Debate House Prices


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Viewed a house in January - no viewings since.......

I rang an agent today regarding a house we saw in early January to see if the owner was prepared to be more realistic about the price as a number of months had passed.

The agent said 'is that Mr ******?'. I said it was and complemented him on his memory. He replied that it wasn't quite as good as I implied as he had looked the house up and we were the last people to view!

The owner still won't reduce by more than about 7%, despite the complete lack of interest.

We enquired about another house earlier today as well. It's been on over a year and is for sale at £405000. We are checking out possible reductions and whether the owners will move quickly before arranging appointments now, given the problems we have experienced so far.

The agent said that she isn't prepared to drop below £400000 and 'is considering taking it off the market because she is fed up with time wasters making silly offers.........'

Judging by everything else that is available it's overpriced by at least £50000 so I'm not clear about who the timewasters are.

What should be a buyer's market is stalling because people won't take their heads out of the sands.

Contrast this with the response from the 7 new builds we are going to see at the weekend where the agents are offering reductions before we have even viewed.

We've noticed a heck of an improvement in response times from agents as well. They know what the score is, but it needs to filter through to the sellers.

We are only viewing one house with a chain this time. There are so many people desperate to sell that it isn't worth looking at those who have no plans.
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Comments

  • lostinrates
    lostinrates Posts: 55,283 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    yes, it seems a difficult time for everyone right now: it seems to me that buyers do want to buy but at the 'new and reduced' prices, where sellers are just hanging on in hope.

    I ha a call from an EA who sent me details of a property a while ago. I had ade no appointment to view even. They called to try and drum up a viewing but I explained that while the house MIGHT interest me I didn't feel its price any where near reflected the market, or quite frankly, the peak in that area. TBH, its a lot of petrol to spend going to look a a house about a 3 hour drive away when the starting point is IMO unrealistic. The Agent assured me there was LOADS of interest and in her opinion the house was excellently priced.

    'So why are ou calling me?' I asked, still smiling!, because if the market agreed she would be calling all the people who had viewed the house and expressed interest, not just ones who called to ask for details a few weeks ago!
  • amcluesent
    amcluesent Posts: 9,425 Forumite
    > What should be a buyer's market is stalling because people won't take their heads out of the sands.<

    Fair point, but how much of the trading from 1997-2007 was 'churn' from peeps playing the market rather than needing to move?

    If you don't need to move on a 5 year view, then with the costs/tax and no prospect of capital gain it would be madness to sell now.

    With the market seized-up, those who can sit tight will do so and maybe look at improving their home.
  • d900
    d900 Posts: 295 Forumite
    if they dont want to reduce the price then either ignore it or buy it
    they dont have to reduce the price they can sit on it for years if they like
    The orginal post in this thread has a very very slim chance of being about money saving. The post is more than likely to ask a question that google could answer better than any of us.
  • carolt
    carolt Posts: 8,531 Forumite
    Also, I think you're looking at the top of the market, ie. the kinds of houses people only sell in order to downsize/move into retirement place/care home etc. These are exactly the people who will not benefit one jot from falling prices - they can't pass the price reduction on, because anything they'd be buying would be cheaper.

    So there's very little incentive for them to accept less - unlike for those lower down the chain, who can hope to pass the reduction further on.

    Obviously, there will still be motivated sellers, even among this group.

    Good luck in finding one.
  • posh*spice
    posh*spice Posts: 1,398 Forumite
    There is a house near me that has been on the market for atear and is massively overpriced - like hundreds of thousands of pounds. I would guess the owners don't really care if the move - but they would for a daft amount of money. I suppose you get buyers that are "time wasters" and sellers that are equally "time wasters":rolleyes:
    Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.
  • amcluesent wrote: »
    Fair point, but how much of the trading from 1997-2007 was 'churn' from peeps playing the market rather than needing to move?

    If you don't need to move on a 5 year view, then with the costs/tax and no prospect of capital gain it would be madness to sell now.

