Is my house overpriced?

[Amberellaella]

70s estate house. Bought for £333k in 2020, Spent about £30k modernising - new radiators, boarded the loft, solid wood floors and the like.

One almost exactly the same as ours sold for £400k very recently. They have a shower in their downstairs loo and have knocked through their kitchen and dining room. We have a South facing garden and a better position on the estate - on the edge adjacent to nearby posh area with big expensive period houses.

We’re on the market for £435k on the EAs advice. Have had four viewings in three weeks with one sort-of asking price offer (potential buyer not proceed-able so EA wouldn’t let them put the offer in).

Had a second viewing booked this week but the potential buyer cancelled as they decided we are overpriced. Are they right?

Based on what that other house sold for I’d say probably yes but as you have been getting viewings I’d give it a little bit longer before reducing.

Depends on prices in your area. But to have gone up £100k in 4 years does seem a big jump.

I thought EAs had to put all offers to you, whether or not proceedable

And in what way are they not proceedable

Your house sounds overpriced but its impossible to tell without a link although I understand if you dont want to do that

Loft boarding and new rads, no one is interested in that. New flooring perhaps might add some value but not nearly 100ks worth. Market has not increased since 22, why do you think its gone up that much?

Other house probably got lucky, is that the price on the land registry or are you going from the asking price, the fact that its sold and you're assuming it went for that price?

Sorry, you said 2020, but not sure its gone up that much in that time anyway

They have a shower in their downstairs loo do they have an extra 'bathroom' then?

Four viewings in 3 weeks isn’t loads. And the viewings will probably dwindle now after the initial flurry.

Anyone who is serious about buying will have now already seen your house on rightmove and decided for whatever reasons not to view. Assuming the photos are nice and there’s nothing unusual about the house, it’s probably the price.

The ones who wanted to offer close to asking may have been willing to offer slightly more than it’s worth because of their poor bargaining position (not proceedable). We have just done this and we were fortunate that they did accept our offer and waited while we sold ours. We knew we were paying slightly more to compensate for them waiting.

If you’re not in a hurry you could wait. If you are in a hurry then I would consider dropping the price in a few weeks, and then it will go back to the top of the search results.

You and the estate agents have decided that the location makes your house worth 35k more than the one that just sold. It doesn't sound like buyers agree with you. It's worth whatever someone is prepared to pay.

It sounds like you are overpriced. Hard to say without seeing it, but I would guess the "better" position might be attractive without being something you would pay much extra for.

Are you saying that you don't have a downstairs shower and haven't knocked through the dining room? In that case the benefits of your home are probably balanced out by the benefits of the other one IYSWIM so maybe worth the same amount.

Sounds like it is. Did all EAs that gave you a quote say put it on for £435k? A south facing garden and better position for almost exactly the same house doesn't sound like it should make it worth £35k more.

I have seen this “better position” post a couple of times on here in the last year, all by people struggling to sell their houses, but it was on a better road than previous sales. I also had a vendor wanting to sell me her house explain to me why her road was better than all the surrounding houses for sale’s roads in the immediate area when we talked about how it had been priced (it was the a direct sale, it was a reasonable conversation).

At the end of the day, in a falling or stagnant market, people aren’t looking at the best road. They are looking for the best value that meets their requirements.

A 100k increase in 4 years is seriously eye watering and I would be very worried (as a FTB) that I would be overpaying.

Another thing I see on here time and time again is “we spent £30k so we should get that back plus some”, but again, it’s simply not true.

It’s a bun fight for the lowest price per square foot and believe me when I say estate agents are genuinely despairing to sell houses over 300k right now. I have monitored dozens upon dozens that have sat on the market and the only two I have seen fly off the shelf (within a month) had both been extended by about 1/3rd. So they offered a LOT of space.

I am sorry if my words feel harsh. I am just an observer! Who has tried to buy a house several times.

I wouldn’t pay your asking price because I am very aware of the trap negative equity causes. I would probably pay you what it was worth in 2021 - but I can afford to dictate what I want because I am not in a chain. So if a vendor says no (and two did), I just walk away and wait for the next.

In terms of financials;

In Spring 2022 my mortgage on your house would cost me 1810pcm (90% LTV @ 2.77)

In Spring 2024 it would cost me 2286 (same, 4.99).

A house has to really sing to me for me to pay £500 a month more than I would have done two years ago - and nobody is putting a gun to my head and forcing me to move, so I can afford to wait.

Based on the info provided it does sound like your house is overpriced. I dint think the current market supports a £100k price increase in 4 years.

Having the kitchen and dining room already knocked in together would be attractive to many buyers. No hassle with builders. I'd say their advantages and yours are about even so shoud be priced similarly.

