How high should we go?

merlinthehappypig

Years of rampant house price inflation have left us with a generation of people who genuinely don't think that prices go down. It's going to take some time before people start to accept the possibility that they might get less for their house than they paid.

Those of us who are older and experienced the problems in the late 80's/early 90's know differently.

As for the 'added value' it's not that long ago that the house magazines were full of articles about which home improvements added value and which didn't. I'm amazed that people think that they have a right to get back what they paid when 'improving' a house and then get a further profit on that as well.

We are currently negotiating with a seller. The most we will offer is £7000 less than they paid a year ago.

From the agent's reaction you would think we were from another planet. She has actually said 'but that means they won't make any money at all!'.

D'oh.

dubsey

Absolutely right, that last sentence really made me laugh, that's so true.

You're spot on with the bit about vendors unable to accept prices coming down. I do watch what happens to prices in this area, not that we're intending to move (makes a change). The biggest thing I've noticed happening here is a starting price of say, £265k. Then after about 3 months a change of agents and a price of offers in excess of £260k! I'm not looking for a house, but if I've noticed it, potential buyers must have surely?

Nenen

merlinthehappypig wrote: »

As for the 'added value' it's not that long ago that the house magazines were full of articles about which home improvements added value and which didn't. I'm amazed that people think that they have a right to get back what they paid when 'improving' a house and then get a further profit on that as well.

Yes... I remember seeing those articles. Most say that good decor and quality improvements make a house more saleable (i.e. likely to get a buyer quicker than without them) but very few add a great deal of value to the house and even the ones that do add value don't usually add more than a fraction of the initial cost. Improvements are usually only worth doing if you live in the place long enough to benefit from them yourselves for a while before you sell! I have a vague memory of reading that in an average sized house (I'm assuming that the house the OP has seen is a little less than average being 2 beds) a new kitchen won't add more than a thousand (two at most) and replacement windows about 2K even though they probably cost double that!

When we sold our house last year it needed a lot doing to it including: new windows, re-rendering, re-wiring and decorating in several rooms. We asked 3 different EAs if we should get the work done first before we sell. They all advised that we shouldn't because (unless you are an experienced property developer and/or able to do the work youself) we wouldn't be likely to get back more than about a third of what the improvements cost us! :eek: The EAs also said if we did spend 20-30K doing all that and then if it wasn't to the buyer's taste they would only rip it all out again anyway! Obviously if you are a property developer it's a different matter as you know how to target those sort of things for wide appeal.

The problem for the OP is that the vendors (and probably their EA too)obviously think that the house is worth much more than they paid for it... and who is to say that they got it for a realistic prce anyway? They might have paid over the odds at the time themselves. You might get a better picture if you an look at recent sold prices of similar properties in the same area.

Nenen

dubsey wrote: »

The biggest thing I've noticed happening here is a starting price of say, £265k. Then after about 3 months a change of agents and a price of offers in excess of £260k! I'm not looking for a house, but if I've noticed it, potential buyers must have surely?

Yes... exactly the same here. I posted on another thread recently of a house that has been on the market for several months now at £239,950 being remarketed at 'offers in excess of £230,000'. Do they really think we will be fooled by that? I suppose they are aiming it at buyers new to the market who won't realise the previous price.

I can't wait for that website (can't remember name but an offshoot of propertysnake I believe) that's being developed to show potential buyers how long a property has been on the market and at what prices comes back again!

3dsmills

update! - see OP

HouseDog_2

3dsmills wrote: »

update! - see OP

House Prices are now falling significantly in Northamptonshire .. you did the right thing in telling the EA to take a hike!

A few of us discuss Northampton House prices here: http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=62777