Have I priced too high?

[EscapeToSuffolk]

Hello there,
My house has only been on the market for around one week but due to a delay with a transfer of ownership I've already been in Suffolk for five weeks and I've only got one week left to view houses before I need to go home.

The house two doors away sold in a few days and was on for 280k, and whilst it has new bathrooms and a different (but not necessarily better) layout downstairs, it's the same house. I was going to put my house on for 265k but then because my neighbour's house was on for 280k I upped the price at the last minute to 270k. I assumed that they wouldn't sell for less than the asking price after just a few days on the market although I may be wrong.

There were two viewings yesterday and some feedback I've had (from one of the viewers) was that she didn't like the view over the back fence (easily resolvable from downstairs at least), the ceilings on the top floor were too sloped and she thought it was only worth 260k. She also said that it was weird that I'd upped the price but she only knows this because her viewing was booked before my house went live on Rightmove.

I need to sell quickly and I'm viewing a beautiful house tomorrow that I don't want to lose. It would be odd to reduce the price at this stage wouldn't it? If I do fall in love with the house I'm viewing tomorrow is there any way I can hold on to it? I can't keep driving up and down because I have chronic fatigue and I never know how well I'm going to be.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/162243332?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

I can't see this study area on the plan.
It's a principal bedroom not principle.
Your third bedroom is tiny 10x6. Suggesting it's generous is misleading and I'd be disappointed.
Your Kitchen and Dining area also sounds very narrow.

I deliberately haven't looked at photos. Just the plan. It's a shame the top floor doesn't have a bath in the en suite.

The size of the third bedroom and that odd bit of hall would put me off paying a premium price for it. And I'd want a bath on the top floor. I'd also be put off by the lack of storage space.

Leave at 270. You will get offers. Don't go on one opinion.

This

The EA should be ashamed of that floor plan def have them correct it

Most homes are priced a bit over the price they’re expected to sell for. You expect to have some negotiations with people who put in offers.
We were in exactly the same situation as you 7 years ago. We put our home on the market shortly after 2 houses right near us, which were very similar, sold within hours of advertising. We’d found a house we wanted and thought it would be easy. It wasn’t. Our first agent only got us 3 viewings in 7 months, then when we swapped agents we had a buyer who pulled out after 3 months, and finally moved 1 year after first going on the market. We ended up with that house that we wanted, due to a very tragic event for the couple who had their offer accepted on it and had to pull out.
Nothing happens quickly in the property market. Your house will sell, and you’ll end up where you were meant to be. If you don’t manage to find your dream home by the time yours sells then you can always rent and take your time.

It doesn’t matter how you price it. People will offer what they think it’s worth and people will make an offer based on if they actually want the house.
tell your agent to call the buyer and tell her you’ll accept £260K. Is she in a good position to procede? If she isn’t then just keep it on the market. You need no chain or a small chain in your circumstances

I think your house looks lovely. But I’d be put off by the water at the bottom of the garden and flood risk. As for the top bedroom, I’d move that bedside table to the sloping roof side, push those beds together and put a double/king size quilt on them.

Unless the stream is on your land I would remove it from photos.
The bed with the purple bedding looks squashed with the bed tight against the radiator.

Some photos are repeated and some just seem to be of your furniture.

If you want a quick sale then the best thing to do is price it low to get more interest and then you might find you have competing bidders who bid over. Certainly that’s the case where I am (south east). The house I’m buying was on for £725k, had 18 viewings in a weekend and I got it for £770k.

If reducing the price you also need to drop it enough to get into a different Rightmove price bracket in order to have it seen by a different group of buyers. I would drop it to £250k asking price since you want a quick sale, and that will get buyers in the £240-250k bracket seeing it.

Tell the estate agent you’re open to sensible offers, I wouldn’t tell them what your bottom line price is this early on. Change the busy purple duvet cover to something lighter. People regularly put feedback on price just ignore, if they were serious they would do a second viewing and make an offer.

I love the view of the stream!
My DS is house hunting and would jump at a house with that kind of view.

I haven't house-hunted for 43 years, but my DDs have and I know that things take time to get it right for you. So don't rush into anything however much you think you need to. Offers fall through, asking prices fall, circumstances change.

