Overpriced property, naive? Lifestyle sum? Over keen estate agent?

[NoseyNeigh]

So a local house we know has gone on the market.
It's very tired, previous owner was a complete bodger. EPC is F!!! It has flooded inside and the garden regularly.
It's on for £645k , we guess it's worth £400 k top.
It's had probably one set of people look around.
How did they come up with this figure?

Do you want to buy it ? It could be the owner has said - this is what I want - whatever the EA has advised. Whether he gets it or not , completely different matter. Owners are allowed to set the price , however unwise.

I could say its worth 150k but if I was the seller I may wait for 800k
It's supply and demand as with anything else.

If two people really want a property, and I've seen it at auctions, the prices can go way over the top.

How did you arrive to your figure? Have you done the viewing already?

No we don't want to buy it, even at £400k. It has weird vibes, the previous owner suggested the best thing would be to knock it down.

Years ago we looked a lovely house but crazy overpriced because it was part of a divorce and everyone wanted to leave with a big chunk of money. It sat, in a busy market for 18months!
(I'm going to Google it, haven't thought about in years)

we'd love nice neighbours.

Development potential? or could have planning permission granted eg for 2 properties?

Well as often said a house is only worth the price someone will pay for it. So interesting for you to see what you think it is worth but as @Gentleman1 I Think is also saying - it will be worth what someone is prepared to pay. & if no one is - it probably won't sell. I once went to see a house being sold by a divorcing couple - it wasn't worth the candle as they were constantly arguing about the price. We left it. I hope they sold it and moved on with their lives but at the time it was not attractive to a buyer.

One house near us sold for a silly price- no idea why but went for £150k more than similar ones. Others locally have been hanging around for a while having started near this high price before dropping down to the realistic value.

themovemarket.com/
Have just played around with this website, it suggests it's over priced.
I can't get my head around house prices these days, I feel like Austin Powers, house price growth just turns it into Monopoly money.

@BasiliskStare

Thanks for the compliments.

It is what it is nd if you want it and someone else does as well, then it is whoever has the deepr pockets.

I often hear/read people bang on about their house.car won't sell, of course, it will seel, sell at what it is worth to someone else.

Are you familiar with the estate agency? There’s one near me that is notorious for overpricing to lure in business (yet people keep falling for it!) Next door has been on at a massively inflated £675k since July - I’ve just checked and they’ve reduced it to £625k today, which would have been a far more sensible price from day one.

There's a house near us that we viewed months ago and thought totally overpriced - agent said it was the price the owner thinks it's worth it given its location as it doesn't need any work (in reality, it's ex-rental and needs a new kitchen - with an extension ideally - and redecoration throughout, but the owner has just put two new bathrooms in). When we mentioned it to another agent locally after we'd seen it, she said the owner was notoriously convinced on his pricing.

Since then five other houses on the same road have come on the market for substantially less, despite all being either nicer/bigger than his, but it remains sitting there. He doesn't NEED to sell which must be behind it. Maybe it's the same for the one you've seen?

@Gentleman1 - exactly - anything is only worth what someone else will pay for it. & houses are such a good example of this. Probably cars etc and various paintings sold at auction , but if a vendor holds out for too much - well , unless they find a buyer , it probably won't work. But as others have said , some vendors don't really mind about whether they sell so prepared to stick out for well over what the house house is worth - & that is their right. But don't moan if it does not sell for the price you have made up

House next door to my Mum is being used as an unregistered HMO with a number of families living there. There is a lot of ASB. It is on sale for £700K. NOTHING in that area is worth that price, even if it was done up it wouldn't be worth more than £500K. The owner has obviously put it on the market for a stupid price so he can fend off ASB complaints by telling people he is selling and the disruptive tenants will be gone soon.

So we have now heard via gossip it was a snap decision and that's the figure she needs to buy another property (small local bungalow) and give a decent lump sum of £x per year.
There is a million to one chance during Covid she might have got this amount but I think with current headlines the odds are against her.
We'll wait and see!

Why do you care so much about how much it sells for?

Why @Thestagshead, because there's a limit to how much I can consume about people in the virtual Netflix type world, I'm not into sport or religion. I can't be in the local supermarket telling the cashier 'you won't believe what they're asking...'
So I'm on the dedicated board on property on an anonymous forum (used it for years, Terry Wogans cock, etc) inspired by local real life events to gossip about the reasons behind people's decision making.

But thinking about it, why do I care?
Because new neighbours - Airbnb, second home, multiple occupation, building plot, we would slightly be aware of.
Change is unsettling
My own house might be worth more / less than her's because it's better because of this or that reason and it's a phenomenal amount of money.

I think it's mostly the change is unsettling.

think it's mostly the change is unsettling

gosh,

Can you post a link please?

People can ask whatever they like for a property, whether or not they achieve the asking price is another matter.

@BasiliskStare

Indeed.
We've sold cars to those car buyer outfits and people say "you sold it too cheap" so these days we dont tell them - we sold to the outfits as it was easier and no comeback and not a great deal of difference as we'd more than make up for the slightly less price when buying another brand new car ie no p/x.

Property is difficult to value if it is on a road/close like ours where there are several different variations of houses eg, detached, semi, a row of terraced four houses and a few detached and semi bungalows and garden sizes and drive sizes along with property size varies.

If anyone is selling, get a valuation from 3 EA's - they only get money when the property is sold so some will try to convince you to a lower price and another to get your business will initially place an unrealistic higher price to get your business and then lower it quickly with your consent.

As I said, it is only worth what someone else is prepared to pay. Often cash buyers, ready to go people will want to pay less and those in chains pay more but you know what happens to chains at times.

The biggest problem I've seen is when a property is owned jointly people divorce or want their share to move out and one half feels the value should be higher and other says lower if they want to by

Re EA's - I've met several nice EA's, IE nice when you are selling/buying but once the exchange of contracts is signed they have a personality transformation, lol.

@JamesBondOO7 - we once sold a car to we buy any car - yes with time and knowledge we could probably have sold it for more but with a little negotiation we got a decent price and just thought - not the best price but quick & easy.

I did once @JamesBondOO7 go and see a house which had been on the market for ages. Nice house. But being sold by a divorcing couple who could not agree on anything. I left it. Too much effort.

We were cash buyers for our current house , & we got it even though we were not the highest bidders. We offered what we could afford and not one penny more ( so not trying to strike a deal ) .The vendor preferred us as we were cash buyers & that is what he wanted. But had he held out for a few more ££££ we would have said no - that is above our budget. There are always other houses.

My parents were gazumped by the Estate Agents secretary on a house in 1968, they moaned about it every time we went anywhere near that road for decades, it still gets mentioned but with the happy ending that it ended up with subsidence and had to be underpinned.

i am pretty sure some houses do not sell quickly because of the gossip of neighbours. I found out one of my neighbours ( with a shit house and can’t afford refurbishment as she told me) was telling other neighbours things about my newly done house. Found out because one neighbour came to our house and was very surprised to see that my house was much nicer than she was expecting due to the gossip. Be aware of people invested in other people business. Sad