Is it reasonable for us to drop our asking price given current climate?

Splatfoot

MobileSaver said:

JammyMatt said:

If a vendor refuses a low ball offer, are they just putting their life on hold? Surely it's better to take a 10% hit than risk putting your life on hold for any period of time?

Yes, sellers too are putting things on hold but of course to a much lesser extent. The seller is already on the "property ladder", is still paying their own mortgage rather than a landlord's and the seller is still in their own place where they can pretty much do whatever they want without having to ask permission from a landlord.

Often sellers moving up the ladder is very definitely a "Wouldn't It Be Nice If" choice rather than any imperative from still living with parents in your twenties or renting a bedsit in an undesirable part of town. Losing 10% because of a WIBNIF is something many sellers would not be prepared to do which is undoubtedly a factor in why transactions dropped by 50% the last time that house prices dropped significantly.

This is definitely us. We want to move away so we can be mortgage free but it's not much of a biggie if we stay where we are for longer. We live in a nice area, the house is big, we just want to move away from the South. Ours is on the market, but we're quite prepared to remove it. 

MobileSaver

Crashy_Time said:

I find it unlikely that millions of people actually believe that TBH,

With all due respect you have believed every year for the last fifteen years that a house price crash was imminent so you'll forgive me for not putting much faith in your belief system!

Crashy_Time said:

Who is buying the houses in your area to push prices up?

I obviously only know specifics on a relatively small number of recent transactions but they are made up of just two groups; one is a group that I myself was in and isn't at all surprising because the area is very desirable, the second group always surprises me and someone like user chucknorris would be in if he operated in this area.

My group is the English buying their own slice of heaven in the country; the area is idyllic picturesque Welsh countryside with a really welcoming community spirit. While walking the dogs over the weekend I happened to meet (2m apart of course) an English couple who have just moved in to a £500k barn conversion, their story mirrored my own; tired of looking out their old front window in England only to see cars and concrete they wanted a rural idyll - as I've said before, lockdown in my opinion is going to significantly increase the number of people who think the same.

The second group is the cash-rich locals who often buy the cheaper properties in the area before anyone else even finds out they were for sale; these always surprise me even though some are friends as I really don't get why they do it. They're already wealthy and have more money that they could spend in their lifetime so why they go through the hassle of buying places, doing them up and then becoming landlords is beyond me. At least two of the cheapest houses in the area changed hands this way over the last few months and there's nothing to indicate this will change moving forward.

shurik2020

We have negotiated our price down by further 5% on top of the initially reduced price. Found a very nice house back in December and managed to agree 2% reduction from the asking price. This is in a very highly desirable area up North where on a few occasions we faced a couple of properties going in a matter of hours after being posted on Rightmove. Small chain with the seller buying a new build. Fast forward to March, we were ready to exchange but then lock down happened and the new build did not get finished. 

A couple of weeks ago we decided the world has changed enough to re-open a matter of the price. After some back and forth agreed another 5% off. It is possible that the house was overvalued initially but we were happy to pay that earlier this year. Similarly, we were happy to walk away this time but it was quite unrealistic based on the state of the market lately. My point is there is no harm in asking, especially if there is a developed on top of the chain. People who think it is unethical live in some kind of a fantasy world. 

Reading all the 25 pages in this thread, I could not stop laughing about "but you will be paying your landlord's mortgage if you walk away" comments. Just by reducing our purchase price by 5% we reduced our mortgage duration by 1.5 years. I think it's pretty easy to check how long you have to wait for a price reduction to make it worthwile. Furthermore, people should do the maths on how much dead money is in owning a property in their first year against renting. In our case, mortgage payments are higher than rent and, when all additional insurances are considered, capital gains are only £200pm more than what we could save from the same sum of money if we were to keep renting. Once again, easy math. 

MobileSaver

shurik2020 said:

I think it's pretty easy to check how long you have to wait for a price reduction to make it worthwile. ... Once again, easy math. 

It's amazing how many new users are signing up to MSE just to tell everyone about amazing discounts available right now, almost unbelievable!

