To say sellers don't want to admit that the market has changed...

[FantaLemonade]

I'm a ftb and have been house hunting for nearly a year. I'm taking my time and not rushing into anything as I want to find the right house within my budget etc, but I do check right move most days (has become a bit of an obsession tbh!) so I tend to remember certain properties. I've noticed a lot more sales falling through recently and properties being re advertised online. It doesn't surprise me with all the uncertainty, interests rate rises and affordability criteria changing. Anyway, this one made me laugh (pic attached). Obviously the seller is entitled to list and sell the property at whatever price they want, but what on earth are they thinking?!. The house was only taken off the market around 3 weeks ago after being on the market since end of March and having 2 reductions, which even in todays market is still a long time for the area. Clearly the sale has fallen through, but I have no idea why they think it would be a good idea to re-list and add on an extra 5k. It's not as if the market has improved in the last 3 weeks, is it?! Utterly bizarre I think. Is this just another example of sellers not wanting to admit that the market has changed?

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/property-log/jccihedpilhidcbkconacnalppdeecno?hl=en-GB

We hear a lot on mumsnet about putting in a ‘cheeky offer’ I suppose it’s just the sellers’ equivalent putting it on for ‘a cheeky asking asking price’. No difference really.

@Fightyouforthatpie @FantaLemonade thank you 😊

My husband is an estate agent and it's so stressful at the minute. Sellers are refusing to believe that they won't get the same price as a few years ago and then complaining when they can't sell for an amount that he told them they'd never get!

@Fightyouforthatpie thank you! Didn't realise you could do the same on right move 😊

Tbh, no-ones wrong. Buyers can offer what they want to pay, and sellers can ask for what they want. Some aren’t in a rush and are just happy to hang on in there til the right offer happens. The thing is, people have a budget, then go and look at houses well over their budget with the intention to knock money off before they even view it! Why do people get all irate because someone won’t sell the house to them for what they want to pay? Just accept it and move on without all the bitching.

@SarahLHs I can imagine! I think estate agents get a lot shit and it's not always their fault. Ultimately it doesn't matter what the EA says if the seller's mind is made up and they won't budge on the price.

You’re probably right, but if a seller isn’t under any particular pressure to move and is happy to sit there and hold out for the asking price, that’s up to them isn’t it? I agree some people are unrealistic though.

Some will just sit there if the sellers don’t need to sell or don’t have a mortgage, others will get repossessed / or reduced if vendors are in trouble.

nothing has washed through the system yet and there isn’t really any serious distress out there.

another 12 - 18 months and you’ll start to see reality bite.

Nothing will drop until circumstances force it.

This is what happened in the 90s. Properties sat on the market for years while the owners refused to accept offers they thought were too low. Most people don't need to sell that urgently and will happily sit for months or years until they get the offer they want.

@Livelovebehappy @Aitrop I totally agree with you both that a vendor can sell their property for any price that they want and buyers can decide whether or not it's worth that to them. It's two sides of the same coin after all and if a property is listed at a certain price and not reduced then fine. I only mentioned this particular house because of the increase after re-listing. Anyone who has access to these tools isn't going to offer the asking price on a property that was marketed for 5k less previously. Possibly last year when everything was going to best and final but I can't imagine that happening in todays market.

Depends on where you are
I am buying one that went to sealed bids
DDs in laws have just sold in the same area and went to sealed bids

Supply and demand, I suppose.

It has always been a problem I think. My parents, a decade ago, were told by three agents that their house should go on the market for £275. They insisted that it was worth £295 and put it on for that. Many viewings and negative feedback about the high price later, they reduced to… £288. 🙄 Still got no bites, of course. They then reduced to £280 and got little interest because by then it had been on the market for about 11 months and stale listings can be offputting. Eventually, a woman who had viewed it at the outset came back and offered 272 which they accepted. Such a stressful 11 months which could have been avoided had they not been so stubborn and didactic at the beginning.

But I do appreciate that it’s difficult when it’s your home. You don’t want to accept the truth, perhaps. Especially if you have lived there for decades with your family.

I think they are different - if you don't put on a realistic selling price you won't get viewings. It's that stark.

If someone puts in a "cheeky" offer the seller can refuse. Or accept, if they want to sell badly enough and think the buyer is reliable. Of course "cheeky" is relative - anything within 10% is reasonable in my view - after that, it gets "cheeky" if the asking price was realistic in the first place. But there was a thread on here recently where a seller thought it outrageous that someone had bid just a bit below the asking price.

People so often think their house is the exception. And/or they ‘need’ a certain price, so in their deluded heads it follows that someone is going to be daft enough to pay it.

I’ve known a house hang around for over 3 years because the vendors ‘needed’ £Xk.

Of course they didn’t get it - price was eventually reduced a fair bit in little nibbles..

I guess the ones who have to sell will sooner or later drop the price, and those who don't will be able to ignore the wider picture.

Most homeowners won't sell in a flat market unless they absolutely must do, and there are always more buyers than sellers. If a seller can't get the price they want, they'll wait in the expectation that someone will come along eventually, or that prices will bounce up in a year or two. That's been the relentless experience since the late 1980s, so unless there is a mega collapse (there won't be) nothing is going to change.

I would say as well that perhaps you are being too cautious and missing out as a result of not wanting to overpay. In the position of buyer, my experience has always been that you must go in fast with your best offer and push it through before you are gazumped.

The market hasn't changed dramatically yet though has it? No massive price drops yet. No mass repossessions. No glut of property for sale.
If, you as a buyer can't find anything at the price you want to pay, your expectations are just as off as the sellers.

Yep. We saw a house we loved in Jan that was on for 875k. Reduced to oieo 850k at the end on june. Still on the market at the same price even though the market has dropped and it was overpriced in Jan!

We are actual due a mega collapse for a lot of reasons.

Yes as a PP just said, you can use the Chrome add on (it’s free) which I would NOT recommend unless you want to spend your free time tut-tutting at the asking price history of your neighbours properties (“It’s been on 5 months Dave and they’ve only deigned to take 2% off!! They’re going to have to take a lot more off on you ask me…” every night etc).

Divorce, death, debt though .. keeps the market moving even in slow periods …

The market hasn't changed dramatically yet though has it? No massive price drops yet. No mass repossessions.

Yes I agree with this in part. I think house prices are falling and will fall further but it’s not going to be like an early 90s crash. Repossession rates will go up but won’t be a patch on what they were because the mortgage market has fundamentally changed - lenders view repossession as an absolute last resort and most borrowers are on fixed repayment deals now. I read a crazy statistic that just before the 08 crash a huge percent (though I can’t remember quite how big) were on interest only deals, which are so rare now, so if they were unaffordable there was really no other option. Less “mortgage prisoners” now too.

Wanting it won't make it happen, though I understand why people feel this way. Personally I'm an advocate for state house building and controlled social rents with secure tenancies so people feel less pressure to buy. Dreamland, I know!