Anyone else dealing with a partner who thinks house is worth more than it is?

[movingonoout]

If so, have you had success in convincing them to lower their expectations? Or was it just a case of waiting weeks and months for them to see that asking price offers didn't come flooding in? We got a lot of initial viewings (12 in the first week), but week 2 has tailed off to just a couple and no offers or requests for further viewings. Our house is in good condition, we've done some big jobs like replacing the roof, boiler, kitchen, bathroom, landscaping, but it's by no means a high end finished house and it's in a pretty average, but fairly popular area. It's a bog standard FTB / small family semi.

The first person to view did put in what I considered to be a reasonable initial offer of just over 90% of asking price (FTB with MIP). DP didn't want to negotiate as he felt it was a lowball offer and we can get better. We're in contract with the Estate Agent for 20 weeks, so the thought of potentially another 18 weeks of having to keep the house viewing ready is filling me with dread.

I think in the current market selling for around 95% of asking price is probably pretty reasonable for most areas, curious to know what others think?

So the agent will have told other viewers you have refused an offer below the asking price so no other offers have been put forward.

Did the agent suggest a lower price and DH said No? What do you think a fair price is?
how desperate are you to move?
without knowing the values involved then I do get why DH said no to an offer in the first week, I’m surprised he wasn’t happy to negotiate though.

I agree with you and I think your husband is stuck in the mindset of house prices in 2022. It seems that some people are struggling to accept that the market has changed so much and houses are worth far less than they were a couple of years ago. The positive from that is that your onward purchase will be cheaper too.

I think 95% of the asking price is reasonable and if I were you, I’d show him some evidence of how much things have dropped, if you can. It really is a question of being very realistic about price.

Does your DH actually want to move? My friends DH did this and he didn’t really want to move it turned out.

Does he realise that house sales pretty much dry up during July and August? So basically if you don’t sell now it could be a while… all months are not equal in house sales, there are busy bits and less busy driven by the school calendar and you’re coming to the end of a busy bit.

2 weeks isn't exactly a long time to test the market.

Interest in house viewings tends to tail off around this time of year and pick up in the autumn.

Where did you get your original price from, was that your husband or the agents ?

Did you pick the initial price by going for the middle of three quotes, or go for the highest ?

90+ percent is a good offer this year. Could you go back to them and accept it? You can then try to knock a similar proportion off the house you buy.

In this market you definitely should have accepted the offer.

There is a lot of psychology involved in selling houses. At the moment everyone hears it’s a buyers market and so no one expects to pay asking price.

Remember there will be a cluster of people actively looking in your area and that is why you’ll get a flurry of early viewings. These are people who are looking and looking, but not finding what they want at the price point they expect - ie these include some deluded buyers who are optimistic for a bargain! So from this point of view I agree with your dh.

After that it will be the people who are less actively looking or are fresh to the market. That’s why the standard estate agent contract is so long - you need to wait for a good buyer to come along.

Yes, you will be bored of being clean and tidy!

if your target market is first time buyers you might be better off entering a negotiation and say things like “ok we counter offer a reduction of 2.5% but we will throw in all the curtains and blinds and ceiling light shades and the bathroom cupboard for free.” Since that is often much appreciated when someone is a FTB!

One last point - I always did the viewings myself because the agent never remembered to say that my bog standard house was actually right next to the pathway that was a shortcut to the leisure centre and Tesco express. Or that I had replaced the doors and windows. Or that the garden faced south and the neighbour was a little old lady with a plum tree who would regularly bring me a pot of jam and was always delighted to be useful taking in parcels in exchange for me putting her bins out. Or that we had considered knocking the kitchen through into the garage to make a big open plan diner like the house at number 57 which you could see on Zoopla property history .

@Canoodler you can’t really know it was a good offer unless you know the street and the pricing strategy and the property condition.

But your comment is a good indication of the current market sentiment that everyone expects to knock off 10% plus from asking price. Regardless of whether property is “priced for a quick sale” or not.

