London Sellers £1.35m - £2m

[Notstayinginmylane]

How are you finding the process? We have been on for nearly two weeks. Our price falls somewhere between the two figures above. We are zone 2, South London, large Victorian townhouse on a lovely road. Great links to the city.

It is a comfortable family home and we have always put the most expensive of everything in here eg stone floor, granite kitchen tops, chef’s ovens etc. There is enough work to do for someone to put their own stamp on it eg paint walls but nothing structural to do.

People on here always say it’s the price but why is no one offering if it’s just the price? Slightly less grand houses near us at a lower price are also not selling. More expensive houses in surrounding areas don’t seem to be selling. I don’t know who will buy ours as it is out of reach for most first time buyers and a big stretch for those in flats. But suspect smaller houses are also not selling.

Had this been July, we would have been under offer days ago. We have had a smattering of viewings, including locals who appreciate how good the location is. But there seem to be no cash or ready buyers.

Hit me with your experiences and tell
me which bit of London you’re in… Maybe there are micro climates!

I doubt it’s your house per se. We would have been your potential buyers until interest rates rose and made us consider whether we really wanted to stretch that much. £1.3m-£2m is obviously pretty normal for a very average house in many parts of London and we were looking at houses around the £1.5m mark, but it’s still a massive amount of money to raise.

We don’t need to move so are holding off and waiting to see what interest rates do next year before we decide to move or not. I’d imagine we’re pretty representative of most of your potential house buyers tbh. People who don’t need to move (and few people need to move to large aspirational houses) aren’t moving, virtually everyone we know who was thinking of doing so, from those who were actively viewing properties to those who were mulling the idea, has put it on the back burner.

Thanks so much @ComtesseDeSpair . Really interesting!! We have been looking at a more expensive area and a house we weren’t even allowed to view over the summer as we had not even listed has come back on. It’s a wreck but a steal for the price - though it’s on for more than ours! I would say if you’re upsizing, better to strike while there are deals to be had on asking prices and get a tracker mortgage before locking in. That’s only if you see the dream house. Wouldn’t bother for the sake of upsizing. We have seen a nightmare house in a dream road which is our only motivation to move!

Can you put the link to the house so we can see?

Are you listed at the same price you would have expected to sell for in 2021-2022 Q2, or somewhat lower? A lot of the properties we’ve seen come onto RM in the past couple of months are priced the same (or higher) as then, and we’ve just not seen the point viewing or offering when it’s clear these sellers still think their house is worth the same and probably won’t entertain offers. We might be wrong - but having seen several recent MN threads from home-selling OPs outraged that somebody has dared to “lowball” them when they’d have sold for asking price within 48 hours a year ago, I’m not sure!

I won’t put the link as it’s outing and I know one prospective buyer is on here at least!

Update: Got hold of agent. She has rejected one lowball offer out of hand that’s 200k below asking. She thinks there will be 2-3 proper offers on the table soon and all the feedback has been very positive.

I’m in that area and at least around here there’s a lot of very similar, almost identical housing stock. So now that there are a few less buyers than a year or so ago, there’s going to be a lot of competition. Or maybe you’ve put in expensive stuff so think it’s worth top whack but actually it’s not to most people’s tastes and people are thinking it’s a gut job?! I’m guessing not but without a link…

But it’s only been 2 weeks and agent sounds positive. Fingers crossed for you!

@ComtesseDeSpair We have gone on for offers over about 100k LESS than the agent’s valuation. Apart from offstreet parking which no one here has, we probably tick every box. We have 2,200 foot and a south facing garden. We did get one lowball offer today at 200k less but that would have put our house at only 100k-200k less than a 3 bed on a very drab road outside our conservation area. In our bit, we have Islington-style houses and tree line roads but without N1 prices! People often rent here for years, fall in love with the area, then staircase their way back for about their third property purchase. I do wonder why we are bothering to think about moving except it is a now or never situation as the area we are keeping an eye on has always been £££ and this may be our only chance, while there is little competition. We would need to take a mortgage again as well for extensive renovations too which would be boring!

