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?!

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

This is why commodes and chamber pots were invented.

This thread reminded me of a house I saw advertised nearly two years ago, clearly in need of total renovation (most likely a probate sale), but priced similarly to or higher than much nicer, fully renovated houses nearby. It has been through several agents, and at one point the description was written in the most over-the-top, flowery language, which made me think the estate agents were so frustrated they were having a laugh.

I just checked, and it is still on the market, very slightly reduced but still overpriced - and the reduction was a year ago! What on earth are the owners thinking?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/142693931#/?channel=RES_BUY

I find this fascinating too. I viewed a house about a year ago that was being marketed at £350K but turned out to be "guide price £350-375K". It goes off the market periodically but always comes back on at the same price with a different agent. The ceiling price on the road is £300K but that's been achieved precisely once by a house that was well maintained and stunning internally, whereas this one is an unashamed fixer upper. I've studied the area for several years and think it would be better marketed at £275K with a view to accepting £250K, which is a whopping difference from what they're asking. That said, it's a lovely house in terms of the space and character, and if I had silly money lying around maybe I'd consider it? I guess they're hanging out for that one smitten buyer, but honestly it's hard to see it happening any time soon. I'm very curious to know their story - is it greed? debt? some ambitious onward dream?

I've seen it said that houses are a bit like cars and no amount of bling will make it worth that much more than next door.

having said that its often the 'pensioner' houses that shift quickest as everything in it has to go anyway so you are not spending money on a perfectly good kitchen that isnt to your taste

Sometimes people want a certain amount of money to move, don't need to move and won't move until they get that.

It's no biggie. The only pain is that you have to constantly keep your house like a show home in order to show people around. But if you are willing to do that it actually makes sense as a strategy to get the highest price.

I would ideally put a house on the market as soon as I had bought it for some % more and see what the market brings. I wouldn't care if I sold or not. But the problem is I would not like having people poking round the place every 5 minutes.

I find it interesting psychologically. Makes you wonder if they struggle to accept reality in other areas of their life too. Like do they demand massive pay rises each year from their employer because they need more money, or do they accept there is a market rate for the job they do.

A relative had their house on the market just over a year and refused to drop the price despite his partner urging him to -- but someone eventually came along and paid the asking price. They didn't even getting a builder's or council report which is probably why the paid the high price.

The buyer definitely overpaid and they'll presumably find out the house has had all repairs done by the owner and that it's prone to flooding. I suppose it proves if you're happy to wait around for a (likely very naive) buyer, you could get what you're after.

I'm currently watching the house down the street from me which has been on the market for 18 months at a high price to see what happens with it.

@SoloSofa24 it's a good looking house externally though so I suspect they think someone might bite when there's nothing local to compare it against and really wants that area

Lots of reasons.
Many are just deluded.
Some don't research the market at all and just listen to poor advice from bad estate agents.
Some are greedy/arrogant/ used to getting their own way and expect the market to rise as it has for most of the last 40 years.
Some are divorcing couples, where one is using the house as a weapon against the other.
Or a mixture!
A lot of these people have been lucky as the market has mostly risen in the last 40 years but I think a lot less of them are likely to be so fortunate now as the market is likely to fall or stagnate long term at best. I think most buyers see these listings now and just move on.

Except that over the two years there have been multiple houses for sale on that street or very similar neighbouring ones, including this one literally opposite it - in much better condition and asking price £5k less - which has sold rapidly. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/149225285#/?channel=RES_BUY

I think the sellers of the first one are just delusional, or perhaps it is a probate property with a group of co-executors who just can't agree and won't take advice from estate agents. I am sure if they knocked £40k or 50k off it would sell pretty fast.

I think the sellers of the first one are just delusional, or perhaps it is a probate property with a group of co-executors who just can't agree and won't take advice from estate agents. I am sure if they knocked £40k or 50k off it would sell pretty fast.

This thread is so strange. Why does anyone care if a house is on the market for more than it appears to be worth? Not everyone is in a hurry to sell. If you don't need the money, if you wait long enough sooner or later you'll find someone who will pay what you are asking.

It doesn't mean people are delusional or probate who can't agree. They just may not care how long it takes and prepared to hold on. If you don't need the money, you can wait forever.

@SoloSofa24 oh I think they are delusional too - can't be that desparate to sell

@SoloSofa24 that sold one is a cracking house I agree - hence why it's sold !!

