House Prices #2 Property market, buying and selling

[Homebird44]

I mean the offers are useless but we’ve had 2 in excess of asking but will defs not be accepting below as even 5% is a significant chunk of money.

Our area is a nice area so a lot of the price is tied to that & schools, we are near a tube station too and do have potential to extend 2/3 ways but haven’t ourselves (something that came up on viewings despite the floor plan?! ). Most houses round here (not flats) become available through death or divorce so need a LOT of work doing, it’s rare to have something well presented available in this area which is why they’ve had so many requests to view but the quality of them just feels tit.

Yes, I'm in a rural area, Knebworth Park is a stones throw and we could put on a small extension but I wouldn't want to spend anymore. Our EA said that buyers want a driveway as electric cars will become more popular. Its getting to the point that id rather stay where I am. Neighbours are great and plenty of greenery for the dogs. Husband wants a bigger garden but anything we've seen its too expensive.

People are definitely making offers in multiple properties to ‘secure’ them then deciding from their shortlist.



Here’s where you’re going wrong. Once you make the decision to sell it’s no longer your lovely home. You have to emotionally let it go now or the whole process will emotionally kill you.
Also, it’s actually borderline offensive to call people tacky for offering 5% under. 5% under wouldn’t be unusual at all in a normal market and if that’s what they are willing to pay, that’s what it’s worth to them.
On top of that vendors still seem to think that stamp duty has ended and are money grabbing left, right and centre. Homes are being marketed 10%+ over. You’re home is only valued by the agent, it’s worth what someone is prepared to pay.

I'm inclined to agree with you. If you want to sell, just sell. If you're emotionally attached then you'll find every excuse not to sell.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

It is actually infuriating, my partner wouldn’t let me talk to the EA after a certain point because, I wanted to tell them how incompetent I thought they were. We had a lot of viewers who had the appointments booked for them and didn’t even bother to look at it online. So they turned up and said, oh we wanted a drive in/drive out drive and I was like… if you looked at the pictures you’d know we don’t have that. Also, had someone who asked could we wait a few months until their 19 year old son arrived home from travelling to approve it Someone else offered £250k less than the asking price. Just thinking about it all is winding me up, I feel for you still going through it!

I’m just relieved it’s not just us tbh. We had exactly the same re: extensions, like there’s literally a floor plan and pictures??

I also think that there are different types of houses for different people. Like if your husband or family are all trades buying a probate wreck makes sense cos you can turn that around for less than half the price of a “normal civilian” and really add value to it. If you aren’t fussed about aesthetics you could find a house the same size in the same area for a bit cheaper, if you’re not fussed about schools or being in walking distance of xyz you could buy a much bigger house for the money elsewhere. This is why I really wish the EA would better check people, especially because of covid I think people are casting their net wider as they’re only commuting in 1/2 times a week so we’ll be amongst the least bang for ur buck if you look at bricks and mortar alone, hence why we come off worse when they’ve got a fistful of offers accepted in.

I just said to my husband we should consider moving to an Airbnb for a bit as I think dealing with this hell would be easier if I didn’t have the heart break of losing the lovely future I’d imagined at property x??

 

[littlepup]

I couldn’t let this home go to someone like that, we’ve had 2 offers over and one on (admittedly 1 has been a time waster, the other I’ve written off). I’ve told the EA I don’t want any investors or landlords viewing as I wouldn’t sell to them either. We were sold the house for a discounted rate by the daughter of the lady that lived here for 40+ years before she died so I feel obliged to pass that kindness on and only want it going to an owner occupier !

‘Someone like that’- someone that disagrees with your EA’s valuation? Wants the best value for their hard earned money? Wants to protect themselves from falsely inflated house prices? Please don’t say that to your EA.

An offer is only an offer until it’s proceeded on.
Be cautious of allowing time wasters to set you an up achievable benchmark. We’ve just sold a property >£1m and had so many time wasters and people offering silly money then coming back with some ridiculous reason why the price should now be dropped in an effort to get the house off the market and hope we couldn’t be bothered to start over.