    With the market seized-up, those who can sit tight will do so and maybe look at improving their home.

    I agree completely, but my point is that they should, in that case, take the house off the market and not waste their time and the time of viewers and agents.

    Leaving it up for sale with an unrealistic asking price and no intention of reducing, or moving out even when a sale is agreed as we have experienced three times recently, is completely pointless.
  • carolt wrote: »
    Also, I think you're looking at the top of the market, ie. the kinds of houses people only sell in order to downsize/move into retirement place/care home etc. These are exactly the people who will not benefit one jot from falling prices - they can't pass the price reduction on, because anything they'd be buying would be cheaper.

    So there's very little incentive for them to accept less - unlike for those lower down the chain, who can hope to pass the reduction further on.

    Obviously, there will still be motivated sellers, even among this group.

    Good luck in finding one.

    I wish that was the case, but with a maximum (revised) budget of £360000 now I really don't think we are anywhere near the top of the market.

    As usual the ones we like are always about £30000 more than we can afford, of course!
  • WTF?_2
    WTF?_2 Posts: 4,592 Forumite
    carolt wrote: »
    Also, I think you're looking at the top of the market, ie. the kinds of houses people only sell in order to downsize/move into retirement place/care home etc. These are exactly the people who will not benefit one jot from falling prices - they can't pass the price reduction on, because anything they'd be buying would be cheaper.

    So there's very little incentive for them to accept less - unlike for those lower down the chain, who can hope to pass the reduction further on.

    Obviously, there will still be motivated sellers, even among this group.

    Good luck in finding one.

    Unless they think they can wait up to a decade for the market to fall, bottom and recover to the same prices as last year, at the peak, their incentive should be "The sooner I sell, the more money I get for it".
    --
    Every pound less borrowed (to buy a house) is more than two pounds less to repay and more than three pounds less to earn, over the course of a typical mortgage.
  • lostinrates
    lostinrates Posts: 55,283 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    I wish that was the case, but with a maximum (revised) budget of £360000 now I really don't think we are anywhere near the top of the market.

    As usual the ones we like are always about £30000 more than we can afford, of course!

    Me neither. I'm looking for a little bit of land in the south of england though, expensive but no way top of the market here (Actually we only need a two bed, and only that to future proof for a child! and would certainly consider extending to get to that 2 bed state. We are flexible though. It could be a little land and for us only or something with business potential for me (for which we'd get more scarily in debt I guess). We have considered everything from a one bed semi detached to a 6 bed detached further away from the South east than is ideal. we are REALLY flexible!

    We hope that after this we only move once more though. THAT will hopfully b top of th market! ;)
  • mr.broderick
    mr.broderick Posts: 3,778 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I rang an agent today regarding a house we saw in early January to see if the owner was prepared to be more realistic about the price as a number of months had passed.

    The agent said 'is that Mr ******?'. I said it was and complemented him on his memory. He replied that it wasn't quite as good as I implied as he had looked the house up and we were the last people to view!

    The owner still won't reduce by more than about 7%, despite the complete lack of interest.

    We enquired about another house earlier today as well. It's been on over a year and is for sale at £405000. We are checking out possible reductions and whether the owners will move quickly before arranging appointments now, given the problems we have experienced so far.

    The agent said that she isn't prepared to drop below £400000 and 'is considering taking it off the market because she is fed up with time wasters making silly offers.........'

    Judging by everything else that is available it's overpriced by at least £50000 so I'm not clear about who the timewasters are.

    What should be a buyer's market is stalling because people won't take their heads out of the sands.

    Contrast this with the response from the 7 new builds we are going to see at the weekend where the agents are offering reductions before we have even viewed.

    We've noticed a heck of an improvement in response times from agents as well. They know what the score is, but it needs to filter through to the sellers.

    We are only viewing one house with a chain this time. There are so many people desperate to sell that it isn't worth looking at those who have no plans.


    Heavens the saga continues :confused:
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