Aibu to think homeowners are being unreasonable about prices?

[Justawonderer2018]

I live in London so maybe this is very niche but I'm a first time buyer and am shocked at some of the prices people are demanding for their flats.

Im looking at 1 bed flats and it's clear some of them are way over priced and that they're not selling plus the market is falling yet owners are holding out for more.

One flat I saw last year was on for 600k. Way over priced for what it was even though it was a lovely flat. It dropped to 585 earlier this year and is now on for 565. Even still it's probably not worth more than 499k but apparently the seller won't entertain anything less than the current valuation even though he's been waiting over a year to sell. He bought it for a lot less so it's not like he is losing money.

Similarly saw another flat on top of a shop - nice but very small. The owner wants 475k. I would say it's worth about 400k. She bought it almost 20 years ago and it's a rental property for her.

The estate agent told me people are just stubborn but it seems to me to be pure greed. At the same time it's clear that these sellers can and will simply wait till someone comes along who can afford their vastly inflated prices.

Im slightly baffled and irritated

When im browsing the properties in my area I see flats going for the same prices as large houses with land, a mile or two away. There must be demand for these flats but I can't imagine who is buying them.

A mile or two vN be loads of travelling time, in a city.

And house prices are very significant to the person who needs to move and faces the possibility of losing out for their next home.

Well, the agents value them and then the onward move is based on that price bracket.

When we sold our flat it was on for 335-350. We got several offers of 315ish. We rejected them and the EA started to get arsy but the reality was our onward move was based on 335 and if we didn’t get that we were staying put. We got that in the end. I wasn’t pushing for the highest price - just the lowest the EA said we should accept when listing it.

If the EA valued it at 315 we’d not have put it on the market.

A property is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it.

The thing is you just knock off the difference from your next move.

The only loser in this scenario are the banks lending the money.

But I agree it's the estate agents and personal pride. Always happens in a down turned market.

Property is worth what someone will pay, no more no less
So if someone will pay £600k then it's worth £600k
Conversely if nobody will pay it then it's not

They may well be being unrealistic, but you don't know the ins and outs of the vendors finances to say it's pure greed. And there can be a lot of dicking about, it took over a year for a family member to sell their property in London. Admittedly not the nicest area but there with 2 or 3 buyers who guzundered or pulled out just before exchange.

I was reluctant to drop the price on my first flat as it would mean we would need to reduce our offer on the house we wanted to buy. Fortunately the owner accepted it and it all went through fine.

And I think people do get attached to property as well. I've had no qualms about reducing the price on my mum's old flat and it's only been on the market for a month.

They either want to sell or they don't. If they do they'll drop the price. I do think people are being unrealistic in this market but that's their prerogative if they don't need to sell I guess.

Have to agree with above comments I.e. People will pay what they think it is worth to buy the house.

The downside is when house prices collapse, they are still, paying the mortgage back at what they initially paid.

Not such a good bargain then though.

PickAChew of course but where I live, which is the border of London/Essex I see people paying £1.2m for a 3 bed flat where 3 miles further on that would get you a large house with an acre of land. That would be very litttle travel time. It's obviously worth it to those who pay that sort of money but I don't understand it.

well I've spoken to a few estate agents and actually the ones on both those flats valued them at a lot less (525 and 450k respectively) although I think that's still above what they are actually worth. But they both said the sellers would only go with their own idea of what their flat wasn't worth. Seems clear to me that if you've had your flat on the market for months and months and you've had viewings with no offers or much lower offers your idea of what your place is worth is well out of whack.

But yes it is their prerogative I guess. Just extremely frustrating. There seems to be a dearth of 1 bed flats where I am that are nice but reasonably priced.

So you want to buy. They want to sell.
They want X you are only willing to pay Y. This is where your negotiations skills come in.
If they say they won't budge, that is their negotiating position, how do you respond?
You're playing a game of high stakes poker. What's your move?

A dearth of nice and affordable 1 bed flats in London? You are being unreasonable to mention it seeing this has certainly been the case since I looked for my first flat in 1993! I don't think people are greedy. You probably just don't have enough money. If you are looking in your own, you are competing with couples with 2 incomes to your 1.

Why are you the authority on what properties are worth? Why do you get to judge others as greedy, presumably based upon your desire to pay less, so perhaps it is you that is greedy.

Just wait. If housing is overpriced and no one buys eventually sellers have to accept less or take it off the market. It can take a while for sellers to adjust to a new reality, they want to try and get what they would’ve got in a stronger market. Prices are definitely falling where we are, if I was buying I would just wait it out.

At the same time it's clear that these sellers can and will simply wait till someone comes along who can afford their vastly inflated prices.

With this phrase you have just contradicted yourself. If something sells for X pounds then it is worth X pounds to that person, they want it and are willing to pay for it. The deem it value for money.

@PodgeBod I agree I live in a similar area but those few miles can be the difference between say orsett and Tilbury, or upminster and ockendon, very very different places

Tbh, on the opposite end of the spectrum, my DH and I sold a house a few years ago. It was 3 bed with a basement, huge garden, views, but due to location was valued at £65k. (I'm not even joking...)

We held out for the asking price for as long as we could as we desperately needed the money for a deposit on our next house and really didn't have much to play with.

In the end the bank undervalued the house when deciding whether to give our buyers the mortgage. It was utterly heart breaking and I do think that EAs have a lot to answer for in over valuing properties in the first place.

I think its just ridiculous. I live 45 mins/hour (depending on train) outside london and its pretty much impossible to buy a house locally now unless on london wages, and even to rent a larger family house now is impossible as theyre all split up and rented to students for massively inflated rents or are impossible on local wages. Im not sure what people are supposed to do? If you didnt buy your house 20 years ago youve got no chance now

I think potentially there is fault on both sides. What you think the propert is worth is based on what you can afford and you're pissed off folks won't sell them to you for that price.

The vendors may be being stubborn. But it's their property. They don't need to sell if their circumstances don't dictate they need to.

Your frustration is you can't find a property you like in your budget.

Yes I don't really have much time for people who say sellers aren't being greedy.

I think it is pretty obvious when a nice but very ordinary flat is being charged for over the odds in relation to wages and furthermore it's then clear that buyers are not going for that.

Very substandard small terraced houses going for over a million pounds in areas which are "normal" ie not Mayfair. When is a small terraced house worth a million pounds? It is not like these people have installed gold taps and you'll be forever bathing in champagne.

I do think some people on this thread need to give their head a wobble. Yes you can say someone will come along in years and pay that price so that is what it's Worth but it's clear that sellers are greedy

I do agree some people seem deluded about the price they can get. There are a lot of properties around here (SW London) that have been listed for close to a year with some token (c. £10,000) price drops. Some of the prices being asked are ridiculous- especially since you can see a property’s sold history on rightmove.

So when you do find your flat and after a few years you'll sell, you will make sure that you sell it for a nice low price. Nah, I don't think so.

I wouldn't call them greedy exactly. I mean, yes, they want to sell their property for the highest price they can get, but then so does everyone! Maybe they're not really desperate to sell, and so it would have to be a high offer to persuade them it's worth the trouble.

I do think some people on this thread need to give their head a wobble - why, just because they disagree with you?!