Have had 3 low offers on our house and trying to trade up......

SugarSkyHigh · 2009-04-03T18:15:11+00:00

but vendors of the kind of house we want to buy will not accept offers! Why not? We would love to accept one of the offers made on our house- they are all around 10% lower than the asking price. Which kind of implies that's what our house is worth at the moment. However when we make offers of 10% lower than asking price on potential houses to buy, no one's giving us the time of day. On the other hand, they're not selling either. Is anyone else experiencing this??

Elibean · 03/04/2009 20:01

Yes, we did! I think 10% lower than asking price is about right, atm. A lot of people are very ambivalent about moving, some because they don't really want to move - they have to move due to changes in financial situations.

Others want to move, but keep waiting for prices to go down lower - thinking they'll get more for their money. Very frustrating.

We've had two buyers pull out (both due to altered finances) and one seller, who basically got cold feet. Its a very panicky market.

We now think we'll accept the next offer on our house and rent....prices are going to keep dropping for a while, and it will put us in a better situation as buyers, even though its a major hassle! Good luck, hope you get to move soon!

Original poster

SugarSkyHigh · 03/04/2009 21:17

but is renting a good idea now, with interest rates so low? What i mean is, it used to be the case that the interest on the capital from the house sale would pay the rent. Now of course there is barely any interest to be made.
So rent payments will eat into capital. Which means less deposit on the next purchase.

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lalalonglegs · 03/04/2009 21:41

Yes, but if you aren't paying a mortgage which you presumably were, then you pay rent instead. Fwiw, I think they will have to accept lower offers in a few months' time and if you are lurking in a rental house waiting to pounce...

Original poster

SugarSkyHigh · 03/04/2009 21:56

Lower offers in a few months time......... yes that's my gut feeling too........

media and estate agents are talking up 'green shoots' but it's all cr*p

and when inflation kicks in we will be in trouble, house prices will really crash

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brettgirl2 · 04/04/2009 10:39

'when inflation kicks in we will be in trouble, house prices will really crash'

I disagree, interest rates would go up a bit (but the deals in comparison to base rate are currently poor anyway) and inflation would make houses cheaper anyway in relative terms. It would also devalue the amount of negative equity that people have, leaving more people in a better position.

Media are the biggest gloom mongers of all (although I fully agree they talk a load of crap).

It must be really frustrating though. I'm not sure I would go as far as renting though, I'd just turn the offers down for now and sit tight. At the end of the day moving twice and paying rent will cost loads of money.

MelonCauli · 04/04/2009 10:52

Our house is on the market, very reasonably priced and we would not accept offers of 10% lower than the asking price. Why not? Because we don't have to move so are quite happy to wait it out (for however long) than take a big drop. It costs us nothing to have the house on the market.

Original poster

SugarSkyHigh · 04/04/2009 16:16

thing is, though, waiting it out is fine if you don't have to move, and actually we don't have to move, but prices havent hit the bottom yet so it could be a very long wait!

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goldenpeach · 06/04/2009 23:01

I think 10 per cent off the asking price is not that bad an offer, I know some people are offering 20-30 per cent off. And even in rising market one would offer maybe 4-5 per cent asking price. Personally, offering less than asking price is normal if the house is overpriced compared to similar in the area or needs a lot of work. What I have seen so far is that people who own small houses or flats are quite flexible, but the higher you are in the chain the worse as empty nesters want to realise how much as they can to fund their retirement. Fair enough if the house they are selling is lovely and in good condition - greedy if nothing has been done for 10-20 years. I have sold two houses so far and had to take less than asking price when the market was doing well - they were also pristine. Why should I pay more for a wreck in a sliding market?

goldenpeach · 06/04/2009 23:04

OH and I forgot my other bugbear: overpriced ex rentals with north facing gardens, bathroom downstairs, the worst layouts ever!

Sorrento · 07/04/2009 00:01

You are looking for Death, Divorce or Debt when asking for the reasons the house is up for sale, most people in those circumstances are so stressed they will blurt out their life stories and then you get the discounts.
A nice couple in their late 50's selling the family home are no good to you at all generally speaking, they paid £2.50 for it in 1971 and won't take a penny less than the made up asking price the EA plucked out of thin air.
Good luck

twinsetandpearls · 07/04/2009 00:05

I would take your offers. We have set our stall out and are selling for a very low fixed price and interest has really picked up.

ickletickle · 07/04/2009 09:02

that said, if you have had three offers it does mean that your property is desirable. lots of people here post that their properties havent even had viewings let alone offers.

tailormade · 07/04/2009 09:05

We are in the position of renting a property after very recently selling our house when it had been on the market for 2 days. We sold it for just under what it was valued to a cashbuyer. We would ideally have liked to have bought again, but things happened so quickly, that we didn't find anything we liked and didn't want to buy for the sake of it. We had alot of equity in our house which we've invested - admittedly the interest rates aren't brilliant, but there are accounts offering 3 - 4% if you tie your money up for 6 months to a year, which we might do, because I'm convinced house prices will keep falling.

