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Original poster

Vendors deluding themselves!

61 replies

NorthernLurker · 01/04/2008 13:57

Title says it all really - some people are totally out to lunch when it comes to setting the price aren't they? I've just seen a house on rightmove new onto the market. There is a house on the same development which has been on the market for a year I think. Not sold despite the vendor offering to pay the higher rate of stamp duty. The new on the market house looks to be very similar - but is on the market for 8000 more - with no stamp duty offered! How in the world do they think they are ever going to achieve anything close?

OP posts:
claricebeansmum · 01/04/2008 14:00

Oh yes. I am watching houses around us very carefully at moment as we will be selling at some point and there do seem to be deluded agents or vendors out there.

stoppinattwo · 01/04/2008 14:04

there is a house 2 doors down fro us that has been on the market for 2years +

It is a son selling his mothers house.....she is now in a nursing home as she needs a lot of care. He was told as soon as the house was sold then that money would be used to pay for his mothers care ( i might be wrong on the facts but only what he has told me). Not something that she begrudges paying except for the fact that it is a HUGE amount so she has told him to keep it on the market for the asking price and to accept no less.

BUT to everyone else it looks like he is being unrealistic. To him he is trying to preserve his mothers savings (potentially her inheritance to him - on her instruction of course)

Just another reason for setting a high price

Chocolateteapot · 01/04/2008 14:10

But it's nearly spring, everyone knows the market picks up in the spring and that house prices only go up I swear some people use some kind of weird formula along the lines of:

Property sold = PMV (@Q2 2007) + 10%.

Property bought = PMV(@Q1 2008) - 10%

(PMV standing for "perceived market value").

Flibbertyjibbet · 01/04/2008 14:17

A couple I know are selling their house. They already have one to move to and are very pleased that their offer under the asking price was accepted.
But.....
They are probably about to lose it as they are refusing to accept offers on theirs lower than the asking price.
When I said that if both the bought and sold house are both at a bit below the asking price then she is not actually 'losing money' the reply was

'Our estate agent tells us that PRICES have not dropped, its just that buyers are making lower offers'

Deluded? Yup.

claricebeansmum · 01/04/2008 14:19

at Fliberty's friend!

Chocolateteapot · 01/04/2008 14:36

That is hilarious Flibberty ! Did you manage to keep a straight face ? I do feel sorry for people who need to achieve a certain price for a reason though ie. the level of their mortgage/debt .

Original poster
NorthernLurker · 01/04/2008 14:39

see I am not deluded - we have offered less than asking and we have also accepted less than asking. Building society valuation on our purchase tomorrow - am bracing myself. If they down value it - can we use that to lower our offer? Have never bought and sold before. Our buyer has had his survey back and hasn't mentioned value - so far!

OP posts:
lalalonglegs · 01/04/2008 14:41

I mentioned this on another thread but still can't get over it: one house on our street has sold for rumoured #720k (80k below guide) after being on market for MONTHS. Friend, two doors up, has put her house on having chuckled away about this vendor's chutzpah at #830k... . She keeps saying that they have to get that price but they paid less than #500k less than two and a half years ago.

Don't know what has got into people around here but suddenly there are masses of houses sprouting sale signs - personally, I think it's going to take more than a bit of a blossom to shift some of them.

bozza · 01/04/2008 14:41

stopinattwo he will have to pay the money back to the council though once the house is sold - and once the old lady dies he will have a fixed deadline for sale. This was the case with my great-aunt's house and why my Mum was quite hasty at clearing and selling even though it didn't feel right to her - going through someone's things when they are still alive.

clam · 01/04/2008 14:42

There's a house a few along from us that's been on for nearly a year at £600K. Yes, it's been extended massively (probably past the ceiling price for the road) but the owners have divorced, DW living there and she doesn't want to move. So, can only presume she's leaving it on at a ridiculous price so noone buys it! Bet her DH is pleased about that.
And another house nearby went on at 620K , but has apparently finally gone for 480! DOn't know who was responsible for that over-pricing. Our local agent swears that it's the vendors who insist on higher asking prices, not him.

noddyholder · 01/04/2008 14:45

Don't people read the papers or watch the news?The property boom is over and it will be years before the banks recover Lenders are pulling fixed rates and other deals and are raising rates.Prices need to be reasonable if not low to sell.Better to reduce by 15% now than chase teh market down and drop 25-30 next year!

noddyholder · 01/04/2008 14:47

northernlurker you can def use the surveyors valuation to your advantage in a falling market.

clam · 01/04/2008 14:52

Bit of a hi-jack here, but how worried should I be that our buyers will pull out before exchange in 2 weeks? Short chain (3 houses) and all mortgage offers in and ready to go. Can't sleep for worry. Keep lurking on these threads to test out the climate. Reading papers too worrying......

