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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu to ask for house buying advice

126 replies

Arfarfarf · 21/11/2019 19:28

Specifically price related.

We are moving to Brighton. Need a 3-4 bed family home and have viewed several recently. We offered 405k on a 450k 3 bed semi (Brighton - house prices are insane). Got flat out refused without counter offer. It has been on the market for 9 months...

Never mind, we found another one for 450k, 4 beds this time. We really like it but how low do we go? Houses seem to be on for months as a rule which leads me to think they are overpriced, but sellers don't seem too happy to accept less. This particular one has only been on for a month and I want to toe the fine line between not overpaying but not pissing the seller off either... won't post link sorry Grin similar ones in and around the same street vary from 385k (though these tend to not be as nice/need some work doing) to 570k which is laughable really...

Our situation: have to sell our own house (priced to sell, we don't want to mess about) which has only just gone on the market, and we have a mortgage agreement in principle.

Help!

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dayslikethese1 · 22/11/2019 14:49

I agree with the PPs who said that doesn't seem bad for Brighton. It's an expensive city and pretty desirable. I have family there and live in a (different) expensive city myself and houses seem to go aroubd asking price for the most part. Depends on the area mostly. If you think it's really overpriced maybe keep looking though (are there things wrong with it/work that needs doing?)

loathechoosingusernames · 22/11/2019 14:56

Hi OP. Without knowing much more than just the asking price and how long it appears to have been on the market I don’t think anyone can tell you what a realistic offer might look like. We recently bought a house and made an initial offer of 20% below asking, ending up with an agreed price of 12% below. What I can tell you is that we were only able to do this because 1) we did not have anything to sell and were chain-free, 2) we acknowledged to the vendors (via the estate agent) that we knew they would be disappointed with the offer but that our research (backed up with very detailed facts about price per square foot sold in comparable properties) indicated it was fair, and 3) we knew they had no other interested parties at all. I think absent the criteria above you would be unlikely to be successful in a highly cheeky offer...

Dongdingdong · 22/11/2019 15:16

£450k sounds cheap for Brighton. Which part are you looking at?

ShirleyPhallus · 22/11/2019 15:17

Offering 10% under for a house when yours isn’t even sold is insulting and not proceedable.

Arguing that they made £100k on it and you want £45k of that is very naive, it’s not how house prices work.

Original poster
Arfarfarf · 22/11/2019 15:27

Hi loathechoosingusernames thanks for sharing your experience. We did the research before making our offer on the 450k house (based on Zoopla, just checked again on Rightmove, the recently sold prices are the same luckily) and based on this information the offer was fair (3 comparable in every way houses were sold for 365-385 in the same (short) street in the last year). So I still think 405k is realistic Confused for that house... The sellers might have been insulted (in response to +ShirleyPhallus) but ultimately they are the ones not pricing their house realistically from the information we have available Sad. BUT... we aren't chain-free and we don't know if there are any other offers. It just wasn't meant to be for this house. I am in no doubt we will find a different one and we would be happy to pay asking price if our research shows it's realistic Smile.

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wondering7777 · 22/11/2019 15:28

I looked round a house a while ago. It had been on the market for about six months and was in a terrible state inside. The owners were refusing to take any offers below the asking price so I walked away and bought another place.

I checked the first house on Rightmove a year or so later and it had recently sold for the same price they were asking. I was amazed that they managed to get someone to pay full price after it had been on the market for so long!

Original poster
Arfarfarf · 22/11/2019 15:31

ShirleyPhallus you misunderstood - I am not arguing I want 45k of their 100k. Not relevant but they would still have 'made' 100k if they sold it for 405k (and 150k if they sell it for 450k). I am arguing (see my response to loathechoosingusernames above) that 405k is realistic and 450k is not.

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Original poster
Arfarfarf · 22/11/2019 15:32

wondering7777 ha amazing!

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Original poster
Arfarfarf · 22/11/2019 15:33

(oh and we looked at the land registry info, not the Rightmove adverts)

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burritofan · 22/11/2019 15:37

I am expecting them to sell it for what it's worth.
But houses aren't actually worth any specific value; sale prices don't reflect rebuild prices, after all. It's only worth £405k to you. But it's worth £450k to the sellers. And they're the ones with the power here. If you want to pay £405k, look for houses priced more closely to that figure.

(Just sold my Brighton property. Buyers offered 2% less than asking price. Eventually accepted 0.5% less. I didn't sell it for what it was worth, I sold it for the most amount of money I could possibly get, so I could buy the most amount of house up the ladder. That's generally how it works.)

Somerville · 22/11/2019 15:45

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

If you look at a house and go "That is worth 400k to me and no more'" then there is nothing to lose by putting in a 400k bid, whatever it is listed for. HOWEVER what more often happens is that people put in less than they are prepared to pay for it, hoping for negotiation where they meet in the middle. This often backfires, because it puts the back up of the owners. And especially when it is done by someone who is unproceedable, as you are OP.