45 years ago we were desperate to move to a bigger house. We found several we liked in the same area we already lived but ours didn't sell. It was two years before the couple who viewed it initially came back and made a good offer. Of course we had nowhere in mind to buy. We got a phone call out of the blue from the owner of a house we had viewed two years earlier to say a neighbour had told him we had sold our house and asked if we were still interested in his. We didn't even know that it was still for sale cos there was no board up and the estate agent (who was also ours!) had not mentioned it. He had had to move down south for promotion and the house had been empty for 18 months. He was running a mortgage and a bridging loan. We went back to view it again and made a quite low offer - which was accepted! We are still here and love it.

What I am saying is do not rush into things too much. Be sure the new house is what you really want (or can easily be altered - as we have done). I also wouldn't fret too much about a £10k price difference - over 25 or 30 years you won't even notice the extra monthly figure.

Good luck.

I agree that this is best if you want a quick sale or if the market is falling or stagnant (may not be the case in Yorkshire). People will think they can get a bargain at a time when they are very wary of overpaying and may therefore rush in to bid.

I don't think it's sensible to ignore feedback unless it's obviously rubbish (eg something that was obvious from the listing).
Most buyers don't give feedback because they either can't be bothered and don't want to give any more of their time or because they are too embarrassed to be truthful (pretty typical British behaviour). This buyer is quite unusual in being honest and makes the point that increasing the price is odd. It would be wise to take note, especially if @EscapeToSuffolk doesn't receive some offers soon. Pricing too high in general can definitely put buyers off.

It looks like a really lovely house, although it needs a little bit of work because the wallpaper in some of the rooms is awful and the garden isn't really a garden and so needs completely doing which I would factor in to any offer that I made. However, I'm not able to comment on the price because I don't know the area and around here. Something like that next to a river would be edging towards a million pounds here if not more so I really have no idea if yours is well priced or not as it seems like a complete bargain to me in comparison.

I wouldn't set any store in one person's view and I would just focus on other buyers. But if you are able to I would rearrange beds as people have suggested and perhaps do some better pictures and also try and at least get some pots of plants in the garden so it doesn't look so bare and plastic. You need to style it a bit outside, but otherwise I think it looks a perfectly pleasant house and I can't see why you wouldn't sell it quickly.

I think it looks really lovely, ideal for a retirement home. The sloping ceiling is only a nuisance if there is a bed against that wall, so a double bed in the middle would be fine. I'm also puzzled by there being no door into that room, but assume it has been there since the house was built so was on the original planning consent. For later work you'd obviously need a completion certificate.

I'd have thought that any decent agent would have suggested that she make an offer, it isn't far from your asking price really. Your price sounds sensible in view of what others sold for, provided you don't have the same problems as the previous £250k sale as regards uncertified work. Do you know what work they had done?

@angela1952 I think it looks really lovely, ideal for a retirement home.

You think a 3 storey semi makes a good retirement home!!! You clearly have better knees that me to haul laundry and things up and down all the stairs!

Yes, I’m in my mid 70’s! I’d may not use the top floor as my bedroom though. I downsized from 5 storeys a couple of years ago, sleep on the second floor now.

recently gone through this myself. If you want to sell quick list the house for what you actually want for it not what you think the most is you can get. Or ask the agent what the 6 week selling price is for your house.
if you are looking for the higher end of its value then it will take longer to sell and you need to accept that. If you want to sell up and move on list it for a competitive price… maybe that is 260k

I listed mine for what was probably too high and lost out on a house we wanted because it took longer to sell ours.
we then found a buyer and had offer accepted on another house…. Almost one year on and the chain broke down as someone down the chain was taking too long.
I now have another buyer and proceeding to buyer a different house. Hopefully 3rd time lucky.
buying and selling in this country can be really stressful.
if you have seen something you like price your house so it will sell quick. It looks a really nice house the views are very pretty. Good luck.

I think it’s a lovely house, but year ago a really nice 4 bed semi sold there for £250,000
I think £250-255k would be a more realistic price.

I'm with you - I've just bought a 3 storey house fully intending to retire here.