Overpriced house? What to do.

[RebeccaCloud9]

Just started looking for a new house. We found one that I love and DP quite likes (so we probs won't go for it anyway, sob) but I am a little baffled by the guide price and was wondering what others' experiences of pricing is at the mo. The vendors bought the house 2 years ago and the current guide price is 85k higher. They have done (beautiful) work on the house (cosmetic changes) but have built a large house next to it in what was the garden. It is also now hugely higher than the ceiling price of the road. How can it now be worth so much more?!

It's not. They're trying to recoup their costs.

Really don't buy a house that someone has done up recently. You'll be paying over the odds for all that cosmetic stuff.

I guess only time will tell if it sells. A very similar thing happened on a road we liked. Somebody bought the house next door to them cut of half of its garden to incorporate it into their own then did a poor renovation job & stuck it back on the market for 50k more - couldn't believe it. It sat on the market for well over 12 months & checking land registry prices sold for less than they initially paid by 10k. People can get greedy but some buyers if they love the house will pay fools

If you are asking the question based on the info you have, you already know the answer: it isn't.

They are either desperate to get some of their money out/repay some debt or greedy or deluded. Some EAs think they only get business if they tell vendors their house is worth more than they'll actually sell it for. Some vendors look at the money they've spent on somewhere and think what they've created is somehow worth more than the cold, hard facts indicate despite what anyone might tell them.

No garden and the vendors living next door? I don't think I'd buy however cosmetically beautiful it was.

Yeah, I know you're right, it's just so annoying that the price is so inflated as it is a great house and if we offered what we think it's worth it would seem ridiculously low! Boo!

If you don't find anything else, see if it's still on the market in a couple of months. If so, go and gave another look and make them a low offer. They'll have had the pain of more mortgage repayments, etc by then too and may well have turned out other more realistic offers.

Have a look and turned down - crap typing!

If its genuinely overpriced it will come down in several months. Then you could make your move. If its not overpriced it will sell. I suppose you could be honest and make your low offer stating all the reasons and when its rejected ask that the offer sits on the table for several months. They may come back to you down the line and it would be better than someone else having a low offer accepted because they didnt know of your interest. Agree about EAs valuing it really high just to hook the seller into using them and then eventually get the sale when the sellers are forced to reduce the price. Bridgfords do this i believe.