Peanutbutterforever · 22/11/2019 15:47

I don't know why buyers like the OP think sellers MUST sell at the price the buyer thinks is right.

Sellers vary so much, Some need to sell, others just might if they got the price they wanted. If I was selling now, I'd try to work out a realistic price for my house, but understand that Brexit and a GE make for an odd market. If I was desperate to move, I'd discount accordingly, or if not, keep the 'usually right" price and wait (hope) for the market to normalise.

Good discounts go to buyers who are prepared to renovate a wreck, or who have a short/ no chain. You don't seem to fit those categories op.

ShirleyPhallus · 22/11/2019 15:51

I am arguing (see my response to loathechoosingusernames above) that 405k is realistic and 450k is not

Estate agents valued it as £450k and the buyers declined your offer of £405k, flat out, without a counter-offer. How can you possibly continue to think that your offer of £405k is realistic....?

Somerville · 22/11/2019 16:10

Sellers vary so much, Some need to sell, others just might if they got the price they wanted

Exactly. My house has just gone softly onto the market. So it’s not on Rightmove, but people looking in our immediate area for this kind of house who are themselves under offer or are cash buyers are being shown the details by our agent. They’re also told we are not in a rush to sell and won’t entertain low offers before they’re brought to view.
We probably won’t sell it until the market picks up and we can get more for it and have more choice of where to buy ourselves, and I don’t want to prep it for viewings (or worse, have people turn up unannounced on doorstep) who haven’t sold themselves or think it’s worth less than what I would want in order to move.
(I love my house but for various reasons the location is not ideal now. And I’m as stubborn as anything and someone putting in a low offer will get told to piss off.)

Original poster
Arfarfarf · 22/11/2019 16:52

ShirleyPhallus How can you possibly continue to think that your offer of £405k is realistic....? because I did the research, and because overpriced properties do come on the market from time to time. And continue to sit there. That can't be that hard to believe.

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Original poster
Arfarfarf · 22/11/2019 16:54

Peanutbutterforever I don't know why buyers like the OP think sellers MUST sell at the price the buyer thinks is right. At no point did I say they MUST sell at the price.

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Original poster
Arfarfarf · 22/11/2019 16:58

burritofan I sold it for the most amount of money I could possibly get, so I could buy the most amount of house up the ladder. That's generally how it works.) I understand that. And I'm glad you sold your house so near the asking price. It will have been realistically priced. They aren't always. If you had priced your house at 20% more than what you sold it for, and didn't get any buyers, or just offers at what you sold it for, then the price would have been unrealistic, the buyers would not have been cheeky offering 20% less. I'm just saying that either scenario is possible.

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Original poster
Arfarfarf · 22/11/2019 17:00

Somerville that's good, that puts you in a strong position. I hope you get what you want for it Smile

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Original poster
Arfarfarf · 22/11/2019 17:03

We told the estate agent what position we were in before viewing the house btw as we understand that sellers may not want to entertain viewings by people who are currently unproceedable. So far we have not been refused a single viewing. Possibly an indication of the market, and any viewing (even by currently unproceedable people) is better than no viewing..?

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Original poster
Arfarfarf · 22/11/2019 17:09

Anyway, hopefully our house will be under offer soon (4 viewings this weekend Shock) and then we'll be in a much stronger position!

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Whyhaveidonethis · 22/11/2019 17:21

I honestly don't understand why you would even bother going to see a house you very clearly thought was overpriced. I own a few properties and am selling one at the moment and if you'd offered me 10% less I'd have been pissed off.

You can't trust the time on the market from rightmove because if you reduced the price by 3% it lists it as just going on the market despite it may have been at a higher price for months.

If you can't afford a house or know you aren't prepared to pay as much as its up for stop wasting the sellers time by going to view.

stucknoue · 22/11/2019 17:25

Offer what you think it's worth, they say yes or no. Remember a house is only worth what someone is willing to pay. A house on the market for 9 months at £450k isn't worth £450k to anyone. But to be in a strong position you need to have sold your house and have a mortgage in principle agreed

stucknoue · 22/11/2019 17:27

Ps I got 13% off mine but we were in temp rented

MissConductUS · 22/11/2019 18:29

House buying and selling are emotionally fraught activities, which causes no end of problems. I've sold two and bought three over the years.

How much profit the seller stands to make just isn't relevant. They're going to seek the high end (or more) of the current market. A lot of it comes down to motivation. Many who are wildly overpriced have no real need to sell and just want to see if there's one fool out there who will make them rich. Ignore them. There's no point in even offering.

I think that most sellers allow some room for negotiation, but not a lot. If you offer and they don't counter it means that the two prices are too far apart for a successful negotiation. What has worked for me is to find a house that is priced realistically and offer something fairly close to asking price.

Good luck.

Original poster
Arfarfarf · 22/11/2019 20:03

stucknoue good thing you didn't offer on one of Whyhaveidonethis 's houses Grin

MissConductUS thanks, good advice!

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