Should we accept the offer??

[LavenderLxx]

I’d like to pick your brains and see what you all think…

My brother and I are selling my late fathers house. It’s been on the market for 4 weeks at £800,000.

We’ve had 6 viewings and had the first offer a few days ago. The first offer was for £750,000 which we rejected. They have just come back with a second offer of £760,000.

They have sold their house and their buyer is in a rented place. My brother and I are in no mad rush to sell but the estate agent has said how slow the market currently is and how they’ve had some houses that have sat there for ages and then the price has had to be lowered to less than the original offers.

Just wondered if anyone had any words of wisdom? Should we push for a bit more? Hold out at £800,000? Accept their offer?!

Probate has already been granted

I wouldn't say about 8 weeks. They have a buyer too. Some areas have ridiculous delays on local searches. If they were no chain at all than maybe.

But I agree with goimg back with 775.

In higher price brackets thats not true at all.

I live in a northern pit village, average house price between £60k-£80k, over £150k and the market drops of sharply and over £300k its pretty much dead.

There is a HUGE farm with an award winning race horse stable house (and the business) and a tonne of land just down the road on for a few million.

It hasn't sold because no one round here has millions of pounds but that does not change the fact its clearly worth that. Its just got a tiny pool of buyers to draw from.

Yes it would OBVIOUSLY sell quickly at like £200k but that would be ridiculously under priced.

Another gorgeous house (the kind I dream of buying if I won the lottery) failed to sell 2 years ago at just £550k (and trust me it would have been worth every penny IF I had £550k).

its unfair to say yes if you'll only complete in 8 weeks. That's on the estate agents and solicitors how long they take. Mine took 6 months to complete because of the buyers solicitor taking so long and making unreasonable demands.

By the time you divide the difference in two, add CGT etc, agents fees on the extra, it is not worth haggling. Just sell it. Tomorrow the roof may start leaking and the boiler need replacing.

Yep. Same.

5% under asking price is a very good offer - presumably you priced it with the view that you'd negotiate downwards?

And how long have you got before double council tax kicks in?

The situation you have described with the farm, being advertised at 50 or 100 times the average house price in your area is not remotely similar to what is being described here, nor in the huge majority of cases up and down the country where houses are not selling.

The average house price in Surrey is over 500k so this house isn't even double that and is a common price bracket in Surrey. You would need to be talking about a house with an asking price of 25-50 million to make a reasonable comparison.

In the majority of cases where houses receive no offers in 6 months, it is because they are over priced. That clearly applies now when buyers ability to pay is being squeezed by multiple factors.

Go back at 780 and you'll take it off the market no further viewings and indicate to their EA you'd accept 775

If you are defo ready proceed (probate sorted) id get ready to sell to them. Counter offer by all means but in this market a proceedable offer is rare.
We are South East and houses in your price bracket are still on 6 months later, 2 years ago everything literally sold the day it went on.

Where abouts in the country is this? Perhaps I need to relocate here!

I'd Accept. The market is getting worse by the day.

I'd accept. They are in an excellent position to proceed.

I’d accept. It’s split between 2 of you and there is always worry with an empty house. It’s a decent offer, especially at the moment.

Having been through similar, I would accept the offer. It's taken nearly a year to sell the property (sale still not final) - only had about 6 vieweings and 2 offers. The first one dicked around and then pulled out after wasting months.

You may not be in a hurry to sell, but maintaining a property is a drain on your energy and finances. If you hold out for a better offer, the property could be on the market for over a year or more and anyone looking to buy will wonder what's wrong with it if it's been on the market so long.

I'd also think carefully about insisting buyers complete in a short timeframe (unless you have lots of buyers interested). My sale still hasn't completed and it's been over 6 months from the point I accepted the offer. There's nothing holding up either side, just slow solicitors and pointless bureaucracy.

Not all councils charge double council tax. I don't pay it on my second property.

Council tax is due 6 months after probate was granted which will be mid October for us.

I’d take it. It took us 6 months to sell and we made a massive loss. Get rid of it and you’re still getting lots of money.

On an 800k house, I’d snap their arm off to accept the offer in today’s market.

Absolutely accept. Houses generate the most interest when they first go on sale, and this has been on for 4 weeks. You’ve got a good offer. If you don’t sell to this buyer, it may not sell for some time (based on your EA’s advice on the area), and at that point you’d probably have to take a bigger reduction to reflect the fact it hasn’t sold.

You could counter offer but you don’t know if they’re interested in other properties which they may pursue before increasing an offer to you. Just don’t risk it. In this market, it’s not worth it.

I’d definitely accept as well. It’s a good price and better to sell quickly to a proceedable buyer than languish for ages, costing you more money and potentially putting off other buyers wondering why it’s not selling.

I’m in the middle of the stress of selling and buying at the moment. I accepted every sensible offer going and it still took 3 offers until I found a sensible buyer who was proceedable rather than others who offered more but were not able to move forward with the sale for various reasons. A decent proceedable buyer is worth a lot in terms of the stress it saves down the line.

On news today it said house prices have gone up at their fastest rate in a year.

I’d accept that quickly! You don’t seem to understand what’s happening in the current housing market at all. You’d be so so lucky to get another offer and one which is this close to asking.

You’re right, I don’t really understand the current market. Along with the grief and dealing with probate etc I just don’t have the headspace to do my homework (which I know is silly) so I’m relying on the estate agents I’ve spoken to and other family and friends. Hence also asking here f from people who are possibly more experienced and in the current market. I feel that as we’re selling it after probate and not looking to move elsewhere I have limited market knowledge.