Been on market for 13 months- what to offer?

[NannyPlumForPrimeMinister]

We are going to see a semi-detached period property today. It is on at £350k but has been on since Jan 2013.

The semi attached to it sold for £302k in Nov 13 (and £270k in Nov 2008) and that one had parking at the front which this one doesn't due to the angle they face the pavement at.

They are Edwardian Townhouses. This one we are seeing today may be better decorated (not sure if the rightmove listing for the other one is the Nov sale or when it sold previously about 10 years before) but they both have loads of original features and are identical houses.

There are no sold prices for the one we are seeing so assume they have been in it pre 1995.

Any thoughts?

My head is about to explode with house viewings and trying to make a decision

We saw a similar house when we were looking in the autumn. It had been on the market for 16 months and we felt it was overpriced. We made an offer 20% below asking price and worked our way up to 10% below but they still rejected our offers. In the end we walked away. We found somewhere else. It's still for sale.

I think some people are not willing/able to sell for less and just accept they the house will be on the market for a long time.

Of course, prices are very dependent on area and if you're in an area where prices are rising quickly they may decide to hold out for the asking price. In the autumn when we were looking there was significantly less optimism about the economy and house prices.

In the light of our experience I'd say decide a top price between you and walk away if they won't accept it. We didn't think we'd find another as nice but we have.

I think that is sort of what we need to find out, my gut feeling is maybe they aren't that desperate to sell which is why it has been on so long as it looks lovely and I would have thought they have had offers.

In saying that though, the market in our region (Derbyshire) has been slow, especially for the more expensive houses/bigger houses, and most of the ones we have been looking at have been on the market for a good 9 months or more.

I can see this will be our favourite but is top of the budget.

From the figures and dates you give it sounds as if the asking price ought to be 300, not 350. It's not as if prices are rising there in the way that they are in London.

You could ask the vendors a lot of apparently naive questions. "How long has been for sale? Have you had much interest? Have you had any offers?"
I bet they will tell you that there has been a lot of interest but either nobody would pay enough or they themselves cannot find the ideal house to buy.

How much do you want it, and how much are you willing to pay? I wouldn't pay too much attention to what next door went for, they may have had to sell quickly or there could be a multitude of reasons why it sold for what it did. When you know what your max for this particular house is start negotiations lower, but not so low as to insult them and be prepared to leave it s few days between offers to make them sweat!

We have just accepted an offer and they can have financial advisor's details for mortgage so good to go.