House selling woes....again

[Ep9993]

Hi everyone,

I posted a thread a few months ago about my struggles to sell. It took 5 months of viewings and flaky offers to get a proper offer 10k under asking for the buyer to pull out a month later. In that time we found our ideal house in a great location and had an offer accepted on that. It was sheer luck the house was due to come back on the market - it's one we viewed many months before when we had another buyer.

Anyway, the vendors of the new house have kindly given us time to find a buyer and with no set time limit. I'm sure if we take too long though they'll start getting frustrated, and I don't blame them!

House is back on the market as of last week for 20k under the last price. We've had one viewing and no other enquires. For context my partner bought the house in 2022 south west London at the absolute peak and I'm sure overpaid for it. We're on the market for offers over 580k (yes I know offers over is a mistake). House next door sold for 600 middle of last year and another on the road is on for 600 currently. I don't believe we're far off the mark but it's only worth what someone will pay!

To keep the current house we're trying to buy and to speed things along estate agent thinks we should reduce to 570...or something similar. My partner is so hesitant to do this as she's got a figure in her head and sees it as losing money. I've offered to make up for the loss in the next house and pay the difference. I've also pointed out if we were to take say 20k less it's not a life changing amount. We're very lucky that we have a large deposit and even with this loss we'd both be able to work part time in a better area and in a house with so much more space. I'm not really sure what else to do. It feels like at this rate we will be hanging on another 6 months for a buyer and who knows what prices will do! We've also already spent a few thousand on solicitor fees and a survey so that currently feels like money down the drain.

Has anyone had a similar experience?

20k reduction is nothing
If you want to move, make a bigger reduction

I had a "figure in my head" but in reality my property sold for a lot less

Empty
Repainted
Garden tidy

A property is only worth what someone else will buy

Price is too high. Simples...

I'm aware about the price my question is more around how to tackle the issue with partner. Bare in mind we've already reduced by 40k

In an ideal world you’d sell the house for the price you want AND find the dream home to move to. But if that’s not happening you and your partner need to prioritise one of these. Which one is more important? Risk losing this house to hang on for the ‘price in your head’ or take the loss and move.

It comes down to things like how likely is it that a similar house will come on the market if you lose this one?
and how much difference would selling your home for less impact you?
If you don’t want to lose this house I’d encourage your partner to set a deadline. If we haven’t had any offers by X date we agree to lower the price.

when selling a house you have to leave your pride behind. Not everyone will think it’s worth what you think it is.

Thanks this is super helpful.

At this current rate I think moving is more important. We don't have enough space here and we're wanting to start IVF once we've moved. It's like living in limbo at the moment.

If we were to sell for less it won't have any real impact. We might have a slightly bigger mortgage but it'll still be very affordable.

The biggest hurdle to overcome is getting my partner to see the sale in a more objective way. Yes it will be sold for less than she paid but if she wants to hold out for a higher offer it may be months, or might just never happen!
She's very fortunate that she inherited a decent amount of money to buy her current house so she's protective of that...which I do understand. But we're both putting down a big deposit on the next house and keeping a small mortgage.

God reduce it, it’s so stressful and the longer it’s on the market the more it’ll put people off

The choice isn't between getting the higher and the lower price. The choice is between moving to the house you want and staying put. If no one wants to buy it at the higher price then you can't magic them up. Market in London is not great at the moment.

Yep totally agree. Seems to be particularly slow in our area unless you price below market value or the property is newly done up

Your partner needs to drop the idea the house is worth X amount, its not worth what you have it on for; whether it'd fly off the books if you dropped 50k is another matter but she needs to drop this idea its worth what she thinks. Acceptance she overpaid is another matter. She made a decision at a time she thought was best. Your situation now is different.

Presently you are being told (by the actions of the buyers) that there is no interest at the price its on; irrelevant that its dropped 40k. Forget what she paid; thats in the past and its not promise of future value. Its not selling. That is the fact now. Stick to facts; take away the emotion.

You can always earn more money. You cannot get more time. Which is more important? starting IVF in a new bigger property, or the price in her head - because one has to give. Only you can decide what your priorities are.

Dont compare to other properties on the market; comparison is the thief of joy.

They don't have the same priorites as you. Even if its next door - its no promise that there is a buyer willing to pay.

Good luck

Don't think of it as an investment (buying when low, selling when high) think of it as a home. If you can secure the perfect house for your family, that's worth more than 20/30k in the long run.