I fear you’ll find these days there is no room for emotion in a house sale and you will be severely messed around and disappointed before you find your unicorn but I wish you all the best x

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

some ridiculous reason why the price should now be dropped in an effort to get the house off the market and hope we couldn’t be bothered to start over.

This is what I’m referencing when I say “people like that” - we had the silly offer (that the EA didn’t put forward to us, it was just written in the comments) because we’re moving a distance and haven’t found somewhere. That’s it. If someone had said because we’d need to put a new x in or replace y then I’d be willing to listen, for something ridiculous like that I’m sorry but I think they’re a moron?

 

[Clover123]

I have found EAs to be really pushy with me as a buyer, trying to encourage me to go to viewings way higher than my hard limit, so I can see why some people end up going along knowing they can't afford it. I always say no as it's a waste of everyone's time, but they can be so insistent and recommend offering way below! So please do remember not all buyers are being cheeky. Some are getting fed poor info from EAs, you really do have to have your wits about you as seller and as buyer!!!

 

[Italy2]

Wow it's so offensive to call someone tacky because they are offering you different to what you think your house is worth. The irony that you were sold the house on a discount by a lovely person but you chose to call people tacky and cheap when put in the same shoes. No wonder sellers get messed around when they are being greedy

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

I have found EAs to be really pushy with me as a buyer, trying to encourage me to go to viewings way higher than my hard limit, so I can see why some people end up going along knowing they can't afford it. I always say no as it's a waste of everyone's time, but they can be so insistent and recommend offering way below! So please do remember not all buyers are being cheeky. Some are getting fed poor info from EAs, you really do have to have your wits about you as seller and as buyer!!!

Thank you - this is very interesting to know tbh as that’s certainly not what they tell us as sellers . Now we’re going through round two I said I’d be happier with fewer but higher quality, and will never say why don’t we have 500 viewings booked??? Who knows if he’ll have listened to that.

We were talking about EAs today and if you consider EA charges are 1.xx% of sales price, let’s just say 1% and ignore VAT for simplicity lol. But this means beyond simply selling the property they’re not incentivised to get you your max or even your asking? If you think in £10k increments for easy maths, 1% of that is just £100. And that £100 goes to the agency, the agent themselves will be seeing figures in the tens of pounds! I can see why they may tell a potential buyer oh they might take lower cos this system incentivises them to just get your sale done ASAP with minimum costs rather than getting you the best price possible. Not that price should vary that much, every property has their market cap at the end of the day.

Idk how you’d fix that, though. So much of this process feels needlessly slow and risky. I wonder if they’ll revamp it in our lifetimes?

Wow it's so offensive to call someone tacky because they are offering you different to what you think your house is worth. The irony that you were sold the house on a discount by a lovely person but you chose to call people tacky and cheap when put in the same shoes. No wonder sellers get messed around when they are being greedy

Because a few lines on tattle is the full story? When you catch up with the posts you’ll see the context. Bizarre!

ETA - we never asked for the discount on this property nor would I considering it was probate - now that would be tacky! We had been let down by a previous seller when buying this and our EA had made the family aware that we were in the market and our budget and the woman said she’d be willing to entertain us (despite it being listed for more) as we were FTBs with no chain, thus the viewing happened and we took it immediately.

 

[JoeBloggs]

Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, regardless of any valuation.

Also choosing who buys your property doesn’t mean anything, they could easily lie or circumstance could change. Take the emotion out and look at it as if you were on the outside.

 

[HoGi]

I have found EAs to be really pushy with me as a buyer, trying to encourage me to go to viewings way higher than my hard limit, so I can see why some people end up going along knowing they can't afford it. I always say no as it's a waste of everyone's time, but they can be so insistent and recommend offering way below! So please do remember not all buyers are being cheeky. Some are getting fed poor info from EAs, you really do have to have your wits about you as seller and as buyer!!!

