why is no one flexible?!!

cranezoe

we have had our house on the market for two months and had an offer a couple of weeks ago.
the house was on at £160k, we dropped it to offers in excess of £150k which made us cheaper than anything else about and the offer came in at 148k from a FTB. we felt it was pretty low (esp as we had just dropped the price) but said we would try viewing properties and putting proportionate offers in to see if there was a way we could accept the offer. the potential buyer has been fine with this.
the EA has been trying to get the buyer to increase her offer but she says its the max she can go to, which we understand.

anyway, we viewed 6 houses last week.
put an offer on on one that needs quite a bit of work - on for £185k, offered £168k and were told she wouldnt accept any lower than 182k. forgot it.

put an offer on another that is on for £178k. we saw this house when we started looking, its been on for 2-3months and was £183k when we looked so I know they have dropped the price. its no onward chain. we offered £173k and they said its far too low and want at least £175k for it.

its driving me mad that we cant get a proportionate drop in price!
so should I tell our potential buyer no on her offer and keep holding out for a better offfer? (little interest on our property since her offer) or take the house off the market? or should I just wait until the vendors of other houses come to their senses??!

both sets EA are now trying to convince us to offer higher but we really only want to add £25k to our mortgage so whatever our offer is plus that. our EA suggested we put an extra 2k in (2k more on our offer would have been accepted) but it feels like we are the ones who lose out most here. the FTB gets an "affordable" house, the top end of the chain gets close to the asking price and muggings here gets more debt!

aggggh its so frustrating.
sorry this is so long :mad:

Jorgan_2

The problem is that it takes a while to re-educate sellers that their property isn't worth the figure they believe it is. Many sellers have only become aware of the current market conditions due to the media coverage in the last week to ten days and some believe that their property is immune to any fall in price, even if everything else does.

What is the situation with the vendor of the property that you have offered £173k on? Are they buying on? If so, it maybe worth suggesting to their agent that they try & negotiate the £2k difference on any property they see. I've been saying to my vendors for ages not to get too hung up about asking prices, its the cost of change they need to look at.

Good luck with getting something sorted.

Laughing_Man_2

Do you have any equity at 148K? If so have you considered a sell to rent play? By september as consecutive months of increasingly bad news sink in people generally will realise

a.) that is real and not going away soon

b.) that it actually aplies to them and their house as well

You may even find you can get a better house some months down the line as a result.

cranezoe

thanks.

the property is currently being rented and is no onward chain. I dont actually know if they need proceeds for a move for them or if its just getting shot of their property.

the more we think about it all the more we get cold feet and are thinking of taking ours off the market regardless which is a shame.
I have told the EA this just now and hmmmm they just rang with a viewer who is coming to see mine tonight.

we have also said that we cant make a higher offer out of our own pockets.

how long will it take to re-educate people?! how come we get the idea and no one else seems to! :mad:

cranezoe

I'd be too scared to sell and start renting. Im not too worried about house prices etc if I can keep it all relative. there is never any guarentee as to what will happen and I always thought that staying on the ladder would mean it was relative.

Jorgan_2

cranezoe wrote: »

how long will it take to re-educate people?! how come we get the idea and no one else seems to! :mad:

Some people grasp it very quickly, some never do. You get the idea probably because you use this forum, its all about making informed decisions. You have listened to others, read the good & bad bits and absorbed it.

Does the property currently have a tenant in place or is it empty?

Whats the motivation for your move?

PasturesNew

cranezoe wrote: »

I'd be too scared to sell and start renting.

I've done it. I am glad to be out of the rat race.

cranezoe wrote: »

Im not too worried about house prices etc if I can keep it all relative. there is never any guarentee as to what will happen and I always thought that staying on the ladder would mean it was relative.

Staying on the ladder is relative, but there are other things to consider if the market is falling:
- being able to find a buyer at all
- being able to find one when you find a house you want
- if it's relative and prices are dropping, then you're best off banking your cash

e.g.
You are in a house at £100k. the house you want is £150k. Relatively speaking the one you want is 50% more.

If they both drop 20% then:
You are in a house at £80k and you want one at £120k. Relatively speaking, the one you want is still 50% more... just £40k difference, not £50k like it was.

