Low offers due to people wanting to make big changes to the house

[CBradshaw]

We are selling my Dads house after he passed away. The offers received so far have been 10% or more below asking price. They've all said it's because they want to extend or make changes to the house (such as moving the location of the front door). We have declined all offers, as we know the house is worth close to the asking price, due to location (sought after road in the town), and the size/privacy of the front and rear garden.

Is it normal for buyers to pay a lot less for a house that they want to change, but doesn't actually need any alterations? I think they want a house on this road, but the actual house/layout doesn't meet their requirements.

If you don't get an asking price offer, you need to accept a lower offer. 10 per cent off is not too bad in this market.

A house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. The market is awful in many areas at the moment.

Buyers offer what they are prepared to pay.

if you feel it is worth more you need to wait for a buyer who agrees. The whole market is very difficult now.

If it isn’t reaching the price you want, surely you just decline the offer?

No such thing as what a house is 'worth'. If it's not selling the price needs reducing or you need to take it off the market and try at a better time.

A house is only worth what someone will pay for it. Having said that, you don't have to accept low offers. Depends on how long you've been trying to sell it and how long you want to wait. A lot of sales go through in the Spring - all 3 places I have bought / sold were during Spring / Early Summer. Maybe worth waiting it out? I was told to always offer 5% under asking whatever, though twice just paid what they asked for as I really wanted the houses.

I wonder if it is in some cases an excuse to justify the low offer, hoping because of the circumstances that you will agree.

I wish we had none of this, which having the same house sale process as in Scotland would stop.

But to answer your real point, the buyer wanting to extend or modify the house isn't a good reason to offer less. Offering less because it needs a new roof or has a damp problem is reasonable.

Things are only worth what others are willing to pay for them - that goes for everything - houses, cars, even a pair of shoes. Sure there is a ballpark for property when it comes to location, size and key attributes (e.g. number of bathrooms), but where you might think something as it stands is worth £250,000, others will think that £240,000 is reasonable because certain elements aren't quite right or it's missing key facilities from their perspective.

All that said, it's not an ideal time of year to be selling and if you're 100% set on not taking lower offers then I think you'd be well advised to take it off the market and put it back on again in the spring.

The market is extremely soft. Having said that, offers below the asking price have been the norm for some years in a lot of areas, leaving aside the stamp duty holiday when prices went mad.

You could factor in what the house costs you sitting empty, and its deterioration, when thinking what to do

It’s only worth what someone will pay. Currently no one has viewed it and felt its current layout is suitable so therefore not worth asking price to them. Fairly standard to offer less on a property that has potential but you would want to spend money on. Of course you can decline and that a different buyer comes along.

People will offer what the house is worth to them. I would be wary about rejecting too many offers as you "know what the house is worth". The house is only worth what you can sell it for which at present seems to be less than you are marketing it for.

Don't rush in selling. We bought a property for the same money with all the things reasonably updated there. The property next door sold for the same price with everything being 50 years older

10% under isnt bad or insulting.

When we were looking in a buoyant market (ie not like it is now) we came across a lot of probate being sold by children due to the demographics in the area.
Properties are big family homes that people stay in so people do overpay if there isnt anything else available and the vendor wont move on price.

Some of those house WERE great house and most of those vendors did eventually get around the price they wanted... but it took years. Literal years.
The last of the "overpriced but nice" houses we viewed finally sold in the summer... it took 5.5.years!!!! In that time we bought a house, got engaged and married, and had 2 children!!!

If you have a price in mind and wont sell lower, my advice is just list it as fixed price and be prepared to wait.

Otherwise negotiate up to 5% off and get on woth your lives

Very good advice, 10% less than asking isn"t a "low offer", it may seem like a good offer in a few months, God knows what horrors the budget holds.

You’re likely making a poor financial decision. Once it is sold, the money can be invested and work for you. Until that point, the house is likely going down in value daily. If the house were in high demand you’d have been offered the asking price or more. The fact that you’re being offered less than the asking price shows that it’s a buyer’s market.

It’s not an offensive offer by any means.

People like to give a reason as to why they have offered lower. They like to include the reno costs within the house value or atleast part of it.
It’s subject to opinion though. The last house I brought had artex ceilings, original bathroom and kitchen (around 50 years old) and the seller couldn’t fathom why it would need to be changed.

The problem with selling a house that is unoccupied after a death (which I assume is the case here) is that the monthly costs of maintaining the property quickly start to add up. You only get a council tax exception for six months after probate, and if itls still on the market a year later may well get stung with an empty house premium. Unoccupied house insurance is considerably more expensive, and with stricter conditions. and you'll be spending time and/or money on things like keeping the garden tidy etc.

So it';s sometimes a false economy to keep hanging on for a slightly better price....

Exactly! There is nothing wrong with the house - it has been well maintained. I understand we probably won't get the asking price, but it seems people are wanting pay a lot less, to make non-essential changes to the property.
Three estate agents said it was worth at least the price we have put it on for. But we are willing to accept a 3 or 4% reduction. It is a large 4 bed house in an expensive area, and a 10% reduction is a large amount of money (splitting the proceeds between siblings, who will use the money to help buy their own properties). Most houses where we live will need to pay stamp duty.

realky depends how quickly you want to sell - my father in law bought a 3 bed bungalow last year at this time of year in a very up and coming town - they wanted initially £440k, reduced to £425 and he bought it at £404 - thing was although it was in relatively good order to suit his needs it needed about £18k spending on it -(new boiler, bathroom renovation and remodel , outside decorate, take out some gas appliances etc) at £425 he wanted somewhere that needed absolutely nothing - so I told him to make the offer and they accepted because it was a lady’s house who had passed away and sons were paying to have it staged and waiting on inheritance - as I say it’s only worth what someone will pay relative to what they can/want to pay. Would they have got £440k ? probably at some point, great area, and for an older persons place in very good order- but they didn’t want showing people for months on end over a winter- at£440 or £425 he would probably have just carried on looking as had sold his and was stating in a lovely Airbnb for a few months . He himself took an offer 10% less when he sold after a week on the market and 5 viewers because the buyer could proceed straight away with no complications and he didn’t want months of people coming round - could he have got more-? Probably yes -

I'd hold out for a better offer. The house is probably on a plot that wouldn't normally come up, and that's where the value is.

This. I have no idea about the market where you are, OP, but any house is only worth what someone wants to pay for it.

Buyers market at the minute and a 10% under asking price offer seems fairly standard. When you say you know it’s worth that are you looking at recent sold prices? Prices seem to have dipped recently. Certainly don’t just look at other asking prices as they may well not achieve their asking prices.

I’d take the offer and offer and get rid to be honest, who’s paying the council tax and any repairs if it sits on the market for another year or so?

Are you going back with a counter offer or just refusing

I'm not sure why you think the Scottish system would prevent this. I'm in Scotland and this happens here - people offer what they believe a property is worth to them. The seller can choose to accept the offer, or not.