We had similar 4 years ago when we were looking. Hard limit and had to had a driveway as we have an electric car.

We kept being sent houses with allocated parking round the corner (so no way to charge the car) or on street parking etc. And when we weren't booking viewings had calls/emails asking if we are still looking to buy as we aren't booking anything! I said if you sent us properties that actually met our criteria we would go and view them!!! They didn't like that. I imagine a lot of people would just go along with it and view properties that don't suit their needs.

I sold my mums house last year for anout 80k less than others down her road go for, for a quick sale and as it need a fair bit of work: new boiler, 2 new bathrooms, new kitchen, new windows, new roof on one of the extensions. The listing said requires renovation. But for weeks the feedback we had from viewings was "needs too much work". The EA was getting families with young kids to view it! There was no working heating ffs so why would you show them round?!

ETA my friend is in the process of selling her 3 bed semi. Everyone either wants an Instagram ready house with huge extension and bifold doors etc. Or for the house to be dirt cheap for them to do that to it and make their money back. No one wants "normal" 3 bed houses. It's really sad

 

[Homebird44]

I think England house sales should go through sealed bids. Saves on gazumping and you offer what you can afford.

 

[Anne1448]

ETA my friend is in the process of selling her 3 bed semi. Everyone either wants an Instagram ready house with huge extension and bifold doors etc. Or for the house to be dirt cheap for them to do that to it and make their money back. No one wants "normal" 3 bed houses. It's really sad

This part is so important!

Everybody wants a "ready to move in" house because people's income are so unstable and inflation is killing us. By the time you renovate the house, the price of materials is up 20%. So no one wants to go through that.

The price of lumber is through the roof, tradesmen are in low supply, it is almost impossible to find affordable materials and get it delivered on time.

I do not blame buyers but the company owners. If people were paid a living wage and company owners were not so greedy with price increases, a lot more houses would be renovated. Hell, I am in the same position as a buyer. I would love to renovate a house but it cost at least 100-150k for everything.

 

[WilmaHun]

There's also a lot of cases where estate agents will value a property at £X amount, but then when the bank come to do their mortgage valuation they'll down value the property in some cases by £10 - £15k! Estate agent valuations are quite often way too inflated. So in those instances you'd end up having to drop the price to the current buyer, or reduce the price for another buyer anyway was their bank is also likely to down value what the EA has valued it at.

Offering below asking price is never "tacky". It's a massive purchase, and people should only offer what they realistically think it's worth... Of course you as the owner will think it's worth the top end, because you've worked hard on it. But that doesn't mean the banks will agree, and the bank valuation is what ultimately can make or break a sale.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

Everyone either wants an Instagram ready house with huge extension and bifold doors etc.

Have found this to be the case too. We have an Instagrammable house which is why we’re getting so much interest re viewings but the lack of an extension is constantly coming up as a reason to pass.

The thing is the price brackets are very clearly defined here as properties only come in a handful of sizes/types (it’s not like the ones we’re looking to buy, like character properties have a lot more variables?). So the price reflects a lack of extension, but also the work done, but you’re right everyone loves them? I don’t get it, have never wanted one but it must be an Insta thing?

ETA - lol my tacky comment has really riled aspiring buyers? Idk we personally don’t view properties we wouldn’t be willing to pay asking for, we offered over on our next home too I know housing prices are insane but not everything is for you in this life so trying to get a desperate discount with a made up reason like oh it’s because the sellers are moving north is tacky and you should be embarrassed, sorry to say!

 

[HoGi]

This part is so important!

Everybody wants a "ready to move in" house because people's income are so unstable and inflation is killing us. By the time you renovate the house, the price of materials is up 20%. So no one wants to go through that.

The price of lumber is through the roof, tradesmen are in low supply, it is almost impossible to find affordable materials and get it delivered on time.

