Selling my family home of 28 years and people expect ME to pay for their required alterations

[user1483875094]

Hello! I wondered if any of you might give me some sound advice.
I am selling my lovely (quite large) family home of 28 years, (so am very out of practice with selling and buying. Had three agents round, all said about the same sales price. Chose one, it went on the market. FLURRY of visitors as it is quite a lovely family home, 4 beds, two lounges, huge open plan kitchen diner - all up together and in very good order.
First offer, from a young couple who had made THREE visits, and they made an insulting and derisory offer, 60 k under the sales price! Their reason? They wanted to put a conservatory on the back, turn the large utility room into a down-stairs "wet room" (whatever that is) - knock a wall through from a small bedroom, and a small study upstairs to create a bigger bedroom, and cut down three lovely old trees. They reckoned that would "cost THEM" about 60k. Therefore the derisory offer. SORRY, what is it I am not "getting?" They saw the house 3 times, they had hundreds of photos, they had the accurate floor plans... WHY AM I EXPECTED TO PAY FOR THAT YOUNG COUPLES "DESIRES" - ??? I just don't get it! If they didn't like the house because it DIDNT HAVE A WET-ROOM, A CONSERVATORY, AND UNFORTUNATELY HAD TREES..... WHY COME AND VISIT? Sorry but I have been finding this whole process very trying indeed. Another couple, LOVED the house, and the massive amount of space - (but they would have to spend a "lot of money" to make it like THEY would want... so another nonsense offer! WHY VISIT IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT!? Anyone got any advice? I don't "need to move" but have been here with my two daughters on our own for many years. They have both flown the nest and are settled - and I really don't need this big place on my own. We three decided it was a sensible move, to down-size. But WHY, in that process, should I give away 50 or 60 k. to young couples who want to vastly alter this house? I am on the cusp of taking it off the market, and sod it!

Oh and yes YABU you're not paying for alterations they want, they're offering what they think it's worth (as a first offer) and you can accept or decline

It's a cliche but true. A house is only worth what somebody wants to pay.

I think you've had some very harsh comments OP and I get why you feel you are paying for their choices. Sit tight and let it go for what you can live with.

It really depends how the price of your property compares to other houses in the area. If it is similar in size to other houses in the same price bracket but yours has not been modernised, needs updating or redecorating and other similar houses do not, then perhaps a price adjustment needs to be made.

Estate agents often set a marketing valuation with an expectation of achieving something less than that.

We were looking for a house and we saw quite a few where the owners had put in top of the range kitchens and bathrooms in the late 1980's but didn't see that these would need to be updated. Quite a few had also divided their gardens and sold off part of it or were planning to develop part of it and didn't see why we weren't jumping at the idea of living in their dated house, with less than half the garden space they had lived in and to add insult to injury would have to live through the building work.

just say no. let the agent show people round so you don't have to talk to them. it's easy.

Calm down OP.

You need an idea of what the fair value is. You didn't say how long it's been on the market for and what the asking price is.

What people want to do with the house after they've bought it is irrelevant really.

Loads of people try this on. They think they're doing you a favour just making you an offer. They have absolutely no idea how it all works & think you should pay for any "improvements" that they want to make. They don't seem to get the fact that changing things is only what they want and that they actually have to pay the market price for the house in its current condition.

Wait for the right buyer. They'll be along.

Without knowing the asking price it's hard to judge but say it's 600k a 10% reduction is a sensible starting point for a house that does need some updating. Negotiations take place with probably meeting in the middle at 5 to 7.5% under. It's normal practice

I had this, people coming round and loved the house, but insisting they would 'have' to extend the kitchen and put in a second bathroom. Or that it 'needed too much doing to it' (it was in good repair).
I guess everyone has a list of things they want in their new house, and how much they can spend. If your house is at the top end of what they can spend and they would want to change a lot to make it fit their ideas then they can either offer a lower amount to see if you will accept or walk away and find one that more nearly fits for the money.
I eventually sold to someone who said they loved the enormous garden and all the wildlife in it, but within months of moving in has cut down all the trees and paved the garden to make it 'low maintenance'. Each to their own. I went round loads of houses where I would have ended up ripping out thousands of pounds worth of 'improvements' to be able to live there happily, so I didn't buy them.

And you are not giving away the money a reduction on the price of at least 5% is common practice

I am dreading doing this in a couple of years - when my last adult DC moves out. I want to downsize but in fact it may well cost me more for a smaller property because I know mine needs updating. Also I can't get a mortgage at my age.

