Feel gutted, have we paid too much....

[Shandysue]

Hi MNs, reaching out at a wobbly time, looking for some perspective.

It concerns a house that was listed originally at 475,000.
A year on the market, it slipped down to 425,00 so we viewed it.
Loved it, didn't offer at all though still that bit too much.
It went under offer from someone else, we told agent's we'd be in the background if anything went wrong.

So weeks later the agent calls, CLAIMS the buyer's pulled out and isn't it spooky as we'd JUST emailed to ask, etc etc....
We made an offer of 398,000, came back they needed 400,000 so we met that and it's ours.
HOWEVER
since exchange I can now see that a 3 bedroom, smaller garden but on same row sold in November 2020 for only 325,000.

I feel such an idiot. Had been so happy about the house and thought we'd offered low enough under asking but now feel the agent saw me coming. questioning if it was even true that the original buyer pulled out and think we may have outbid them unwittingly which I'd never want to do...

This house has 4 bed and a much larger garden than the 325 one but my gosh I'm just so angry I didn't offer much less, like 380,000 rather than 400,000. esp as it s a terrace.
I keep thinking about what that money would have bought.
I know it's done now. but I'm worried it's resale will be much lower and that we've put our money into a very overpriced property.
I figured if it had come down from 475,000 originally they wouldn't consider much under 400,000. I've lost houses before by being too low on starting prices.

Also since the similar 3 bed sold in November 2020 house prices have risen, even in the 9 months between then and now.
but it doesn't comfort me. , how can I make peace or learn from this??...
Thanks all xxx

Our house is the most expensive on the road. Its also the biggest, with the biggest garden. And the only one to have been bought and sold in the past five years.
And has apparently gone up another 20k in the past six months (not sure I believe that though!)

Stop worrying and enjoy your new home, you can’t change the decision now, and you must have thought that the property was worth the price at the time otherwise you wouldn’t have offered it, you would have compared it to other properties you viewed, so it must have represented value for money to you at the time. You can’t really compare the price of the other house sold nearly a year ago and smaller.

This seems very illogical. The price differential seems valid. Why are you comparing it to a smaller house on a smaller plot? That’s such an odd thing to do.

Where I am the market for 3 beds and 4 beds are totally different. 4 beds are worth a lot more and go much quicker as there are so few of them so are at a premium

If it makes you feel any better it cost us £60k to add a small extension to make ours into a 4 bed!

Failing to see what the issue is. You're lucky enough to be buying a large house with a large garden that presumably fits your needs. Bit late to be getting cold feet about it now.

I keep thinking about what that money would have bought.

It's bought you an extra bedroom and a large garden.

Have you exchanged?

If not, you can pull out.

But you are buying a 4 bed property with a bigger garden plus prices have risen so you need to take this into account. Also you don’t know what condition the other property was in.

If you’re planning on living there for a while don’t give it another thought. Firstly I don’t think you’ve paid over but if you have so whar? It’s your home,

I’ve just bought a house which might be a bit expensive ajd I didn’t even have a valuation as I’m buying without a mortgage. It’s definitely within the realms of the right price but I feel in love with it and I wasn’t going to let it go for the sake of £20k. I hope to be there for 20 years so it will all even out in the end

You must have thought it was worth it compared to other 4 bed houses with the same size gardens at the time? That’s what you need to compare it to, not 3 bed houses with smaller gardens. You just set yourself a price bracket and buy what you consider to be the best house for you.

So you only paid £75k for an extra bedroom, larger bathroom and larger garden in a rising market? Brilliant, seems like you got a bargain.

Sounds fine to me. Chances are the rest of the house is bigger as well so you have gained quiet a lot for the money!

Enjoy your new home, don't worry about it!

If the house has an extra bedroom, is it also bigger on the ground floor? Most estate agents work on a price / square foot. Can you compare pro-rata?

An extra bedroom around my neck of the woods adds around £250 /£300k to the price of a property. I'd say you've done well.

I think you did well. Be happy. Inflation will rise, house prices always go up. You cannot compare 2 different types of houses. This one has an extra bedroom and extra land, so seem reasonable. Also they may have needed 400,000 to move with, otherwise they might have pulled the house off the market

But they turned down your lower offer and wanted £400,000 so if you would not have got it for any less anyway. It's worth what you want to pay.

If it helps, we have had our loft converted to add an extra bedroom, that work alone cost £50k. £75k for an extra bedroom and larger garden, without having to live with the hassle of the work seems like a bargain.

It sounds like you've got a bargain for an extra bedroom and a bigger garden!
I think the learning for the future is letting things like this go.

Oh and we looked at moving instead of doing the work, an extra bedroom would mean finding an extra £100k+ here. I think you got a bargain.

Omg chill! Prices go up once you get to 4 bedrooms and decent garden. Families want them. Chill out and enjoy your house.

Op, I mean this kindly. But you are working yourself up over absolutely nothing.

A small house sold 9 months earlier for 75k less. There's nothing about that, that means you over paid.
Also that house could have been sold cheaply for a million reasons. Or it could have been the right house for that price. And what you paid is a good price for your house.

You are comparing apples and oranges and getting angry about it.

And even if you over paid slightly, what can you do now? So why worry about it.

What does the Zoopla estimate say it's worth and how does it compare to houses that are being listed right now, in the same area? If it's in the ballpark for price I wouldn't worry.

Are you expecting to live there for long?

We paid top whack 10 years ago - our mortgage offer was running out, properties were selling on the same day they were advertised and we were desperate- now we consider we got a bargain.

And as said you are not comparing like for like - an extra bedroom here would add an 60-70k.

But you are not being unreasonable to worry - the housing market is bonkers.

I think that unless you've actually been in the house and looked around, you can't tell. Our house looks identical to all the others in our street from a cursory look / photos. It's really not.

And also, around here you'd pay about £45 000 for an extra bedroom, never mind the garden. You've probably not done too badly.

I get it! I really do!! I still look back at the houses we have bought along the way! We sold one as the bottom was falling out of the market in London in 2008 selling for £175k less than the initial marketing valuation. We were then rushed into buying in a expensive area where the price drop had not yet hit, paying £50k more than our terrace neighbours paid 6 months later. We moved abroad and in the three months between offering on our house in France and completing, the GBP to EUR exchange rate dropped from 1.4 to 1.1 so we had to increase our mortgage significantly in Euros to cover the decrease in the exchange value of the price we got for our UK house. We are now living in an area where prices are pretty stagnant and are the house we owned 15 years ago is apparently worth 3 times what we sold it for whereas ours is not going up in value.. how we are still afloat, I have no idea!!! At each stage, there was no option B.. we couldn't pull out, rent, buy a different house, delay the move.. we could only ride the wave and hope to come out the other side.

Bargain! Enjoy your new house.