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.

People just don't know how to negotiate properly and get hung up on crazy small amounts like £250 which are peanuts in the grand scheme of entire detail, which is exactly the thing to avoid. The art of negotiation is that neither side gets precisely what they want, but gets a price that they are both willing to accept. Throughout the process buyers and sellers need to signal their willingness to want to make a deal happen.

Houses aren't worth what the sellers think they are, or what estate agents value them at. They are worth what buyers are willing and able to pay.

Not so unusual if you only make one offer and there is no counter offer.

That just signals that a person is not willing to negotiate and often potential buyers just walk.

Yes, this is right. They can hardly expect you to reduce the price so that they can spend more on their building work. It's a difficult market at the moment and loads of people will be trying it on, do you have to sell now?

We had one offer for our old house which wasn't dramatically less than the asking price, but then we discovered that the agent was using a relocation agent and the difference in price was roughly what they'd be paying for his fee.
We found another buyer who paid the full price, we certainly weren't going to pay for their agent's fees.

It is a reason for the perspective buyers though.

I've got my eye on a house at the moment. It is theoretical currently as we haven't sold, but, if I were in a position to buy, I would only buy it for quite a bit less than it is on for, because, in order for it to work for us I would need to do quite a bit of work on it. That is therefore "a good reason to offer less" .

Now, I completely understand that the people selling it can say no. That's how a free market works.
But then, this particular property (which is empty, and just looking at the decor of the house, I am assuming it is being sold by the dc of elderly people that used to live there), has been on the market for many months now, so it would seem there aren't a queue of people wanting to pay what it is on the market for, presumably (without linking to the property) because everyone else is thinking the same as me ..... 'I like the location and the land the building is on but I would "have to" do X, y, and z for it to work for me'. So the only way I would buy that property is if there was money in the budget for x, y, and z. Which is exactly the reason why I would offer less than it is on for.
Up to the vendors if they accept that offer or if they are willing to negotiate.

Not necessarily. They may just not want to pay more for the house. Many people make excuses and (understandably) don't want to disclose their maximum budget. Sentiment is much lower now than it was even a year ago and so not everyone is rushing to pay whatever a seller is asking.

I think you need to soften your sister up to having some flexibility - consider how much moving on with the sale will be worth to you all, and accept that there will be delays and stress even once an offer is accepted, so a low proceed able offer may be worth considering in the next few weeks. In 6 months time, if it hasn't sold, you'd probably bite their hand off, so consider that.

Exactly that. They've been watching too many episodes of Place In The Sun🤣

Your house is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. Choose the one that is proceedable and get on with it - tough market

Maybe have a think about how much you imagine their proposed work would cost and be mentally prepared to drop to that level, given that everyone offering seems to be looking to do that work.

The key information that is missing is how long it has been on the market. If over a year you are being unreasonable and this is what it is worth.

Could you pop a screenshot of the floorplan on, so we can see if it really is awkward?

OP. has said - a month.

As others have said 10% below ask is completely normal.

A house is worth what people are willing to pay for it and some agents overvalue in order to get the listing. They also don’t know exactly what the house is worth to the market until the offers come in.

You can hold out for a better offer but if you haven’t had offers above these in 6 months, this is your price bracket.

I did have a look back and missed that 🫣
It it’s only been on a month you just need to wait for a more serious offer.

This. One of the houses we purchased required going back and forth a bit until we reached an agreement. We weren’t prepared to pay asking price because it didn’t reflect a number of things however seller felt our offer was way too low. They came back with a counter offer we went back again with another offer and settled there. It’s not personal it’s just business. I do think estate agents are to blame though. They’re very lazy and don’t assist much these days because they’re getting their commission irrespective I guess.

I don’t understand why people on here know so little about house buying.

It’s completely normal to consider properties 10% over your max because a listing price is a goal not a final position. This is especially true if a property needs a lot of work - in which case the agent has no idea what buyers might pay for it until offers start coming in.

Unless you’re in a very competitive area or a competitive market or both properties don’t usually go for ask.

The fact that they ALL want to modify it suggests it probably does need doing and isn’t conducive to modern living.

@Moveoverdarlin Hard to say, but it's probably an excuse to offer a low price.

My condolences OP to lose both parents that young is awful x

Id take it off and put it back on in late spring.

Be prepared to negotiate. In my experience, if it was very much sought after you would have got an asking price offer.

There’s going to be issues with it, dated and the floor plan being awkward is a major issue I am afraid especially for first time buyers as they need to be able to visualise living there.

The moment a buyer steps in and starts to feel the need to move layout or major renovations it’s automatically worth less to them because they’re factoring in those additional costs.

whatever you do do not let sit on the market for months. Buyers will sniff you out as being difficult to sell and make lower offers.

Make sure you have a good estate agent.

beware council tax kicks in 6 months from probate and can be 200% charge now. Also how much between you is the drop in price - £50,000 between 4 persons is only £12,500 . 🤷🏻‍♀️

beware council tax kicks in 6 months from probate and can be 200% charge now. Also how much between you is the drop in price - £50,000 between 4 persons is only £12,500 . 🤷🏻‍♀️

How much are you paying for unoccupied property insurance each month ? Or is one of you living there ? Council tax ? Gas and electric and water ?

We paid 2% under the asking price on an already reduced property - and it was still a about 10k over the average for the road! It had been on the market for a year but it had some modern adjustments were we felt we could justify it for the area.

I had wanted the house for 6 months from when I seen it online, but we needed to save harder for the deposit - the estate agents wouldn't even let us view the house without an agreement in principle. So my point is, you never know who is around the corner ready to make an offer!

A month is nothing, the right buyer will be along it might just take time.

Sorry for your loss of your parents and good luck with the sale x

My comment when someone offered 3k less because it might need a new boiler in the next year or two was “if it needed a new boiler I would have paid for it and had the benefit myself” The house sold for 5k over asking. This was in 1998 though.
it really annoys me if people put in a low offer because they want to make changes to suit their taste rather than necessity.