The irony is, that we seemed to sell our house so quickly because there are houses near us, that are have been on the market for 12 to 18 months and have stayed at exactly the same price! Needless to say, for the past 6 months, they have had no interest whatsoever and the EA has told them they'll never sell at that price. I can see why someone who brought their house at the 2007 peak would want to 'sit it out' because of the obvious problem of negative equity, but surely, if someone bought their house prior to the boom, they are better off to sell now and buy a house with a relative drop than wait?

There seems to be a general ignorance that a person's house is 'worth' this or that because the EA said it was 2 years ago - a house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, and house prices are not predicted to rise for several years. Since we've sold, there are now several houses of similiar build that are on at today's values rather than those of 2 years ago - coincidence maybe? - although the EA says it only takes a couple of houses to sell at todays prices, and then vendors will realise that they'll be sitting there for years unless they realise prices have dropped.

I for one, am now in a chain free position, with a substantial deposit and fully intend to use this to advantage. In the last couple of months, many of the properties on the higher end of the market have addressed the 10 - 15 % drop and have dropped their prices accordingly. However, I think this drop will continue to at least 30% due to rising unemployment/difficulties in obtaining finance, and will wait and see.

Hulababy · 07/04/2009 09:11

You have to remember that some people will have already changed their asking prices via estate agents, and will therefore not want to accept even lower offers again.

Also if they have mortgages, etc and they are also looking to move up then they might not be able to afford to accept lower offers.

Not all sellers will accept the lower offers. Some may prefer to just wait and stay where they are. The housing market will bounce back eventually and they may be happy to remain where they are in the mean time.

twinsetandpearls · 07/04/2009 09:25

Yes we are at sa fixed price now as we have lowered and lowered and genuinely can not go any lower. Our feeback suggests people see as us underpriced now which in this market is about right.

brettgirl2 · 07/04/2009 10:21

Just a thought, maybe the vendors of the houses they want to buy won't accept a lower offer?

Thus producing a strange chain 'blocking' effect.

Hula, yes that's right - one of the challenges in the current market is that some houses are clearly overpriced whereas others are reasonably priced and offers must reflect this.

I am currently a housing market 'lurker' as we intend to move next year, so I am interested in what is currently going on. Last night I saw an amazing house, just within our price bracket assuming lowish price for our own. For 10k more, however there was one, overlooking an industrial estate that is a lot less nice and clearly 50K more than it should be.

brettgirl2 · 07/04/2009 10:21

Just a thought, maybe the vendors of the houses they want to buy won't accept a lower offer?

Thus producing a strange chain 'blocking' effect.

Hula, yes that's right - one of the challenges in the current market is that some houses are clearly overpriced whereas others are reasonably priced and offers must reflect this.

I am currently a housing market 'lurker' as we intend to move next year, so I am interested in what is currently going on. Last night I saw an amazing house, just within our price bracket assuming lowish price for our own. For 10k more, however there was one, overlooking an industrial estate that is a lot less nice and clearly 50K more than it should be.

Original poster

SugarSkyHigh · 07/04/2009 11:03

www.moneyweek.com/investments/property/stay-away-from-property-it-has-much-further-to-fall-14709.asp

This article is interesting (if my link works)!!

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Original poster

SugarSkyHigh · 07/04/2009 11:05

www.moneyweek.com/investments/property/stay-away-from-property-it-has-much-further-to-fall

well that didn't work, perhaps this will

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Original poster

SugarSkyHigh · 07/04/2009 11:08

ok i admit defeat, i can't do links.
but it is very easy to go to the homepage of www.moneyweek.com - and it's obvious where to click to read the (scary) article

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fishnet · 07/04/2009 16:56

We're in exactly the same position as the OP. We have sold our house and are in rented accomodation. We only have to give a month's notice on our rented property and have a large deposit. Our mortgage offer is sorted.

We are looking at large family houses (generally sellers in their 60s). Most of the houses have been on the market for 18 months or so and they are just not lowering the prices/accepting lower offers. It is ridiculous and very frustrating.

One seller wouldn't even let me view her property today since the estate agent knows the max I want to pay and its 15 per cent below her price! The house has been on since May 2007 and hasn't had a price reduction!!

ickletickle · 07/04/2009 18:41

i think alot depends on what you are trying to trade up to. where i live its the 70's family houses that have dropped in price dramatically but period family houses seem as expensive as ever and are selling for near asking price. so sellers of this type of house are sticking with their prices perhaps believing that someone will buy their house eventually.

nowwearefour · 12/04/2009 19:39

we had exactly this experience. in the end we just took the hit on both ends of the deal. it hurts!! but in the end we have found our dream lifetime house so it is all worth it. i think people at the top end just think their properties are worth Xxx and htat is just that. odd i find too....