Unrealistic vendors?

playaz

SuzieSue wrote: »

rose-tinted glasses

Cheers! That would have bugged me all night

breadlinebetty

Davesnave wrote: »

Procrastinating may be OK if you are basically content and not just kidding yourself that you are.

Two examples that I know of. People in part of the country where they had settled for a time, both wanting to return nearer 'home' because their circumstances had changed and/or they felt somewhat unhappy. Neither looked likely to have a mortgage. We viewed their houses, but felt they were over the top, price-wise. No inclination to negotiate.

Seems we were not alone. The properties are still on the market, and at much the same prices, but our viewings were in 2008!

These vendors are both Boomers, like me. Why don't they take a hit and move on? The answer, it seems, is that they value money above the worth of their own lives & happiness, or perhaps the thought of 'making a loss' scares them too much. Knowing how long they'd been in ownership, I doubt if there was any question of loss. They'd had the benefit of house price inflation for years.

One can't say why a stranger is procrastinating - it could be for a whole variety of reasons - none of which are financial. The couple's house you viewed obviously aren't desperate to move, otherwise they'd have had to take a hit after 4 years whether they wanted to or not......

Whatever's making them unhappy, isn't strong enough to force them into accepting a lower price than they want for their house, so things can't be that bad........

Of course, there are people who value money above everything else, and maybe this couple are like that, but that's their problem. Equally, there are people who will balk at the thought of paying the full asking price for a house, not just because they resent it and feel they haven't got a bargain, but they hate the thought that the vendors are taking - what they perceive to be - their money. And those buyers lose out too - because all they're doing is wasting months, maybe years of their life waiting for that 'dream bargain' (that may never come along) and are wasting precious time on making a HOME for themselves, and enjoying all the excitement and benefits that come with that. So for the sake of, say, ten/twenty grand, they're denying themselves happiness and the chance to own a house they really, really like - and the 'right house' doesn't come along that often...........on top of which, they'll recoup that £20k - and much more too - in years to come!

The repayment on an extra £20/£30k over 25 years is peanuts - when you take inflation into account - yet going by some members on here there's plenty of people willing to deprive themselves of the chance of happiness and living in their dream home, just for the sake of falsely believing they've bagged themselves a bargain by buying a cheaper home than the one they REALLY wanted.

THEY'RE the ones who are kidding themselves they're content!

breadlinebetty

Davesnave wrote: »

I thank only myself for having the courage to sell up when I needed to at a sensible price, confident that I would, eventually, get what I wanted from someone equally determined. Falling markets present more opportunities than rising ones, IMO.

You previously said you 'sold cheaply'. That doesn't sound like courage to me - that sounds like neediness........

And let's be honest, you're not a charity doing good deeds for strangers -so why sell cheaply and do yourself out of money???;)

Most 'determined' people get the best price they can;)

I'm not sure which part of the country you're looking at, but in London and the South East properties are going UP. I can only think you're waiting to buy somewhere outside those areas - and going by your forecasts they're going to keep falling!! So when do you intend to buy? Time marches on you know!

Chasing that elusive dream often ends in heartache....

How much has all this waiting cost you in dead rent?

breadlinebetty

Thrugelmir wrote: »

No plans to move. Personally unless I saw my "dream" home for which I would pay what I needed to acquire. I won't be changing my mind.
C

So we may see a protracted period of stagnation (decade or so). Until the issues facing the banks in terms of deleveraging their balance sheets is complete. There's a global game in play. Which will determine the landscape significantly.

So says he!!:D



I take it you haven't heard of a fixed rate mortgage, then..............:money:

breadlinebetty

SuzieSue wrote: »

But this isn't a problem confined to the property market in the UK, it is what happens in life in general all around the world.

When someone trys to sell something they own, they want to get as much as they can so why should property be any different? If they don't desperately need to sell, why should they accept a price that they aren't happy with?

If I found a property I really wanted to buy and had been looking for years, then I would pay what the seller was prepared to accept (after trying to negotiate a lower price of course). If my negotiations didn't work then it would appear that the seller was in no hurry to sell, so I would either wait a few months and try to negotiate down again (hoping that it didn't sell in the meantime), or accept defeat and pay what the seller was asking.

I don't really know what the OP is complaining about - the value of a house is not a science - it is simply what someone is prepared to pay for it.

I don't agree with the OP's notion that sellers are being unrealistic. The OP wants to buy, but isn't prepared to pay more than than he thinks the property is worth. So why should the sellers accept less than they think it is worth unless they are desperate to sell?

Spot on post!:beer:

And I couldn't agree more : why does the OP think HER valuation of the property is correct, and the vendors/estate agent's valuation is WRONG?

High and Horse spring to mind...........

andy.m_2

pompey went down, that sucks.

We were lucky, sold at asking and kicked the !!! out the purchase price.

We went house hunting with vengeance and must have made 10 offers on 10 places, all sensible in my mind and varying from 25% to 5% below asking.

All rejected.

There seems to be no crash down here in Hampshire.

breadlinebetty

Thrugelmir wrote: »

For my sons sake I hope prices fall.

My property only has value when I die. So is worthless to me. Other saving me paying rent.

Your property won't be worthless to your son, though! Yet you're hoping he gets a lesser inheritance!!!

pararct

Mortgage rates are de-coupling from the BofE base rate and will continue to do so.

Fixed rate means more than a set interest rate it also means a fixed period of time. Once that period ends people will have to purchase products at whatever the ambient interest rates are at the time. These are not likely to be lower....

bitsandpieces

I'm not sure where the idea that people who are holding off on buying houses are depriving themselves of a dream home comes from - you can rent nice homes, too. The insecurity is sometimes annoying, but you avoid lots of the hassles that come with home ownership (e.g. if structural problems come up someone else gets to fix them, or if you get nightmare neighbours you can move within months). I couldn't afford to buy (or rent) anything like what my ideal is, anyway - I have unrealistic demands! - so any option is a compromise.

As for rent being 'dead money', my rent at the moment is a smaller percentage of my property value than I can earn in a savings account - let alone the percentage I'd pay on a mortgage - and I don't pay for maintenance etc. The main reason to buy would be if I were confident property values were going to rise - I'm not sure either way.

If people are 100% confident that house prices will rise or fall, I'm never sure why they have to mess around with investing in the property market directly anyway - you could easily make a fortune spread betting on things like the average house price. Of course, if you're wrong you could easily bankrupt yourself, too - not something I'd touch with a bargepole.

breadlinebetty

pararct wrote: »

Mortgage rates are de-coupling from the BofE base rate and will continue to do so.

Fixed rate means more than a set interest rate it also means a fixed period of time. Once that period ends people will have to purchase products at whatever the ambient interest rates are at the time. These are not likely to be lower....

Fixed rate can be for any length of time! I personally someone who has a fixed rate mortgage over 20 years.......:)