Neighbours selling way below true value (impact on us.)

[GloriousGoodwood]

This is a WWYD but I accept there is nothing to do really.
A neighbour has recently put their house on the market at 20-25% lower price than ours was valued at by the same agent, some time ago. It's also too cheap looking at other neighbouring houses that sold this year. This is in an area where prices are rising and always have been.

They clearly want a quick sale. The same agent sold an identical neighbouring house last year at the same knock-down price (sold in days.) Again, the vendors only wanted a quick sale and weren't fussed about the price.

However, as there are only a few of these houses of the same design in our road, it's not going to make it easy for us to sell ours at what we (and several other agents) consider the right price, when we decide to move.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not deluded, but these two houses were marketed way below their real value (elderly owners not really in touch with the market.)

We've muttered a few things to them querying their valuation compared to ours, but they don't seem to want to know.
How are we going to sell ours at the 'right' price?

You have been pretty rude to posters on your thread and now you're going off in a huff!

Great flounce, OP

I’d like to rename this thread “Greed (impact on all of us)”…

Speaking to the elderly neighbour who is selling, he said he didn't go for the recommended sale price as he thought it was "just too much, too greedy".

Anecdotes like that give me hope, until I remember that most people are closer to the OP’s end of the money grabbing spectrum. And so continues the Monopoly money madness (do I get a Nobel for alliteration?).

I especially love the way 8-10% rises are casually mentioned without the horror one would regard such inflation with any other basic necessity. If only pay was rising anything close to that. Where is all this money supposed to be coming from?

He cancelled the other viewings the estate agent had set up later that day which were with a single person, and an older couple ("because it's a family home”).

Somebody who’s actually thinking a little bit about society. Imagine that.

Agree there is nothing you can do unless you happen to casually mention the situation to the sellers' offspring / heirs

…and help perpetuate the hpi madness. Thank goodness you crossed that out.
I’m continually astonished that so many people are incapable of thinking of the children who aren’t lucky enough to be ‘heirs’.

we already had our house on the market at the true value so had no chance of competing

This statement makes no sense. The 'true value' is set by the market - if yours is priced correctly, it will sell. It may take a few weeks longer than a house underpriced, but it will sell. And the 'underpriced' house will attract higher bids from competing buyers if it is really worth more.

Also, a valuation 18 months ago is meaningless. I am looking to move, and prices in all the areas we're looking at (not London) have gone down a bit, not up. Houses that are priced at 2016 prices arent selling, whereas houses priced realistically are.

So basically, OP, you just wanted everyone to agree with you? Kind of not the point of posting a WWYD.

Your neighbour sounds lovely. There are so many families squashed into overcrowded homes, renting dumps at extortionate prices and have no hope of ever having a home of their own. It's good to know some people are looking out for others and not just interested in making a profit.

Also agree with everything user1499591037 said. Our vendor sold to us rather than a developer because they want it to go to a family and because we wanted it as our forever home.

'The market' includes people forced to sell, people pricing to sell quickly out of choice, people looking for a bargain, and people willing to wait it out to get the right price/perfect house. This has always been the case and always will be. You have no right to comment on how someone on your street has chosen to sell their house, and you are also not in a position to determine it's 'true value'.

The 'true value' of a home is determined by what someone is prepared to pay for it, and the value of most homes in the UK is simply not the same as it was 18 months ago.

Most areas are either stagnant or falling - houses are regularly being reduced in order to sell. The idea that there is a mythical 'right price' which can be determined by the seller (rather than the potential buyers out there) is utter nonsense.

Also, I know that house price data doesn't show major falls currently, but the number of transactions is really low right now! That low number of transactions is distorting the underlying picture imo.

We are looking to move and are having real problems finding somewhere to move to because people are choosing to stay put due to current uncertainty. This means that not many houses are listed, and many of those are staying up for sale for long periods. When they eventually sell they will definitely not be going for the prices advertised, so the idea that the current advertised price represents anything like the value is absurd.

People deciding to stay put also reduces the pool of potential buyers out there.

I'm selling as well as buying, so would love the market to be buoyant, but it just isn't right now. If someone wants to sell quickly, cheap pricing is essential. Some EAs have tried to persuade us that it's still a strong market, but the facts speak for themselves.

The number of transactions, or rate if growth isn't slow everywhere though. Where i live in outer London, prices are still rising. Last year 3 bed semis were selling for under 400k. Now nothing is.

A colleague living in the next town to me bought her house last year for £340. An identical one in the next road sold a few months ago for £380. Another has just been put up for sale for £425 (although of course they may not get that for it). So prices are still rising and houses selling.

I think Mumsnet needs a new board. I'm right, am I not?

Quite @kittybiscuits. The OP wasn't interested in any different perspectives and was snotty with those who disagreed with her. It's a free market - put your house on for whatever you like and see what happens. So what if these houses have gone for a song - if everyone else thinks like the OP there will be no more bargains to be had in the area.

The op really does think the world owes her a living, or at least a guaranteed percentage increase on house value. I look forward to the future thread about how hard it is to sell her house because it's overpriced.

The type of buyer definitely influenced our acceptance of a slightly low offer. Good for the buyer's situation, good for the fab neighbours who have been so patient and supportive, for over a decade and no skin off our nose considering the randomness of the local market and very real chance that we could have held out, but ended up forking out for extortionate rent in the area we're moving to and then selling ridiculously low to a developer at auction.

TBH I'd wonder if the estate agent had a buyer lined up for it... funny how some houses with potential to do an extension to add value or being sold cheaply sell to someone the EA knows or shock horror one of their branch employees!

Some vendors' niceness can be a lovely surprise,

House dd really liked last year seemed priced decidedly low compared to others close by, and quite a bit less than a similar one that was frankly a shithole.
It was a probate sale, and the house was very dated but clean and liveable, and had a lovely warm feel. Dd offered a smidgeon over the asking, never thinking she'd get it. Nor did I!

But the vendor wanted a first time buyer to have what had been a happy family home for so many years - she apparently turned down a higher offer from a buy to let investor, and left a lovely note for dd when she moved in.

I would absolutely offer less on your house when I checked selling prices on Zoopla.

I'm just surprised that so many posters seem to know or think they do exactly what conversations their neighbours had with the estate agents, exactly what the estate agents said back to them, exactly what happened when offers were made and accepted and exactly what their house is worth despite the fact its not on the market or been valued for years!!

Any of those posters want to give me 6 numbers for tonight's lottery - am intrigued at their insight

A house is only worth what somebody is prepared to pay for it, irrespective of the valuation which is only a guide.

We were your "neighbour" and various people in our street weren't happy. We bought our old house at auction, actually my parents bought it for us and then sold it on to us for the same price once our previous house went through.
Lots of whining from the neighbours, not sure what they wanted me to do but hey.

It never affected any house sale and plenty went through at prices that we thought were crazy high. We then went on to sell it at all but full market value with a visibly whopping profit.

You'll be fine

OP, why are you getting valuations on your property when you are not planning to sell it - and speaking to an EA about the impact a potential sale of your neighbour's house will have on yours?! You seem a little over-concerned about the value for someone who is not actually selling at the moment and YABsuperU to 'mutter' at them about the price they have chosen to sell it at!

I think OP is one of those people who gets their house valued so they can congratulate themselves about how much their house has 'earnt' them and delude themselves into thinking they are really canny investors. There are lots of that type about, sadly.

If the op had a quid for every straw man posted on this thread she'd soon make up the shortfall.