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Original poster

AIBU - negotiating offer

31 replies

Arsenalmama · 30/03/2021 20:53

Hi ! We put our house on the market three weeks ago. The EA suggested £270k because we had one of the largest gardens for a three bed plot on the development. I was slightly dubious because I thought that was way over inflated. However we agreed to see whether we could possibly get an offer around that price. We had about 15 viewings and not one offer, not even a single second viewing. Fair enough. We then reduced to £260k to which we are still getting viewings, we have had one second viewing and now an offer of £250k.

My issue is that I am trying to convince my hubby to negotiate with buyer and meet him half way at £255k. Hubby is ADAMANT the house is worth £260k when it isn’t. He keeps comparing it so house which sold not too long ago for just over £260k. I have gone to look at their house is basically it’s pristine and the garden is not that big or even done up! So I am trying to explain to him that people do not care about gardens as much as he thinks they do. He just will not listen to me. I am now getting very !!!!!! off because I am the one, with an eight month old, making the house spick and span ready the viewings!

The feedback is that the buyers love the downstairs and the garden but the bedrooms are a bit small, which is true. Therefore, the house just is not worth the £260k! They may over look it if it was less! We finally have a realistic offer and he is just about to turn it down! Am I being unreasonable thinking we will probably be on the market for MONTHS waiting for someone to buy our house at £260k?

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PowerslidePanda · 30/03/2021 21:26

YANBU. A house is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, and what similar houses have sold for is no guarantee of anything - there's an element of luck in finding the right buyer.

We thought we had a very good idea of what our house was worth, because one just down the road sold a few weeks before we put ours on the market. We used the same estate agent and went with the same asking price; prepared to accept slightly under it as our neighbours had. Anyway - the neighbour's house had sold in a few weeks, but ours stayed on the market for 10 months, had 4 price drops and we ended up accepting 10% less than the neighbour. Estate agent was clueless as to why that house sold so easily and ours the opposite. They were just lucky with their buyer.

Original poster
Arsenalmama · 30/03/2021 21:50

@PowerslidePanda

YANBU. A house is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, and what similar houses have sold for is no guarantee of anything - there's an element of luck in finding the right buyer.

We thought we had a very good idea of what our house was worth, because one just down the road sold a few weeks before we put ours on the market. We used the same estate agent and went with the same asking price; prepared to accept slightly under it as our neighbours had. Anyway - the neighbour's house had sold in a few weeks, but ours stayed on the market for 10 months, had 4 price drops and we ended up accepting 10% less than the neighbour. Estate agent was clueless as to why that house sold so easily and ours the opposite. They were just lucky with their buyer.

This is exactly my point. It is all about coming across the right buyer who is willing to put in the money. This is the link to our property. rightmove.co.uk/property/103772177
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PowerslidePanda · 30/03/2021 22:25

Oh, that's lovely! I don't know that part of the country though, so can't comment on the price.

The fact that you've had so many viewings means a) the market in your area must be fairly buoyant at the moment and b) it is attractive to people and catching their attention. So what's your husband's theory about why that isn't translating to asking price offers?

Midlifelady · 30/03/2021 22:46

Often your first offer is your best - counter and see how much they come up.

Midlifelady · 30/03/2021 22:48

What i mean to say: why is it up to your husband? Surely you have equal say. Is £5k worth it? A bird in hand etc...

Galley649 · 30/03/2021 22:53

Your house is lovely but I think people who are swayed by wanting a bigger garden are not going to be drawn to a garden like yours with lots of paving and gravel and no actual gardening type of garden?
I really don't think people will look at it and go "wow I'd pay more for that garden!". It says "low maintenance" to me - which will appeal to some buyers but doesn't match up with people wanting to pay more for a bigger plot.

Keep working on your husband I think you've got the right idea about being realistic with what someone will pay!

jelly79 · 30/03/2021 23:28

Did you get more than 1 EA valuation?
What are your timescales to sell?

HeddaGarbled · 30/03/2021 23:51

3 weeks isn’t very long and you’ve had loads of viewings and an offer already.

I think your mistake was to reduce your price so soon. Everyone offers under. If you’d left it on at £270,000, bet your bottom dollar, the offer would have been £260,000.

