To feel p***** off that we've found our dream home... But the vendor isn't accepting any offers even at the listing price.

[mummabubs]

DH and I have been house hunting for a little while. We found a property last week that's been on the market for 10 months unsold but ticked all our boxes so we figured we'd see it for ourselves. It's on the market for £425,000 (reduced in November from £450,000). I even took annual leave this afternoon so that we could view it without our toddler with us. Spent a lot of time researching the area, commute into work, cost of living etc.

When we got to the viewing this afternoon the seller was still at home, which we found a little unsettling but fair enough. House ticked all our boxes, for once the photos from the agent really did do the place justice. Perfect family home for us and we found it impossible when looking round not to imagine our son growing up there.

At the end of the viewing we were in the garage and seller was in the house so I asked the agent why in their opinion the house has been on the market for so long and not sold given that there doesn't appear to be anything amiss with the property.They explained that the seller is firmly resolved that they want £450,000+ for it so are simply rejecting every offer made. It's listed with another agent and they've independently confirmed the same is happening with them. Turns out the seller is also playing the agents off against each other by fabricating offers from each side. DH and I could afford the asking price (just) but the seller's goal is just way out of our price range. We still plan to make an offer tomorrow but we know it will be rejected, it's more just an exercise in closure for us as we really love the house.

Just feeling pissed off and deflated that not only have I wasted precious annual leave to go today but also fallen for a property that if it had been listed for what the guy truly wants we'd never have viewed in the first place. It's quite a unique property as it was bespokely built by the family who live there so not exactly easy to find an equivalent.

The games this guy is playing so far make me wonder that even if he did accept an offer from us (blatantly won't) he doesn't even seem that trustworthy to stick it out to completion.

AIBU to think that you should at least list your house for a price you want so as not to waste potential buyers time!?

Are there houses in his road/immediate area that are similar and that you would consider? why not get some leaflets printed off and do a letter drop?

A colleague of mine did this and got lucky when they had lost out on a home that they liked.

If the guy is this much of a PITA at the offer stage, do you get any notion of what a complete wanker he would be in the selling process????

You are probably dodging a bullet here. Sounds like its a matrimonial thing and shows you exactly why they're selling...

D

Don't lose hope! It took 15 months for us to complete on our forever home because of an unrealistic seller who blew hot and cold over just about everything. In the meantime we'd got engaged, married and had DC1 :)
Of course what clinched it was us following my granny's advice to bury a piece of silver ( well, 50p) on the land as a show of good faith. Shoved a coin through the hedge. Funnily enough it worked like a charm. Good luck

Sometimes it does seem like people just don’t really want to sell. The thing you need to avoid is taking it personally. I know it’s so hard, and moving is so bloody stressful, but try to avoid thinking things like ‘I even used annual leave to view the house’. It won’t achieve anything, and will just wind you up even more.

DH and I viewed what we thought was our perfect house. Put our own house on the market, which took bloody ages to sell, by which time the house we wanted was gone. However, in that time another ‘perfect’ house came up. It was better than the first one! Like yours, it had been on the market for months with no offers as it was overpriced. We offered more than it was worth on paper, but less that than the seller wanted, and we increased our offer a few times and they still said no. They were looking for about £60k over the valuation. We decided to walk away, and found another ‘perfect’ house. Even better than the first two. Offer made and accepted…and then our own sale fell through. Anyway, after much stress we are now the proud owners of house #3.

Moral of the story…don’t get too hung up on one house that the seller doesn’t really want to sell.

By the way, about 3 months after we had our offer accepted on house 3, just before we actually moved in, the estate agent from house 2 phoned out of the blue and asked if we would still be interested in buying it. The seller was obviously beginning to realise they would never get the money they were hoping for.

I really don't think I could be arsed with a seller playing silly buggers.

you are well out of that one. He will only waste lots more of your time.

there is ALWAYS another house.

I got my first house at 16k under other offers by sending flowers with a note saying how much I loved the house. They sold to me because i loved it as much as they did.
Write to the seller telling them how much you love it.

We bought our current house on Facebook...I traced the owner. Long story, and it took 16 months to get there, but we're here and wouldn't move again.

Listed at 425k but wants £460k ? Hmmm can you afford that or just the £425k max ..

Thanks all for the replies, advice, shared experience. It's been helpful to read every single one. To respond to a couple of points- £425k is our max budget, but when we saw it had been on the market for 10 months with no sale we thought we'd give it a go!

Called today and put in an offer below asking price (genuinely what we believe the house to be worth) which not surprisingly was rejected. However the seller wanted us to know that he'd rejected a previous offer for £410k and wants the asking price... So either both sets of estate agents have lied to us (entirely possible) or he's lying now just to get us to up our offer (also entirely possible). I suspect £410k is the highest offer he's had as otherwise he could easily have said higher. We're just not willing to go to asking on it as it would then mean that we couldn't afford to do any updating inside the property whatsoever (and it needs it!)

Whilst we are very fond of that house we reslly don't want to end up in a situation where we either pay too much or we get so far down the line and then he either ups the price or pulls out having got a better offer.

I quite like the idea of writing him a little note as suggested above just saying that we understand right now our offer isn't what he's looking for but if he wants to reconsider in the future we'd like to hear from him. Luckily for us we're in no rush to move just as he's in no rush to sell so we might be able to play the long game while looking for other properties in the mean time.