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Our Prospective Home is Empty Next Door

oneofnine
oneofnine Posts: 29 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
Hi All , going to dive straight in and be blunt - we are buying a house and the person will not negotiate at all .She is refusing to drop even a bit in price .This is frustrating as my house would not have sold without some negotiation and wriggle room .Anyway , stubbornly she wants full ask on a small house in Yorkshire but we have now noticed the run down house next door to her is unoccupied and looks like it has been for some time .Do you think this may be reason to try to negotiate a better price ? Blunt I know but when times are hard and people won't reduce at all ,I wondered .

Any thoughts welcome.
thanks .
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Comments

  • badmemory
    badmemory Posts: 7,788 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Why not just buy the house next door? If she needs a price, then she needs that price, she doesn't need to sell, so why discount? If she doesn't need to 'negotiate' why should she?
  • comeandgo
    comeandgo Posts: 5,742 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Why should she drop the price so you get a bargain? If you can’t afford it look at other houses. When we sold there was no way I’d reduce the price, buyers knew when they visited how much it was going for.
  • csgohan4
    csgohan4 Posts: 10,587 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper Photogenic
    vendors call tbh, pay what you think it is worth, don't be bullied to paying over the top
    "It is prudent when shopping for something important, not to limit yourself to Pound land/Estate Agents"

    G_M/ Bowlhead99 RIP
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Photogenic First Post
    You are looking at the small picture rather than the big one.

    What's the back story to the house next door and how much of a headache might it be living next door to it?

    I know of a house semi detached to another that's been empty for over 10 years. It's a bit of a nightmare for the owner. Theoretically, the council can act, but so far they haven't.

    "Blunt I know but when times are hard and people won't reduce at all ,I wondered ."

    Equally blunt, it looks like you went into this purchase with your eyes wide shut if you've only just found this reason to reduce. I'd say it might be a reason to pull out instead. There are plenty more houses in Yorkshire.
  • trailingspouse
    trailingspouse Posts: 4,035 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    How long's it been on the market? If not long, then she's right not to reduce just yet. She's not being 'stubborn', she's looking after her own interests. And even if she has an inflated idea of how much it's worth, if she won't shift then she won't shift. If the house really is too expensive for you (which begs the question, why were you looking at it in the first place?), then you need to look elsewhere.

    You say that the house next door is unoccupied - this may be true, but is it on the market? You can't buy it if it's not for sale.
    No longer a spouse, or trailing, but MSE won't allow me to change my username...
  • ScorpiondeRooftrouser
    ScorpiondeRooftrouser Posts: 2,851 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    edited 15 November 2017 at 9:02AM
    What's your obsession with getting a reduction rather than paying a low price? Some people market at a low price and stick to it. If it is already a low price, why would it be reduced further?

    I know there are plenty of people who would rather pay £80K for something advertised at £100K than pay £70K for exactly the same thing advertised at £70K, but one really should try one's best not to be one of those people.
  • shortcrust
    shortcrust Posts: 2,697 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post First Anniversary Newshound!
    Stubbornly?! Wow.

    When you say you’re buying the place what do you mean? She either won’t accept your offer in which case you’re not buying, or she has accepted and now you don’t want to stick to that offer. If the latter, why did you offer more than you wanted to pay?
  • oneofnine
    oneofnine Posts: 29 Forumite
    Well when we sold our last house we found houses in our road moving weren't very fast , we had 3 estate agents over 3 years .They all told us the same thing , price it reasonably but be prepared to negotiate too .We had bought the house at £105 , 000 when the market was strong and sold it for £87,500 .We advertised it at £92,000 .My brother in ( a different area )
    has just sold his .His estate agent priced it at £125,000 ,and to sell it he had to negotiate - he got £118,000 .
    I have bought 2 houses in the past and paid full asking price as they were worth it .This house needs some work though .
    No ,we haven't gotten into any commitments with it yet and no the house next door is not for sale .It is owned by a person locally who has just left it empty .We didn't find that out till this morning though ,so we won't be going for the house now .An ill kept, possibly damp house doesn't seem like a good neighbouring property but thanks for all your opinions , especially at short notice :)
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Photogenic First Post
    oneofnine wrote: »
    we won't be going for the house now .An ill kept, possibly damp house doesn't seem like a good neighbouring property

    If you couldn't get it at the right price for you and it had this 'unknown' hanging over it, the chances are you'd never have been happy with it anyway.
  • ScorpiondeRooftrouser
    ScorpiondeRooftrouser Posts: 2,851 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    The fact that it needs some work doesn't mean it isn't worth the asking price. People often seem to assume that the asking price is for a house in perfect condition, whereas often they are priced accordingly, especially if the work needed is obvious.

    Similarly, the fact that a house doesn't need work doesn't prevent it from being overpriced in the first place.
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