Local fashions in asking/selling price ratios ...

kunekune

After several offers getting nowhere, I am beginning to think that there is a local standard in the asking/selling price ration that is different from the one that other forum users are experiencing.

Asking price: 200K, won't take less than 190K
Asking price: 209K, won't take less than 195K
Asking price: 175K, offer of 170K not enough and supposedly beaten by another offeror

And now - asking price, 180K, thought they'd get 175K, will take 173. We're dithering, because that's about 5K more than we think it's "really" worth.

Is this NORMAL? One of them, admittedly, was with housenetwork, so you don't expect reality from those sellers, but the others are with major and well-respected agencies.

zone

In the current market you can make any offer you wish. But obviously for it to be taken seriously perhaps you could try 15-20% below asking price. Although if the property has been on the market a while and hasnt had any offers, you could easily go 25-35% below asking.

QTPie

kunekune wrote: »

And now - asking price, 180K, thought they'd get 175K, will take 173. We're dithering, because that's about 5K more than we think it's "really" worth.

Is this NORMAL? One of them, admittedly, was with housenetwork, so you don't expect reality from those sellers, but the others are with major and well-respected agencies.

House prices are more of an art than a science (just look at the different sites that "calculate" house prices and see that they all disagree for a start... ).

At the end of the day, buying a house is a barter or negotiation: there is some head involved and some heart involved (and the amount of each may vary...) - both on the side of the buyers AND the sellers.

So, the important question, is "what is the house worth to you?". If you are planning to buy for 10+ years and you are in stable employment, then is £5k really that much in the scheme of things? If it isn't and you REALLY want that house, then go for it. If it is, then look around at the alternatives.

You may find that, if you left your lower offer on the table, that they may come back to you in future and take it. It is always a risk though: there is nothing to say that they wont get a better offer or even come back if they get no offer...

Some people will say that you are silly to buy now anyway (that prices will drop a LOT lower). BUT, at the end of the day, it is what makes you happy that counts: getting the right house at a price that is acceptable to you and that you can comfortably afford and live with.

QT

kunekune

Zone, I don't think you quite got the point (this is said with the utmost respect, etc, etc). We have been offering 90% or more of offering price. The vendors are all expecting 95% or more.

QTpie, I really really appreciate how you've followed this story! Fwiw, the house that we're now agonising over is this one:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-23480168.html?backToListURL=%2Fuser%2Fshortlist.html%3Ftype%3DBUYING

On the inside, it's among the nicest of the ones we've seen, but it is a big ugly from the outside! The reason OH is so nervous is that nothing on that street has sold for anything like that ... I am saying that is irrelevant because they are all tiny three beds, this one has had the box room doubled in size, a further small-ish bedroom (but big enough for a bed, desk and cupboard) and also the kitchen has been enlarged and downstairs toilet added. So you can't really do a straight comparison, quite apart from taste/newness of kitchen. And I do like the style ... My own view is that this is good enough to be worth paying £3000 above our (house-specific, not budget related) notional max - h*ck, in the long run, that isn't a big deal. But OH is scared. In the end, this will be a bit of a domestic!

puddy

well, despite the 'offical' land registry figures showing the drops for my chosen area of 24%, an offer that we made for 20% and then 15% under the asking price (which hadnt changed in ayear) was rejected, we wont go any higher because of the information about price drops, BUT we really want the house or something similar. so whereas we thought we would have a budget which gives us less money to spend than we thought, we are actually having to increase what we'll spend because the prices that people want mean we have to spend more than the 'offical' prices would indicate that the properties are 'worth'.

yes, lots of people say on here, dont buy now, wait until people have no choice but to drop, BUT i want to move now, i have a buyer and i dont want to rent, so i choose to buy and have to consider paying more than i thought i would have to, or wanted to.

Doozergirl

kunekune wrote: »

One of them, admittedly, was with housenetwork, so you don't expect reality from those sellers, but the others are with major and well-respected agencies.

You decide on the mental health of vendors by whether they're with 'well respected agencies' ?

QTPie

It does look as though they have done it beautifully inside. As Kirsty said on Relocation Relocation a week or two ago... you live on the inside looking out and not the other way around

Any similar ones in the same area for sale? Have you looked around them? Considered the price difference? Worked out what it would cost to have the same sort of alterations done to get it up to the same structure and standard as this one?

