Waiting for a buyer... Anyone want to join me?

Natbag

juniordoc wrote: »

"I can't afford the next house I want to buy" is not a legitimate reason to demand over the odds for the house you are selling.
It's worth what a bank's willing to lend on it and clearly this does not reach your asking price, which it seems was aspirational.
You are simply wasting people's time by not accepting an offer that's equal to this valuation, and wasting any money they've spent so far too.
Time to get real I'm afraid.

We set our for sale price based on three estate agents' valuations (it was actually the lower of the three) and recent sales of similar properties in the neighbourhood, plus and the fact we had a buyer give us the full asking price within two days suggested all that we could afford it. We based our figures based on the advice of professionals, who we trusted knew more about the market than we did. Also, we did not know that we were almost at the top end of what our lender would loan to us as this wasn't disclosed until yesterday and we were not to know what a lender would value our property at until a buyer was in place to commission a survey. I don't own a crystal ball, so perhaps that's a little unfair?

Crashy_Time wrote: »

If 10 or 20k off the price affects your move, you shouldn`t be moving IMO.

I appreciate that. Maybe on a £350k house we would have expected to need that kind of buffer, but not on one listed at £145-£150k. We can cope with a small gap, but not £10k, that was beyond what we could ever have forseen. We paid £140k for the house 9 years ago and have spent a lot more on it than £5k-£10k, plus other homes in the neighbourhood have increased in value since then with having had little or no work done. With all the above in mind it really wasn't that unrealistic an expectation. You live and learn eh?!

Natbag

Tiglath wrote: »

Had our open day last Saturday, and got an offer from a cash buyer today who hasn't even seen the property and offered £40k less than the asking price. Even the estate agent thought they were being cheeky and not serious, so we said No. Two of the people from the open day have arranged second viewings, and we have a new first viewing booked as well, so feeling optimistic.

That's crazy, even to offer so little who would look to spend so much money on a property they hadn't even seen? I'd be worried that not having seen it they'd be more likely to pull out.
Good luck with the viewings, it sounds optimistic and I hope you get a satisfactory offer from at least one

Natbag

Ok, update from me:
We had a viewing this evening, a really lovely young FTB couple looking to move to the area with a deposit and mortgage already in place and ready to go. They had seen 6 other properties that day and spent ages in our house being shown round, then looking round themselves, asking lots of questions and generally seeming quite positive. As we were stood chatting towards the end of the viewing they said they loved it, couldn't find a single fault and wanted to buy it, and we agreed a sale at the new asking price. Our EA has just called to confirm it an now it's just a waiting game to see if the valuation comes back ok at the reduced price, or at least with a smaller gap that we can close. We did have another viewing arranged for tomorrow, who I thought would have been the keener out of the two, but tomorrow was the deadline for the house we want going back on the market so this has come just in the nick of time. I know we're not home and dry yet, as they say, but to clear this hurdle is such a relief.

lessonlearned

Sounds promising. Hope all goes well.

Crashy_Time

Natbag wrote: »

We set our for sale price based on three estate agents' valuations (it was actually the lower of the three) and recent sales of similar properties in the neighbourhood, plus and the fact we had a buyer give us the full asking price within two days suggested all that we could afford it. We based our figures based on the advice of professionals, who we trusted knew more about the market than we did. Also, we did not know that we were almost at the top end of what our lender would loan to us as this wasn't disclosed until yesterday and we were not to know what a lender would value our property at until a buyer was in place to commission a survey. I don't own a crystal ball, so perhaps that's a little unfair?



I appreciate that. Maybe on a £350k house we would have expected to need that kind of buffer, but not on one listed at £145-£150k. We can cope with a small gap, but not £10k, that was beyond what we could ever have forseen. We paid £140k for the house 9 years ago and have spent a lot more on it than £5k-£10k, plus other homes in the neighbourhood have increased in value since then with having had little or no work done. With all the above in mind it really wasn't that unrealistic an expectation. You live and learn eh?!

Fair enough, but you have had the benefit of near zero interest rates over those 9 years to pay down any mortgage you might have had just so that you could take a little hit on the price if you wanted to move on? Mortgage holders/Owners can`t have it all ways, you can`t have the market bailed out with zero rates to keep prices up plus expect your house to increase in value AND expect buyers now to come up with the price you need for your next move! Something has to give.

Crashy_Time

kates08 wrote: »

No, I didn't mean it like that. They have rearranged both their viewings a couple of times and I just have a feeling that they don't have any genuine intention/ability to make an offer. I may be completely wrong. Your comment about the first person to walk through the door buying it after a quick glance round is ridiculous, obviously I've stated that I've been on for weeks and had lots of viewings.

I'm surprised you're even taking part in this thread Crashy, considering your disdain for anyone who is interested in buying and selling properties, and you certainly aren't waiting for a buyer considering all your other posts.

It is not disdain for people wishing to buy and sell, it is disdain for the central banks and the investment banks and how they view the public as debt slaves to manipulate for the sake of a debt based money system (and tasty bonuses for bankers)
The low rates were a lifeline (a very long one) for debt/mortgage holders, all I am saying is don`t mess about over a few thousand if someone makes an offer that may be less than you expected.

Natbag

Crashy_Time wrote: »

Fair enough, but you have had the benefit of near zero interest rates over those 9 years to pay down any mortgage you might have had just so that you could take a little hit on the price if you wanted to move on? Mortgage holders/Owners can`t have it all ways, you can`t have the market bailed out with zero rates to keep prices up plus expect your house to increase in value AND expect buyers now to come up with the price you need for your next move! Something has to give.

Well yes, you make a good point. I'm glad we got on the housing market back when house prices were probably half of what they are now. We are lucky to have gained some equity and reduced our mortgage term along the way - FTB nowadays must really struggle and I do sympathise.

Tiglath

Two first viewings tonight, neither of which I think will put in an offer. A first and a second tomorrow (have high hopes for the second), a first Monday and a second Wednesday (another possible). I'm glad there's interest even after the open day was done.

Natbag

That's a good amount of serious interest Tiglath, best of luck!

mattcafc

Apartment has been on for 18 days and only had 1 viewer. Selling with PurpleBricks and can see with their analytics that our advert ha been viewed 895 times on Right Move and 271 of them were in the last 7 days.
Had better photos taken last week, but still not more bookings.

Horrible waiting game as we have found a house we like, but don't want to make an offer until ours has got more interest/sold/