Found our dream home! Help

[Labmum321]

Our house has been on the market for 9 weeks. We put it on for £10k more than we actually want for it in the hopes that someone knocks us down to what we want. It’s had 5 viewers but no offers. Feedback has been really positive. We’ve been in no rush to sell because the market is slow and so next to no houses have come on the market that have been right for us just yet. We even said if there’s no offers by the end of November we will just take it down as it’s becoming a pain now. We said at the start if the right house came along we would reduce ours for a quick sale.

Fast forward to now. The PERFECT house came along yesterday. We viewed last night. It ticks every box we had and the asking price is the top end of our budget, in the perfect location for us as it’s on the estate most of my family live. Its had 3 viewings so far and its only been on the market 1 day so I know its bound to get snapped up.

Ideally, we’d offer full asking price and would love the vendors to accept this offer, take it off the market and give us x amount of weeks to sell. At the viewing, they told us they were in a similar boat to us, they saw a house that had just come on the market, they viewed it and loved it, they put their house on the market that same day, their offer was accepted before their house was on the market and now they just need a buyer and said they don’t think it’s be on for long.

Realistically, one of the other viewers could be proceedable and it’s taken off the market this morning so we don’t want to reduce ours asap if that house is gone!

The viewings were all last night after the office closed so we won’t know what’s happening until this morning.

What would you do? I know if it was me I’d just go with whoever is the most proceedable and I wouldn’t blame them for doing that.

Should I ring up and offer full asking price straight away and tell them how serious we are and how much we love it etc? Or would it be pointless? Or not jump the gun with figures yet because these other viewers may not be proceedable either?

You can always offer. Personally I wouldn't have accepted an offer from someone who was not proceedable but as that's what your vendor of dream house has done they obviously don't have that same thought process

If you dropped your price by say 5k would it drop you to the next rightmove search bracket to get more viewers?

I’d set the price of your house down to what you’re actually expecting, and offer on the house you want. The rest is out of your control so you see how it pans out.

It has been on the market for 9 weeks with 5 viewings but agree that is not positive.

The other house with immediate viewings and interest shows what happens when a nice house in a good location is realistically priced.

@Labmum321 there is little point you making an offer until your own house is sold. All you will be doing is helping to drive the price up as the EA will use your offer to try to get someone proceedable to match or increase it.

The most proactive thing you can do right now is reduce the price of your own house to try to generate more interest. Look at the Rightmove bands and get below a lower one. If the EA phones you can tell them you are interested but want to get your own house under offer before making an offer.

Also @Labmum321 you should reduce your price anyway regardless of the other house because realistically, it’s not selling and 5 views in 9 weeks is very poor even if viewers are being nice in their feedback.

That is true!

Ours is up for £210k so if we drop £10k today we’re hoping it would open us up to people who have maybe said £200k is the top end of their budget? A house the exact same as ours is under offer on the next street for £215k and another one the same as ours on a different street is under offer at £200k

I think you need to sell yours either way. If you lose this house you like the same will happen again.

Get yours sold - reduce the price if necessary - and then you are ready to go. If you don't you'll keep finding houses you like and other people will buy them.

I know, but I don’t want ours to get snapped up and then we have to string along some poor buyers for months and months potentially as I know how picky I am being for our next house. It’s so stressful

Yes @Labmum321 I do think you should reduce to 200k today if you want a sale before everything stops for Christmas.

Not meaning to be rude but buyers don’t appear to believe your house is worth 210 let alone 215k the other house has sold for. These things are nuanced and maybe that house had something buyers appreciate like a south facing garden or better decor or something.

You could drop to £199k. Psychologically it helps to have a 1 at the beginning.

Alright calm down, I did say ideally that would happen. I know ours isn’t selling as it’s obviously over priced and it’s a slow market in my area I’ve seen similar properties up for longer, but we’ve been reluctant to reduce yet as we’re absolutely not in a rush and there has been nothing out there for us until now

Do you want to post a link to it and we can see if there’s anything you can do to get it sold?

Is it clutter free but not soulless? Is it clean and tidy without lots of little jobs that need doing? Is it photographed well?

Thing is OP you can be 'not in a rush' but then you find a house you like and you end up very much in a rush and risk losing out.

If the market is slow no one is going to accept an offer from someone who has not sold.

If I were you I would offer £1k over asking price and reduce yours to £199k and hope your offer is accepted and you get a buyer quickly. Just because the other similar properties nearby are under offer it doesn't mean to say they have been offered the asking price.

Good luck.

That's a good point @Labmum321

You probably won't know the price at which those houses actually sold for months.

The 2 houses that are under offer though may have offers if £199k, regardless of their listing price

Reduce to £199,950 today to gain visibility

Ask the EA to contact previous viewers with the new price and send it on to anyone looking at up to £200k

Is it's meant to be, it will sell

You can always offer on the one you want at £10k under asking, then up it if the my refuse

And they had both been on for 2-3 months before they were SSTC. There was a 3rd but they took it off the market after 8 weeks.

You've priced yourself out of the 200K band so potentially loads of people searching who might have liked your house have not seen the listing as it's falling just outside their search criteria.

Although it might be tempting to mess around with your pricing I don't think the market will tolerate inflated prices or greedy sellers. There are loads of properties for sale now - it's a buyers market.

That makes it more likely that the owners ended up accepting a price below their asking price.

If you want a quick sale, the answer is obvious.

You sound excited in a nice way. I would whack an offer in asap, reduce by 10k and pray to the housing gods.