Stalemate on a house

hcb42

I guess it depends how much you like it and how long you want to be there.

I too remember I couldnt stretch £5K back in the late 1980s, then regretted it as I ended up moving to same type of house 3 years later, and paid more than double for the same style of house! (Ok I know we are not in that situation now, but £5K for a forever home is nothing, if you plan to move in a year or two, then dont overpay)

Leah26

hcb42 wrote: »

I guess it depends how much you like it and how long you want to be there.

I too remember I couldnt stretch £5K back in the late 1980s, then regretted it as I ended up moving to same type of house 3 years later, and paid more than double for the same style of house! (Ok I know we are not in that situation now, but £5K for a forever home is nothing, if you plan to move in a year or two, then dont overpay)

It will hopefully be our "forever home" but my fiance is going into his last year of Uni so we are trying to take on the smallest mortgage we can in case he struggles to get a job once hes finished his PGCE (he's planning on going into teaching) or our circumstances change and we need to move for his job. But this home is close to where I work and is centrally located. So we need to be able to manage on my wage alone. So £5k could mean a lot to us even though we are able to go up to the £160k if that makes sense.

Thanks for all the help and advice, your comments have been honest and really helpful.

lincroft1710

This is a situation where there is no right or wrong answer.

When I was working in the VOA settling Council Tax appeals, a large number of taxpayers always moaned that they "paid too much for the house". My answer was (and still would be) "You paid the going rate". The "right" price for any house (and just about anything) is the price that buyer and seller are reasonably happy with.

You may have to concede that buyer and seller are too far apart for a deal to be made and you will have to look elsewhere. If you don't want to or can't offer any more, don't! If it's a house that ticks most of the boxes, then if you can, you may want to offer more. Only you can decide.

System

Tell her she either accepts your £155,000 now or you will be reducing your offer. She is being silly.

The_Palmist

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

Tell her she either accepts your £155,000 now or you will be reducing your offer. She is being silly.

No she is not. She is playing the same game and is fully entitled to hold her ground. Buyers can move on at their will, sellers can't.

KateLiana27

Be aware that some vendors will NEVER sell their house for what it is worth, and as a result will be on the market for years. Being at stalemate does not necessarily mean your offer is too low. You either have to consciously make the decision to overpay because it's worth it to you, or walk away. Personally I would do the latter. Other fish in the sea, especially in this market.

rachel31a

Even if you were in a position to raise your offer you may find that your survey/valuation down-values it anyway (if you're getting a mortgage that is). We offered 180,000 on a house which was our top offer and the vendor at first refused pushing for nearer to the asking price of 184,950. We couldn't go higher and in the end they accepted. However our homebuyers then valued it at 175 and our mortgage 177. After a week of us not moving from 177 and them not willing to drop from 180 we finally agreed on 177,500. Everyone says it's a buyer's market but I feel that there are a lot of vendors out there who are not willing to accept the value of their house iin today's market.

mcc100

Leah26 wrote: »

The house has been on and off the market over the last year and a half and she has received no offers.

The fact that it has been on the market for a year and a half shows that she is in no hurry to sell, but also if she has had no offers then it is well over priced .......

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

mcc100 wrote: »

if she has had no offers then it is well over priced .......

It's not that simple. Houses are not like commodities that can be bought and sold instantly if the price is right.

Even in the boom years it was not uncommon for some houses to take a year or more to sell if it was appealing to a smaller segment of the market than others due to location, size, layout, etc.

With as few buyers as can get mortgages today, those houses may now take 3-4 years to sell.

Graham_Devon

Sounds like the seller needs that extra 5k to be able to sell. Could be they are in negative equity, (or would be with your offer) or extended the mortgage to do the rooms you mention. So the seller is likely hoping someone else will pay off their decisions.

Nothing bad about that, and its up to you whether you are willing to pay to bail someone out. If it's been on the market that long, 5k lower than what they want isn't the end of the world.