Nightmare neighbours when selling

[madameimadam]

Not sure what to do about this. Currently selling our house for offers over £260K. Been on for a week. Had 8 viewings and two offers, both for £245K.
Feedback is that while the house is great, the neighbour’s barking dog is putting people off. It is annoying admittedly but we kind of got used to it.

Neighbours aren’t particularly amenable. Man is old and grumpy but his wife is slightly more reasonable. We will speak to them but how would you approach this??

Cheeky offers using the dog as justification. If the dog is an issue they wouldn't actually be offering at all. Interesting they are both he same value, is it over priced and 245k realistic?

Re the dog and neighbours, why is it barking? Is it old and in pain, young and bored.....? I do think you should speak to the neighbour, but frame it as out of concern for it's welfare rather than annoying you.

Who cares about the dog? Just take one of the offers and move.

It's just an excuse - they would still have to tolerate the dog, just having paid less money for the inconvenience. My last buyer tried to knock me down because the neighbour did van conversions out of his garage/on his driveway. What bearing this would have possibly had on them I have no idea as the guy had been there 10 years and wasn't actually going anywhere... It appears that 10% under is the 'thing' at the minute...

Your house has only been on a week and had two offers only £15k under asking. With the market as it is at the moment I’d probably just take one of them.

I’d counter offer. You can still accept the current offer

It’s only been a week! At least wait another month to see if anyone else takes an interest then reassess.

If both offers are the same it sounds like your house isnt worth the asking price.

I'd knock on their door and be honest, tell them what the estate agent fed back to you. And ask if they can keep the dog indoors while you have a viewing, they're only half an hour at max.

I have to admit, we viewed a house a couple of years ago and the moment we heard a yappy dog in a neighbours garden knew that we'd never buy it. And we've got 2 dogs of our own!

The relevance is they’re putting across a message of “this is something that puts buyers off completely so my offer might be the best/only one you’re going to get, so I can offer lower”.

To be clear, I’m not saying that’s true, I’m saying that’s their negotiating method.
In the case of a barking dog, it would drive me mad having one next door so it would completely put me off.

I would do absolutely nothing. Trying to fix this sounds like a terrible idea. Even if the neighbours take it well, there is unlikely to be anything they can do practically, at least not in the short term. And if they take it badly there is a risk it could escalate into a dispute that you then legally have to declare as part of the sales process.

Those seem like decent offers. If counter with £250k to avoid looking desperate, and then split the difference at £247k or so.

You've had 2 offers for the same amount - you can ask for best and final offers from both of them, or take the offer from the buyer in the strongest position to proceed. Or you can refuse both, and see what happens. Have you many more viewings lined up?
If you really want to move, I'd proceed as quickly as possible in this market, everyone says it's going to get worse.

Yes the barking dog isn't great, but I can't really imagine people thinking "we can cope with a barking dog for as many years as we live in the house or until the dog dies if we save £15k on our house". It's not like they can use £15k to replace the beloved dog with a quiet little rabbit and the neighbours will be happy!

You need to be actually asking why they think the house is worth less!

Your fortunate to have two offers so close to asking, in such a short amount of time. Take which ever one you think is the most proceedable.

This.

The sound of a dog barking next door would put me off completely, £15k off the asking price would make zero difference to my decision making.

For me (a dog owner) I wouldn’t put in an offer as a constantly barking dog would put me off.
There is no way to stop the dog barking (unless they intend to try and bribe the neighbours with the £15k) so it’s not a reason, just an excuse.
Counter-offer is the way forward.

This! £15k below asking is great. I’d not be bickering over an extra £5-£10k I’d just say I’ll accept if we complete by Xmas!

Thanks for the feedback. I do agree with many of the comments.

Just a few things - we are no need to rush as we have already moved. No chain.

Dont think it’s overpriced. Other houses on our road have recently sold for £280k and £270K respectively. Ours is similar if not better as we’ve extended. Think we’ve priced it very fairly.

I think they’re just cheeky offers but think I will go back and ask for best and final. My thinking is that the lower offers won’t actually solve the issue anyway. You’re either put off or not!! Nothing we can really do about the barky dogs. See what happens as we’re in no hurry!