Do they want to sell this house?

[squeezysparklyballs]

Basically I'm wondering if I'm waisting my time even trying to buy the house I like.

It's been on the market eleven months, empty as the owner has gone into a home. It needs work and is incredibly dated. Oddly, it's priced the same as other houses nearby that sold in an immaculate condition.

I put in a low offer and it was rejected but no counter offer received. I wasn't really expecting my initial offer to be accepted (who does?) but no counter offer and a very discouraging estate agent? He told me that the vendors (her daughters) rejected a much higher offer a month ago as the buyer wanted money off after the survey.

Am I wasting my time?

Oddly, it's priced the same as other houses nearby that sold in an immaculate condition.

An estate agent told me the days on dropping thousands off of the asking price because of dated decor have gone.

Yes you could get lucky and buy another house same size style etc for the same price which is in immaculate condition but it depends what is on the market at the time.

I think you are trying to buy a house you can't afford that you believe is not worth the money because of old fashioned decor, but someone else will if it is in the right area, right size etc.

If it had substantial problems which would cost thousands to fix then fair enough, but if you are trying to buy a house and offering say £30k off of the asking price they will probably not be interested.

I live in an area with sought after schools but no adjustment for refurbishment would make a property stick. If it was wanted, at the advertised price, it would be sold by now. It’s not, so they don’t care about selling it! Sometimes vendors do come back with a minimum price (as on Kirsty and Phil). If they have said nothing, they want the asking price and, so far, no one is playing ball. Let them keep it! Look elsewhere.

Oddly, another has just come on the market. Same street. Immaculate, modern, an extra bedroom. Same price.

Perfect! Offer on that!

So offer for that one. I don’t understand why you’re so annoyed about this. You made an offer, they said no. Why have you started a thread just to tell us all the reasons why they should have said yes? Get over it.

Leave the offer on the table and wait it out. Some vendors are hopelessly unrealistic about what their house is worth.

When we bought our current house, we got it for a bargain price as the vendor had moved abroad and needed a sale and it was a fairly new house but the kitchen and 2 of the bathrooms weren't completed and it was being rented out. A similar house we looked at about a mile away was in better condition overall but advertised for 150k more. It had less land with it and the main living room was very dark with quite small windows and a conservatory tacked on so you couldn't increase the light very easily.

We've been here 4 years now and got a better feel for the area. Our house was definitely a bargain. The other house is still for sale at exactly the same price and I can't see it selling unless they drop the price by at least 50k as there are still better properties out there.

I started a thread because I'm generally curious as to whether they really want to sell it. I find people's motivations interesting.

I know someone who had a house on the market and no intention of selling (messy divorce).

But to do that in this situation? Odd.

I wouldn't waste your time with this house. It's been on the market a long time and i would be concerned with the survey findings if a previous buyer wanted money off. Also the work you know of as described above as well.
Probate/family selling houses are usually the worst to deal with. No of course they are not giving it away, but sounds like they are not being realistic if there's houses in top condition for the same price. They will hold out for the asking price because they can afford to. I would go see the new to market house and don't bother with this one

PM a link?

11 months on the market and not even a counter offer to you very much put's the vendors in one (or all) of the greedy/stubborn/deluded categories.

Forget about it and move on.

Ppl have a tendency to get stuck on the highest number they hear even if things change..So if they heard (eg) 500k as a top figure from the agent one year ago that will be the figure in their head and it's hard to accept that (eg) 450k might actually be a decent offer.

Irrational or disorganised vendors are a nightmare so you might well dodge a bullet here...

If you really want the house, go back with your best offer and see what happens.

There was a house (probate sale, very dated) near a colleague of mine that was on the market for over 2 years because the 2 children of the deceased couldn't agree about lowering the price - one of them wanting to, the other insistent that 'We're not giving it away!'

In the meantime the garden turned into a jungle because neither wanted to pay a gardener. And indoors looked increasingly forlorn and unloved.

It eventually went for quite a bit less than initial asking price.

