House we want to buy is overpriced - how to get an offer accepted?

[FleurMial]

I've seen a house that I really want to buy, but we feel it is really over priced. It has been on since February at £595k, it was under offer but feel through when prospective purchasers' own buyers pulled out. Not clear exactly what offer was accepted but been told it was full asking (in February). Since then lots of viewings but no offers.

I'd like to offer £540, DH thinks £525. Reasons why we think it's over priced: other houses in area on sale for less and are bigger / more bedrooms & bathrooms, generally better equipped, however this house has a great location, with sea views and beach access, which is hard to value.

How do we make an offer with a chance of getting it accepted? We would have to spend at least £60k to make it work for us, and although we can afford the full asking, and do have savings that would cover the work needed, we don't want to make a bad investment in a falling market.

You do know you pay a big premium for things like a great location, sea views, beach access?

They have received an asking price offer and are getting lots of viewings so it’s unlikely the property is very overpriced. It sounds highly desirable to me.

Your husband’s idea of an offer is unrealistic imo as it’s so unlikely to be accepted.

The house isn't 'overpriced'.

Prices reflect demand and supply and it seems that the sellers are looking for £595k because they feel it's worth it - beach access and sea view is pretty rare!

Nothing stops you from making a lower offer though?!

however this house has a great location, with sea views and beach access, which is hard to value

Not for an estate agent. Desirable + scarce = increase value by %%%

Sounds lovely- I want a house with a sea view & beach access.

On the other hand - there no harm in making what you consider to be a sensible offer. Go for it!!

Sea views and beach access are hard to value, you're right. If you feel that these things don't add as much value as the seller thinks they do then you should go for one of the cheaper, 'better' houses instead. I'm not saying that you're wrong to make a low ball offer, but equally the sellers are not wrong to hold out for someone who is willing to fork out extra for less tangible things like the view.

Just offer what you think it is worth, and move on if they say no.

If the house is genuinely overpriced you will have no trouble finding a similar house that isn't overpriced. If you can't find another you like as much, maybe that is why the price is higher.

Exactly, if you feel it's overpriced relative to what it offers, then buy another property that is fairly valued in your opinion.

Beach access is surely a huge deal?!

A decent sea view can add tens of thousands to the price. Rightly. I estimate the sea view was 14% of the price when I bought my house. Worth every penny.

I would pay a lot of money for a sea view and beach access.

We would have to spend at least £60k to make it work for us

Is it in poor condition? If it's just that you'd prefer a different layout/fancy a new kitchen/don't like the decor, then that isn't really for the seller to finance

Perhaps I'm being dense but I don't really understand what you're asking? There is no magical way of getting someone to accept a low offer. They either will or they won't. Unless you have something else to offer like no chain or a cash buyer.

I think you might be kidding yourself that a great location is hard to value though...

But you don't want one of these other, cheaper, properties that are bigger or better equipped, despite the fact that they are better value. You want this house. That's literally the whole point. The sellers know that their property has some highly desirable selling points that command a premium.

If its been on the market a while then it certainly sounds like it would be worth making an offer, but to go with a stupidly low ball offer on the basis of other houses without beach it very unlikely to be successful.

Exactly… It’s always worth making an offer but to offer 525k is just likely to annoy the owners. It’s 70k under offer on a property with many selling points & lots of interest.

Cash offer. They need the money/ good investment as much as you.

Maybe convincing them that you'll appreciate their lovely house. Rather than the attitude it needs £60k of work ( even if does)

Well one thing is for certain, if you don't make an offer, you're never going to get it.

I don't understand all of this hand wringing about offers, we got all sorts of nonsense offers when we were selling our house, we certainly weren't offended!

Offer what you'd like to pay, see what they say, if they don't accept, offer more, if you don't want to offer more, walk away.

How to get someone to agree to a negotiation? Offer them something they want/need. If you want to pay less, what else can offer them. Cash purchase? Quick sale? Ability to wait for them to find inward purchase? Flexibility of move date?

The discussion about offers is because OP was asking about a strategy re how to get an offer accepted.