Flibbertyjibbet · 01/04/2008 14:55

Lots of houses with for sale boards up round here too. Including 2 doors up from friend who refuses to accept lower offer
I think a lot of people are rushing to sell 'before prices drop'...
Nothing like an oversupply to turn it into a buyers market then!

justaboutasleep · 01/04/2008 14:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Chocolateteapot · 01/04/2008 15:01

I think people think things don't quite apply to them for some reason. Maybe it is the denial part of that graph that is kicking around on the internet about bubble effects ? Our broker rang about our re-mortgage this morning which he had gone ahead and booked for us without asking as he wanted to get it before the rate got pulled.

I asked him about a friend's situation where she has one part of her mortgage just finished on a fix and the other bit up in July. He said he advised her to do it now as in his words "it's chaos out there" (the mortgage market).

Spoke to her as was sorting out lifts for this afternoon and told her what he had said and that he advised to go back to her broker asap. and she said reluctantly that she would email her but would rather bury her said in the sand until May which is when her broker said they would do it in readiness for the end of the other bit fixed until July. Last week she told me they would probably have to sell up if they couldn't get a decent fixed rate. I think she really can't bring herself to grasp how difficulty this could get for them financially so won't do anything about it until she is in a crisis.

noddyholder · 01/04/2008 15:03

Endless for sale boards here too but in rality a year too late!

Youcannotbeserious · 01/04/2008 15:06

I lived next door to a chap who had his house on the market for £725K when it was worth probably closer to £525K!!
but, like Clam said, it was the only asset to a guy who had gone and got his secretary PG () and she was looking for maintenence - so he left his job (claimed he couldn't work due to stress) and put the house on at a stupidly high figure (he doesn't have a mortgage.... so I'm sure he's just sitting tight to not have to pay for his kid !)

Nice guy, eh?

But, yes, i think many sellers are clinging onto the desperate hope that they haven't waited a little too long and found the bubble has burst!

clam · 01/04/2008 15:07

Yeah but.... What if someone gets cold feet about interest rates? What if someone loses their job? What if they demand a reduction in price just before exchange due to the falling market? Would love to tell them to shove it, but to put it back on the market now would mean losing even more..... GAH!!! Is it too early for gin?

noddyholder · 01/04/2008 15:08

There was a woman on breakfast tv today whose mortgage was going up £100 at the end of a fixed rate this month and she is going to have to sell I am shocked that such a small increase in outgoings can cause such havoc.Money has been lent too easily and most people seem to be at their monthly max now and we haven't seen anything yet wrt the general economy.It is not all about houses we are going to feel it everywhere for a few years

Original poster
NorthernLurker · 01/04/2008 15:32

Clam - I feel your pain! I worry like that too! So far so good - but I won't relax till we exchange

OP posts:
justaboutasleep · 01/04/2008 15:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

noddyholder · 01/04/2008 15:48

The bank used to do an affordability check with mortgages in teh old days were they told you what your repayments would be at different rates to see if you could still afford it.We could only get 3x dp salary plus mine and had a 10% deposit.Stringent but safe

Fizzylemonade · 01/04/2008 15:56

God you lot, I live oop North so only country estates have asking prices above £500k!!!!

There is a house I have been watching for over a year, 4 bed modern detatched, was on for £275k dropped it after 3 months to £265k and it has stayed that way until recently when it has been advertised at £250k for "limited time only" and the words "spring time offer" ha ha ha.

They won't get it, and another is still holding out for £277k despite everyone else dropping their prices.

We really do want to move this year, luckily we have large equity in this so could take a drop on what it is worth and offer less on the one we want. We have to move, awful neighbours

mumblechum · 01/04/2008 15:57

I'm still that a smallish 3 bed cottage up the road from us has just gone on at £1.5m.

They're avin a larff