House offer help

[lstedham]

A property we want has come for sale again. Originally for sale 2 years ago, missed out as a no chain buyer bought before we could sell ours. It was bought for £270,000 (marketed for £295,000)
The proerty is now for sale again - marketed at £299,999.
Nothing has been done to the house in the past 2 years.
We are now in a position that we could possibly buy that property before selling ours in order to secure it before it gets away again!
As house prices have decreased in the past 2 years, we have offered £260,000 last week and EA said seller wanted a couple days to think this over - its now been 7 days.
Where do we go from here? And what do you think an acceptable price would be to pay?

TIA

You need to decide how much it's worth to you.

It might be worth contacting the agent, just asking for an update. Could also be worth asking if there is a particular figure the sellers have in mind.

Your offer is more than reasonable if prices have fallen but I expect the sellers want to see if they can get a better off and not sell at a loss.
Try not to get too fixated on one property unless you love it so much that you are happy to over pay. Perhaps email the estate agent to ask for an update.

Use the Area Profile function of Area360 to see what homes of different types have been doing in the last 2 years. I'm someone who genuinely hopes that prices decrease but I have to admit that it is not universally true for all home types in all areas.

Now determine how much the home is worth to you and which you can comfortably afford even if prices do slide 25%+ or more over the next 5years or so.

Then it's up to you whether you play games trying to save a few K with a reduced offer, and risk losing the property, or
just offer what it's worth to you.

Good luck.

If it’s been 7 days can’t you contact the estate agent to chase it up? Houses haven’t decreased in my area over the last two years. If I was the seller, I don’t think I’d want to sell at a loss so I’d probably wait it out for a little while.

7 days means they are sitting on it.

They will likely have many viewing already booked in (high interest estate) and they will tell them all they have an offer to spur higher bids, if nothing better comes along after all that they 'may' accept it or reject it.

TBF as a seller I wouldn't accept under what I paid just 2 years ago which was already a heavily discounted price of 8.5%. I would be quite offended to be honest, houses where I live absolutely have not dropped 11.8% in 2 years. The market has dropped about 2% so £191,100 from the last asking.

You do not know why they got a large discount, the sellers may have needed to move fast and they where quick cash buyers or they may have done work.

You cannot know whats been 'done', I spent over £10k on new roofing (internal structural issues) and waterproofing/re-pointing, rewiring and new electrical units and we had to installed a new wooden sub floor due to rot and fixed the non working radiators... non of this stuff is 'visible' to look at. They where necessary functional maintenance jobs not pretty 'refurbishments' to make it look different in pictures. However having a structurally sound, electrically safe, non damp and un-rotting house is much more valuable than the former.

They are waiting to see if a better offer comes along, which is reasonable. If you want it off the market you might need to offer more. If you are happy to risk it then just wait.... must be nerve wracking! Have you asked the EA for a timeline for the decision?

TBF as a seller I wouldn't accept under what I paid just 2 years ago which was already a heavily discounted price of 8.5%. I would be quite offended to be honest, houses where I live absolutely have not dropped 11.8% in 2 years. The market has dropped about 2% so £191,100 from the last asking.

You do not know why they got a large discount, the sellers may have needed to move fast and they where quick cash buyers or they may have done work.

This whole passage relies on the premise that the house was 'worth' £295k to begin with. Given no-one wanted to pay 295k it's highly likely is was not. Anyone can market their property for anything they like, the only thing we know is what it was sold for, so the most likely conclusion is that two years ago it was 'worth' £270k.

It was marketed 2 years ago at £295 - sold for £270 - buyers probably believe that they got a bargain and that the real value was more than that - sellers probably thought they gave it away, but had to, for a quick sale.

Now, it is offered at £299 - 2 years have passed, moving costs and mortgage interest to take into account - I think the seller is unlikely to drop the price by £39K.

I would take a punt and say it might go for £280.

I would establish firmly that you are in a position to offer as a cash buyer, and how much you could go to on that basis. Then follow up with the EA for an update and stress your chain free status.

Offers at 10% under asking are not anything for a vendor to get 'offended' by.

The price 2 years ago is irrelevant to what they could get now and are prepared to sell at now.

Why are they selling after 2 years ?

Maybe they thought they got a bargain and are trying to flip. Or maybe there is something wrong with it.

If they are trying to flip then they aren't going to be entertaining low offers.

And if there is something wrong with it they are going to be unlikely to tell you what that is and given they bought it maybe it is difficult to discover.

I would avoid.

who says no one was?

It sold so fast OP didn't even get a chance to offer last time and it went to a 'high prize' buyer (fast no chain).

Believe it or not a lot of sellers go with the best, most proceed-able and easiest buyer not actually the 'highest offer' especially if they need to move quickly due to life circumstances.

The point I'm making is, you don't know what the circumstances around the sale were; the OP hasn't said. We know that the vendor didn't want to get into a chain with the OP who hadn't sold her house yet, which is understandable. We also don't know what the OP offered.

The only information we have is what it was sold for and what it was marketed for - you are assuming the advertised price is what it was 'worth' and I am simply saying given the information we have, that is not a reasonable assumption.

The OP cant say because she doesn't know.

Only facts we have is the list price and that they dropped it drastically for a quick sale to a highly proceed-able buyer. A 10% drop in price is common for motivated sellers not overpricers.

The fact there was so much interest originally and OP was chomping to buy it and STILL wants it years later and they are sitting on offers indicating that theres still lots of booked interest while listed at £599 indicates its not overpriced (actually suggest it maybe well priced or even under priced).

You don't know it was a quick sale, just that they didn't want to wait for the OP who hadn't sold their house yet.

The fact there was so much interest originally and OP was chomping to buy it and STILL wants it years later and they are sitting on offers.

Is this your house? 😂You have no idea how much interest there was originally, or if they have any other offers now.

Thanks everyone for the replies.
What i know about the house: its on an 'undesirable' street, so street value is capping the sale price of the house really.. (i'm not bothered by this at all! Currently live in the same village and would happily live in that house at the end of that street). I wouldn't be buying it to make money out of it (as such).
I don't believe any renovations have been done, looks exactly the same as we saw it 2 years ago, whether they could be 'unoticable' or not.
Seller has 2 properties for sale, this one and a chapel (which needs converting and has been for sale for a while) - she needs to get rid of 1 financially which is why the house has come on the market again.
Contacted EA earlier and the person dealing with it is off sick, but the thought is £260,000 will not be accepted. Not sure how high to push it 🤔