Houses overpriced

[marble505]

At what point do sellers give in and come to the realisation that they have simply priced too high?
I am interested in a lovely house, in 2014 it sold for 200k. New build. It's nicely presented, very plain however, owners not made any updates. The kitchen is probably from when it was built and it does not have a bath, a shower room only. It's a 3 bed family home. So we would need to put a new bathroom in.
The owner has had it up in 2023 for 340k and now again for 350k.
We are in quite a desperate position to move, whilst the house is nice, it's just not worth 350k. The area is not the best, although you could say it's the 'nicer end' of the postcode.
With no improvements and inflation not quite hitting that high. I'm struggling to see why seller thinks it's worth 150k more, in 10 years.
So my question, are these sellers just waiting it out incase someone is willing to pay high amounts, or are they pricing it high to get a realistic offer? We would be looking at 300k-310k potentially but it feels like an insult to offer this?!
We are not time wasters and serious buyers, so unsure if we want to get into it or not. Also don't want EA to gossip 😁

Offer £310k and see what happens

The problem is that they are not desperately keen to sell. They may be just dangling it at a price at which they would move , whilst being quite happy to sit tight if they cant reach the price

None of us will know their motivation but unfortunately just because you're desperate to move doesn't mean they are.

When we sold we priced at the level we needed to achieve to afford our onward purchase. We weren't desperate to move and so wouldn't have entertained lower offers. Luckily we found the right buyer.

Also what it sold for back then is irrelevant. You need to know what people are paying for similar properties now. Ten years is a long time and prices have gone up!

If it's been on for a while there's no harm in offering what you're prepared to pay for it, but be prepared for them to say no as well.

All you can do is offer what you think it is worth and then walk away if they say no. It's not a personal insult to anyone, simply your best offer. Make it by email rather than over the phone so you don't have to deal with any snotty estate agents or feel pressurised into increasing your offer.
They obviously didn't sell it in 2023 so I've no idea why they suddenly think it is worth more but some sellers seem to do this. In my area, the opposite seems to be happening, with a lot of price cuts, particularly this week. Some are more realistic than others. You just need to find a realistic seller who is prepared to sell for what the market will pay rather than something aspirational.

Out of four properties for sale in out old street, including ours, three were priced realistically and sold immediately.. One attempt to hers for significantly more than it was worth. It was on the market for 18 months and failed to go STC. In her case she’d spent a lot of time talking up her property/lifestyle and would have felt humiliated marketing it for what it was actually worth.

Id offer what you feel it’s worth. The worst they can do is turn you down.

The problem probably is that the house they might want to buy is similarly overpriced so they can’t afford to move unless they sell for more!

Impossible to say really. Maybe they’re not desperate to sell and are just trying their luck. All you can do if offer what you think it’s worth and see what their response is.

Thanks all.
We will likely put an offer in and not be upset if they don't accept. I've already grieved on losing 'the one' a few months ago, this house is a bit more of a wild card as it's out of our key search areas.

On those websites which give insights and values, it's saying £259k on this road
303k for the general area. So I really am struggling to understand 350k figure.
Given it was on in 2023 and again in 2024 I'd imagine they are just trying to reach their price. They haven't found anywhere yet, so not desperate to move/not serious sellers.

some sellers are just in cloud cuckoo land and are in no hurry. We viewed a house on our street that’s on for £525k. Decided it’s at least £100k overpriced. Three different agents and two years later it’s still on the market at £525k, never having once gone SSTC.

Those websites that give valuations are not very accurate, don’t put too much store in the price they say a house is worth.

It does seem odd though that the owner would list at 350k if it didn’t sell at 340k … unless they did get an offer you don’t know about but it fell through.

Either way, you’re interested in that house for a reason so it has appeal. I would offer 300k or 310k and not worry about offending the owner. If they say No at least you tried.

Totally appreciate the sites aren't accurate on prices.
The last houses which sold were in 2023, all between 220-290k so I don't have much to work with. The general area isn't great, but it's a nice house. Pros and cons.
I'll put my offer in and probably say 2 weeks to consider it (if they want to).

Wrt to the houses that sold in 2023, were they the same footprint, plot, etc as this house? If so 350k seems massively overpriced and something starting with a 2 more realistic.

I would ask the EA why it increased to 350k having not sold at 340k. If the seller is completely unrealistic the EA will likely indicate that in so many words. But just possibly there is a logical explanation so worth asking the question.