Survey down valued & seller won’t reduce price - next steps?

Sarah1Mitty2

BaileysMam said:

I think if the vendor had lots of other offers to go back to, I would have understood more their refusal to come down on price. In their position, I think meeting half way would have been more sensible. I will be surprised if they get an offer much higher than ours but I respect that they want to try.

Yes, they sound like they might be difficult to deal with anyway.

lookstraightahead

nicmyles said:

lookstraightahead said:

nicmyles said:

I am endlessly bemused by people's willingness to just accept that a survey value is "the true value" and there are no other facets to the buying process.

A flat I bought was downvalued and we were happy to challenge the valuation (didn't work) and in the end make up some of the difference, because we were confident in the market and that we would make a load of money on it when it came time to sell. Which is what happened.

The mortgage lender (via their surveyor) has one appetite for risk. You have another. Neither are inherently right or wrong.

Clearly you need to listen to what the surveyor has to say and respect their advice and experience, but we are all also capable of forming our own judgements.

I don't disagree with this sentiment. However you do have to factor in the market conditions and that's what a lender does. So not everyone makes a load of money and I think we are at that position now, market wise. I felt confident years ago and then sold in negative equity, so market conditions are really important to me and I buy with my head.

Oh, I completely agree. I just disagree with a blanket "that's what it's worth and you should never ever pay more than that" approach, which some people repeatedly advocate on this forum.

Although of course it also works the other way, so it's worth thinking about paying less than valuation.

Sarah1Mitty2

A lot of sellers won`t go for that though.

Rachelredwood16

TXC said:

Your next steps are unfortunately very simple

• Stump up the delta between valuation and your offer.
• Walk away

Do not pin any hopes on the seller changing their mind if they will not move on their stance. You need to move on and forget it because the right house is out there.

As others have said - you really shouldnt want to be paying any more than surveyor valuation at the moment (whether you agree with it or not, thats the valuation opinion that matters unless youre a cash buyer) as youll open yourself up to a lot of pain unless you plan to never, ever sell.

Some sellers are still being very bloody minded at the moment despite rocketing interest rates and cost of living squeeze - I had a valuation come in significantly under my offer on a house when househunting (some may remember on here) - that house and seller have since had five consecutive sales fall through after me and has now been on the market close to a year with not so much as a pounds movement in asking price.

Wow, thats crazy. You'd think if it fell through that many times (if all were a case of down valuations), they'd reduce the price in line with the average of what it's actually valued at. That's what I'd do in any case. I assume you found another great property? 

lookstraightahead

Rachelredwood16 said:

TXC said:

Your next steps are unfortunately very simple

• Stump up the delta between valuation and your offer.
• Walk away

Do not pin any hopes on the seller changing their mind if they will not move on their stance. You need to move on and forget it because the right house is out there.

As others have said - you really shouldnt want to be paying any more than surveyor valuation at the moment (whether you agree with it or not, thats the valuation opinion that matters unless youre a cash buyer) as youll open yourself up to a lot of pain unless you plan to never, ever sell.

Some sellers are still being very bloody minded at the moment despite rocketing interest rates and cost of living squeeze - I had a valuation come in significantly under my offer on a house when househunting (some may remember on here) - that house and seller have since had five consecutive sales fall through after me and has now been on the market close to a year with not so much as a pounds movement in asking price.

Wow, thats crazy. You'd think if it fell through that many times (if all were a case of down valuations), they'd reduce the price in line with the average of what it's actually valued at. That's what I'd do in any case. I assume you found another great property? 

Even years ago (when the market was less in the sellers favour) there was always competition between estate agents to win business by over valuing. It was well known in my old village that one over valued all the time and naturally won more business as vendors psychologically spent the money they were going to make. Over time though the prices had to come down as the houses didn't sell, but vendors remained with that agent. Although valuations aren't an exact science, 'for sale' prices are often reached on what the vendor needs for the next purchase or feels they deserve for putting in that new kitchen etc. it's all very one way at that particular moment so that the agent can win business.

it's even harder now for vendors to accept as the market has been 'one way' for so long. What they don't appreciate is that most buyers can't, or won't, make up the difference themselves. Those who do, usually see themselves staying in the same property for a long time, or they're happy to take the risk that the lender won't, or they're paying cash.

I think lots of vendors are now trying to hold on tight to what has been over the last few years. I reckon they're fighting a losing battle and that money pot will start to slowly chip away. We will begin to see less OIEO which is there primarily to start a bidding war, and we will see vendors having to be a bit more flexible and do away with 'open events' which sounds like some mansion-type network get together. 

Rachelredwood16

lookstraightahead said:

Rachelredwood16 said:

TXC said:

Your next steps are unfortunately very simple

• Stump up the delta between valuation and your offer.
• Walk away

Do not pin any hopes on the seller changing their mind if they will not move on their stance. You need to move on and forget it because the right house is out there.

As others have said - you really shouldnt want to be paying any more than surveyor valuation at the moment (whether you agree with it or not, thats the valuation opinion that matters unless youre a cash buyer) as youll open yourself up to a lot of pain unless you plan to never, ever sell.