Stop panicking and wait. Either you’ll get a higher offer or your husband will come round when you don’t.

SilverBirchWithout · 31/03/2021 00:02

I don’t think the garden is a selling point personally, my initial reaction is oh dear lots of work to do to make it an attractive garden.
That being said, you’re having lots of viewings, I wouldn’t have dropped price so quickly and certainly think at this stage the minimum I would accept would be £258k.

Original poster
Arsenalmama · 31/03/2021 05:41

@PowerslidePanda

Oh, that's lovely! I don't know that part of the country though, so can't comment on the price.

The fact that you've had so many viewings means a) the market in your area must be fairly buoyant at the moment and b) it is attractive to people and catching their attention. So what's your husband's theory about why that isn't translating to asking price offers?

Thank you very much! So his issue is the house on the other side of the development - which just recently sold for over £260k - is pretty much like ours. However the rooms are bigger in that type of house. Their garden is a lot smaller than ours so I am trying to explain to him that our garden is obviously not attracting people enough to make up for size of the actual bedrooms.
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Original poster
Arsenalmama · 31/03/2021 05:43

@SilverBirchWithout

I don’t think the garden is a selling point personally, my initial reaction is oh dear lots of work to do to make it an attractive garden. That being said, you’re having lots of viewings, I wouldn’t have dropped price so quickly and certainly think at this stage the minimum I would accept would be £258k.
The concrete padding is where we were planning on building a summer house last spring until COVID hit. I agree also that there is a lot of paving for such a big garden but apparently the compliments have been about the garden and the space down stairs, just that the rooms are a bit small.
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Original poster
Arsenalmama · 31/03/2021 05:45

@HeddaGarbled

3 weeks isn’t very long and you’ve had loads of viewings and an offer already.

I think your mistake was to reduce your price so soon. Everyone offers under. If you’d left it on at £270,000, bet your bottom dollar, the offer would have been £260,000.

Stop panicking and wait. Either you’ll get a higher offer or your husband will come round when you don’t.

Yes that’s a fair point about the reduction of price. A mistake on our part tbh. However, the estate agent did call last week to tell us to reduce it £250k! We said no because like you said, the offers would be even less!
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Original poster
Arsenalmama · 31/03/2021 05:46

@jelly79

Did you get more than 1 EA valuation? What are your timescales to sell?
Just the one evaluation because DP’s friend is the director of the company.
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Original poster
Arsenalmama · 31/03/2021 05:49

@Galley649

Your house is lovely but I think people who are swayed by wanting a bigger garden are not going to be drawn to a garden like yours with lots of paving and gravel and no actual gardening type of garden? I really don't think people will look at it and go "wow I'd pay more for that garden!". It says "low maintenance" to me - which will appeal to some buyers but doesn't match up with people wanting to pay more for a bigger plot.

Keep working on your husband I think you've got the right idea about being realistic with what someone will pay!

I 100% agree. One buyer even commented that the garden was too small which probably meant she wanted a bit more grass and natural grass too😂. It’s probably more suited to busy people who are not into maintenance like us!
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Original poster
Arsenalmama · 31/03/2021 05:51

@Midlifelady

Often your first offer is your best - counter and see how much they come up.
That’s what I am trying to persuade him to do is to at least negotiate. He has his heart set on this house and I think he wants to get as much equity for it. My issue is that we may not even be able to afford that particular house until his accountant actually tells us how much he has earned this year! So no point in dwelling on something we may be unable to buy.
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mummabubs · 31/03/2021 06:57

My DH sounds very similar to yours OP! Please feel free to share our very recent experience with him if he's got his hopes set on achieving a set amount for equity...

