House sellers who don't reduce price when on the market for months

[chuckitallin]

Hi,

We are looking to buy a family home at some point this year. I have been looking at properties on Right Move for months, and, although the majority were selling very quickly from June-September/ October at very high prices (compared to previous sales, etc), there are a few which have not budged since around June 20. They look like perfectly nice properties (above our budget and in the nicest area of the city) but they are very over priced and have not come down since around June. There is one on at the same price as a relative's home on a nicer road in one of the home counties of the same square footage. We are nearer 3 hours from London and this is out of keeping with other properties on offer, probably worth 3-400,000 less than advertised. Obviously, it's the seller's perogative to not reduce the price and equally the potential buyers not to offer anywhere near asking price (presumably no one has because the have not sold)!
My questions are, does anyone have experience of this and what were the reasons for the lack of reduction. Does it usually mean very unmotivated sellers? Has anyone been successful in negotiating down the cost of a clearly over priced, non selling house?

On the flip side, you also get unrealistic buyers, who see a property they love, but decide miraculously it is over priced, but it’s actually should be within their much lower budget! Wow. What’s the odds!

Yes, but I remember you throwing this accusation (almost word for word) at me several months ago now, with regards to the second house I mentioned in my post...

I think downsizers can overprice and hang on for a bit, they do want to move, but they want to come out of it with a certain amount in their pocket for them to feel it is worthwhile, and they don't need to move as such so could hang on for a few years if necessary.

My inlaws had their place on and off the market for years at over inflated prices...they are now finally just selling because prices have shifted up to get closer to their desired level and it is now getting more critical for them to move, so they very slightly lowered their expectations. They had it on the market when I first met them 15 years ago! I am surprised the local estate agents bothered with them, but I guess it looked good in their shop window.

There was a gorgeous house on the market here that I think was over priced by about £150,000. It was highly desirable, large plot, period property, spacious, but it languished on the market for 14 months before being removed without being sold. I assumed the sellers weren't willing to take offers at all (it was a £1 million + property). Like some PP, I imagined it was sellers downsizing who aren't in a rush.

we are currently selling a deceased relatives property. We had 4 agents valuing it and the valuations varied by 150k. We went with the highest valuation (it was difficult to gauge whether they were over valuing - although I thought they might be - because hardly any houses in that road had sold for years) After about 2 weeks the EA suggested lowering the price "because it was overpriced"....as if we had suggested the price..when we were guided by them! We have accepted an offer in the region of what the 2nd highest valuation was.

I've noticed houses coming up on a new build estate we looked at which are on for higher than the brand new ones but haven't had any major upgrading
What's that all about ?

@Comps83 I've seen that too!
Some people don't want to buy a new build because of all the snagging?

Ones been up for over a year near us. We offered 5k under and it was declined. I have no idea how its still available without a reduction.

there's one near me that's been on the market for years. It's priced at £4m more than they paid for it; they've certainly done over £1m of work on it, but that work has probably decreased the value rather than increased it. They've got quite "unique" taste. They've also not been living in it for about 2 years now, so the condition is apparently appalling (leaks etc). They won't reduce the price because they've remortgaged so many times (god knows how) that they need to sell massively over value to see any return from the sale. The banks will presumably get their hands on it at some point.

The first house I bought had been on the market for 19 months about £10000 overpriced (looking at other houses in the area etc). It suddenly after 19 months dropped by £9995 on rightmove and they then accepted a further £4000 under asking. Turned out it was part of a messy divorce and they had them spent so much fighting each other it came down to the wire of getting rid or the bank taking it! I think they accepted the offer as by an error of the estate agent they both showed up to show the house and had a massive argument it was so awkward!

@justineboober

Our next door neighbours were on the market for just under 2 years. Personally we felt their property was over priced, but someone eventually paid it. They were willing to wait until they got the price they wanted and in doing so earned themselves around £50k for sitting on their backsides for 2 years. They are both retired so that's been a nice addition to the retirement fund i'm sure!

I would think that the market just got up with them as @mumsy27 said. However, if the market was to fall instead of rise a seller in the same situation wouldn't be so fortunate.

Thanks for all the replies.
I think several pps must be right about downsizers not having the same pressure to move compared to people with an enlarging family or a new job. Divorce is obviously a really difficult one if the ex-couple are totally at odds. Probabte potentially the same if several heirs.
@Pipandmum- the house I was referring to is no where near 5 million. On at 1.25 million. There is one in the same road of similar size and still not selling for 350,000 less and other much larger houses in the same area which have sold for singificantly less. It's bizzare!

6 months after we offered a reasonable offer on an over priced house and were turned down the agent called me to say they’d decided to accept my offer... I’d moved by then! (Into my lovely and much more practical home). Eventually they sold it a year later for 15k less than we’d offered which was 30k less than asking price. People want what the agent promises sometimes as they set their hopes on what they can afford from there.