If I can't afford it I suppose I will just have to stay put.

They are only giving you the information about what they're going to spend on your house if they buy it to tell you "we don't love it, but it'll do at the right price"

That's not the same as asking you for money, that's just letting you know their standpoint.

You really need to toughen up.
I offered way way under asking price. Because I don't care about the vendors. I care about my own pocket. So I want to save as much of my money as possible. They can either say yes, which was fantastic. Or they say no and I either bid higher or look elsewhere.
I got the house we're in now for £1K more than they paid after putting £10K into the property and being well under asking price. If you don't ask you don't get.

The flurry of visitors suggests that the price is OK. The young couple sound a bit entitled and were taking the piss.

They are just trying it on op, just tell them you won't go below the asking price

Where I live the agents all seriously over price the Houses.
Some more than others and you know which agents are bad for it.

How much is your house on the market for op?

Pretty standard to offer less on first offer. You need to remove the emotion from it and accept that people will often offer significantly less than you are willing to accept.

Depending on where in the country you are you could be sat forever waiting for the "right buyer" at your asking price. Our house is currently on the market and it's very much a buyer's market, stuff in my area sits around for a while and with brexit and the election people are nervous about committing.

Your house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. The estate agent "valuation" is just an educated guess and some EAs around here are known for over egging valuations to get the business, knowing that they can always drop the price at a later date. We got our current house for £100k less than the asking price of £700k. It had been on the market for over a year in a property hotspot with no serious interest so was clearly overpriced. The vendors made it clear that they disagreed but literally no one else had made a serious offer in all that time.

My DH and I have just sold us and we wanted quite a good price for it, we are emigrating so could have rented in out for a year as we will rent when we arrive so we made it clear that asking price was what we wanted and we would not negotiate, if we didn't achieve we would rent it. We got a cheeky offer 10% below asking price but the couple wanted to come back and see it again? I told the estate agent I didn't want them back as our expectations were so far a part it was a waste of time. Well we let them back and they gave full asking. Stick your ground, be clear with estate agent what you want and ask them to vet properly and make potential buyers aware of your wants.

We never offer asking price for the first offer, £60k in my pocket is worth more to me that £60k in your pocket.

And for those that say they can't understand people who buy a house and then make loads of changes, why not. Houses can be changed and adapted to suit, locations less so.

Gosh it's as if some sellers think they are doing you a massive favour from some comments on this thread. It's a buyers market at the moment, don't be too stubborn about it.

I think that people that tell house sellers that they want to rip their house to bits and change it are a bit rude, especially to someone who has lived in that house with their family for decades. There's no need. Just make your offer and do whatever you want to do quietly once it's yours. The couple who bought my parent's farmhouse came up to discuss something regarding an offer and once they'd all shaken hands on it the bloke turned to his wife and said "right darling, that's sorted, now you've just got to do your interior design stuff and make it beautiful!" Right in front of my dad. My dad still lives next door to them and the new people haven't got any more polite or sensitive over the years!

OP ask your estate agent to just give you the offers and not all the silly reasons given, then decide whether you want to accept that price or not. If you don't want to move, don't if you don't need to. But if you do move it won't be your house anymore and you have to detach. If you found a house you would like to move to and could picture yourself there it may help?

YABU I'm afraid. You chose to put your house on the market, part of the process is to allow viewings and receive offers. It is not unusual for people to want more than one visit, particularly if they are planning improvements to the property.

If you don't like an offer, reject it! Make a counter-offer or if you feel that they are wasting your time, stick to your original price and see what they say.

60k as a percentage of the asking price of a large family home in much of the country is not all that much. They are not asking you to pay for their improvements, they are offering you a lower price because they have budgeted for a certain amount for their home and need to account the cost of any improvements they want to make.

The estate agent is legally obliged to pass on any offer made, no matter how unlikely it is to be accepted. An offer is usually the start of the negotiation, even when someone immediately offers the asking price there is no guarantee their offer will be accepted.

The process of buying or selling a home is incredibly stressful, but remember that as the seller you have more control over the process than the buyer does. Try not to get so upset about "time-wasters" and offers that are lower than you believe the house is worth - it's all part of the fun of the process.

I'm about to do the same here - the family home is too big now and I want a more rural house with a couple of acres.

I'm dreading it.

Flurry of visitors, 2 offers both under expectations?

You may need to adjust your expectations.