Dilemma!

leftieM

We have our house up for sale at 190k. An offer of 170k has come in. The house has been on for 3 months and we've had about 20 viewers.
We are going to rent for a while. I've never loved this area and would love to live somewhere that felt more 'me'. The market here is so flat at the moment that we put our house on 18 months before we hope to buy another as we thought it might take ages to sell.
The offer we have is 5k lower than our 'bottom line'. We are trying to decide whether we are nuts to sell at that price or nuts to sell at all!

merlinthehappypig

Reading your post it seems to me that you have already made your decision and that you want to take the offer.

Having done the same as you are proposing to do, being debt free with money in the bank is well worth £5000! Invested your £90000 will earn you almost the £5000 back in interest after tax in a year.

Ultimately only you can make the decision. It's a risk selling as prices might still carry on rising. That's unlikely, but you can't ignore the possibility. Equally possible is that prices will drop and the offer £5000 below what you want will look fantastic in a year's time.

We accepted an offer £6000 below the price we could have got from another buyer. It was difficult at the time, but we don't regret it now.

GabbaGabbaHey

leftieM wrote: »

An offer of 170k has come in.
[...]
The offer we have is 5k lower than our 'bottom line'.

It's an offer - there is nothing to stop you from making a counter-offer. Why not get the Estate Agents to go back to the person who offered and tell them that you are not prepared to accept £170k, but that you would accept £175k. If they say "no", you still have the option to drop to £170k.

airhostess

Hi there,

My boyfriend and I have just moved into rented accomodation after selling both our seperate properties this summer both at a good profit. We are privately renting a gorgeous period cottage near Cambridge (beams, rural location, fully furnished, easy access to M11, 3 beds etc that would sell for around £400,000 at present) for the cost of £750 per month. So for us, it is far cheaper to rent than to buy right now, we have a large deposit ready and waiting earning good rates of interest which puts us in a very strong position for when we come to buy again.

We will just monitor house prices closely on Property Snake and set up Righmove alerts for the type of place we are looking for, so we can move quickly once we see a place we like for the price we like!

I think it depends on the reasons why you are selling. Do you need to sell for job or children reasons? If not, could you see yourself being happy staying put for the next 5 years or so, if property prices do decrease and obtaining your asking price gets harder? If you like your home, and don't really need to sell, you could always stay put. If you really need to move now, then I would take the opportunity you've been presented with (you can always try to get the buyer to meet you half way regarding the £5k) and find somewhere lovely to privately rent in the meantime, that costs significantly less than your mortgage does.

This will put you in a very stong buying position for when you decide to buy again, with no pressure as you won't be tied in a chain and of course there are great interest rates at the moment for your 90k deposit.

AH

merlinthehappypig

airhostess wrote: »

Hi there,

My boyfriend and I have just moved into rented accomodation after selling both our seperate properties this summer both at a good profit. We are privately renting a gorgeous period cottage near Cambridge (beams, rural location, fully furnished, easy access to M11, 3 beds etc that would sell for around £400,000 at present) for the cost of £750 per month. So for us, it is far cheaper to rent than to buy right now, we have a large deposit ready and waiting earning good rates of interest which puts us in a very strong position for when we come to buy again.

We will just monitor house prices closely on Property Snake and set up Righmove alerts for the type of place we are looking for, so we can move quickly once we see a place we like for the price we like!

I think it depends on the reasons why you are selling. Do you need to sell for job or children reasons? If not, could you see yourself being happy staying put for the next 5 years or so, if property prices do decrease and obtaining your asking price gets harder? If you like your home, and don't really need to sell, you could always stay put. If you really need to move now, then I would take the opportunity you've been presented with (you can always try to get the buyer to meet you half way regarding the £5k) and find somewhere lovely to privately rent in the meantime, that costs significantly less than your mortgage does.

This will put you in a very stong buying position for when you decide to buy again, with no pressure as you won't be tied in a chain and of course there are great interest rates at the moment for your 90k deposit.