You should ask user Crashy_Time how the "easy maths" has worked out for him paying his landlord's mortgage for around 15 years and counting...

eidand

MobileSaver said:

shurik2020 said:

I think it's pretty easy to check how long you have to wait for a price reduction to make it worthwile. ... Once again, easy math. 

It's amazing how many new users are signing up to MSE just to tell everyone about amazing discounts available right now, almost unbelievable!

You should ask user Crashy_Time how the "easy maths" has worked out for him paying his landlord's mortgage for around 15 years and counting...

every now and then one of the resident crash-ists goes and creates a new account to try and enforce their view. Pathetic really. 

Crashy_Time

Not as if anyone would have to try too hard now to "enforce" a negative economic view though is it?

Crashy_Time

MobileSaver said:

Crashy_Time said:

I find it unlikely that millions of people actually believe that TBH,

With all due respect you have believed every year for the last fifteen years that a house price crash was imminent so you'll forgive me for not putting much faith in your belief system!

Crashy_Time said:

Who is buying the houses in your area to push prices up?

I obviously only know specifics on a relatively small number of recent transactions but they are made up of just two groups; one is a group that I myself was in and isn't at all surprising because the area is very desirable, the second group always surprises me and someone like user chucknorris would be in if he operated in this area.

My group is the English buying their own slice of heaven in the country; the area is idyllic picturesque Welsh countryside with a really welcoming community spirit. While walking the dogs over the weekend I happened to meet (2m apart of course) an English couple who have just moved in to a £500k barn conversion, their story mirrored my own; tired of looking out their old front window in England only to see cars and concrete they wanted a rural idyll - as I've said before, lockdown in my opinion is going to significantly increase the number of people who think the same.

The second group is the cash-rich locals who often buy the cheaper properties in the area before anyone else even finds out they were for sale; these always surprise me even though some are friends as I really don't get why they do it. They're already wealthy and have more money that they could spend in their lifetime so why they go through the hassle of buying places, doing them up and then becoming landlords is beyond me. At least two of the cheapest houses in the area changed hands this way over the last few months and there's nothing to indicate this will change moving forward.

I predict that it will all change moving forward, and for reasons that will no doubt be discussed to death on forums. Three quick points just now 1) After lockdown ends most people will still prefer town/city living  2) Your group is predominately funded by London bubble money, this isn`t guaranteed to continue.  3) The cash rich group are a tiny minority and don`t make the UK property market, the banks make the UK property market in line with the UK public sentiment at any given time.

leftism

MobileSaver said:

abanksee said:

Who outside of this forum thinks there wont be a drop of any kind?

Probably millions of people in various parts of the UK; you do not seem to be able to understand that the country is made up of loads of different "housing markets", some will go up, some will go down. Much as you would love there to be a price drop on every single house in the country, you are living in la la land.

Everyone I've discussed this with in my area thinks prices around here are going up thanks to COVID-19, every cloud has a silver lining!

The fact that you think this is a silver lining to covid proves you have a vested interest in house prices rising and that’s why you are getting so het up about all of the people talking about the inevitable dip. 

But then again, some of those people want a dip so it’s hard to know what to believe! I think it will become a lot clearer in the coming weeks. 

Btw @MobileSaver your signature always makes me laugh! It’s never what I expect to read. 

MobileSaver

leftism said:

The fact that you think this is a silver lining to covid proves you have a vested interest in house prices rising

I'm sorry to disappoint but it was nothing more than black humour; I really don't have any vested interest, I have no plans to buy or sell any property in the foreseeable future.

However I've done OK in life by being positive so I do have an interest in challenging some of the fake news and scaremongering on here from certain people that most definitely have a vested interest in spreading negativity for their own financial gain.

leftism said:

Btw @MobileSaver your signature always makes me laugh! It’s never what I expect to read. 

leftism

Maybe I got it wrong @MobileSaver sorry about that! I suppose I’m looking at it that a house crash is good news for the majority of people, so one man’s positivity is another’s negativity. But I guess a crash is bad news for some too- people who fall into negative equity etc.