Reducing an asking price from say 475k to 450k would only reduce commission by £300 when sold (assuming the agency fee is 1.2% which is what the agent that I’m employed by charges) so, for the agent to want keep it at a higher price in order to gain just £300 isn’t sensible. So many vendors get peed off when we ask if they’ll consider a reduction.

Because the house is much better than what buyers would get in the area for the same price. Its not far from a dual carriageway, which was an advantage for me (and the new neighbours), but its a small pool of people who would even consider it, apparently.
Dropping our price didnt help one bit, so I have sympathy with some people being stubborn

I think some people have accumulated a LOT of clutter over the years and simply won't accept that they need to declutter in order to fit their life into a smaller space, and accepting less space is usually what you have to do if you are trying to move to a more central location where land prices are higher. Never understand people who are so reluctant to declutter - if you don't, you are essentially paying a hefty real-estate price to store dusty old piles of paper, unused hobby equipment and other junk.

A couple of my parents' elderly friends are trying to sell their houses at wishful-thinking prices because "Well, bungalows are so expensive!" Well, yes, of course bungalows are expensive because they are built on massive plots of land in order to fit a house-worth of space onto a single floor, what do you expect? The couples in question need to go through their massive amounts of junk properly, get ready to use smaller furniture and accept that they can't have both adult children's families to stay at once. They won't, though.

To be fair, just because this one is still listed doesn’t mean it isn’t under offer. It’s being marketed by Dexters, they don’t mark anything as SSTC as a database building technique. It’s very confusing and skews the data but I guess it also means that you can’t tell from a listing how many times a sale has fallen through etc. one day they just go off market.
We listed our home with a sister agency of theirs in roughly the same area that use the same strategy and ours looked like it had been on the market for 5 months with no offers when actually we’d sold in the first few weeks. It became a problem when that sale fell through as anyone looking in our area for the last few months had already seen our listing and either 1. Enquired and was told it was unavailable or 2. Assumed there was a problem with it.
at that time we were also purchasing a home through Dexters and same thing, we offered on it in the first week but it stayed “live”

That’s true about Dexter’s @Luckystar32

Very annoying the way they don’t mark their properties as SSTC or under offer even when they are in fact under offer and moving towards Exchange of contracts. Not aware of other EAs who do this - most like to show they have successfully facilitated a sale!

I agree with this. Some houses are very hard to value and come down to the right buyer at the right time.

We purchased a house a few years ago that was on the market a relatively long period of time for our area. It was a one-off detached house that needed some work and some of the grounds are quirky and put people off. In our town, the modern open plan houses tend to sell quickest whereas I love character, build quality, some nooks and crannies. After 18 months in the market, we randomly viewed it and fell in love instantly. It was our absolute dream home that we never thought we’d be able to afford. It didn’t put me off that others didn’t like it. We did get a small reduction but it was worth over the asking price to us as we just loved it!

I never understood pricing, I admit ours was overpriced initially but we’ve dropped it substantially and still no interest, yet other smaller houses nearby sell for about the same and in some cases more, if everything needed replacing I could maybe understand it, but all the major things, kitchen, bathrooms, boiler have been replaced within the last four years , our agent said that unfortunately more and more people want what they describe as TikTok houses and aren’t prepared to bid on anything they may have to do a bit of work on, my view, if you want that, buy a new build

Possibly because the EA tells them to reduce the price, and they refuse so move to another one.

I've seen this happen a few times, eventually the market catches up.

It is always either poor marketing or price. It’s absolutely no use deciding on a figure needed to secure an onward purchase, if you can never sell at that figure. You either have to reduce the price and hope the purchase reduces, or adjust your expectations of what you can buy.

@WidgetDigit2022 I agree with that too- we rent our lovely house but if landlord sold it would probably seem way overpriced as it's not that big 1500sq ft approx with a converted garage. It's like a very big semi detached stone built cottage in a very sought after area. It isn't a bog standard place that would suit everyone but it would sell for someone who wants that location and wants neither huge nor a pokey cottage. - our neighbour sold recently- seemed hugely overpriced to me- but sold in about 6 weeks and only had 4 viewings- I think it's a different market if selling houses that are a rarity in a certain area

There is a house near us that has been on the market for FOUR YEARS at around the same price (sometimes a bit higher, sometimes a bit lower) with all sorts of different agents but the same, terrible pictures. No interest at all.

They’re actually running out of estate agents and will have to loop back round and re-use ones they used earlier. I know at least one EA has declined to act for them.

To be fair, as house prices keep rising, if they keep selling it the same price over years, they are sooner or later going to find their house competitively priced