Buying - 'correct' price for a unique house

pinkteapot

We've previously owned boxy estate houses where identical ones have sold within the last year, so the 'right' price is easy to establish. We're now looking at a unique house in a rural area where there's a handful of houses - all very different. Nothing the same size as this has sold within three miles in the last 15 years. How do we know if the asking price is excessive? It's only been on the market a week.

I know the main answer is "It's worth what you're prepared to pay", and we are looking at this as a long term home, but if for some reason we did have to sell it again in a few years time I want to be reasonably confident of getting back what we paid (if the market hasn't changed - obviously it could dip!).

For anyone who's bought something without comparables before, how did you know what price felt right?!

Our search area is large and we are weighing it up compared to other things we've viewed. For the house in isolation it's good value, but others we viewed are in areas that are generally more expensive, so it's hard to gauge.

AdrianC

There are ALWAYS comparables. You need to look a little geographically wider, and you need to think a bit outside the box.

You're looking to buy it - so what else are you looking at? Why do you prefer this house to that house or that one? Why is that one more expensive, and that one cheaper?

pinkteapot

Thanks. Things we've viewed around the same price are smaller and less nice houses, in more expensive areas. They're more expensive due to location - desirable villages whereas this one is rural so amenities are a short drive away. We understand the logic of the market pricing things that way but we're happy with the location.

The other complicating factor is that hardly anything is coming to the market or selling - and our search area is about 20 miles across! Most houses have been on the market for months, if not years. Occasionally one will go. In one of those more expensive, apparently desirable villages, one house sold last year, there's nothing Sold STC, and there's half a dozen houses for sale, most of which have been on the market for ages.

We relocated here from a fast-moving market in the south-east so we're highly confused by the whole thing. :rotfl:

AdrianC

Sounds a bit like round here - western Herefordshire.

So you've got the basics of comparisons already - trade space for location. Is the trade-off "right"? Is that a fair premium for that location, IYHO?

Go on, link... You know you want to!

need_an_answer

I would say if you are questioning the price and whether its worth the price then maybe its not quite right yet.

The way you could look at it is ...at what price would you certainly buy it and at what price would you walk away.

If you looked back in a years time and found that it had sold for less than you were willing to pay then would you be deflated.

With the niche market everything is slower selling and I wonder if you should perhaps go in with a lower offer and if its rejected ask what they want...you might be surprised that you are all skirting round the same sort of figure!

The factors you've listed about houses not selling quickly do lead you to being a little more flexible with offers but ultimately it really does come down to the vendor happy to sit there until they get the price they want.

How long has this one been on the market?
Is it in an area where perhaps the good weather will bring the sale in as much as nothing shifts during winter so this is the opportunity to sell and purchase now or else wait till next spring.

Onward chains?
If youre finding it difficult to find something,what plans do the vendors have...

getmore4less

You will be in the same position as all the current vendors should you need/want to sell in the future

The buyer pool will remain small* the trade off will be how keen are you to buy against how keen are the vendors to sell

In the more buoyant markets you have multiple keen to buy so they are competing against each other once above the sellers keen to sell threshold.




* The pool can change if if something happens like a new employer increases demand...

pinkteapot

AdrianC wrote: »

Go on, link... You know you want to!

If we decide not to offer on it, I'll show you. If we buy it, I'll come back after completion and show you.

Cakeguts

This is what I would suggest. In your imagination put the house into the middle of an area with shops and a train station and a good bus service and then discount from that price for lack of all of those things. Houses miles from anything tend to be cheaper than the same type of house near everything because of the inconvenience of having to go miles to get bread and milk if you run out plus the cost of petrol.

pinkteapot

Yup, agree. I was struggling to work out what the premium for location should be but I like this approach.

SouthLondonUser

AdrianC wrote: »

You're looking to buy it - so what else are you looking at? Why do you prefer this house to that house or that one? Why is that one more expensive, and that one cheaper?

That's only part of the story, though, and possibly not the most relevant. The OP is not the market. The question is not what the OP would do, but what the market would do.

I know people who regretted buying properties which were to their taste but not to that of the local residents, because selling them when they had to move proved incredibly difficult. E.g. a property with the entrance from a main, busy road, but with only one bathroom overlooking that busy road, and all other windows overlooking a quiet back road. Most people were just not interested. And, yes, price, but they received no interest even pricing 20% below properties in much worse conditions which were a few yards away - quite a few people said they had simply excluded that road when drawing an area to search on rightmove.

babyblade41

I have just moved from Hereford back to my hometown of Oxfordshire .

The house I sold in Hereford which was Rural, no bus service , no pub , not great countryside IMO we had paddock s and huge house and I sold it for the same price as I could buy a 3 bed semi where I am now

It is a trade off and the price for what you get is always desirable but if moving away from friends and family then for me that was too high a price

I've downsized massively to be in a rural location in my home village with easy access to amenities and a local pub for the same price as I sold my previous house ie 3 beds instead of 6 , a sizeable plot but not acreage and from a house in good order to one that at the min has no ceilings downstairs and all plaster removed from brickwork

The difference is it was a house I knew I wouldn't stay in and quite quickly realised it . The house wasn't bog standard and tried to sell it 2 years ago and nothing, then got so fed up last year tried again and had an offer with in a few hours... pure luck

To push it through for such an emotional move was stressful as I knew if this fell through I could wait ages for another offer

The way I'd look at it is if it's bothering you about the price , there will be comparables just not like on a normal purchase and you will probably need to widen the search to get them .. it will give you the nod

Always think about how it will sell on, as things change as you are aware, don't make my mistake and think "I love it , all this space etc etc) and then after 12 months realise it's got things I don't like enough to want to sell.

Good luck in how it pans out