Sounds as if the OP might have found a similar situation. People can be extraordinarily stubborn once they get a fixed idea about what a house is 'worth'.

When I’ve bought houses I’ve come up against this time after time.

House vacated by an older person. Needs work doing to it, and grabby childrenwant it priced too high, and then it doesn’t sell for 2 years.

It’s a waiting game. They will have to lower the price at some point.

OTOH one of my dds bought a probate sale - very dated and some frankly hideous decor and carpets! - but perfectly liveable, plus clean, cared for and obviously loved, that was very realistically priced compared to others locally. It sold within about 10 days.

Ditto my mother's house, which had to be sold for care home fees - priced to sell quickly, and it did. But brother who was handling the sale did ask the EA for an honest, quick-sale price - not what he thought we wanted to hear, which is so often the price they quote in order to get the business.

They do happen. Just not often enough!

Many years ago we put an offer on a property, it was about 30% lower than the asking price but realistically about what the property was worth. We were unsurprisingly turned down.

We drove home and thought no more if it - until 5 months later when we had a call from the estate agent asking if our offer was still valid...

Op there is nothing to prevent you returning with a slightly higher offer and seeing whether they accept it, then if refused leave your number with the agent and politely saying get in touch if the change their mind

An estate agent told me the days on dropping thousands off of the asking price because of dated decor have gone

An estate agent might have told you that, but it's clearly not true, is it?

And besides, this house is more than a case of dated decor - it's need a full rewire and new kitchen an bathroom too.

We where in a similar situation when we bought our house 6 months ago. I had seen the house but discarded it as it was priced over our budget. But after not selling and almost no viewers for almost 1year the children who where selling for the mother who had gone in to care finally realised that it was never going to sell at that price.
I viewed something els with the estate agent and he suggested I view this house and make an offer. First 2 offers where where to low. But the 3de one was accepted. 20% under asking price. It was a fair price for a large house that needed masses of work. ( brown shaggy carpet, floral walls dated small kitchen, and avocado toilets)
So don't give up, if it is overpriced at some point they will realise that!

I often think that I must be totally out of step with cultural norms. I read this thread and I think, oh those poor people having to deal with the trauma of emptying and selling their loved one’s home. Everyone else: yippee, I might get a bargain and if they won’t let me have a bargain straight away, I’ll just wait until they’re desperate and then screw over the deluded fuckers.

Oh give over. It is a business transaction, and anyone selling a large family home they have lived in for decades is likely to have done very well out of it. I feel more for the people for whom owning a family home will be forever out of reach

Bargain? What bargain? There is no bargain, that's the point of the thread... It's overpriced, the opposite of a bargain... not even reasonably priced! You're reading stuff in that isn't there I'm afraid.

Seriously if you are in the UK itbis not normal to counter offer. If they do not accept a low offer it is up to you to go back with a higher one. I think you may have been watching too much MDL.

Quite often in our area homes such as these are on for the same as immaculate ones because they are on a decent sized plots. Because land is in demand they can get this price as the property itself is likely to be demolished and a new build or even a number of newbuilds put in its place.

Belleende, op isn't looking for a bargain, she's just looking for a fair price.

What a strange reading of the thread, HeddaGarbled. People are talking about properties which are clearly overpriced, often out of step with the local market, and remain unsold for months or years.

I feel bad for sellers who are struggling to negotiate between multiple siblings, all of whom are intent on maximizing their share and so absolutely won't budge on price, even as the property slips into disrepair and doesn't sell. Also for sellers who need to get the best possible price to cover care fees or debts.

But there are also a lot of overpriced probate properties on the market which are simply a case of people being very unrealistic and seeing anything under their overoptimistic estimate as robbery. A house requiring extensive renovation (not just cosmetic) needs to reflect that in its price, unless there's exceptional value to the land it stands on (and if there was, someone would buy it).

After a certain point, it's a huge waste of time. These houses hang around for more than a year, when a sale could have been made months ago, with the sellers receiving their inheritance and someone else establishing a family home.

Sorry, I meant to address that to HeddaGarbled not Belleende*.