It all depends on your personal situation:
- how much you'll bank
- how long you're prepared to wait (your nerve)
- how much you invest the money for
- how much your area will drop
- how much/easy it is to rent where you are

It also depends how good you are with money:
I know somebody who sold his house a year ago - already blown all his cash.
I sold mine nearly a year ago - not touched a penny of it and the interest is adding up every day.

Sell to rent is not for everybody.

neas

FTB offer on your prop

Original Price: 160k
Reduced Price: 150k (Excess dont mean nothing in a declining market.. nobody will pay more than the excess.. just a marketing gimmick for nubs)
Offer: 148K
Offer Percentage of Original: 92.5%
Offer Percentage of Reduced: 98.6%
Offer Discount (Original): 12k
Offer Discount (Reduced): 2k

Your Offer on Property 1

Original Price: 185k
Offer: 168K
Offer Percentage of Original: 90.8%
Offer Discount: 17k


Your Offer on Property 2

Original Price: 183k
Reduced Price: 178K
Offer: 173K
Offer Percentage of Original: 94.5%
Offer Percentage of Reduced: 97.1%
Offer Discount (Original): 10k
Offer Discount (Reduced): 4k

So your asking for a similar reduction and one one occasion a larger reduction than the first time buyer.

What you fail to realise is... the balls in the FTbers yard... he has all the cards... he has the money you need to move... without him your house starts dropping and dropping daily... this is what is happening now with poor confidence in the market.I doubt you can expect to get as good a percentage deals as a FTB as he doesnt have to buy your house... but you might need to sell your house to pay debts, or if you are desp to move etc.

cranezoe

the property does have tenants in it at the moment. they were there when we looked round.

our motivation to sell is just that we are in a two bed place and have a toddler and want (not need) some extra living space and a third bedroom.

we dont have to buy the house to pay off debts, we arent desperate to move.

I understand what neas is saying about getting percentages on the house but it seems that we would be the only ones losing out here if we increased our offer - the top end get close to the asking price - something we havent managed - and the bottom end get their low offer accepted.
If we cant get the same discount then I think we are very unlikely to be able to move.

the offer on the first place was so low because it needed quite a bit of work done to it and then when we viewed the vendor told us about windows that didnt open, leaking conservetory, shower not working, shed collapsing etc etc. its been on the market a while. I understand why she hasnt accepted that one though. Its the second one Im frustrated about.

will have to see what happens with the viewing tonight and take it from there to see if we want to accept anything or just stay put, keep overpaying on the mortgage and hope to move next year.
If the flexibility we are offering (kind of!) doesnt carry on up the chain then I cant see how anyone is moving. either we need a higher offer or the flexibility has to carry on. the house above me must be losing daily too. prehaps they arent motivated to sell after all.

the same type of house on the same road is also up for sale and its empty. as a matter of preference we dont like it as much as the windows and cupboards are the "wrong" way round making the bedrooms seem smaller. but the other property is up at £173 so prehaps thats where we should be looking.

Doozergirl

cranezoe wrote: »

the same type of house on the same road is also up for sale and its empty. as a matter of preference we dont like it as much as the windows and cupboards are the "wrong" way round making the bedrooms seem smaller. but the other property is up at £173 so prehaps thats where we should be looking.

The cupboards are the wrong way?!

It's the price you would want to pay for property. I bet you can get a little bit off that if you tried as well.

I don't even know what 'the cupboards are the wrong way' means but I know it wont take a lot to fix. If you have a sledgehammer, it is free and you have instantly bigger rooms. If you want a chippy to put it back the right way, it will cost a little bit.

Go again and use vision (and a calculator )

Also, people usually expect to turn down first offers. You need to make them think they are within touching distance. Over the course of days or weeks you can manage their expectations downwards by keeping dialogue open. I'm not a fan of sticking in first and finals and walking away. The vendor never really gets involved. There's a knee-jerk 'no' and no other contemplation. When you don't offer again, they feel justified thinking you are a timewaster.

gemima

Hi,

Just wanted to say we are in the same boat at the moment. Took a 12k drop (due to stamp duty threshold) but houses further up the chain are not contemplating dropping.

We also 'want' to move rather than 'need' to move with a growing family and having accepted an offer on our house we don't want it to slip away.

You are not alone.