Why don't people reduce if the house isn't selling?

[donttellmehesalive]

Around here, it's a buyers market now. Everything has been on for months, lots coming back on, most reduced. I've only seen one sold in the past month in my price range.

But I'm fascinated by those properties that went on in the second quarter, were wildly overpriced, and are still there or reduced by a tiny amount. Some houses have come on in the past week for more than they were on for in March or April.

I always assumed they were people who were chancing their arm and didn't really care if they sold or not, or would only move if they sold for a lavish amount.

But I was recently talking to a neighbour who has been on for a year. She went on when everything was selling, but for about £100k more than the house was worth. Over the year, she's reduced by about £10k per month. It's now £120k less than it was on for last October, but there still isn't any interest and she says she's desperate to downsize and move near family. Why not price to sell in the first place? Do people take bad advice from optimistic agents, or what?

My friends next door neighbours house is massively overpriced. I'm
Watching with interest!

Well then they have to stay where they are.

Sorry, this link! www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126045605?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

They’ve done some work over the year so it’s better now than it was but it’s still nowhere near worth that price

Also for some people their house is their pension, and therefore need to maximise what they get as else they won't have large enough savings to fund their retirement.

that's not a reason to be honest

The way you’d written it I thought it a total Reno job, it’s a perfectly nice house which Is a bit dated in parts

I thought it was this one!
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85862091#/?channel=RES_BUY

the one you linked to seems ok, apart from the price.
Is there something magical about Hitchin that I’m missing?

That one at least has development potential!

No, there’s nothing magical about Hitchin, perfectly normal town 😂

I agree with pp that people are becoming hesitant to buy currently. Mortgage deals have been withdrawn and the uncertainty about rates is putting people off.
I've noticed for the first time in ages a couple of price reductions around my way.
The rental market is booming however!

The decor of that house is so dated it might possibly come back into fashion! Good floor plan though - could be a lovely house with lots of TLC and money. Way too expensive though.

As others have said - plenty of people will only be able to get what they want, or need, if they get the price the EA suggested they can. If they can't get the money, then they have no interest in moving.

Occasionally though, you get people moving from ridiculously overpriced other areas of the country, and they seem to think an advertised price is reasonable for what local people think is over priced.

As with all buying and selling, it only needs that one person who loves the property for whatever reason, and is willing to pay the price.
Not everyone who puts their house on the market needs to move for an urgent reason.

We never reduced. In fact we went up. We were offered at asking price twice the first time. The second time we had a low offer which we didn’t accept. We weren’t desperate to move so we’ll try again next year. If we WERE desperate we would have dropped the price for sure.

That’s why I find that house so fascinating. It’s got great potential for extension and really is on a very desirable area. Market it for 650k and it’d probably end up on a bidding war!

So many factors, EA overvalued to get instruction, so that sets an expectation in the vendors mind, some may be just testing the market without a strong reason or commitment to sell, some are just deluded.

Different people have different selling strategies, they know what they need to do to sell but they are hanging in there. Why are you bothered?

A few weeks ago in my area you weren't allowed to view unless sold and it was offers over to the tune of minimum £50k over "asking" - we decided to sit tight as didn't want to get into a bidding war. Starting to see a lot of these properties start to come back on the market now as people get nervous about the interest rates

I am an agent in the Algarve - it is a little different here as there are many more agents here than in the UK, and most are not paid a basic salary - you get a share of the commission when you sell, and that is it. You fund your own car, phone etc. Anyway - moving on - here, because the owner is king, we have to be driven to a price that the owner wants. Otherwise he just goes to another agency. We go, we value, and then we have to validate our opinion, and then the owner decides it is work 30% more than our maximum price. So it sits on the market for months. Then, instead if reducing the price, they want to increase it. Our method is to take the property off the market for a week, new photos, new description and new price (realistic one). But we can only do that if the owner agrees. In some respects that is similar to the UK. However, when I was selling my UK house, the agent wanted to ask 20% more than I thought the house was worth. He was astonished when I insisted on the lower price, and even then we did not sell.

Why didn't you accept the asking price offers?

if you wanted more why didn't you put what you wanted as your asking price?

We viewed a barn conversion earlier this year. It was already way overpriced for the small development it was on, but sold within 10 days at £750k. The site was gorgeous, location great...... but the barn had been converted in the 1980s and needed massive updating including boiler, heating system, kitchen, bathrooms and the cellar absolutely stank of damp. We estimated that we'd need to spend £100k to modernise. Funnily enough, it appeared again yesterday on Rightmove at £795k...........!! DH and I both said "bet the survey threw up the damp cellar" and the owners are chancing their luck again at that price.

Madness. It's worth £600k at most, and that's being generous due to the location.

i think there are too many people that think prices will just relentlessly go up year on year , the govt seem hell bent on not letting a crash happen and the nimbys also agree that we need more houses but just not here !

A massive correction is long overdue

I don't think I'd describe it as 'bothered' exactly. I find it fascinating when their strategy results in a worse outcome for them though. I wonder what they are thinking, or where they are getting awful advice.

Many people are just thick, and watched too much Krusty and Phil back in the day.

It isnt really a "buyers market" though, buyer enquiries have collapsed because buyers cant afford the monthly mortgage payments now, we need a good sized house price crash to clear the air, you can smell it on the wind, like rain after the heatwave.

@DeadHouseBounce it’s what you’ve been dreaming about isn’t it…..I see you on numerous threads, salivating at the idea of a crash. Ghastly.

I don't think anyone is "salivating" at the thought of a crash, but house prices need to come down. It isn't sustainable to continue to expect 600k for a three bedroom terrace.