Houses on £250-£275k range, psychological barrier

phoebe1989seb

A few years back we bought a house (East Anglia) for £280k and after spending tens of thousands restoring the character features, putting in new bathrooms & kitchen, rewiring etc we sold three years on (in a falling market, but within days) for £250k, having priced at £270k and wanting a quick sale. Our mistake was to overpay in the first place - didn't research the area and believed we were getting a bargain compared to where we'd sold/moved from

Waterlily24

We actually offered £255,000 (full asking price) for a property we we desperate to buy, it wasn't accepted as we hadn't sold our own and it sold for £245,000.

The strange thing was it was on one oth those TV programmes because the guy who bought it was having problems with something, can't remember what the problems were but I don't think it was anything to do with the purchase.

ukcarper

Looking through sold properties near me plenty sell between £250k and £275k the additional stamp duty is only £5k.

rob404uk

If you love the house and cam afford it I would not worry about future resale. You can't predict it. I bought at 262 2 and a bit years ago. 2 doors down sold for 405 a few months ago, similar condition. Lost money on the first purchase. Just make sure you enjoy living there

DRP

We just bought for 260.

Reading on here gets a person worried about that kind of thing but as we're planning to stay a while then it was worth it to secure the house. And if you're only planning to stay a couple of years, unless you're very
Icky you will be losing out on paying a lot of fees etc twice ..

In addition, In our sAle we'd made a bonus by almost 20k so we felt quids in...

movilogo

I have decided that I'm not going to go over £250k.

No one can predict future but it may very well possible that I may have to sell in few year's time. I'll face exactly same problem (unless SDLT threshold is changed).

I find the "I'll wait for a better house" feeling is better than "I've overpaid" feeling.

pinkteapot

movilogo wrote: »

I have decided that I'm not going to go over £250k.

No one can predict future but it may very well possible that I may have to sell in few year's time. I'll face exactly same problem (unless SDLT threshold is changed).

I find the "I'll wait for a better house" feeling is better than "I've overpaid" feeling.

They do keep muttering about changing the £250k SD threshold. You'd be quids in if they do.

movilogo

But before that I'll be quids out in the first place!

Just imagine the frustration if they remove the threshold 3 months but I have paid already in current rate!

Halle71

Friends have just bought a lovely house for £270k because the people who had made an offer before them and had it accepted at about that price were then trying to push the price down to £250k and pay the extra for fixtures and fittings and annoying the vendor.
As our friends had a budget of £300k they were expecting to pay the higher stamp duty anyway.

We had ours valued in the summer at £500k and had to make the decision to sell straight away or wait until it went up another £50-100k so we didn't face the problem at the next rate (we stayed because my daughter had just started school).

Tancred

movilogo wrote: »

I wonder what psychology plays in vendors' minds.

I offered £250k on a house but vendor wants £260k. I feel it is bit numpty to ask just over a stamp duty threshold. If I buy the house for £260k and then a 1-2 years later I have to sell it, I'll be exactly in same situation that would be buyers wouldn't be wiling to offer higher than threshold.

I have seen some houses which are in £280-£290k range but they are not really that better compared to £260k-£270k (asking) range houses.

I think some sellers assume that £250-£265k will be dragged down to £250k mark so they price their houses towards £300k and just assume they will get something in £270-£280k zone.

Any thoughts?

PS: This is in South East but not in London region.

It all depends on how 'hot' the local market is. Last year I tried to sell a house at £265k - which is what it was really worth - and was pulled down to £250k. I did get another £3k from the buyer for various other items but that was it. I reckon I lost around £10k from what I should have received, but that's life.

Ignore what the seller asks. He can ask £300k for a house worth £260k but unless he finds a complete fool he won't get what he wants. Look at what similar houses have sold for in the local area over the past few months and make an offer on that basis.