Offers over is very off putting in this market IMO

I’d be inclined to go for offers below asking if it’s a rock solid buyer eg renter with cash/loan lined up with no chain. The increased cost of funds is having a massive impact. A year ago we finally sold at 1.4m after being on the market for months - chain issues were a complete nightmare. SE London. We then bought in a higher price range and fixed the enormous mortgage. If we were looking now, we simply wouldn’t be able to afford to move.

@HomemadePickle I agree. Sadly the buyers all have homes to sell. May I ask what you bought for and which area and - just to make me cry - what rate you secured? Well done for the move! House we have eye on went under offer for 400k OVER asking in summer before chain collapsed and the cold wind of Trussonomics chilled the market.

"offers over" is off-putting to many
I'd also say your agent is unprofessional for rejecting an offer out of hand - they are supposed to put all offers forward to you first - did they do that?

Summer was a whole different ball game. We are Kennington but conservation street and community aren't attractive from what I can gather, it's all about distance to tube/bus, off street parking and traffic noise from what I can gather from the agents who are selling ours....

I agree

It's my understanding that agents have to put all offers to you and can't themselves decide whether to reject an offer

Some vendors give instructions to their agents in writing not to pass on offers below £x, in such cases an agent is able to reject an offer on the vendor's behalf.

@Notstayinginmylane i'd rather not name area and exact price (£2m+) as there were only a few to go for that much in that particular area and it would be basically outing myself! SE London. we managed to secure a 5 year fix for 1.28%. Not sure what current rates are?

its not a sellers market anymore.
I think the offer 200k below will look like a great offer in a few months time

I am buying on my own just below that range so I assume the people who will be selling to me will be looking at buying at your range, if that makes sense. There is very little coming on the market so I think people are holding back either because of the falling market, high interest rates or both. Houses that are coming on the market still feel slightly over priced those that came on in November are only just selling now, with about a 5-6% price reduction on paper (not sure what the actual sold prices are just that they have been reduced online). Many of us waiting to buy are waiting until they fall by at least 10%. It's an interesting time to be buying/selling but of course if your house falls 10% then the house you're buying will probably have fallen 10%, everyone has to borrow less and we pay less stamp duty.

Is this 1.28% above BOE base rate?

@HomemadePickle that interest rate is incredible. We were contemplating properties literally listed for one million more at the start of last year than now! The only reason for a potential move for us is that we were not comfortable with that level of debt back then so we have traded that off for increased borrowing costs for a much lower amount.

I know what you mean @oiltrader. If we were desperate to move and if this was an offer from cash buyers we would not laugh it off… But we do love our house and area. @Freetodowhatiwant I just can’t help thinking we have one more ‘risky’ house move in us so just want to get under offer with a small chain and then we will be in a strong bargaining position. We currently are in slight credit on our offset mortgage so will be going back into debt to make a new move. Stamp duty alone is over 150k, then there is the gap between our area and the pricier one, for a ‘project’ that is more expensive in current almost uninhabitable state. Plus renovation work of at least 500k! So if the numbers don’t stack up on sale side we will happily stay. My issue is if we wait too long we won’t ever make the move as my husband is over 50 but both children are still in primary school. We are in an area that few people have heard of yet those who have walk down our road and know instantly it’s the best road to live on. I think I’m talking myself into staying!

I can relate to that talking yourself into staying! But apart from the interest rates a slump is definitely a good time to upscale. Keep us updated as to what happens!

Your road does sound lovely OP! I’m intrigued. Greenwich?

I’m toying with the idea of selling / buying in that same market (the low end) within the next 12 months so following this thread with interest…

Hi @Periodlate no not Greenwich though that’s a lovely area. I may end up there once the kids have flown the nest and we don’t have to be closer to schools! It’s very hard to find small, quiet roads with decent sized period properties. They liked to show them off on what are now main roads clogged with traffic. Shooters Hill in Blackheath is a prime example.