The best strategy is not just to make a lowball offer and then keep increasing it until the owner accepts. Because some owners will get irritated by that or take it as a sign the buyer isn’t that keen on their property. Which means they would rather sell to someone else should they get another interested buyer.

Thanks that's helpful. As is the poster who thinks about 14% of value of their house is on the views. NB I am of course aware that location does add value, however the average detached house price in this village is £330k, the house is on at £595k, so even if we offered £525k, we would be valuing the views and beach access at around £200k.

The house is a new build, but is very individually designed to the current owner's own ideas, rather than what most people would want. A couple were building it as their dream home, but sadly one of them died during the build. The widow wants to sell as it is too reminiscent. This is one of the reasons I don't want to be needlessly offensive in making offers.

However the fact remains that it has a lot of features that most people would want to remedy E.g. It is a 3 bedroom house but has only 4 usable (but brand new) kitchen units. There are no kitchen wall units at all. It has a bath but no shower. There is no storage and the loft space is taken up by a sprinkler system and tanks. It also has a 'fake' front door, to make it look symmetrical, but the only usable door is in a lean to at the side. It has very small paned windows, which look pretty from outside but make it difficult to see the (valuable) sea views. I think this explains the fact that they have had lots of viewings, but no offers.

When doing the viewing, we commented to the estate agent that we thought it was over priced. She said that was the feedback other viewers had given too. It looks like other viewers just moved on to other properties, rather than wanting to take this on.

We've just put our house on the market, and have viewings lined up already. If we accept an offer on our house, I think I will make an offer on this house. If it is clear that the vendor is expecting full asking, then we will view other houses, and we have made a list already. It's helpful to hear from other people, thanks.

This.

It sounds as if there is at least one other interested party who was prepared to offer what the vendors want, but they are now in the situation you are in - which is 'not having sold so not in a position to proceed'.

Sea view and access to a beach are both massive for a lot of people.
When you are proceedable, then you can make an offer, of course, of what you think it is worth.
That doesn't mean the vendors have to accept it.

OP I do not think you are able to offer the vendors anything in order to accept an offer, you have not sold, in fact you do not have any offers.

You can try and justify as much as you want to yourself the house is not worth its asking price, but this doesn't mean the vendors will have the same opinion. As the house is a new build I think you are going to find it very difficult to pay less for it due to having to change some fixtures and fittings or layout etc.

My tip on negotiating, irrespective of the amount you offer, is be nice about the property and flatter the people you want to buy from - do not criticise their property in order to justify paying less for it!

New build, can you see how much the current owners paid for it? Surely it couldn't have increased that dramatically so is probably priced fairly?
Seeing as one of them died, they may be looking for a quick sale but equally it could be seen that you are looking to take advantage of this vulnerable state for your own gains. Making an offer 70k less without offering anything in return as others have said, cash purchase/quick move, would scream unserious time wasters to me as a seller.

'We've just put our house on the market, and have viewings lined up already. If we accept an offer on our house, I think I will make an offer on this house. If it is clear that the vendor is expecting full asking, then we will view other houses, and we have made a list already. It's helpful to hear from other people, thanks'

Sounds sensible. Offer what you think it is worth and then move on if it is not accepted.
Interesting that the agent was open about the feedback from other buyers. That's unusual!

The current owner built the house, it was only completed this year. I feel that if it was 'worth' the price it is up for, it would have received more offers in the 4 months it has been on the market.

I've made it clear that I will only be making an offer when I've accepted one on my house, no need for excessive sarcasm! We are fortunate in that houses tend to sell very quickly in the area we are moving from, but of course that is not guaranteed. However we like to be prepared, which is why it is useful to discuss the situation with other people. We are relocating so it isn't easy to just pop over and view houses, so want to have thought through what to do.

I've now found out how to see how much other houses in the same area sold for on Right Move. A similar house (3 bed detached, but not as new) on the same street sold at the end of last year for £345k. It did have sea views but not the beach access.

If the current owner just had it built to their own architects' design, the chances are that it cost them around £595k to build, if not more. Individual projects are more expensive than mass-market new builds, and there was huge inflation in building materials and labour costs over the past couple of years post-pandemic. That may be why the owner is asking what seems like a high price, and may possibly be reluctant to come down. But all you can do is make an offer and see.