We are currently under offer. Hoping this one sticks as two offers fell through late last year. We’re on our second set of estate agents and both sets have said to achieve 95% in the current market is a good outcome. We bought ours in 2019 and definitely overpaid. The market was a much different picture then.

What was it up for and what was the offer?
Did you counter?

I think I'd have really tried to make it work for a first time buyer and a quick sale.

I was a bit confused that the agents didn't automatically go back to ask whether he wanted to make a higher offer, is this what usually happens? In hindsight, I think they wanted me to give an exact figure to counter offer, but noone told me that's the procedure. They didn't suggest an amount to counter with and this is my first time selling a house.

They called me with the offer just ahead of the first weekend where they'd booked in 11 viewings and seemed to expect an immediate answer from me. I said I would obviously need to speak to my partner and get back to them. DP said that's a low offer, I think someone will offer closer to asking price. I fed this back to the agents and they said, 'so you don't want to accept this offer'? I told them at this stage we're looking for closer to asking price (because the offer came from the first person to view and noone else had viewed at this stage). I would have expected most people would do the same? I don't think anyone went back to him, as noone told me that was his final offer.

House is listed for £235k, the offer was £215k and I had in mind £220k as that's what the last house on our road sold for at the start of the year. Ours is a bigger plot with a newer bathroom and kitchen, but I don't think these things would greatly increase the price, especially in the current market.

He definitely wants to move, probably more than I do, as he thinks our house is too small. After weeks of running around getting the house ready and cleaning, I'd now quite happily stay put and avoid the stress!

Annoyingly, by rejecting that first offer, we just missed out on putting in an offer on a house we both really liked. He also thinks sellers will accept an offer without us having accepted an offer on our house, I've tried to tell him we need to be under offer before making an offer. I'm hoping having missed out on this house he'll realise we need to be proceedable and a bit more flexible on the price we accept on our house.

I think you're right about him being stuck in 2022 house prices, as that's around when he sold his Mum's house (probate) and they got quite a few close to asking price offers and pretty regular viewings if I recall correctly.

He's wrong, you will very likely need an offer on yours to be able to proceed with anything else. I've known one seller accept an offer from someone without a sale, and they're all still sitting waiting for the other house to sell 3 months on. Or sellers will only consider the asking price if you want them to wait.

Go back to the person who offered & try to get it sold. The natural.counter is £225k.would.your DH accept that with no viewings booked and no other offers?

I hated the limbo of house selling (the cleaning! The tidying!) and we sold extremely quickly so you have my sympathy.

"I was a bit confused that the agents didn't automatically go back to ask whether he wanted to make a higher offer, is this what usually happens?"

Estate agents are quite a mixed bag, its worth working out how you want to negotiate with potential buyers, and sterri.g them thru that - don't assume you're dealing with an expert.

We sold last year when the market was slow too for asking price after 3 months on the market. Had a low ball offer that we didn’t entertain after a few weeks then an asking price offer from FTB that we accepted.

So I don’t necessarily think not having an asking price offer in the first few weeks means you won’t get one just need someone who wants it tbh. Depends how quickly you want to sell really.

@ParksidePen fingers crossed this time goes smoothly for you.

@ShishKofte I did try to get a figure from DP as to what he'd be happy with, but he says he wants to wait and see what offers we get and consider them at the time 🙄. It's so frustrating because I've repeatedly tried to explain we need to be under offer for our offer to be taken seriously. He read something on the internet saying there's nothing stopping him from making an offer before being sold and the EA is obliged to pass it on. Well yes, but you're not likely to be taken seriously and the seller isn't going to wait for you if someone proceedable comes along. I think the EA we're selling through is more open to people doing that, but I don't think it's common practice.

I did ask the EA about the original offer and they didn't seem keen on going back to him for a counter offer. I don't think there's any other houses on the market DP wants to view, so I guess we sit tight for now and hope another offer comes in and we can also find somewhere we want to buy.

