Don't know if we should accept offer...

[Zeeky]

Posted our rightmove link on here previously to get feedback as to price & lack of viewings. Was
on at 550, dropped to 525 after 3 weeks as no viewings, dropped to 500 after 5 weeks. Had loads of viewings since then (3 weeks) including 3 second viewings. We've so far had 2 offers both of which we thought were cheekily low - one at £460 (chap got in a total strop when we turned it down, ranting at EA about how we can't expect to get asking price which we realise which is why we dropped it £50k!!!) second offer today of £465 which we have turned down. Buyer has come back with a "final" offer of £475 although indicated that he may go up to £480 if necessary. We really wanted £490 for our house a it is impacting what we can buy, but on the other hand we really need to move as we are relocating.

I just feel really sad that we are getting these low offers. I know that £550 was overpriced and was hoping to get £525, but then the stamp duty thing seemed to be causing problems, so dropped to £500 to stamp duty threshold with hope of getting as close to that as possible. Our house needs no work doing at all, is in a great, spacious feeling, quiet cul de sac, close to good schools, a big garden & a huge kitchen. When I look at sales prices of other houses in our area I just don't understand why we are not getting higher offers.

Are buyers just trying to get a bargain? Should we call
his bluff & hold out for £485+?

I know of a couple who had their house on for 500K and got a cash offer of 485K. They then got a mortgage offer of 550K so they turned down the cash offer.

Of course, as everyone knows, the banks are down-valuing almost every offer these days and would not lend anywhere near 500K let alone 550K on the property - so the mortgage buyer went back to fantasy land.

The sellers then went back to the cash buyers expecting to get their 485K cash - the cash buyers told them they had been messed around and would now only offer 440K cash... which, interestingly, was 10K less than the bank valuation for the mortgage buyer.

I don't know whether the above is of help to you or not. The sales prices of other houses in your area - are they actual sold prices? If so, when did they actually sell? Before this recession?

Or are they just asking prices? You can ask any price you wish for your house but you have to be realistic and ungreedy if you wish to sell. Perhaps you will sell and others will have their houses on the market this time next year.

Best of luck with selling your house.

But 500k is your asking price now so 460 doesn't seem totally unfair to me. When did you buy and what did it cost then etc? What have you done whilst in it?

Well if you need to relocate it is better to have money in the bank I would think. The economy is still worsening, so future offers are more likely to be lower than higher. If there is no need to move, than you could just wait, but you may have to wait for several years before the economy starts picking up.

Its hard to say and you maybe able to get more if you wait or alternatively you may loose the buyer.

Have you found a house you want to buy yet? Maybe you can negotiate that purchase price lower so your cost to move/change is the same?

Firstly - it's very important not to let on to ANYONE that you HAVE to move. If estate agents know this they may be encouraging the buyers who can't really afford your house to bid low, hoping you'll cave at some point.
Secondly, it's always hard when you've already dropped your price, but the trouble is that prices, in most areas, are still going south and people are very wary because of this. The good news is that if you're buying, you should expect to be able to do the same. And don't mistake the asking prices you're seeing for sold prices - as you're finding they're likely to be miles apart! Have a look at this from today (not sure if I'm allowed to link!):
www.planetpropertyblog.co.uk/2011/10/18/what-rightmove?s-3-price-rise-is-really-saying-about-the-housing-market/,

We bought the house 7 yrs ago for £375 & we've spent about £100k on it as everything needed doing. Admittedly we spent on top end stuff eg had garden professionally landscaped, granite in kitchen, under floor heating, electric garage doors etc as we did it for the longterm as planned to stay put.

The prices I've looked at have been selling prices per land registry for July/Aug, which is why I'm surprised at our low offers. I guess it's a buyers Market at the moment. Yes we will probably be able to negotiate a price reduction on what we buy, but knowing our luck, the vendors will demand asking price

We are in a similar situation and decided to take the "low" offer. Relocating is driving the move for us too. We bought 6 years ago for £315k. Spent £30k on renovations. Initially marketed it in June at £500-525k. Quickly advised to drop to £500. After 6 weeks dropped to £475, then started getting offers at £435, £440, £450, £455, and eventually accepted £460 (the offers were from three different buyers).

The positive is that we have seen the low offers knock on up the chain. The house we are hoping to buy was on at £800k in July, was reduced to OIEO £725 in August, and they accepted £700k from us (much to our surprise).

