Help me to stand firm on our property price

[SaturndayNight]

We have a property on the market. We don't live in it, we are chain free. It's not an investment property or let out, it was ours, we moved and kept it empty. DH really wants to sell it. I'm not so eager. Buy we have agreed to sell it. It's been hanging around the market a while, which hasn't bothered me, we now have an offer from a very keen buyer.

Prices edited for privacy but this gives the general idea:

On at 495k, reduced after 6 months to 460k. Offer made at 405k then increased to 415k.

We have told agent to take clear message back that we will not sell for less than 435k, a decent discount on original price imo.

The agent is desperate to get this place sold, more desperate than we are. He has come back today with a message from the buyer that they really love and want our property but they do not want to go much higher and he suggests we meet in the middle.

I realise his job is to make the sale happen. But we don't need to sell. I think we should call their bluff and say sorry, 435k is our lowest price. DH wants to make a deal. Am I being a hard ass to try to get buyer to spend more??? I think they are already getting a fantastic place at a good price.

I agree with xxxyyyxxx - asking prices and slashed prices are just sensationalist nonsense - EA rack up the valuation to get the business, some sellers want theirs to be the most expensive for vanity reasons or are deluded. Best is to deal with real data and facts. These are the sold house prices of comparable properties in your street or area. I have just done a review for a relative comparing all of the houses in the 5 streets around her that have sold since beginning of 2016. It was very enlightening and showed the ball park of where the house should be - most enlightening was that there has not been a drop (sales to Sept 17) in her price bracket and very desirable area of London to date and she would be the first to take a hit if she accepted a low offer. No idea if that would be the same for you. I was a relatively easy exercise as all houses were similar (some had loft extensions some had side return extensions) and 15 had sold in the past 2 years. Do some thorough research to find out the real facts in your street.

It is your house, and you're entitled to hold out for whatever price you want. It might be worth asking your agent to take the house offline for a couple of week and re-launch in the new year- so it comes under the filter of just added on Rightmove. Do people have to look through 6pages to get to your listing? But I do have to agree that if a house had not sold and stood empty for a while I'd be looking for a bargain. Be certain about the sold prices near you in the last 6 months before taking the valuation of an agent. Valuations for banks are notoriously circumspect, especially if they think it would take them a while to resell if the buyer defaulted.