I do not blame buyers but the company owners. If people were paid a living wage and company owners were not so greedy with price increases, a lot more houses would be renovated. Hell, I am in the same position as a buyer. I would love to renovate a house but it cost at least 100-150k for everything.

The thing is my friends house is ready to move in. Kitchen could do with replacing to something more modern but it is fully functioning, it has new bathroom, new boiler, neutrally decorated it is in perfect condition. But because it isn't open plan living space with bifolds and an island (it's a late 60s 3 bed semi) there isn't much bite!

I think part of the problem is a lot of people are lazy. They don't want the upheaval of works being done. They want everything now. They want to share "got the keys " to install with a perfect house in the background. They want to move in without having to decorate and share pictures of their white and grey palace to their couple of hundred followers.

 

[mindlessness]

I think England house sales should go through sealed bids. Saves on gazumping and you offer what you can afford.

Am I right in thinking it's a bit more like this in Scotland? (I feel like I vaguely remember something from an old episode of Location Location Location?)

 

[WilmaHun]

Have found this to be the case too. We have an Instagrammable house which is why we’re getting so much interest re viewings but the lack of an extension is constantly coming up as a reason to pass.

The thing is the price brackets are very clearly defined here as properties only come in a handful of sizes/types (it’s not like the ones we’re looking to buy, like character properties have a lot more variables?). So the price reflects a lack of extension, but also the work done, but you’re right everyone loves them? I don’t get it, have never wanted one but it must be an Insta thing?

ETA - lol my tacky comment has really riled aspiring buyers? Idk we personally don’t view properties we wouldn’t be willing to pay asking for, we offered over on our next home too I know housing prices are insane but not everything is for you in this life so trying to get a desperate discount with a made up reason like oh it’s because the sellers are moving north is tacky and you should be embarrassed, sorry to say!

I am not an aspiring buyer lol. I just find your "tacky" comment unnecessary. I work in conveyancing and we're seeing more and more that in this market you have to be flexible (as per my previous point about bank valuations vs estate agent valuations). Some houses are selling on the same day they're put on the market because the market is moving so quickly! If your house was that perfect, it would have sold instantly for the asking price

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

I am not an aspiring buyer lol. I just find your "tacky" comment unnecessary. I work in conveyancing and we're seeing more and more that in this market you have to be flexible (as per my previous point about bank valuations vs estate agent valuations). Some houses are selling on the same day they're put on the market because the market is moving so quickly! If your house was that perfect, it would have sold instantly for the asking price

I don’t understand why no one is reading? It had 3 offers the first day it was on, 2 over asking 1 on. The first one we pursued turned out to be a time waster. I don’t want to go with the second, and the third is now in the process with someone else. Hence us re opening.

The problem is the process is so non commital that these bids mean very little until a mortgage survey.

 

[Italy2]

It's always the greedy rude sellers that end up getting messed around as well. Karma is a witch! Lol if your house was worth an X amount and was priced for an X amount and if it was such a desirable area then it would have sold on the same day to dedicated buyers. I am looking for houses and good houses in good locations get sold the same day and never come back on the market because people want them badly. Just saying

 

[JoeBloggs]

Am I right in thinking it's a bit more like this in Scotland? (I feel like I vaguely remember something from an old episode of Location Location Location?)

Yes, except in Scotland you offer is legally binding. Here in England you can basically back out Until the deposit goes through with little consequence.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

It's always the greedy rude sellers that end up getting messed around as well. Karma is a witch! Lol if your house was worth an X amount and was priced for an X amount and if it was such a desirable area then it would have sold on the same day to dedicated buyers. I am looking for houses and good houses in good locations get sold the same day and never come back on the market because people want them badly. Just saying

You’ve been here all pandemic whinging about buying a house, you very clearly have an axe to grind. I’m asking for advice from experienced sellers, not experienced whingers.