatsoever in not selling an asset belonging to you.

[RatRolyPoly]

Hmmm, depends where you are and what you're banking on the market doing I think. You may not be in a hurry to sell, but if you leave it a long time and live in London it may be worth a lot less when you get around to selling it. I may already be worth less than when you had it valued.

Or of course it may be worth more later down the line. But in that case would you get more than the return you could get on a different form of investment with the money? And would you have to spend money repairing or modernising when that time finally comes? Interest rates are low so returns on savings are low, but there's talk of them rising substantially which will mean potentially fewer buyers as mortgages become less affordable. There are more lucrative forms of investment you could look in to.

Not knowing the specifics I'd tend towards selling. Property's a reasonably sure-fire thing to put your money in when it's your own house for living in. If it's your own house it matters less if the value drops because you're likely only selling to buy another house - which will also be cheaper. But as this is an extra house; a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and all that.

[sinceyouask]

I suppose if I really loved a house and couldn't hope to pay the asking price, I'd make the maximum offer that I could afford and hope the seller was keen enough to sell that they'd accept it. But I'd be honest that it wasn't that I wouldn't go higher, but that I couldn't. Seller could decide for themselves whether to take my offer or hold out. I wouldn't be game playing.

[SaturndayNight]

It may seem unusual to you bluntness but it's what happened. I assumed at the time they were all just keen to get the property listed with their company and they would suggest a price decrease after a month or so - that's exactly what happened. So we happily decreased it. There are lots of other properties just like ours and they were all going on at the same sort of price so I wasn't surprised they all suggested that. One or two asked me what the other agents had advised and they simply said "yes, we'd say the same".

[MFR3]

Southy Sa. It’s an empty house. People should be shouting SHAME at you on the streets.

Sell the fucking house. Don’t just leave it empty because you can angry*


What an unhelpful rude comment. She can leave the empty f***g' house empty as long as she wants.

[SaturndayNight]

MFR3 I chose to ignore that post. I think the poster would really blow a gasket if I told them the true price of the property

It's more than I've said here, but I'm trying to be discreet!

[xxxyyyxxx]

Our house has been valued by several agents at £275000 more than the last house in our area was sold for. Decided not to put it up for sale atm.

There are several similar houses up for sale at the same price as our valuation but they are not selling. Couple have been up for sale about a year.

If I was valuing our house I would say it might have been £50000-100000 more than the previous sale but not the amount the estate agents are valuing the properties at.

Just because an estate agent says something it is the market that will decide

[mrscampbellblackreturns]

I suspect the potential buyer just doesn't think it is worth more than they have offered.

Maybe wait till mid-January and then see if you have any other interest.

[Summergarden]

I’m a firm believer in the market determining house price values itself. Sorry but the fact that no one has offered what you hoped for after this long shows that it was either way overpriced to start with, or else house prices are falling in your area.

The estate agents often overvalue to get your business.

One EA told me that if you price a property accurately, it should be sold within a fortnight.

[healthyheart]

Yes i agree wait until the NY. Nothing will proceed now anyway.

Would make a difference perhaps if you’d paid peanuts for it say thirty years ago? Or had bought it in the past couple of years and would be breaking even / incurring a loss. Maybe I’m wrong though,as it’s all about market value.

[AJPTaylor]

They are saying
We like the house but have an upper figure. Whether their upper figure meets your lowest is yet to be determined.
If its been on a while they are going to try and find your bottom figure!