Holding on to original house valuation

[JacksonvilleJaguars]

Found a wonderful house, after 2 viewings and several drives to the area at different times (we don't know the area) we decided to put in an offer. We put in 370k on a 385k house as next door went for 390k last year which had an extension, conservatory and loft conversation. It's the same style house (link detached) but end of the row. The house a couple up was a 4 bed fully detached house and 3x the garden which also went for 390k last June. The house round the corner needing decorative modernisation went for 340k this Jan. We thought it was a fair price and whilst prepared to negotiate didn't think it was worth the full 385k due to the other sold houses.

Offer was rejected as it was originally up for 400k. It's been on for 7 weeks, we were the only offer and the only second viewing. Price dropped to 385k a month ago. EA said that's the minimum they'll accept.

AIBU in thinking that the 400k valuation couldn't have been right as they would have sold for that and why hold on to it?

By all means we aren't feeling negative in any way just rather perplexed given the pricing when the neighbours have far bigger houses for 5k more, and an exact same house for 45k less.
I know some people don't think the current listing of 7 weeks is long, but genuinely where we are houses do and are going on the same day when priced well. One of the houses we viewed on Sat had 2 offers and it came to market the day before. I do respect opinions of course, just we've been house hunting a long time and it's what we've found.

DH and mulled it over all morning. We've called the EA back to thank the sellers for their time and letting us view. Unfortunately DH doesn't want to go to 385 given the neighbouring houses. We know the sellers don't want to negotiate and so we respect that and have wished them luck

YABU. It doesn't matter if they are being realistic or not - they own that house, and they can set any price they want. If you don't want to pay that, no problem, you move on to find a house you like at a price you are willing to pay.

I often read "a house is only worth what someone will pay" on Mumsnet, as if sellers are obliged to accept the highest offer. Most can simply decide not to sell, and there is no point buyers ruminating about this, or thinking there is a "right" price for that specific house. Just move on to the next one, which will not be a problem if your expectations are in line with the market.

CMOT I agree. I often see houses like that, clean, even newly refitted bathrooms but done in a dated style so that it adds no value. The sellers think bacuse they love that style and it cost money that younger buyers will fork out for it. EA's often overprice to get the house on their books with the hope that the seller, when they get no or low offers will be presuaded to drop the price. EA's are rarely interested in getting a top price as it is a tiny amount in terms of their commision, much better for them to get a quick sale and money in the bank.

Some people have a fixed idea about what their house is 'worth' - often aided and abetted by an EA anxious for the business who gives an 'optimistic' valuation. If they're not in a hurry to sell and won't budge, IMO there's not a lot you can do. ,

A house not a million miles from us has been on the market not far off 3 years now, because for much of that time the vendors 'couldnt' accept less than £XK - a price it might conceivably have sold for at the very height of the 2016 peak. (Prices around here have been going down, admittedly from ridiculous highs.)

It was eventually reduced - at least twice in little grudging nibbles - and I gather is finally under offer.

I completely agree with those 're it being their house and can ask for what they wish. I guess I was thinking it was a bit daft to say no as they originally wanted 400k when bigger houses went for less, so perhaps I am BU

You could meet them in the middle. Your survey may throw something up to shave it off again

It may be a bit daft. It may be a lot daft. It may even be full on deluded. But it's up to them, so personally I wouldn't devote any mental energy to something you've no control over.

I guess I was thinking it was a bit daft to say no as they originally wanted 400k when bigger houses went for less, so perhaps I am BU

You are not being unreasonable. If they want to sell then they need to adjust their price inline with buyers expectations. If they are happy to wait and see if anyone offers their asking price then that's their prerogative but given what you have said about the other houses in the area I cannot see that happening.

Essentially, the house is worth what someone is willing to pay.

Some people are greedy (buyers and sellers). But, at the end of the day, either you think it's worth more or you don't.

Op.youre mind set was right if they needed to sell. Your mind set was wrong if their mind set was "if I can get 385 for this, I will sell and move to x house, if I can't I shall happily stay put"

As the latter was their mind set it seems, then you're being unreasonable. They are perfectly entitled to list it for that price and see if anyone bites. And someone might. For a number of reasons they might.

People have all different reasons to list for sale. And not all of them are because they "need" to sell. In fact I'd say not even the majority.

House opposite few months after us sold for 5K under what we paid - despite having one bedroom less, no off-road parking and the garden being smaller and visible from people passing down the road. They paid a lot more than other 3 beds with parking on estate and I can't see why.

Equally last house we reached point we were going to miss our deadline for secondary school applications in new area- something we’d told the EA about - so rang EA to drop price by 5K. They tried to talk us out of it .

Thank goodness we didn’t listen as it bought a second viewing and offer – apparently they’d told couple we wouldn’t drip price and kept trying to book them into another house down our road they were also trying to sell not ours. I'm not sure what they hell we paid them for.

A house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, so if they had no luck at £400k it was overpriced or the right person hadn’t seen it in the time it was marketed. Your offer sounded more than fair in comparison to the other that had a lot more improvements already done. They sound greedy. I’d look elsewhere.

What is the view of the estate agent? Surely he/she can see your point?

We had similar. House originally up for 400k. When we viewed it had been dropped to 390k. Been on the market 6 months. No offers.

The people selling had put a deposit down on a new build bungalow and were downsizing.

