Why do some people not accept they have overpriced their house?

[oatmilkchocolate]

There is a semi-detached near me that has been on the market for at least 18 months, maybe two years. The owners keep changing estate estates but never reducing the price.

There's no mystery why its not selling. Its priced the same as detached houses in the local area, and its semi-detached. A really nice detached house just up the road sold recently for 15k less than this one is on the market for. And it had two bathrooms and this only has one. And this house is a unusual design where the ground floor is a garage and utility room, which has the washing machine and dryer in, and you have to go up a flight of stairs to get to the house itself, which starts on the first floor. Which is obviously going to put some people (quite a few) off.

I don't get why the owners aren't grasping that they have just significantly overpriced. Why not just look at what other prices in their area are selling for and reach the obvious conclusion?!

It's all a matter of perspective. I've seen two semi-detached properties listed near me. A with a bit of laminate and white walls, B with period features. A is supposed to be worth more than B. In my eyes B is the superior property. A bit of paint, and or a new bathroom/boiler doesn't necessarily make for a 100k difference in price! Likewise I've seen old timers obsessing over their house prices, that they probably will never sell or ever see the price they envisage, while at the same time have non-functioning heating systems and bathrooms and even toilets that don't work. I'd even suggest at least 2/3 British housing stock isn't really fit for purpose. Especially given some of the heating threads on Mumsnet recently. And yet people delude themselves. I've seen similar houses on my own road sell at vastly different prices, when there isn't much between them. A 100k difference, for some squalid old terrace that is already beyond its sell by date by probably 30 years. Some stock gets worse and yet people think they go up in value. You should see the state of the brick work on the 60s estates near me, the houses are crumbling to nothing, and you wouldn't believe the price they sell for. People are still buying.

There's a house near me been on and off for 2 years and is now 3/4 the original asking price.
Ironically it was once a pair of run down 2 up 2 down and an outside loo farm workers cottages, where DH's grandad used to live in the 1960s. All now 'overly-done' up, far too 'grey' decor, who wants to clean round 3 free standing roll top baths? And its on a busy road, not secluded, country, or even actually very nice. Backs onto a field which I'm sure is hellishly dusty in harvest and will eventually be housing.

My friends house has been on for a couple of years and is massively overpriced for what it is in the current market but it's joint owned with her ex-husband and he refuses to budge on the price at all so it just remains on the market 🤷🏻‍♀️

YANBU. MIL's NDN is asking for £120k more than we sold MIL's for a three bed terrace. Unfortunately, they bought at the top of the market and have spent money doing it up, so are wanting a return on their "investment". It's more modern than MIL's but not £120k more modern. It's also done up to their quite personal taste with big patterned wallpaper and strong colours.

And there are bigger and better properties, including new builds for in the area for what they are asking. From a buyers POV you just wouldn't.

To a degree you can also ask 'why do people seem to get frustrated or angry with people who overprice their house?'.

(Not saying you are, just reflecting on the frustration I see on here about it.)

If you're not being forced to buy it, then it harms no one to just sit forever on Rightmove at the wrong price

Agents won't let them drop below the local minimum, citing that it brings the whole street down, not good for business.

Yes, I agree -- Mn seems to froth about this, when surely it's a victimless 'crime'. If something is overpriced for the market, it won't sell. The only people to suffer, if anyone suffers, will be the sellers. I don't understand the levels of ire it seems to excite on here.

The other house related thing that seems to get people very hot and bothered is comparing a current selling price with last time the house sold and complaining that the sellers haven't added £30k of value or whatever, so they're just being greedy putting it on at that much above the price they bought it at.

The fact remains that a house is worth what someone will pay for it. A sought-after neighbourhood and a rising market can mean you don't have to do anything at all to make money on a house.

I once knew someone who deliberately kept the asking price too high because they didn’t want to move and couldn’t afford to buy their ex out. It’s often a stalling tactic in a contentious relationship breakdown. Best not to get drawn into it. The “vendor” (one of them anyway…) isn’t necessarily serious about selling but has to go through the motions.

It's more common than you think, there are loads of houses just languishing for months and months on Rightmove and not selling, I know the estate agent is only thinking about their commission but a decent one should also give good advice to the vendors....

One just popped up where I live for £240k.

Yes its big (attic conversion to add 2 extra bedrooms) but its still just a terrace and I'd seen it before so looked at zoopla history. Its been posted like 4 times with 4 agents all with prices between £240-£250k in the last few years.

Quarter of a million for a standard terrace house in a cheap northern ex-mining area, that just won an award for one of the worst areas to live in the country lol.

Next most expensive house on the street (which is the same size with attic conversion) is valued at £140k, most are without attic conversions and sit at around the £90-£100k mark.

It probably won't sell this time either but they clearly have a set price they think its worth and won't take less. They maybe deluded but it really doesn't effect anything.

Oh also there is a house near me not wildly expensive at £60k (but its only a small 2 up, 2 down terrace so thats standard price) and it needs FULL renovation (heating, electrics, damp, full redecorating etc...) but more so than all that... it even still has an OUTHOUSE.

