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?

Yes I folded specifically because there was no counter. Tbh I was imagining what their counter might be and was psychologically prepared to give there, but for sone reason just being told "that doesn't suit, can you move a little?" with no figure had a real repellent effect on me

I think your husband was reasonable not accepting 215k on a 235k house considering it had just gone on the market and had 11 viewings lined up.

Though I do think a counter offer could have helped achieve a sale, it’s common for people to feel optimistic at the beginning of the process that the house will achieve close to the asking price. If the process drags on they get more pragmatic about accepting offers.

If your house has only been on the market for 2 weeks, it’s too early to judge that it is overpriced. I would leave it on at least a month at the current price and then judge where you are after talking to the EA about feedback from viewers.

I don’t normally think the weather makes much difference to house viewings but the extreme weather we have been experiencing in the last few days won’t have helped. More moderate weather is coming and you may yet get closer to the asking price than 215k. Also - the people who offered that may decide to increase it even without the prompting of a counter offer. Good Luck 🤞

Type your postcode into Rightmove. Select 1 mile radius. Set the max price as £240k. Minimum bedrooms = same as yours.

No other options selected.

Arrange by price order highest to lowest. Then sit together and pretend you are a FTB with 235k to spend. Can you honestly, hand on heart, say you would choose your house to buy and you would pay 235k for it.

That’s what I always do when I’m selling.

Try to put myself in a buyers shoes and check that my house is a good option compared to all the other properties on in the same Rightmove price bracket.

I’m guessing OPs house is a good prospect compared to the competition since they got 11 viewings already in this market.

3 people I know have had issues with valuations
The mortgage company has valued at a lot lower
my sister took an offer then the buyer mortgage company valued it at lower than the offer

We did get a second offer of £210 and the EA indicated she may be prepared to offer more. This lady was a no show to the first viewing, she then asked to come the next day. I agreed she could come 2 hours later in between other viewings I had. She showed up half an hour later and pushed her way in the door whilst I was doing a viewing with someone else. I think she was a landlord or developer, so I asked to reject the offer. My thinking was if she can't turn up to an appointment she only arranged 2 hours previously, she's likely to be difficult to work with and probably drop the price at the last minute as she's a cash buyer.

We're still averaging 4 viewings a week, which I imagine isn't so bad in the current climate. We're getting more downsizers and older couples now. I still don't think the house is terribly priced. I keep checking it against what else is out there on RM and objectively I don't think it's bad value for money. I just think people are being more cautious about putting in an offer quickly anywhere unless they think they can get a bargain (I would be the same).

I've asked my DP to think of it more in terms of balancing the numbers against what we buy. If someone is struggling to sell a £500k house in the current market (there seems to be a lot sitting there for months), then they're likely to need to drop their price by more than £20k if they want to sell anytime soon. It's difficult because obviously we don't know what house we're going to buy and for how much until we've accepted an offer on our's (unless I'm misunderstanding the process).

That woman sounds awful and I think you did right to reject her offer.

4 viewings a week is brilliant in this climate. A house getting that many viewings suggests it is priced right, though it's still good to be a bit flexible on price of course. You will get a decent offer soon, I'm sure.