House Guide Price

randombod

Hi All

We are looking to move and have found the perfect house, I am however a little perplexed at the market history of the property.

I used Zoopla to see when the property was on the market before and the values and found:

Oct 2013 £385,000 - Increase: £10,000
Jun 2013 £375,000 -Increase: £45,050
Jan 2011 £329,950 -Increase: £26,950
Oct 2006 £303,000

The properly has only been sold once so its the original owners.

So between Oct and Jun they hiked the price up £10K, I figure at the £375K mark they were getting offers around £360K and the reason they went to £385K was to achieve something around £370K.

Would you agree with this assumption? If it would appear they are after £370K should I be cheeky and go in at £365K? A similar but lower finish proper just sold for £360K. We really want to bag the property and dont want to insult the seller given £365K is £20K under the guide price.

Thanks in advance!

R

dimbo61

Yes £365K is a very good offer because it is nearly 94% of the price they are asking.
A property is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it !

"A similar but lower finish proper just sold for £360K" ( do you mean property?)

hazyjo

Bit confused as to what you're looking at - the prices it was up for sale at, or the 'values' zoopla gives? If the latter, they're meaningless so ignore.

Try 'property bee' (on firefox) to establish marketing history.

Jx

randombod

@dimbo61 sorry yes I meant property, updated

@hazyjo Zoopla will give links to cached previous advertisements so I was looking at the prices it was up for sale at

I'll give property bee a go

hamster2013

I would be careful with a seller that has the property on the market for over 3 years for the simple reason that in England, until you exchange, any party can pull out of a deal
so even if you offer £385k, a seller who is constantly keeping a property he owns on the market at various prices for such a long time - and as you state, a property which is in a desirable location and state - is not a serious seller
he will incur you legal and admin costs - and chances of him pulling out at a later stage are higher
I would ask:
1. why its been on the market for so long
2. what are his plans, as to why he is selling
3. what solicitor will he be using (vendors hardly lose anything if they use a 'no sale, no fee' type conveyancing companies)

and assess for yourself

if he is selling to move elsewhere, then you can take my word based on person experience, he will sooner or later call the estate agent to say he can't find anything suitable so it pulling out until a later date.

hazyjo

House I bought in April was up for several prices over the course of a couple of years. After a bit of sleuthing, I worked out the following:

Firstly, it was in a bad way and sold at auction (on Homes Under the Hammer! Woohoo!) and was done up quickly and put straight on market. Then sold to an elderly lady who later died. Back on market - didn't sell. Son (executor) decided to rent it out. Almost classed as 'trashed', and put on market as it was. Didn't sell. Son did it up a bit (really rubbish, just basically cleared everything out and put down plain carpet, painted magnolia) and tried to sell at a higher price. Still didn't sell (well, did once, but fell through quickly). Eventually dropped price a bit and took a low offer (from me!).

So sometimes there are reasons why things have been put up for more.

Also viewed a house which ended up going back on for more when they reinstalled a wall on the top floor creating another bedroom instead of one huge one.

Is it worth speaking with the owners to see if they've made any improvements? Wouldn't mention you know about the price hike, but would try to see if they've done anything.

Jx

randombod

Thank you all for taking the time to reply. We are seeing the house today and I am now armed with a list of questions to ask the agent. He mentioned the vendors wouldn't be home.

I also found this to be quite look for question ideas


http:// hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-buying/top-tips-clever-questions-to-ask-the-estate-agent/

randombod

So it looks like the property has been on the market since June however its changed agents due to not selling. The £385K figure the estate agent couldn't explain, he looked sheepish and said that was likely due to the predecessor being over zealous. He also said both the vendor and they know that in comparison to similar properties it is over priced and as such they are willing to be very flexible on price.

I'm not sure why its been on the market for so long, its only 7 years old, no sign of any issues inside or out and I had a realllllly good look in all the corners etc

At any rate sticking an offer in tomorrow and fingers crossed!

Thanks

geoffky

Then it might be a outside problem...Tread carefully...Nutty neighbors

randombod

The agent hinted that it is more a "trouble at home" issue if you catch my drift

hieveryone

randombod wrote: »

@dimbo61 sorry yes I meant property, updated

@hazyjo Zoopla will give links to cached previous advertisements so I was looking at the prices it was up for sale at

I'll give property bee a go

How do you see the cached previous ads please?