Lovely House - Over budget - Greedy vendor(?)
Discussion
We've viewed a house and feel it is great for us. Was put on market at £309,000 in August and reduced in September to £299,995. Advertised via PurpleBricks so no agent, direct to the owner.
It's a 3-bed town house on a recently built estate (2013) with a converted garage. Non-converted properties on the same estate go for £270,000 with the most recent one selling for £270,000 in Feb 2016, and prior to that an identical one sold for £272,000 in October 2015.
They've already rejected an offer of £290,000 and while we love the house, we don't see it being worth more than that, even with the conversion. Is a garage conversion really worth upwards of £30k!?
Speaking to the owner, they had a bereavement recently and despite having people want to view the home between October and December, they didn't feel they had the time or energy for it so apparently we're the first to view since September.
We're likely to go in with an offer of £292,500 but reluctant to go higher unless we can justify this cost. The house requires some cosmetic work (carpets, cleaning, painting) to make it reasonable.
It's hard to get perspective on house prices as to a degree we're lead to believe what the agents tell us it's worth and I suspect this is the case with these vendors, who were told it's worth £300k and so won't accept much less than this. Wondering if there's anything else we can do to get an idea of what the property should really be worth? With these sums of money, it's not something you can picture in the same way as, say, a holiday or another significant but "everyday" purchase. Houses are thrice-in-a-lifetime as it were and costs vary massively.
It's hard to work out if we're paying more than it's worth because we really like it, or if it's actually worth that much. As we're dealing with the vendors directly I want to be able to negotiate positively. I work in sales and I'm usually on the other side of this table, but it's similar skills so I'm trying to find some facts to go in with!
Apologies if this rambles a bit, I've had a boozy lunch...!
It's a 3-bed town house on a recently built estate (2013) with a converted garage. Non-converted properties on the same estate go for £270,000 with the most recent one selling for £270,000 in Feb 2016, and prior to that an identical one sold for £272,000 in October 2015.
They've already rejected an offer of £290,000 and while we love the house, we don't see it being worth more than that, even with the conversion. Is a garage conversion really worth upwards of £30k!?
Speaking to the owner, they had a bereavement recently and despite having people want to view the home between October and December, they didn't feel they had the time or energy for it so apparently we're the first to view since September.
We're likely to go in with an offer of £292,500 but reluctant to go higher unless we can justify this cost. The house requires some cosmetic work (carpets, cleaning, painting) to make it reasonable.
It's hard to get perspective on house prices as to a degree we're lead to believe what the agents tell us it's worth and I suspect this is the case with these vendors, who were told it's worth £300k and so won't accept much less than this. Wondering if there's anything else we can do to get an idea of what the property should really be worth? With these sums of money, it's not something you can picture in the same way as, say, a holiday or another significant but "everyday" purchase. Houses are thrice-in-a-lifetime as it were and costs vary massively.
It's hard to work out if we're paying more than it's worth because we really like it, or if it's actually worth that much. As we're dealing with the vendors directly I want to be able to negotiate positively. I work in sales and I'm usually on the other side of this table, but it's similar skills so I'm trying to find some facts to go in with!
Apologies if this rambles a bit, I've had a boozy lunch...!
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.
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.
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.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!
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!
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. 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
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