I don't mean a spare outhouse that just wasn't demolished when indoor plumbing was added... I mean that is the ONLY toilet for the whole house.

More shockingly it looks like until last year and elderly couple where still actively living in it. Imagine having to crap in an uninsulated, unheated, dark (no window), single brick shed in the garden on a icy/snowy day like today.

imagine having to crap in an uninsulated, unheated, dark (no window), single brick shed in the garden on a icy/snowy day like today.

Or worse still, having to go in the middle of the night!

I grew up with an outside toilet, and it was exactly that chilly and grim, plus a total fiesta of spiders.

Some people find the behaviour, motivation and seeming irrationalities of others an interesting topic for general chit chat and speculation. If you don't, then feel free to move on. I don't think the OP is having a weird emotional outburst about this!

This actually makes me tempted to put mine up! I am not planning to move, but for the right price I certainly would. Maybe they're just seeing how it goes

I guess sometimes it only makes sense for them to sell and move if they can get a sufficently high price, and it's a bit of a long short but worth a try. But often I think people are just being weirdly deluded.

It does make a difference what type of house you have. If you have an inexpensive, standard sort of house that is similar to many in the area and you have not sold after a few months then it is clearly over priced. But if you have an expensive, quirky, one-off type of house then the market is much smaller and it is much harder to price, so it may be worth waiting for the right buyer who is willing to pay.

Because if you aren't in a hurry to sell, eventually you'll find someone who wants it enough to pay it. It's just life. Patience gets you a lot if you aren't under pressure to sell

It's like at auctions, you only need two people to be keen to sell at a big profit. If you set a high reserve and it doesn't sell and you have time to try again and again, eventually someone will pay it.

I remember looking at a property that had been on the market for about 2 years unsold. It was overpriced. The EA encouraged an offer under which was made and rejected. Much later, I found out it had sold about 8 months later, way OVER the overpriced level because two had got in a bidding war.

I know nothing about your agent and I am sure they want a commission. But these ‘we buy any house’ people are famous for making (very) low offers.

Good luck with your sale

I've know a few people who, in my opinion, significantly overpriced houses that they claimed they wanted to sell. Their reasons seemed to be:

1. Couple who heard that a house in their street sold for £x, so they got carried away with the idea that they could sell theirs for the same and move to a lovely big countryside home with some cash to spare. Without thinking through that the house that sold for that amount was bigger and better in every way so the actual value of their house wouldn't be enough for them to afford the lifestyle they thought they wanted. I think at some level they must have know that it was too good to be true but keeping the house on the market allowed them to keep up the dream and view loads of countryside houses.
2. Couple in the middle of a divorce where they had agreed that the DH would live in the house until it was sold. I know that the DW wanted to reduce the price but the EA wouldn't without approval from both. DW was hoping that the EA would force his hand but they didn't seem to want to get involved.
3. Couple who overestimated the value to a buyer of the home improvements/furnishings etc in their home. So they acknowledged that a semi in their street generally sold for £x but added on £££ (roughly based on a % of the cost to them) for every item that they felt was valuable. So extra for the kitchen they fitted 3 years ago, 'top of the range' carpets (all nearly 10 years old), 'high end' door knobs/wall paper/shower/light fittings etc. In this case they were adamant that they were correct and left the house on the market at the same price for ages. Eventually it did sell because prices increased in the area but they are now convinced that they knew more than the EA etc and obviously their approach worked.

Agents won't let them drop below the local minimum, citing that it brings the whole street down, not good for business.

I think this is a factor with sellers as well as agents. People don't want to devalue their area.

I think it's delusion and still hanging onto when houses were in such demand the price was inflated. I went to see quite a few bungalows before this one and one in particular needed gutting but they still wanted £250k for really the walls and a back yard.

I argued the price of this one. People assume because one house on the street is worth a certain price theirs is.

I think people who design unusual house layouts that may work for them but would be offputting for the majority of the population are often not quite living in the same reality as other people. When they compare their house to others’, they can only see the ways their house is better - which it may be, for them. And so estate agents who can’t sell it at the price they want must be incompetent, because it’s impossible for them to imagine that their house isn’t as desirable to other people as they think it should be.

I suppose it depends if you can afford to make your own conditions.
So for instance, if someone was selling a home but didn't actually need that money then they also have the option of not selling until they get what they want.
Obviously if there are many similar houses available then chances are that an "over priced" house won't sell, but given the right circumstances there may be a buyer who, for whatever reason is prepared to pay more than the rest.

I think people can over-identify with their homes and take a 'low' offer as a personal insult.

And some homes are hard to value. Mine is quirky, to put it politely, and very out of line with what people generally go for in this affluent family area ( shoddy conversion of old pub building, lots of space and high ceilings but few rooms, no right angles, very steep stairs, no garden etc). When the time comes to sell, I will have to consider whether to just price low or wait for the few people who will love it as much as I do.

Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay.

There is a new build near me. Completed over a year ago, it is lovely, actually a good size, but still on the market a year later. Clearly overpriced.