As others have said it depends on how much you want to move. Good luck!

The market for property has got dramatically worse since about August - I think people are moving from denial to panic as the UK economy gets worse. Recession appears to be heading for depression, unemployment on the rise, food and fuel up.

I think the danger sellers have is that they look at what a house down the road sold for 3 months ago - the land reg figures are always 3 months behind - and then think they should get the same. But the market and economy has got worse since then so there is the danger of chasing the market down.

I'm not sure what I would advise. I have been in your position and buyer's position. However, he is now offering what you have spent on the house so actually not unreasonable. You have to balance the low(ish) offer with your need to move. If you accept mak it clear that you will not accept any gazundering.

???!

You've received an offer of 5% below asking price and you're wondering whether to accept it?

Why aren't you biting their hand off?

Even if, as you say, 525 was a fairer asking price, the offer is still only 10% below that. Average selling price is 14% below the average asking price, at the moment.

It's bloody hard isn't it :(

Have you got a house in mind to buy? Could you put an offer in to see what they'll accept.

It's so hard to give you any advice without spending hours looking at what has sold for how much in and around your area, what's on the market etc and the same for the area you are moving to :(

But if it's just the £5k and you'd be happy with £485 then I'd go for the £480.

Make lower offers when you buy, you can probably make the 5K back.

I would be biting their hand off - as Wheredidallthepuffinsgo said, it's 5% below asking, that's AMAZING in this climate.

Of all the houses I was following this year (ie too expensive for me so watching price in case it came down), only 2 have sold. One was on at 600; they got 520. The other was on at 615, reduced from 650, and went for 578500. The shocker, though, is that the vendors of that one had bought it at peak in 2007 for 950!

Basically the only ones that are selling in a lot of areas are the ones that are taking a hit from what they were worth at peak.

I really hope the price comes down on one you want to buy - good luck.

Thankyou everyone for your responses - you have really helped me see the reality of the situation. It's all very well to believe your house is worth a certain amount, but if no-one is willing to pay it then it counts for nothing. It was interesting to hear that prices have taken a hit since August. 2 friends of ours in the area sold in July, and so part of it is pride that we would be selling for the same and less than them, when our house is actually in a better location and is nicer than both of theirs! But I think we should just take the £480k offer and run, as we do desperately need to get going with the relocation - DH starts his new job in 2 weeks and is going to have stay away Mon-Fri until we can move

Counter offer of 480 makes sense but be prepared for them to haggle to the end with 477500! What's important is that you will have sold and can move on - that is worth more than 5-10k in the greater scheme of things. We accepted an offer slightly less than wha

Counter offer of 480 makes sense but be prepared for them to haggle to the end with 477500! What's important is that you will have sold and can move on - that is worth more than 5-10k in the greater scheme of things. We accepted an offer slightly less than whaT we would ideally liked but basically you will be in a great position as a buyer. I would also advise moving into rented first so that you can wait for the right house to come on the Market. Generally, prices are going down so you may well be saving money by renting. We have just beaten off a handful of other buyers for a house on our favourite road. Not exactly a bargain since we were prepared to pay asking price but we feel that we got a fair deal nice it's a prime location and houses rarely come on the Market priced to sell. You won't regret it!

Zeeky

We are in your neck of the woods, I would buy your house if I could afford to. I think you should accept the offer - haggle for 5k more if you want to.

We moved here due to work and left behind a lovely large 4 bed house which we also spent a lot of money on. We have been unable to sell our house and have had to let it out. If we had sold our house then we could afford to buy something nice down here. Think about the bigger picture, you won't be selling for a loss, when you buy in your new area you will be able to put in lower offers and you'll be able to relocate and get your family settled. You can't put a price tag on that.

We are in limbo at the moment and its awful.

i think you've got to accept. as you now realise, the situation may have been different even a couple of months ago but it's a new reality now. the house we bought over the summer was on at 525k and we paid 499k - but we were forced buyers to some extent so didn't really haggle. If i were doing it again now, I would feel the ball was even more firmly in my court and think 480k is pretty reasonable on both sides.

I can see why you are reluctant to let it go at that price - it's a helluva crash down to reality isn't it :(

However, as I said, if you are OK with taking £485 and that's all you'd be holding out for, I think you'd be mad not to accept £480 and be in a 'cash' position for your next purchase and be prepared to put in low offers and wait them out.