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Propery prices falling so why won't sellers budge?

124 replies

nkf · 25/08/2008 10:51

If you want to move, it makes sense to sell. Right. And on paper, it can be a good thing because the gap between house 1 and house 2 might be less if prices are falling. But although people know that, they won't drop their asking price. I know at least two people who are desperate to sell. Need to leave London but they won't drop the prices significantly. What are waiting for?

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Upwind · 25/08/2008 11:21

People have ingrained notions that it is "worth" at least what the neighbours' house sold for last summer. Facing up to the idea that prices have fallen since feels like losing money or "giving it away", even though the price probably trebled in the past few years so they are still quids in.

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mrsmalumbas · 25/08/2008 11:23

I agree - my in laws have been trying to sell their house for ages but won't drop the price because the estate agent told them it was "worth" 350K. In their mind that's what it's worth. In reality of course a house is only worth what people will pay for it. It's all about psychology.

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derelicte · 25/08/2008 11:27

Maybe they have large mortgages and can't sell at a lower price.

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nkf · 25/08/2008 14:14

One of the families I'm thinking of don't have that problem. I think there is a kind of fear that they will be the only people dropping the price so they won't find a cheaper place. And as Mrsmalumbas said, there is this idea that a house is intrinisically worth something.

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expatinscotland · 25/08/2008 14:36

They probably don't want to lose money if they still have a large mortgage.

Or they're stuck in the past.

Whatever the reason is, they must not really want to sell if they're unwilling or unable to drop the price to a more realistic level.

NOTHING is shifting around here. Nada.

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selby · 25/08/2008 20:36

Well, based on my personal experience - unless I sold at a loss on a family house that I bought over 3yrs ago at a favourable discount due to being chain free buyers, I don't think that I would want to lower its asking price any further. We've decided to sit the current market out for a few years and fortunately are in a position to wait for the financial markets to recover (at least so potential purchasers can obtain a mortgage more easily)

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LazyLinePainterJane · 26/08/2008 10:33

It's madness, round here, people seem particularly stubborn. We are looking to buy, if the price is right, at some point in the next 3 years or so. Just looked on property snake to see one house that I was looking at dropped price by 1%, been on the market for over a year! Stuff is not going down round here. Won't be long though.

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nkf · 26/08/2008 10:34

In my area, according to property snake, prices are dropping by around 20%. But nobody I know who is trying to sell has succeeded.

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LazyLinePainterJane · 26/08/2008 10:35

Not only that, but a load have been put back up in the last month or so!

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zippitippitoes · 26/08/2008 10:37

well they arent desperate enough

i would like to sell..in fact i really do need to because i dont have a job but

but the market is too unpredictable so im not

but my houses arent on the market either

i am hoping to get a job and lodgers first

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McDreamy · 26/08/2008 10:38

Maybe they are just not prepared to go below a certain amount and are in a position to stick it out.

That's what we have done. We dropped our price, we're not prepared to go any lower, had a couple of good offers but from people who can't sell so we've taken it off the market and we're renting it out now and will do until the market picks up.

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zippitippitoes · 26/08/2008 10:40

i think it isnt the market falling that concerns people but the volatility

and regional variations

it takes a while to shake down into a pattern and without a pattern no one is going to sell

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titchy · 26/08/2008 10:40

Because the drop in house prices has affected everyone EXCEPT the vendor, who naturally wants to take advantage of the fact that theirs is the only house not to have had it's value drop and therefore they will be able to get a bargain once they've sold At least this seems to be the mindset of a lot of vendors who think it can't possibly be happening to their house.

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Ripeberry · 26/08/2008 10:42

Anyone who moves from London is going to be quids in if they move.
They are just being greedy.
People should be more angry about all the empty properties left to rot and they are usually owned by councils.
Last night there was a programme on about Liverpool and the fact that they had hundred of perfectly good council houses all boarded up because they may one day knock them down and built new houses.
There is nothing wrong with them, just need a bit of renovation that's all.

