Sellers won’t reduce price despite two years on the market

[EpsomSalted]

My dream home is in the market. It was put up for sale for £800k at the start of 2024, it’s now on for £750k but the reduction was a year ago.

The price is due to the location which is stunning. But the location comes with pitfalls as its on a private estate which is renouned for being badly managed and is being neglected so badly. Therefore the Trustees of the estate are the sellers and they are not acknowledging that it’s the fact they own the surrounding estate that means the house won’t sell. Its freehold but with covenants.

the house itself is in a state of disrepair and needs a complete overhaul but again they won’t acknowledge the rising cost of building works in their price.

we offered £625k and they said no. It was more than fair for what the house is. I know I have to give up on it but it’s empty and unloved and falling into further disrepair each month which breaks my heart. I just want to check whether anyone has any ideas for securing the sale beyond raising our offer which we can’t do if we are to have money to save the house. We are cash buyers not in a chain so as attractive as can be from that point of view.

There’s a house you like that you can’t afford. Welcome to the rest of the world!

This!!

Thought I'd seen on the news that the Trust had money problems? If so, their hands are probably tied to getting as much money as possible for it.

its on a private estate which is renouned for being badly managed and is being neglected so badly. Therefore the Trustees of the estate are the sellers and they are not acknowledging that it’s the fact they own the surrounding estate that means the house won’t sell. Its freehold but with covenants

With respect, that's not anyone's dream home, that's an absolute nightmare.

Why on earth would you want to buy it.

The bottom line is, you can't afford the house you want, and you re trying to buy it. Cheaply, because you think you can get round the trustees, but you can't, they don't want to sell to you

What would you have done if that house had never been on the market. You'd have looked for something else, so I suggest you do.

But that cheaper second house you linked to has a train line literally running past its garden in the second to last photo. That would be why it’s so much cheaper.

I do think your sentimental attachment to this house is completely clouding your judgement here. That can be a very strong pull but you need to just give your head a wobble.

It's a gorgeous house @EpsomSalted (but then, I'm biased as I love the Arts & Crafts architectural period and used to own one that many people referred to as ugly because they'd not seen the stunning garden frontage!)

However, it does seem as though you're not meant to buy it. Some sellers (in this case the trust) are intransigent and just can't accept that the property they're selling isn't worth what they think.

We had a similar issue when looking to buy a Georgian cottage on the south coast last year. The elderly lady vendor who's never lived there, but inherited it along with many other properties locally decades ago, had let it out for ages and it was in a terrible state, having sat empty for the past couple of years. We had a builder look at it and offered low accordingly, on the understanding that we were about to exchange on our sale, would be cash buyers and wouldn't have a survey. Our offer was rejected without negotiation. We couldn't afford to go higher and sympathetically restore the property so reluctantly walked away.

It sat on the market for a further six months at which point it was withdrawn and subjected to a 'renovation' that included inappropriate damp-proofing, partial cement render and removing a chimney stack. The shabby 1950s(?) kitchen hasn't been replaced. It's now back on the market at a vastly increased price but isn't shifting because the period integrity is lost. It makes me incredibly sad - especially as we eventually panic-bought a less lovely Georgian cottage around the corner so see it every day.

I do hope you somehow manage to buy it 🤞

Read this, OP.

https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/regulator-assesses-governance-concerns-at-devon-charity-after-trustee-departures.html

You'd need to spend a bomb on it, OP. If you don't have the budget to buy it, you're not going to be able to do much about all the work that needs doing. The exterior looks badly neglected and the interior unfinished. It's semi-detached and you have no idea what the neighbours are like.

The views are to die for, but you can always go for a lovely walk round there, instead of staring around the big crumbling house that you'll always struggle to make more comfortable! I can't imagine winters there being very cosy. It looks as though whoever lived there before finally lost heart faced with such a bottomless money pit.

I'm a terrible one for heart-over-head decisions, but I'd swerve this one.

You dont have the budget to buy it your not going to be able to the work that desperately needs doing. Its badly neglected & unfinished.
Yes the views are pretty but your dodging a bomb with this one - by the time the mortage is paid off & the work done your looking at the 1 million mark. Madness.

It will break your heart op.
(Or become a trustee as they appear to need more ;)

I know that you would like this house but the reality is that they want more money for it. Then it requires a lot of work. Old house that have not been maintained are money pits. Once you start working on them more and expensive problems become apparent. I have family in the building trade and they told me that since COVID the cost of everything from screws up to large items has gone up a lot.
Then you could put a lot of money into this and not get it back if you wanted to sell at a later date.

About 10 years ago I had a friend looking for a house. They were living in a small house. They wanted a bigger detached home with a garden in a specific area. They looked at several houses. One house needed work both inside and out but the owners still wanted a large price for it. My friends had a friend of hers in the building trade look at the house. They told her what the work would cost and said unless you can get it for x price to keep looking for another house.
They decided to keep looking for another house. They found a better house that needed some work done. The work was say painting rooms and doing up a garden. It was save a bit for a while to do job a and do the same again for job b.
That house is now worth far more because of the work they did and it location.
About 5 years ago they told me that the house they had said no to was still for sale at the same price and it was very apparent that no one had lived in it for years.

I see that the house is on the Dartington Estate. I know the area too and agree that it is a stunning estate but has not been looked after carefully in recent years. I have a friend who has been closely associated with the estate for decades and she has told me about its history and the major problems current trustees, who aren't invested in it at all, as you said. It's tragic.

Unfortunately, you can't force a seller to accept your price, fair as it is. In this case, I think you are not thinking carefully and are being drawn in purely with your heart. It's completely understandable, but I don't think it would be wise to buy this house.

I'm sorry but it's their house and it's up to them what they are prepared to sell it for
If you can't offer more and they won't drop the price further you should look for somewhere else

ffs grow up

its their house their price

Thank your lucky stars they’ve not sold to you and run a mile. That place is a money pit with a ton of issues and it’s not even nice inside. Plenty of places have nice(r) settings without the nightmare aggro you know this involves. Forget about it and buy somewhere viable. You’ll never regret not buying that.

What's the sentimental value?

RTFT

The other house is so much nicer.

You're wasting time obsessing over this house when there are other, better houses you could buy with more realistic owners.

Honestly the house looks a state. You will need to spend thousands on it

2nd house you linked much nicer but it’s 3 bed not 4 so will be cheaper

plus train line right beside it

tho looks like only bathroom upstairs is via in bed 1 so if bed 2 needs to go downstairs if need a wee

I don’t get why you are so attached to this house - did you live there once ?
In the end the sellers /trustees want a price for it that you can’t afford so they won’t sell it to you

maybe become a trustee. Why have think 10 left and only 2 there now

Some PP seem to think you get the whole house for 700k. You only get half of it!

For 700k plus probably another 100k of renovation costs that is quite a small house. 1300 sq feet semi with 500 p.a. ground rent. At 800k after refurb costs that’s almost a London price in terms of pounds per square foot.

They can take the long game. It's not an individual so they can afford to wait. You don't want to wait.

I can see why you love it, but its going to very expensive to do up.

I love it. I think if you want it that bad, then offer the asking price

Yeah, they're clearly in no rush whatsoever. So she may as well take it that it's essentially off the market.

They own it and thet do not have to sell it.

If you want it enough to obsess over it, offer more for it.

It sold in 2020 for £700,000. Presumably it was in a better state then!! Is the house next door occupied?