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!

I do sympathize OP. We're selling my late in-laws house at the moment, priced it at well below market value because it needs updating, stated very clearly it needs updating and people have still come in with offers that are so low it's insulting "Because it needs updating". Um, yeah, hence the low price already you cheeky sods!

People try it on to see what they can get away with. Think about the lowest offer you would take (If you want to take a lower offer at all) and tell them to try again. If they really want it, they'll up the offer. If they don't, then wait for a better one. You don't need to sell, so the ball is in their court.

There is an online tool that shows you how much local houses sell for compared to the asking price. Shame I can't remember what it's called.

The estate agents would probably have taken the fact that the property is dated (if it is) into account when valuing it. Obviously, they may have overvalued it but it is equally possible that the buyers are just trying it on. Time will tell...

I would never buy a house that was immaculate purely for the reason that I don't want to pay for someone else's taste, but I wouldn't offer based on what I could afford rather than what three different estate agents valued a property of that type in that area to be. It is normal to take a bit of a hit on price and vendors usually price accordingly but by the same token there are chancers who will try their luck.

I am at the other side of this. I have been looking for a new house for ages. I see properties on the internet and think it looks nice. Then I go to view and find that photos were very misleading. Also viewed a house with multiple cats, it took weeks to get the smell out my nose.
You cant see a smell in the photos. It is surprising how many people try to sell houses with potential problems as picked up in the survey. The colours of paint is something reasonably easy to change

It gets disheartening. I am aware now that I need to find a house near my ideal rather than my ideal house. I would not discuss any plans with the seller in case they thought my plans were good and do that rather than sell.
Heavens help me when I decide to sell. I think I will move out and leave it all to the estate agents and just say Yes or No to any offers.

Can't believe so many are valuing on the decor, dated or not, surely, if you plan to live somewhere long term the decor is the least of your worries. Size of rooms, amount of light, size of garden, parking, schools nearness to shops, public transport count for more.

I think if you have to replace doors, windows, bathrooms, kitchen etc, it has to be taken in to account too.

There's painting Gloria and there's putting new kitchens/bathrooms in. It would be silly not factor the latter in.

But the valuation should factor in things like 28 year old kitchen (though it prob doesn't have a 28 year old kitchen) ie it is need of some refurbishment. But I still feel that these are secondary to position of house, garden etc.

As a buyer as well as a seller I absolutely look at decor and judge around that. In that if I view a house that is very dated I then am asking myself what else is dated? How old is the boiler, what are the electrics like? If I strip this wallpaper is all the plaster coming off with it because it's been up since year dot?
Obviously these are all questions you ask and base an offer on but decor can sometimes tell you a lot about a house.

I had a derisory offer the last time I was selling a house - the buyer wouldn't take no for an answer. Even after I'd declined twice, he insisted on the EA informing me the offer would 'stay on the table'. I got two more realistic offers from different buyers within a reasonable period.

GloriaV but they don't always though. Ours didn't, we paid 70k under asking.

This thread is everything that is wrong with the property industry

How much did you pay for your house 28 years ago? Why do you think you already own this £60k and that these buyers are trying to steal it from you?

Your house is worth what people will pay for it. You could keep it on the market for years and never sell it for that price. I'd price it more realistically if I were you, especially now as the market is correcting and prices are likely to fall.

OP, when I sold my first house, I had a young girl look around with her parents, all were very keen. they wanted the price reduced for all the parts of the house that "should be renewed because it was coming up to 100 years old" and as everyone knows, that's when roofs cave in, the render falls off, brickwork needs re-pointing, fencing needs replacing and a whole lot more. They were convinced it was going to fall down about their ears on the dot of reaching 100 years old.
Thing is, there was nothing structurally wrong with any of them.
I declined their offer but didn't argue with their reasoning.

Hello, all you lovely helpful people! Thank you all so much for your kind time and comments, which helped me a lot!

It does seem like a copltely "berserk" lottery/...

But amazing good news.. had an absolutely lovely family visit today. and they were here for over an hour, and loved this home... and have made an extremely sensible offer, which have accepted.....

I Suppose the lesson here is "bide your time"

THANK YOU ALL YOU LOVELY KIND SUPPORTERS !!! who had so much good advice... thank you! I can't quite believe how things can change so dramatically over night!

Seriously, thank you all SO much for your words of wisdom and support, you are all lovely! Thank you! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

What a lovely update,congrats!! 🍾

Hurrah! Good luck with finding your perfect downsize :)

Based on the feedback you got, it just sounds dated. How long has all the decoration ,kitchen and bathrooms have been in place? Electrics, boiler etc? If they've been replaced in the last 5 years and your tastes aren't crazy, then just wait for another buyer. If the stuff is 10-20 years old, then you're kidding yourself thinking that the house is worth anywhere near what a done up would be. You might love it but it can be reasonably expected that buyers will want to rip it out and start again and the pricing needs to reflect that.

Goingtobeawesome

You are amazing. You were so right! THANK you so much! Wish we were "geographicly" closer, as I would LOVE you to be my friend! Bless you!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Just read the update as I posted. Congrats!

Get the EA to do viewings so you don't have to deal with people and tell them not to even bother telling you about any offers below X amount. This was how I coped.

Some people are chancers.

Did they make an offer this evening?

Its the old chestnut... Your house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. A valuation is only an estimate of what someone might pay.

The couple offered what is worth to them and explained why.

If it is worth more to someone else, then you might get a higher offer at some point.

You might, but you might not. If it is worth more to you then you will have to keep it!!

Very simple really OP

Well done OP, you're past the first hurdle.

I hope everything goes very smoothly for you, but you need to know that some of the nicest buyers also play games.

Some want a reduction after they've had a survey and please be aware that some horrid people will demand a hefty price drop on the day of completion because they think you won't want to back down.
They threaten to pull out of the sale unless you drop the price by a hefty margin. Don't let them get away with it.

Fingers crossed that your buyers are not that type of people.

Ah, well. Cross posts. Drama over now :)