I would guess that the vendors know that their's is in a different league to the other houses in the area. The extra bedroom (as opposed to box room)will add value too. So they will price it at a premium. I would be surprised if you couldn't buy something similar for cheaper and do it up yourself (possibly to suit you EVEN more). BUT some people don't want the effort, hassle, time, dirt involved with doing all of that - so are prepared to pay a premium for the "finished product".

If you DO decide to go for this house, DEFINITELY get a good survey done: it sounds as though they have played around with the structure of the house, so you want to make sure they have done it properly (and ensure it is a "good job" throughout).

I think this is (BIG generalisation coming!) a woman vs man thing: women tend to care what things look like (and fixtures and fittings) a lot more than men. Many men (but not all!) are happy providing a house is structurally sound, warm, they can shower and there is somewhere for hot meals to be produced in... beyond that it is mostly "bottom line" (cost) . Most women want a "home". Men appreciate the "home" when they eventually get it, but it often isn't really quantifiable to them (especially at the buying stage).

SOMETIMES it is worth spending a few extra thousand to get that home that you are really happy with. BUT you both have to be in agreement and comfortable with it and the financial implications. In this climate, you really need to be in it for the long run. To be safe, you want to be thinking of being there for probably about 10 years. Would this be a good house for you for the next ten years?

The best thing with men is normally to ask them about their fears and try to work through them with them (if it is financial, then what the extra would mean a month etc).

QT

kunekune wrote: »

QTpie, I really really appreciate how you've followed this story! Fwiw, the house that we're now agonising over is this one:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-23480168.html?backToListURL=%2Fuser%2Fshortlist.html%3Ftype%3DBUYING

On the inside, it's among the nicest of the ones we've seen, but it is a big ugly from the outside! The reason OH is so nervous is that nothing on that street has sold for anything like that ... I am saying that is irrelevant because they are all tiny three beds, this one has had the box room doubled in size, a further small-ish bedroom (but big enough for a bed, desk and cupboard) and also the kitchen has been enlarged and downstairs toilet added. So you can't really do a straight comparison, quite apart from taste/newness of kitchen. And I do like the style ... My own view is that this is good enough to be worth paying £3000 above our (house-specific, not budget related) notional max - h*ck, in the long run, that isn't a big deal. But OH is scared. In the end, this will be a bit of a domestic!

poppysarah

A gravel drive is cheap but cheerful. Until you have to sweep the street to get your driveway back.

How much do the rest go for (at peak?) 125k?

bob79

Asking prices don't say too much. Some are below the 'real value' and some are well above peak value. So 'reduction on asking price' is really quite meaningless.

kunekune

Doozergirl, I get your point, but around here, at least, the sellers using housenetwork do not seem to be getting the message. The asking price is high to start with and then they don't reduce. I am assuming that the company is less likely to pressure them to reduce ... or possibly that people who choose to use housenetwork are less motivated than others? If you are really worried about 1000 on the cost of selling, then maybe you are also the sort of seller who is not willing to see that your house has dropped in value. It didn't help, I should add, that my experience as an offerer with housenetwork was bizarre: when I pointed out, in support of a supposedly cheeky offer of 10% below asking price, that the price had been the same for a year, I was told I should jump fast as prices were rising ...

kunekune

Qtiepie,

The male/female thing is true, mostly. Here, it is OH who is reluctant to take a place that doesn't have street appeal. He is also unwilling to look beyond current decor. I look and think: ok, this room has these dimensions, what can we do with that. Perhaps our brains aren't quite wired right: as a lawyer-type, I do have a 'masculine' kind of brain! His worries are purely financial: as he put it earlier, he is going backwards and fowards about what we should do. I have seen the HIP, so I know there was planning permission etc for the extension, but as I said in an earlier post that vanished, I am dead keen on proper surveys. We're not really first-timers, and have had enough vaguely worrying discoveries in new houses to be prepared to pay PLENTY of money to get info! I don't know how ordinary mortgages work, but the one we're after (a bank staff thingy), they are so keen for you do get a full survey that they pay part of the cost.