We have a very similar layout new build to yours - downstairs the same, 3 double bedrooms and en suite etc. We got three valuations and were advised to list between £270-280k as other houses had sold for similar on our development as we live in a popular area of the country. We listed last summer for £280,000 just to see... Had 10 viewings but no offers so we came off the market as we had no pressure to sell. Then in February we went back on the market at a reduced price of £270,000 which I said was still quite high but hubby was very keen to achieve this price as then we'd have £100k equity. We had 11 viewings in one day and multiple offers at asking price (winning, right?) We chose our person to go with, all ticking along nicely, we offered on another house based on having the agreed sale price for ours, which was accepted. What neither of us even considered is that amidst the pandemic lots of prices are being inflated and then when a mortgage lender does its valuation the property gets down valued again. So last week ours was down valued by £10k to £260,000. We requested a second survey which also came in under so then had to renegotiate our agreed price to what I said we should have listed for in the first place! Moral of our story is don't get too fixated on achieving one price as you might not keep it!!

NoWordForFluffy · 31/03/2021 07:15

@Galley649

Your house is lovely but I think people who are swayed by wanting a bigger garden are not going to be drawn to a garden like yours with lots of paving and gravel and no actual gardening type of garden? I really don't think people will look at it and go "wow I'd pay more for that garden!". It says "low maintenance" to me - which will appeal to some buyers but doesn't match up with people wanting to pay more for a bigger plot.

Keep working on your husband I think you've got the right idea about being realistic with what someone will pay!

This is what I think too.

It's big, but I'd have to take up a load of slabs for it to suit, which I couldn't be bothered to do, so would discount it.

Gardeners' gardens may add value to gardeners, but - while it's large and neat - yours doesn't have that appeal.

Original poster
Arsenalmama · 31/03/2021 09:11

@NoWordForFluffyi absolutely agree with you. I really do not think we will get many offers are this one tbh. What about the inside? Anything that we could improve on? There are many teddy bears and furniture in the pics I have managed to remove and are not out when viewers come round. We had one second viewing but they have not come back.

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Loofah01 · 31/03/2021 09:19

If they will go to 255 I'd opt for that. Accept the offer withour telling hubby then if he gets upset then tell him it's steak and BJ day to distract him lol

NoWordForFluffy · 31/03/2021 09:42

I love the inside! Considering there are children in the house, it's lovely and calm (unlike our madhouse!).

Original poster
Arsenalmama · 31/03/2021 09:44

@Loofah01

If they will go to 255 I'd opt for that. Accept the offer withour telling hubby then if he gets upset then tell him it's steak and BJ day to distract him lol
Loooooool! This would be a good shout tbh! However the estate agent only has his number. I have just texted him to try and push him up to 257k and 255k as a final offer! We can hopefully complete by June for the buyer in order for him to save money on the stamp duty since we have no onward chain!
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Original poster
Arsenalmama · 31/03/2021 09:46

@NoWordForFluffy

I love the inside! Considering there are children in the house, it's lovely and calm (unlike our madhouse!).
Thank you ever so much for this lovely compliment! Although these are pictures for the estate agent haha and my daughter was at school so it allowed me to really tidy up. Usually we have her costumes and books out! Right now my living room is filled with balloons and presents 😂
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Original poster
Arsenalmama · 01/04/2021 18:10

Update: the guy did not budge at all with hos £250k offer. We rejected. He called back today and said he will offer the £255k. He hasn’t seen the house which is even more annoying; his daughter came to view for him and she did a video tour whilst she was here.

Anyways we have accepted his offer but we have left it on the market; who knows if he is serious! Taylor Wimpey called me and said they are happy to take £5k off the asking price so it has hopefully worked out😅

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mummabubs · 01/04/2021 18:34

Phew, looks good at both ends and so glad your dh agreed to meet half way. I agree it's odd that he hasn't seen it himself, but equally him thinking it over and increasing suggests to me that he is serious. Did he or the daughter explain why he wasn't able to view and whether he plans to view it now that you've agreed a price? X

Original poster
Arsenalmama · 01/04/2021 19:30

@mummabubs

Phew, looks good at both ends and so glad your dh agreed to meet half way. I agree it's odd that he hasn't seen it himself, but equally him thinking it over and increasing suggests to me that he is serious. Did he or the daughter explain why he wasn't able to view and whether he plans to view it now that you've agreed a price? X
Apparently he has been shielding. He told the estate agents he does not want the viewings to go ahead when they told him about the five we had today. He seems serious. I do not want to get my hopes up. The fact he says he will let us live in this house until ours is built is also a bonus.
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