There's a house we tried to buy over 10 yrs ago that is still on the market, albeit for a much higher price than it was at the time. We made several offers slightly below asking price, but they were adamant it was full price or nothing. It wasn't worth that.

A chat with a friend revealed it was on the market for at least 5 yrs before that too. I had a look at the new listing, nothing has been updated 10 yrs on.

I do not understand the point of it at all. 15 yrs and they've done nothing and steadily put the price up. People are so weird. Absolute waste of everybody's time!

@RMRM

There's a house we tried to buy over 10 yrs ago that is still on the market, albeit for a much higher price than it was at the time. We made several offers slightly below asking price, but they were adamant it was full price or nothing. It wasn't worth that.

A chat with a friend revealed it was on the market for at least 5 yrs before that too. I had a look at the new listing, nothing has been updated 10 yrs on.

I do not understand the point of it at all. 15 yrs and they've done nothing and steadily put the price up. People are so weird. Absolute waste of everybody's time!

That really does sound bonkers. I'm surprised any local estate agents are prepared to take them on.

They just seemed to cycle through all the local estate agents. At one point, they had it up with three at once. Mystifying!

Two doors down to me has been on then market since mid august 2019. Only just sold. Looking at the pics and what they paid, I'd imagine they've paid their mortgage off by now. Those ones are least likely to take an offer. Another house 5 streets away on the market for 2 years. Asking price 900k. Very overprice for the area but don't to an amazing spec. Only just sold.

Yes, there can be a variety of reasons;

• the divorcing couple where one doesn't want to sell and has purposely over-priced it
• the downsizers who are undecided about moving and feel no urgency, plus who haven't grasped that their 20/30 year old decor and layout reduces the value from premium price
• those who need a certain price to afford what they want and decide that them needing a certain amount determines the value of their house. This can often be the case with those selling houses they bought as new builds. ....this group usually are keen to move and so will adjust more quickly than others in order to move.
• houses where someone has died and probate involves 2 or more people selling it who disagree about value and aren't incentivised to get on with the sale as they don't immediately need the money, or are struggling to sell for emotional reasons.

Generally anyone who isn't really keen to move is someone to be wary of. They can be people who out the house in the market every couple of years and leave it on for ages at a high price and then just withdraw it....or who can't decide if to accept offers for ages or then accept them and then quickly or slowly pull out. They don't need to move, feel prepared to wait for the price they asked for and otherwise won't move (might not even move if achieving it) and might take years to come round to actually being prepared to go or until a crisis cossurs which makes the house not suitable.

People who need to sell either to move to a bigger house or for location reasons are often more willing to face market realities and adjust their price.

The trouble is, that even if your seller isn't in the potential problem categories, there can one of those types further up the chain. It's another good reason why shorter chains are better if possible.

@justineboober

Our next door neighbours were on the market for just under 2 years. Personally we felt their property was over priced, but someone eventually paid it. They were willing to wait until they got the price they wanted and in doing so earned themselves around £50k for sitting on their backsides for 2 years. They are both retired so that's been a nice addition to the retirement fund i'm sure!

Yes. Waiting for the right owners is often the technique that the owners of large or unique use. 2 years ago we saw a property for 425k in a slightly worse area than where we ended up buying - buyers wouldn’t consider even a penny under. It’s just now under offer for 430k - the estate agent is a friend and told me they finally found a family desperate to pay over the odds just to live on that street.

Sometimes by waiting these sellers find someone willing to pay over the odds. Sometimes they don't. If they aren't that bothered about moving, they can afford to take that risk. And even when they do get an offer at the level they deemed acceptable, some still won't complete on the sale when it actually comes to it. All estate agents know 'sellers' like this and often they are known by entire neighbourhoods of estate agents, because over the years, they've been on the market with every single one...and never completed on a sale.

Our place had been on the market for a year. Not an easy place to price and had sold three times to small builders who had then failed to raise the capital to buy and develop it. People looking for a house I suspect were scared off by a damp issue.

We bought it at a price we were happy with, luckily the damp turned out to be a heating system leak i to the cellar not failure of the tanking.

Our private surveyor was happy with the price, the banks was not at all (Countrywide) and wanted a large retention for some works we did not feel were required. Fortunately the bank were prepared when challenged to bin their surveyors report.

I'm finding this is still the case, and primarily where homes are marketed by those low cost fixed fee online agents, as their fee isn't dependent on the sale. I feel they overvalue to get customers, but then never seem that motivated to negotiate a sale or advise sellers on what a realistic price is. You can rennovate a home to a high standard, but won't sell above the ceiling price for the street?

Yep still the same case in 2024. I’ve seen several houses priced 100-150k over what they paid for them 2 years ago
No works done, still the same pictures and floor plan as it was on previous listings. And not even in sought after locations.

Don’t understand how some sellers/EA come up with these unrealistic figures

Our current house took nearly 3 years to sell for that reason. Over six months for eve us to buy it from offer to sale, with us cash buyers and no chain either side, but vendors going back and forwards to court. It had gone on sale for 50K or so more 3 years before.