Lovely House - Over budget - Greedy vendor(?)

[eliot]

Do you really want to live in a town house. Round here they just represent estates where they have crammed as much as possible into tiny plots. Whats the parking like in the evenings - is it full of vans ?

[romeogolf]

Thanks for all the replies. It's really just to get perspective. It's easy for someone selling their own home to have an emotional attachment to it and thus over-price it, and much harder for someone buying to work out if they're paying over the odds unnecessarily, so that's really what I was looking at.

eliot said:

Do you really want to live in a town house. Round here they just represent estates where they have crammed as much as possible into tiny plots. Whats the parking like in the evenings - is it full of vans ?

It's got off-street parking for two cars and we only have one car, so it's fine And yes, we specifically wanted a town-house so our bedroom is on another floor to our guest room as we often have people staying and prefer our own space.

[battered]

I like town houses. I've ended up in a conventional family home but if a well desgned TH had come along I would have had it like a shot. The ones I saw that were the right size were just badly laid out, with kitchens on the GF and lounge upstairs and the like. So every time you fancy a coffee you are going up and down stairs. Great. The layout I've seen that really works has a garage downstairs, utility, maybe a small office, then on the 1st floor kitchen/lounge/diner, bedrooms up top. I have mates with similar and the places are lovely, elevated living accommodation is great.

[Little Lofty]

battered said:

I like town houses. I've ended up in a conventional family home but if a well desgned TH had come along I would have had it like a shot. The ones I saw that were the right size were just badly laid out, with kitchens on the GF and lounge upstairs and the like. So every time you fancy a coffee you are going up and down stairs. Great. The layout I've seen that really works has a garage downstairs, utility, maybe a small office, then on the 1st floor kitchen/lounge/diner, bedrooms up top. I have mates with similar and the places are lovely, elevated living accommodation is great.

Good for making coffeee, not so good for carrying all your shopping and rubbish up and down stairs. Pros and cons to both layouts.
OP, I buy and sell 4/5 properties per year. Many properties I see listed on internet only agents are overpriced, I think the sellers don't want to listen to local agent valuations and think they know best. Pay what you think it's worth not what they value it at.

[romeogolf]

Update

So we went for a second look today, spoke to the vendor. We very open with him that recent sales nearby mean we can't justify what they're asking for the property, and while it's a lovely house, it will need X, Y and Z doing to it. We put out that we were chain-free, could move to their time-scales and were very open/approachable in general. He accepted an offer of £292,500.

We're very excited and now just hope they don't change their mind!

[XMT]

romeogolf said:

Update

So we went for a second look today, spoke to the vendor. We very open with him that recent sales nearby mean we can't justify what they're asking for the property, and while it's a lovely house, it will need X, Y and Z doing to it. We put out that we were chain-free, could move to their time-scales and were very open/approachable in general. He accepted an offer of £292,500.

We're very excited and now just hope they don't change their mind!

Nice to hear of your update.
I think some people do get carried away with prices of houses and stick it out soo long to get a few extra k, in reality what they few K means I have no idea considering the st load of interest people pay ... anyway I move off topic.

Well done and congrats, just keep your fingers cross, Have heard a few horror stories of vendors asking for more even after everything has been agreed.

People under estimate the cost of redecorating a house not in walk in condition, painting, wallpaper, carpets, tiles all can easily add up to 10k.

[NickCQ]

romeogolf said:

Update

So we went for a second look today, spoke to the vendor. We very open with him that recent sales nearby mean we can't justify what they're asking for the property, and while it's a lovely house, it will need X, Y and Z doing to it. We put out that we were chain-free, could move to their time-scales and were very open/approachable in general. He accepted an offer of £292,500.

We're very excited and now just hope they don't change their mind!

Sounds like you are in a strong position - I imagine the vendor will be more worried than you!

[CS Garth]

Go for it, if you are happy at that price the that is all that counts.

I wasn't 100 percent about writing this next bit but it may be helpful. Can I ask when you say that they rejected a 290 offer did that come from the vendor's mouth? It is a fairly common strategy amongst agents to make the statement that "an offer was made at X amount" to manage the next offer, in essence they are trying to say I am your friend (they're not, and neither is the seller here) , they will accept less but it needs to be above this amount. The reality is that in a lot of cases there is no other offer. Ditto the story about the bereavement - I sounds cynical but obviously it is a better explanation than saying we have had a number of viewings with no offer.

Obviously the above is irrelevant if you are happy at your price but be open minded about how people manage negotiations and if you are thinking of moving you might want to think about resalebility factor Ie the garage conversation may not add value to all buyers.

Again I don't want to sound in anyway negative just offer a different objective lens to the situation. Regardless I hope it pans out as you hope

[romeogolf]

CS Garth said:

Go for it, if you are happy at that price the that is all that counts.

I wasn't 100 percent about writing this next bit but it may be helpful. Can I ask when you say that they rejected a 290 offer did that come from the vendor's mouth? It is a fairly common strategy amongst agents to make the statement that "an offer was made at X amount" to manage the next offer, in essence they are trying to say I am your friend (they're not, and neither is the seller here) , they will accept less but it needs to be above this amount. The reality is that in a lot of cases there is no other offer. Ditto the story about the bereavement - I sounds cynical but obviously it is a better explanation than saying we have had a number of viewings with no offer.

Obviously the above is irrelevant if you are happy at your price but be open minded about how people manage negotiations and if you are thinking of moving you might want to think about resalebility factor Ie the garage conversation may not add value to all buyers.

Again I don't want to sound in anyway negative just offer a different objective lens to the situation. Regardless I hope it pans out as you hope

Thanks for your comment. And this sale was through PurpleBricks, so no agents at all, everything was direct to the vendor.