You’re getting viewings which is a positive. Chances are that possibly yes you are priced slightly high - but at least you’re getting people through the door.

If you do need to sell quick then reduce by £5k/£10k and see what happens then?

If you have a rightmove link we can probably advise better.

Yes it does sound like price. Did the agents tell you how much the offer was? I'm pretty sure that, unless previously agreed, they are obliged by law to pass on all offers in writing.

I don’t think your modernisation will have added what you spent on it and agree that the benefits of the other offset the benefits of yours so yours does sound overpriced.

South facing gardens though very popular aren’t for everyone and not some thing I would buy as too hot for me.

Thanks everyone, this is really helpful. The price was recommended by the EA and I personally did think it was a bit high since I also thought ours and the £400k one were directly comparable. The EA thinks ours is slightly bigger - but it’s hard to tell because the rightmove listing for the other house doesn’t give its size (or a floor plan).

Interestingly though, prices for our house type in our area have risen by a third over the past four years so it’s not as unreasonable for them to suggest a £100k uplift as it perhaps sounds…

We’ll probably give it another week or so and then reduce. We’ve seen a bigger house we like listed by the same agent and they won’t let us put an offer in until we have sold ours.

As an aside, when we bought our house we were intending to extend it, not sell. But prices for a two storey side extension giving an extra 60 sq m were coming in at about £170k (inc VAT) which we thought seemed like an unreasonable amount to spend on a 70s estate house!

If you want to sell it fast to secure the other house, make the drop sizeable. 435 to 400 will get a lot of buyers interested and may start a bidding war. It doesn’t mean you have to take 400! But that kind of drop to me means serious sellers. I cba with sellers who are thinking about moving at some point in the future. I know at least four houses I viewed in the last two years just didn’t bother selling them in the end. Grr!

Any house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay. If nobody is prepared to pay what you're asking, then the price needs to drop.

@KievLoverTwo

my DS is same as you.

decided 300k is his maximum (no chain, good deposit) as it will buy him a very suitable house. He's been looking for a couple of months at this price point.

He's put in two offers. One at 7 percent below because it's simply overpriced despite being pretty nicely finished. It's been on the market for nearly 6 months but they've had a non proceedsble full offer so won't budge. Another he offered 6 percent below but it needs a lot of work and with the cost of everything he reckons it'll take £40k to do and probably only add £25 ish, but he would get it the way he likes. But they rejected wanting 10k more. So he walked.

The market is working well in his area for sensibly priced property. They fly. So, certainly in his area, sticky homes are overpriced and vendors aren't selling because of their insistence to not budge - which is of course their choice.

He has just had a week's holiday but will be back looking soon.

Just to add to that, he also viewed a sticky one at 270k. He didn't bother offering as the work on this one was circa 40/50k too and the max selling price about 290k. Its been on the market empty for over 6 months and he'd only be prepared to pay about 240k as it wasnt really particularly livable, so didn't bother even going there.

Theyve just dropped....by 10k. And they are on with two agents. They just don't get it!

He has seen homes where the first Saturday of marketing they've had a sort of open day of viewings. Sensibly priced and they've had full asking even FA plus offers before he's even had his viewing. He would have offered on one of those too at FA but wasn't prepared to get involved in a bidding war on it, so didn't. But it goes to show the market is functioning well.

Based on the house selling recently for 400k that was better than yours in some ways (worse in others) I would say yes, yours is overpriced. As a buyer comparing yours to that one, I would have expected yours to be worth about 400k too. Had yours been listed at 415k or even 425k it would have been more attractive to buyers but the person who dropped out maybe couldn’t be bothered trying to haggle down from 435k to 400k as it seems a big jump. Some buyers may be watching your house waiting for it to be reduced.

4 viewings in 3 weeks is not great especially if they are now drying up. Another thing to be aware of is that EAs routinely over value in order to win the business.

I would give it another couple of weeks and then consider reducing down to 415k or even 400k for a quicker sale. I don’t think people necessarily pay more for a better setting on an estate, it’s just a nice to have. It isn’t as useful as an extra shower room which the other house had. However your south facing garden is a selling point so your house should not be hard to sell if the price is right.

Where are you getting the stats from that suggest that houses in your area have risen by a third

So a 300k house will now be 400k. In 4 years.

Parts of the year 2020 were covid madness in terms of prices, so is it possible you overpaid at 330k ? As others have pointed out - the last couple of years haven't seen significant rises in value - in most areas its been relatively static. You could be a long way overpriced but without a link it's hard to say.

It’s a big increase on what you paid for in 2020. I think you can use the other house selling for £400k as a guide but not definitely what you expect your house to achieve. The purchaser of that house may have overpaid, wanted that particular house as maybe they have friends/ family living on that same road.