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Lemontart · 26/08/2008 10:46

I would love to know the real reasons behind failure to drop down to the correct falling value. I wonder how many are truly tied down by finances and how many are just plain greedy, hanging out for a bargain as they hope others drop lower and lower and, seeing as they are hanging on for a bargain and in no rush to sell just yet, are happy to keep their own high "just in case someone is desperate to buy it!"
I really believe a big chunk of the housing market is fuelled on greed, manipulative estate agents and short sighted outlooks thanks to the emotional baggage that goes with selling and buying a home.

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zippitippitoes · 26/08/2008 10:51

i wouldnt sell until i thought the market had bottomed out

at a clear level

unless my loans are called in

but i agree that it is odd to have your house sitting on the market

i would take it off or bite the bullet with a forced sale at a price i could get

i think in most cases tho that price is so low that it really isnt worth it

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bythepowerofgreyskull · 26/08/2008 10:52

my sister is trying to sell her house, chain has just collapsed, people have come in and offered 15k less than the offer that has just fallen through (which was 10k less than asking price) She can't afford to take the offer and she can't afford to stay in the house..
she is fucked..
she has to decide which is the lesser of the 2 evils.
a very sad state of affairs

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zippitippitoes · 26/08/2008 10:53

so unless you have a desirable property the only price you will get offered at the moment is ridiculously low from a cheeky chancer

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JT · 26/08/2008 10:56

maybe they've already reduced

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noddyholder · 26/08/2008 10:57

I don't think they are cheeky chancers They are offering what it is worth to them!I offered 200 for a 250 house in Feb and they said no.I had cash but still no.It 'sold' eventually but now 3 months on the sale has collapsed and teh agents said i could have it for 200 but i no longer want it!Houses have no intrinsic value it is all linked to the economy and the financiaql markets.The banks have had to learn a huge lesson and so unless prices revert to reasonable salary multiples they simply won't be able to lend.The fact that they are demanding huge deposits indicates they have priced in falls already.

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bythepowerofgreyskull · 26/08/2008 10:58

Zippi if you take it off the market and put it back on you have to pay for another Home information Pack to be done, if you leave it on the market you don't... all added expense.

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zippitippitoes · 26/08/2008 10:59

the price someone is prepared to pay and the price someone is prepared to accept

that is true of all traded goods and services

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zippitippitoes · 26/08/2008 11:00

oh i had forhgotten those hips total ridiculous scheme i hope they scrap it

that would probably help the market as people then could take houses out i agree

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noddyholder · 26/08/2008 11:02

there are some very desirable properties near me not budging and coming down slowly.A few roads here never even had boards at one time as local agents had lists of people waiting to buy here Many never got as far as rightmove Now they can't shift them It is all houses unless someone jsut has to buy or doesn't care about £

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Upwind · 26/08/2008 11:03

"so unless you have a desirable property the only price you will get offered at the moment is ridiculously low from a cheeky chancer"

This is exactly the attitude that is causing the problems, I think. When you consider what people will have mostly have bought these houses for - how crazy is it that offers well below the hugely inflated current asking prices are conisidered "ridiculously low"? Are some of these people angry that they might only double their investment?

It also makes me cross that people like me who make low offers are treated as cheeky chancers. We just want the best for our family. It is not our fault that our quality of life has been wrecked by house prices tripleing in a few years before we had a chance to buy. Knowing that the bubble has burst and they are likely to fall back a long way, it would be reckless to offer more than a house seems worth.

If sellers think their house is worth more, i.e. that there are people out there who will pay more, they can reject our offer. Getting indignant and offended about it is a waste of energy.

I have huge sympathy for people like bythepowerofgreyskull's sister. But I can't spare the money to offer such people more than their house is worth, just as I wouldn't expect anyone to have asked me for less because of my predicament. That the bubble was allowed to develop and cheered on by the heartless tossers in the media really sucks.

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