Selling our house - potential buyer, but unsure how to proceed

Schro

So we bought our 1 bedroom house 2 years ago for £250k and spent £15k installing a new kitchen. We now want to move to a bigger house and initially put the house on for £260k. Now after a month the estate agents strong armed us into reducing it to £250k. But we mentioned we would only take offers in excess.


Anyway during that time we found a house we like at the topish of our budget. We had one guy come round, who spent exactly 1min viewing the house (literally walked up the stairs and back down). He made an offer for £210k which our agent rejected for us. He came back with £240k and said that is the highest he will go and that it's a fair offer in the current climate.


I will say the arrogance has rubbed me the wrong way, and I kinda don't want to sell it on principle. But we tried seeing if we could negotiate the same 10k reduction to the house we liked. Now that has been rejected, though they advised if we moved up 5k they would probably accept.


The issue is the potential buyer doesn't. I am also worried that we will be taking a 25k loss to the property. Though now my partner really wants the house we saw. I personally think we should sit tight and not be pushed around (as there will always be other houses).


I need some advice of what to do.

AdrianC

You seem to be under the impression that the price you paid plus the amount you spent somehow affect the value in today's market - and that the price you accept for your sale somehow affects the price your vendor will accept.

They're all totally unrelated...

If you don't want to accept £240k for your sale, so be it. But it stops you being a proceedable buyer on your purchase.

Is the £5k-10k difference on your purchase a showstopper in terms of affordability?

Doozergirl

It's your choice whether you go for this particular house right now or risk losing it.

A bird in the had is worth two in the bush, but the answer to the question really depends desperate are you to tie up this new house?

A higher offer may come for yours, it may not. When the market is weak, people will bargain with you, but that opportunity is extended to you with the next house up the ladder. A weak market means a potentially lower future mortgage for you than in a strong market.

Don't just look at that bottom line figure of £240k for yours if the house you like would be even more expensive in a 'good' market. Perhaps it is already priced accordingly, rather than them just expecting their new kitchen to be paid for...

That isn't how the market works.

G_M

How long have you been on the market?
How many viewers?
How many other offers?
What are the recent sale prices of comparable local properties?


If you want to wait and see if another offer, perhapshgher, comesalong, will you lose your purchase? Are they in a hurry? Are they in a chain? Is the chain complete?


All these Qs will help you decide what to do.

Bossypants

What Adrian said.

I bought my last house in May 2016 for £280k. I spent £15k replacing doors and windows, and another £5k on interior features, like a woodburner and fitted shelves. When I had to sell last year, I accepted an offer of £276k and considered myself lucky, given market conditions. (Also, bear in mind that the sellers of the house I wanted to buy also had to accept a lower offer than they had hoped, so in reality I don't think I actually 'lost' all that much in the long run).

Houses are like that, you win some, you lose some. So long as you can afford to move into a new place which suits your current needs, that should be your focus.

Flugelhorn

I never expect to make any money when selling properties, nice surprise when I do

Cakeguts

You don't get an extra 15k for a house with a second hand kitchen. It was only new when you bought it. When you sell the house the kitchen will be second hand and it might not be to the taste of your buyer who might want to take it out and replace it with a new 15k kitchen.

Thrugelmir

Spending £15k on a kitchen doesn't necessarily increase the property's value. Did the property have a perfectly good servicable kitchen when you moved in.

Skiddaw1

To be honest, in the current climate it sounds like a fair offer to me.


If you can negotiate a deal on the house you want, I'd accept it and look to the future.

Schro

How long have you been on the market? 2 months now
How many viewers? Around 10-15
How many other offers? One other that was rejected by the agent
What are the recent sale prices of comparable local properties? Our neighbors house (same floorplan, garden size, and same allocated parking space) sold for £255k a year ago. Another property that was slightly worse then ours sold for £245k, and one that was slightly better sold for £265k (both these were within the last 2 months).

If you want to wait and see if another offer, perhapshgher, comesalong, will you lose your purchase? Are they in a hurry? Are they in a chain? Is the chain complete? The house we want is having the same issues as us. They are also not getting offers, though apparently one other potential buyer might offer more then us.


As for the kitchen, we installed it 8 months ago (the other kitchen was ancient and needed replacing). Though we had no illusions that it would increase the property price by much (which is why we didn't seek a higher valuation). The price is more based on our neighbors house and other properties in the area. £260k was a fair valuation when we put it up considering our neighbors house sold for £255k a year ago (as well as other houses at comparable prices).
So a drop to £240k as an offer seems personally laughable to me. Our agent is not saying whether it's a good offer or not, and is not pressuring us to take it. He also thinks we could get the property we want for cheaper and doesn't think it has been priced right (but like us, if they don't want to budge that is purely up them).


This is purely a personal thing, but the attitude of the potential buyer is not helping matters. I also am wondering, if he is so certain he can get a house for cheaper, then why hasn't he?

davidmcn

Schro wrote: »

I also am wondering, if he is so certain he can get a house for cheaper, then why hasn't he?

Conversely, if you're certain you can get a better offer, why haven't you yet?