@Jo7890123 so far the EAs have been really good and proactive, so I was quite surprised by how they handled the offer. I think there might have been a miscommunication in the office as three of them called me at various points during the day to excitedly let me know about the offer. Still, I can't imagine most people would have cancelled a weekend full of viewings for a below asking price offer from the first person who viewed. Surely it's common sense to wait until after the weekend and see if you get other offers? Next time, I'll be sure to give them very clear instructions. I was caught off guard by getting an offer so early on and was really busy at work at the time.

@FlipFlopZebra that's reassuring to hear you got a higher offer a few weeks in. We're not really in a rush to sell now as the house we wanted to buy has gone under offer (although it's now been supposedly under offer on and off for the past month, so we'll see) and there's not really much else of interest. Hopefully we'll find a better house and get a higher offer on ours and it will all work out eventually. If I don't buckle under the stress in the meantime!

Im on the other side of this 😅 FTB, I offered 95% of asking, they came back tl me knocking 5K off asking only.
Agent is pressuring me to make a new offer but im just going to walk away from this one - its just a standard terraced house and I think market will fall further

selling and buying is so difficult. I can understand why your husband would decline the 1st offer from your 1st viewing when you have more viewings lined up.

Why?
The offer was 90% of asking?
Id rather negotiate with a FTB who has shown interest than have to continue keeping my house and diary clear as people traipse in and out?

How many valuations did you get before listing with the agents you’re with? And have you looked at comparable properties on Rightmove? It might help DP get his head round the new reality because some houses will have been up for sale for months and the reason why will be obvious. Meanwhile others will be under offer after only a few weeks…

You’re correct about offering without already being under offer. You won’t, or at least shouldn’t, be taken seriously. DH once accepted an offer from somebody with no buyer and wasted valuable weeks waiting for them to find one. Never again! Meanwhile I sold a house in 2022 and the agent wouldn’t let anyone view it unless they were under offer

@Freekywindowguy I don't blame you, as a FTB they'll be lots more houses for you to choose from. I would have happily tried to strike a deal with that FTB, as I did his viewing and he seemed keen to move out of rented but was prepared to wait a few weeks for us to find somewhere to move to if needed.

@Squidgoals We just got the one valuation as the EA has the best reputation in the area. We were rushing to get the house on the market to try to buy a particular one we'd seen. I think their valuation is accurate tbf and asking price of £235k should achieve a sale price £220k - £225k with negotiation. If our 2 offers in the first week were £210 and £215 that seems to check out.

There's been quite a few houses on our road sold in the past couple of years to refer to, so the figure seems accurate. DP just thinks the improvements of new kitchen, bathroom, roof should get the price up to the full £235k, but I don't think it works that way. Unless a house has been completely renovated and the buyer is walking into a house which has been taken back to brick, with brand new everything, I don't think they will pay more because the kitchen is only a couple of years old etc. not in a house of our price bracket anyway.

I also wouldn't have accepted an offer of 10% under asking, in the first week, from the first person who viewed, with loads of other viewings also booked.

Sounds like he doesn’t actually want to move.

The issue is he wants to move to a larger house with a big garden for around 10% under the local market value on a £500k house (but then gets offended by a ftb offer 10% under asking price on our house which is half the price). I've tried to explain it's effectively the same mindset! He regularly complains about lack of space and how we've outgrown this house. I don't have much stuff and could easily stay in our house for many more years. I like having all his stuff/cutter in storage for house viewings as cleaning the house is much quicker.

I've been scouring rightmove regularly for potential houses, but he's so picky about areas, house size etc. I'm going to take a big step back for my ow; sanity,;stop looking for future houses, and do the minimum I can to make the house presentable for viewings.

Can you show him a load of data about current price changes to help convince him op? Something from zoopla recently that 90% of sales are going under asking at the moment