Some sellers are still being very bloody minded at the moment despite rocketing interest rates and cost of living squeeze - I had a valuation come in significantly under my offer on a house when househunting (some may remember on here) - that house and seller have since had five consecutive sales fall through after me and has now been on the market close to a year with not so much as a pounds movement in asking price.

Wow, thats crazy. You'd think if it fell through that many times (if all were a case of down valuations), they'd reduce the price in line with the average of what it's actually valued at. That's what I'd do in any case. I assume you found another great property? 

Even years ago (when the market was less in the sellers favour) there was always competition between estate agents to win business by over valuing. It was well known in my old village that one over valued all the time and naturally won more business as vendors psychologically spent the money they were going to make. Over time though the prices had to come down as the houses didn't sell, but vendors remained with that agent. Although valuations aren't an exact science, 'for sale' prices are often reached on what the vendor needs for the next purchase or feels they deserve for putting in that new kitchen etc. it's all very one way at that particular moment so that the agent can win business.

it's even harder now for vendors to accept as the market has been 'one way' for so long. What they don't appreciate is that most buyers can't, or won't, make up the difference themselves. Those who do, usually see themselves staying in the same property for a long time, or they're happy to take the risk that the lender won't, or they're paying cash.

I think lots of vendors are now trying to hold on tight to what has been over the last few years. I reckon they're fighting a losing battle and that money pot will start to slowly chip away. We will begin to see less OIEO which is there primarily to start a bidding war, and we will see vendors having to be a bit more flexible and do away with 'open events' which sounds like some mansion-type network get together. 

Yeah we realised when properly looking that OIEO were literally just to get people to offer more than they may have done when listed at a higher guide price. When we were choosing an EA luckily they all valued around the same, 1 said £215k, 2 said £210-220k so we just went with the one that we felt most comfortable with and who was prominent in our area and had recently sold houses similar to ours. Two of which were round the corner/up the road.

TripleH

We had put in a new bathroom and kitchen within 2 years when we sold our flat. 2 other very similar properties in our area were up for sale at same time. Ours was in the middle for price. One was ex rental and needed a lot of work, the other, we acknowledge was a better finish than ours.

We were moving and accepted a lower price than asking because we acknowledged we were paying interest on a mortgage, council tax and standing charge for every day the property was unsold.

I think sometimes people hold out for a price (as they've been told thats its value) but forget the extra costs they end up paying sitting round waiting for that price to be achieved.

We offered on a house that has 'sold' 4 times in 2 years now. The deal keeps collapsing as the owners keep pushing for more and more money despite offers. They plan to move out to live their early retirement overseas but seem to be blinkered to the extra costs they are incurring 'chasing the money'.

Sarah1Mitty2

nicmyles said:

I am endlessly bemused by people's willingness to just accept that a survey value is "the true value" and there are no other facets to the buying process.

A flat I bought was downvalued and we were happy to challenge the valuation (didn't work) and in the end make up some of the difference, because we were confident in the market and that we would make a load of money on it when it came time to sell. Which is what happened.

The mortgage lender (via their surveyor) has one appetite for risk. You have another. Neither are inherently right or wrong.

Clearly you need to listen to what the surveyor has to say and respect their advice and experience, but we are all also capable of forming our own judgements.

This sounds like it was before higher mortgage rates? Many buyers now are concerned that they may lose money and in fact a relative of mine trying to sell has had a lot of feedback that potential buyers can`t even afford the monthly payments now that mortgage rates are going up!

lookstraightahead

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

nicmyles said:

I am endlessly bemused by people's willingness to just accept that a survey value is "the true value" and there are no other facets to the buying process.

A flat I bought was downvalued and we were happy to challenge the valuation (didn't work) and in the end make up some of the difference, because we were confident in the market and that we would make a load of money on it when it came time to sell. Which is what happened.

The mortgage lender (via their surveyor) has one appetite for risk. You have another. Neither are inherently right or wrong.

Clearly you need to listen to what the surveyor has to say and respect their advice and experience, but we are all also capable of forming our own judgements.

This sounds like it was before higher mortgage rates? Many buyers now are concerned that they may lose money and in fact a relative of mine trying to sell has had a lot of feedback that potential buyers can`t even afford the monthly payments now that mortgage rates are going up!

I agree. Higher interest rates, a change in market, it's perfectly good common sense to take lender value as a good indication of what they're thinking.

MobileSaver

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

nicmyles said:

A flat I bought was downvalued and we were happy to challenge the valuation (didn't work) and in the end make up some of the difference, because we were confident in the market and that we would make a load of money on it when it came time to sell. Which is what happened.

a relative of mine trying to sell has had a lot of feedback that potential buyers can`t even afford the monthly payments now that mortgage rates are going up!

Something doesn't add up there. If potential buyers cannot afford monthly mortgage payments then presumably they can't afford monthly rental payments either so are either not serious buyers, trying to live beyond their means or you just made that story up?