To think current home sellers are living in a fantasy world?

[CanStopWillStop]

We are looking for a new home (out of necessity unfortunately!) so I am now deeply buried in Rightmove.

The most significant pattern I'm noticing is that dozens of sellers, who according to Land Registry bought their properties in 2019/2020, are listing their homes at £100-200k more than they paid two years ago.

Considering the current dire outlook for mortgages &cost of living etc, AIBU to think that this is absolutely ludicrous money they are chasing?

I understand some people may have remortgaged or are looking to upgrade but a £100,000 mark up on a 3-bed bungalow you've lived in for a couple of years is mind-blowing to me. What's happening here? Greed? Desperation? Do they really think people can actually get mortgages on overvalued properties? AIBU?

I got my house valued a few weeks ago, though I've decided not to sell - can't fave leaving my dear house.

In my view estate agents aren't sure which way things are going to go. There are far more estate agents than there used to be and the competition for listings is ferocious. So they will make a high valuation to get the work and expect offers to come in quite low (tbf they did say I should expect offers to come in under asking price). I thought i was going to be hard headed, but like many others no doubt I was seduced by the higher quotes I was given.

It is mad, I agree! I read somewhere that estate agents have been encouraging sellers to list their properties for quite a bit more than what they’re worth, to protect them against the predicted price crashes. It’s so immoral, really.

That's so surprising to me, I thought agents would be pricing to sell before any imminent property crashes!

What i would say is - make as low an offer as you want to, and stay very unemotional about the entire process if you can.

Estate agents immoral?! NO 😂

Thank you, it's so hard when you see properties with no work/improvements so astronomically overpriced. I might make a few reasonable offers and see what happens :)

No idea, but surely people are buying them at these prices otherwise they will drop in value?

Hahaa I haven't dealt with EAs often, but I just mean logically – why price houses with a 30% mark up (after zero home improvements) on the cusp of a recession/property crash. I don't see any winners with that strategy

How do you know that each and every property you’re looking at is ‘over-valued’? No doubt a few will be but some people may have snagged a real bargain 2/3 years ago or may have done extensive renovations. I’m sure it must be really frustrating trying to find somewhere to live right
now but don’t blame it on the sellers.

Well that's the interesting thing, I've seen SO many houses from earlier in the year be put back on the market. I'm not sure the reasons why they fell through but I imagine some of them must be financing pulled, or banks not agreeing property value.

As @PermanentTemporary says > 'In my view estate agents aren't sure which way things are going to go. ...'
When I looked at Zoopla last week there was a difference of around £140,000 between the lowest estimate and the highest one of what my property would go for. It's not one that easy to estimate but that's a massive discrepency between the estimates.

I think it's like pulling teeth to get sales to go through at the moment. There's still demand, supply is dreadful and that's why prices are somehow still high in some areas. Everything feels uncertain. Both my bf and I have taken our houses off the market - in our cases for more personal reasons - but it's not unusual to do that.

Remember that they might have upgraded or refurbished the house since they bought it. Many people buy a doer-upper cheaply and live in it whilst doing it up, then sell it on for a profit. If it's their main residence it's exempt from capital gains tax.

Bungalows are often a prime target, many being probate sales and having not been kept up to date internally for decades by their elderly owners. People buy a little bungalow for, say, £250k, add an extension and new kitchen and bathroom and redecorate throughout, then sell it for £500k a year or two after they bought it.

Looking at the moment OP and seeing the same thing. And no, to answer PP of course if they'd done significant works that's a different situation. I am seeing literally the same photos from the 2019 particulars to the current ones, ie they have done nothing to that property at all, and they want £50k plus more. Erm......

You can’t just look at land registry data. Some people maybe bought during Covid when the market stalled at the start, some many have invested heavily in renovations, some may have been probate sales where family members wanted a quick sale.

you need to go and see the houses and see what they are worth and compare them to what else is available. It’s madness to just look at what the current owner paid with no context

People buy a little bungalow for, say, £250k, add an extension and new kitchen and bathroom and redecorate throughout, then sell it for £500k a year or two after they bought it.

Yes that makes sense, however the trend I'm noticing is that the houses are being put on in the same condition they were bought. You can find the archived listings with pictures from a few years back, and you find they've just painted the walls navy lol that's it!

The biggest mark up I've seen so far is a 3-bed bungalow. Sold in 2019 for £355k, asking price offers over £525k. They painted the living room and put paneling in...

I nearly spat my tea out lol

The bank says our home has gone up 100k since mid 2020.

My favourite was the estate agent swearing blind they'd put a new kitchen in. Unless they picked one that is identical in every regard to the one there when they bought it then...nah mate. How daft do you think we are?

My house doubled in price over Covid.

A house on my road sold at this price last week.

I would be interested to know if the sale goes through with everything that's happening at the moment. I'm seeing dozens of properties which 'sold' earlier this year being relisted

That's a really big leap, did you do home improvements? Out of curiosity, would that valuation make you consider selling?

What on earth is a home and how can you sell it?
You can sell a house or other kind of property, but I do not think you can advertise a home for sale.

I am genuinely nervous about the market @CanStopWillStop

There seems to be a central power base that wants to talk the market up. Yet though it defies all logic with full information, I have to say I am sitting on the fence. Getting splinters I hope not.

But I need to get down on one or t'other side, that I do know.

You can price your house however you like, but it will only sell for what it's worth.