AH

Similar to us. We are renting a £400000 plus house for £900 a month. It's far cheaper than buying at the moment.

leftieM

Thanks for the great replys. I felt a bit daft posting about something so personal but you've made me think about some pertinent questions that I hadn't considered before.

mr.broderick

leftieM wrote: »

We have our house up for sale at 190k. An offer of 170k has come in. The house has been on for 3 months and we've had about 20 viewers.
We are going to rent for a while. I've never loved this area and would love to live somewhere that felt more 'me'. The market here is so flat at the moment that we put our house on 18 months before we hope to buy another as we thought it might take ages to sell.
The offer we have is 5k lower than our 'bottom line'. We are trying to decide whether we are nuts to sell at that price or nuts to sell at all!

It's a good offer, be wary of accepting the 1st offer might make buyer think they should have offered less and may induce remorse. Go back and tell them at £173k it's a deal.

leftieM

They offered 170k back in october, then another offer (from a buyer with a house to sell) came in for 180k so we got the 170k up to 175k. They went off to look for a mortgage and we didn't hear from them for a month. They weren't returning EA calls. I thought they had gone. They turned up on Friday with a letter from a bank with a mortgage offer and dropped the offer back to 170k. I honestly don't think they can borrow more. Maybe we should try for a bit more - no harm in asking.
(The 180k people put their house on for 30k more than the valuation (they are downsizing) so they are not serious buyers in my eyes.)

brit1234

To be honest I would take the 170 offer. The reasons are despite the slight loss property prices are going fall dramatically over the next years. Property prices are well overvalued however this on its own does not mean they will fall. Its the credit crunch that is why they will fall as banks now operate restrictive lending. Thus people can't get mortgages to purchase properties at todays levels leading to a drop in prices to get sales. Newbuilds are the worst affected due to banks staying well clear and will trigger the biggest falls.

Put it this way it is like a shop have a huge amount of Christmas stuff left over in january. They have to reduce it to get rid of it and make room for this years goods. Builders can't be left with huge piles of empty properties as they need the money from them to fund other developments. They will sell at a discount.

Sell now and rent for a year and you will be able to by a far better property for your money.

cafenervosa_2

Like many others I think the housing market is in for a major downturn. People have said that you should take the amount that you can right now because in a year or two you could be lucky to get anything like 170k. If the US real estate is anything to go ....sell up now while you still have this chance, the credit crunch in coming!

macaque_2

leftieM wrote: »

We have our house up for sale at 190k. An offer of 170k has come in. The house has been on for 3 months and we've had about 20 viewers.
We are going to rent for a while. I've never loved this area and would love to live somewhere that felt more 'me'. The market here is so flat at the moment that we put our house on 18 months before we hope to buy another as we thought it might take ages to sell.
The offer we have is 5k lower than our 'bottom line'. We are trying to decide whether we are nuts to sell at that price or nuts to sell at all!

I think you need to wake up to what is really happening. Yesterday the BBC stated:

"The number of first-time home buyers in the UK has dropped to its lowest point since 1980 as house prices soar, mortgage lender Halifax says."

The reason for this is that homes are no longer affordable for people on a normal incomes.

Until two months ago this didn't matter because unrealistic house prices were being sustained by a feeding frenzy of people buying second and third homes. The credit crunch and falling house prices however dealt a mortal blow to that business. Many of those buyers are now saddled with multiple properties in a falling market (not a happy place to be) and their buying days are well and truly over.

The market has now been given back to owner occupiers. Many of them are unable or unwilling to buy at unrealistic prices. More than this however, they can smell blood.

You made reference to something 'taking ages to sell'.If something is 'take ages to sell' it is because it is at the wrong price. In a rising market, this problem rights itself as the market rises to meet expectations. In a flat or falling market an over priced property will never sell. The price of £170k sounds like a great offer in current market conditions. I am puzzled by your perverse decision to put an artificial limit of £175K.