We offered 375k and it was rejected. They wanted 390k. We were in rented and had 150k deposit.

They then had an open house weekend and still no offers. We offered 380k which was the most we wanted to pay for it. And it was still a no.

It's still for sale. Over a year now. And we are happily living in a different house which was actually better for us.

There was a price we couldn't sell under - we needed to get out the amount of deposit we'd put into that house to buy next place.

We wrote off the x amount we'd paid mortgage repayments and huge amount paid out in work- new window doors, gas boiler, electrics and decorating. If we hadn’t been able to come out with the deposit we’d put in buying first house in new area wouldn’t have been possible making the move less possible.

Perhaps there are similar constraints – though older buyers I would suspect would have fewer such constraints.

Looking at an overall picture. How much have other houses of a similar size gone for recently? Is the area up and coming, e.g. good schools etc? Any minus points that could affect your offer?

In my street - when we bought - it was just as the street was 'on the up' and was becoming a very popular street for young families to buy nice houses with potential to extend/loft conversions etc - with a few nice parks nearby, excellent local primary schools etc. We luckily put our first offer in which was turned down, offered £5K extra which we could afford and this was accepted. We knew, though, that this street was becoming really popular so if we wanted this house we needed to up our offer slightly, which we did.

EA's can sometimes want to make a sale rather than give an unbiased view or can want more of their share of commission so will encourage a higher offer. 7 weeks is no time for it to be on the market at all for.

They’re not ‘holding onto’ the £400k valuation though - otherwise they wouldn’t have dropped the price to £385k. They obviously feel they’ve come down b enough already.

I do however see why you don’t think it’s worth the asking price based on the neighbouring houses. You’re probably right to follow your instincts here.

CMOT it is sooooo like that where I am! It’s all ‘but our huge cold drawing room with chintz curtains and plum carpet is as good as new! We only use it once a year after all! And our tiny wheat-sheaf-tiled kitchen is snug and immaculate!’

Whereas with our eyes we are thinking ‘you’d have to move the kitchen INTO the unused drawing room to get a big, eat-in kitchen/diner/sitting room and make the old kitchen a utility/downstairs loo, which will cost 50k, plus rewire, replumb and upgrade heating’.

I wouldn’t mind but where I am a lot of sellers bought 35 years ago for nothing and now want insane amounts. And wonder why people are bypassing them for new builds!

My parents are v guilty of all this, it’s very prevalent where I am, especially with big Victorian houses etc.

Yes they are being silly and their house is unrealistically priced. Of course you aren’t going to pay 385 when a neighbouring house with more facilities sold for 390. I have no idea why they originally thought their house was worth more than that one!

BUT it’s their house and they are entitled to be unrealistic about the price if they wish. It won’t sell of course, but that’s their problem.

Right now is a tricky time to buy and sell. I noticed that our old area down south where we sold last summer, the houses have gone down but up north the houses have held their value better. A large part of buying a house is getting people who actually want to sell, some people are just time wasters and like to pretend/go see other houses out of hobby but are not serious. These people probably won't find a place suitable to live even if they do get the perfect offer and will torture you in a seemingly never ending chain. It's situations like these that force people to go with new builds. You'll either need to be very patient and accomodating £££, or you'll need to sacrifice the kind of house you want imo.

Clearly the sellers want to try their luck and get more for it. At the end of the day it’ll only sell for what some one is willing to pay for it.

They might come back to you, fingers crossed.

This thread prompted me to go check right move and they've now dropped to 375k 🤷🏽‍♀️

@Chamomileteaplease yes the EA completely understood and was really pleasant. She knew we were offering based on previous sold in the street. She was asked to reiterate by the sellers that they originally wanted 400k and just recently reduced to the 385k. She said if we wanted to think about it and come back to her, but unfortunately the sellers wanted 385k so no further negotiations. We

@bigKiteFlying I just checked out of interest, and they bought it for 75k in 1996. We know they haven't started to look for a downsize yet until they sold so imagine the higher they have the better their options

@MadameDD unfortunately bigger houses only sold for 5k more last year, with an exact same house selling for 340k in Jan. Nothing else in the area to compare it to unfortunately

So I'm in SW and houses in Bristol go within days, a few weeks at most.

The bungalow we have just bought was up for 325k in need of full Reno!! A bungalow up the road which had a loft conversion which made it twice the size of ours and had been decorated beautifully and modern throughout went for 350k last year.

Vendor dropped to 295k as estate agents clearly over priced it. Vendor not happy nut dropped to OIE of 295k.

Agajn needs full Reno new bathroom kitchen boiler, stinks of cat and dog piss. At this point it has been up for 6 months with no viewings or offers!

We viewed and offered 285k expecting to go up. 290k was our max. Buyer said 295k or nothing. We said nothing! She said 291k and shell remove the carpets. Done deal..

Then mortgage valuation people went in and said it was only worth 290k very maximum. So the vendor agreed to come to 290k.
Estate agents give false Hope for the owners, are the owners older too? Ours are elderly and seemed stuck in their ways and thinks their house is absolutely stunning and livable when its not.

If they're not that bothered on moving I guess they wont budge, either that or the EA believe you'll go higher.

The EA was desperate to get rid of the bungalow seeing as though no interest for 6 months so did communicate well with vendor that it was a good price and that's why she accepted

@Chesneyhawkes1 how typical! At least you have a much better suited house for you now