She's only had the house since 2022 - it's not entirely surprising that she will 'lose' money in cash terms BUT her needs (as well as yours) have changed and as you can afford the mortgage comfortably then drop to a price that means you can begin the next stage of your lives (and NOT offers over!)

But the price is relevant. You could go through all this aggro and finally persuade her to reduce it to 570 - and still get no interest, because anyone who can afford 570 and was seriously interested would probably be coming to view it at 580 (and either putting a lower offer in or looking at their options to borrow more) anyway regardless of it saying offers above.

Even if you convince her to lower it to 570 as the EA advises, its unlikely you will get a "quick sale" with someone happy to pay the full amount. So you may as well have the full conversation with her now anticipating that even if you do reduce it and get interest they will be seeking a further discount again .

I agree with the pps advice of coming at it from another angle - not choosing between selling at 570 and a hypothetical buyer at 600 who no longer exists, but "do we want to stay or move. If you're not going to accept that we are not going to get 600 or even 580 in the current market we may as well just take it off completely and not muck the sellers of the house we want around as well."

It's frustrating to her to think she might have lost money but think of the alternatives- if she hadn't bought the house she'd have paid a lot more in rent which would be a complete loss. If prices had continued to climb exponentially then she might be able to see this house for more but it's likely the house you want to buy would also have increased.

Especially if it has ‘offers over’ on it. I’d be thinking cheeky wotsits you can’t even sell it at the price it’s on for never mind offers over. I t would put me off.

I would probably keep the price as several reductions will make people wonder what's wrong with it and why you are selling so soon after buying it, but I would have the estate agent quietly advise prospective viewers that you are willing to negotiate. I think it's relevant that other houses similar to yours are priced similarly so you are not too far off the mark. See where that approach takes you for a couple of weeks and revisit. Maybe have them remove the "offers over" part unless you are dead set on not accepting anything lower than the set price.

If I saw "offers over £x" on a house listing I would discount it immediately if it was near the top of my budget, because it suggests that the sellers are not willing to be flexible on the price they want. And we all want top whack for our houses, of course we do. The steadily rising prices of houses gives us the idea that values will go up and we will make more on selling than it cost us to buy. But houses go up in the long term, but with natural fluctuations in between - if you are in a slump then a profit's not always achievable when you sell (put simply). But of course the house that you will be buying will probably be subject to the same slump.

Like a PP says, you have to prioritise. What do you want most, to move to the house you want, or to get maximum amount for the one you're in? If it's the latter you should take your house off the market and sit tight until the market's recovered. If it's move, you need to do all you can to achieve a sale, which most likely means reducing it to a price people are willing to pay and being prepared to negotiate. No Offers In Excess of...

Just for context our house in SW London was on the market at £1,450.00 this time last year

Just been adviced to put it on at £1,300.00

We have owned it for 11 years, bought it at £950.000, done all the work possible to it too
Two storey Extension and complete refurbishment

We bought it at the top of the market in 2015
I thought it was too expensive at the time too

The trouble is thinking that you have 'reduced' the price as if it's a appliance in Currys. That always feels as though you are now losing money, a lot of estate agents will advise a high asking price to get your custom knowing full well that it will not be selling for that price too.

Yes, for this reason I can see both POV . Also, the current price is still below the other 2 similar properties on the street. Could you hang on for another couple of months? Perhaps suggest that you set a deadline for offers before dropping price further.
I totally appreciate that you have your heart set on the house you want to buy

It seems extraordinarily cheap tbh for a house in SW London. Rightmove have one bed apartments for 600k but I can’t see any houses.

We are talking zone 4 though, New Malden if you've ever heard of it. Near Kingston!
I think part of the problem is buyers are typically going to be first time buyers who probably don't want to spend that much....and fair enough

Yeah estate agent seems to think we're not far off. But, I've never met an estate agent that is very honest with that. When we first went on they advised 40k more and yes we did have steady vieiwngs but only a couple of offers. Id rather they were honest and said 550 in the first place and we'd probably be in a new house by now!

Totally agree on the offers over part. I mentioned this to my partner before we went back on but she wanted to keep it. I'm the same, if I see offers over I think no thanks

I think that's a good idea. I'm waiting to see if the house a few doors down has any luck.

I'm going to suggest some kind of plan with dates or it's all a bit unknown. New estate agent seems more on it so hopefully will suggest doing xyz at certain points. I guess if we were to reduce now it would look desperate!

At the very least we could get rid of the bloody offers over bit 😂

Ah that is painful! Where in SW London are you? Our area seems particularly bad at the moment. We're moving to south east London and most houses are under offer within a few weeks.

SW London isn’t just Clapham etc!