House Price outlook - Impact on offers (Buying & Selling)

willis1988

New to the forums so hi everyone! Hope to be sticking around.

I'm currently in a new experience for us, selling our first house and looking to move into a bigger house (expanded family).

After a few months of looking we think we've found the house for us, listed in November last year for £410k. It sold for £250k in 2005 previously.

The newer part of our experience is selling, we went with the Estate Agent suggestion of £200k, this seemed ever so slightly high to me but they were sure it was in line with properties nearby, which does seem to be the case.

My questions therefore are with respect to the myriad of headlines about concerning imminent housing price falls (around 6% - 10% over the next year seems forecast).

1 - Buying - What impact does that have on offers, I am minded to offer £380k for the above house - 7.5% below asking seems fair to me on the basis of not being unreasonable but looking to negotiate an offer. In the current climate however should I be looking to push this further given the outlook? (I know I've asked given my specific circumstances but obviously general observations welcome!)

2 - Selling - we've had 4 viewings in about 3 weeks now - is this a sign that the price may be a bit high, or is this about average for listed houses?

Cheers

lika_86

Nobody can say what a fair offer is on the property you are looking to buy. Is there a reason you are offering under other than some vague idea about outlook and wishing to secure a bargain? Or do you feel it is actually overpriced? 

FreeBear

willis1988 said: My questions therefore are with respect to the myriad of headlines about concerning imminent housing price falls (around 6% - 10% over the next year seems forecast).

Whilst house prices do drop from time to time, over the long term, they go up. Most people are buying houses to live in rather than an investment vehicle. So on that basis, I'd suggest you don't get hung up on short term (predicted) falls. If you wait around for prices to drop, you'll miss the opportunity to buy something that you really want.

MobileSaver

willis1988 said:

 (I know I've asked given my specific circumstances but obviously general observations welcome!)

Not a good idea, as it says at the top of the page...

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy ... Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed.

willis1988

lika_86 said:

Nobody can say what a fair offer is on the property you are looking to buy. Is there a reason you are offering under other than some vague idea about outlook and wishing to secure a bargain? Or do you feel it is actually overpriced? 

Totally agree its going to be unique to each property, there's been a couple of properties nearby that have been reduced recently.

One property we viewed has gone from £400k to £380, and another from £500k to £475k nearby.

So to be honest it's a little bit of looking at that trend (as well as news etc.) and a bit of seeing house using as a negotiation (which I may be mistaken/naive in doing so!).

lika_86

willis1988 said:

lika_86 said:

Nobody can say what a fair offer is on the property you are looking to buy. Is there a reason you are offering under other than some vague idea about outlook and wishing to secure a bargain? Or do you feel it is actually overpriced? 

Totally agree its going to be unique to each property, there's been a couple of properties nearby that have been reduced recently.

One property we viewed has gone from £400k to £380, and another from £500k to £475k nearby.

So to be honest it's a little bit of looking at that trend (as well as news etc.) and a bit of seeing house using as a negotiation (which I may be mistaken/naive in doing so!).

The thing with prices is that it's not necessarily about what else is being reduced (both may have been overpriced to begin with based on what they are and state) but rather, is the house you are looking at overpriced? How does it compare with other properties sold in the area that are the same size and a similar condition? Is work required (not desirable) that is not priced in?

Of course you can put a lower offer in, whether or not it's accepted will come down to other interest in the property and how the sellers have priced. If they've gone on market at a realistic price rather than a punchy one, they are more likely to turn down a lower offer than if they've gone in punchy, had little other interest and your offer is more along the lines of what they realistically expected to get. As a seller though, I personally wouldn't entertain lower offers just based on general market conditions if I thought that actually I'd gone on at a reasonable price.