Buying a home

Mt61

I think they got greedy during Covid, every house my mum looked at, became a bidding war- mum refused to get involved in a bidding war. Bided her time & got a beautiful house, which was reduced as the person was desperate to sell.

Who became greedy. The price of a house is the price someone will pay for it. If several people are prepared to bid each other up to buy a house, that is the houses value. Greed does not come into it.

Occasional houses go for a lower price because an instant sale is required but just because one woman is successful that way does not mean that everyone will be so lucky. In fact, few will be.

The bungalows around here Monica were well over priced, that’s before the bidding wars started, (agents were actively encouraging the bidding wars) The ones we viewed were so old fashioned & dated, you would need £50k to bring them up to parr.
Yes mum was extremely lucky, only for the fact I happened to see the the person selling, messing in the garage, I cheekily asked them to show us the house behind the agents back, (we had viewing week after anyway) told mum to put in full asking price as it was super well kept, new bathroom, en- suite & beautiful new kitchen. Person accepted 😊

Mt61

The bungalows around here Monica were well over priced, that’s before the bidding wars started, (agents were actively encouraging the bidding wars) The ones we viewed were so old fashioned & dated, you would need £50k to bring them up to parr.
Yes mum was extremely lucky, only for the fact I happened to see the the person selling, messing in the garage, I cheekily asked them to show us the house behind the agents back, (we had viewing week after anyway) told mum to put in full asking price as it was super well kept, new bathroom, en- suite & beautiful new kitchen. Person accepted 😊

We kept that viewing by request of the person selling the house, agent tried telling us it was Ten thousand over than what it was- I said no it wasn’t, he became all flummoxed 😶

Mt61

The bungalows around here Monica were well over priced, that’s before the bidding wars started, (agents were actively encouraging the bidding wars) The ones we viewed were so old fashioned & dated, you would need £50k to bring them up to parr.
Yes mum was extremely lucky, only for the fact I happened to see the the person selling, messing in the garage, I cheekily asked them to show us the house behind the agents back, (we had viewing week after anyway) told mum to put in full asking price as it was super well kept, new bathroom, en- suite & beautiful new kitchen. Person accepted 😊

If the bungalows were over priced before people started bidding, there would have been no bids on them.

The bungalows were clearly put on the market at a competitive price, and the fact that potential buyers were prepared to bid the price up proves it.

As for agents encouraging bidding wars. Agents are paid by the seller to get them the best possible price for their property. Not to do so would probably be a criminal act for which they could be prosecuted.

When a lot of people are interested in the same property then the agent asks all those wanting the property to put in their best bid before a certain time and date and on that date they look at all the bids, look at how procedural every bidder is - have they a hosue sold/for sale, do they need a mortgage?, Have they had an offer of a mortgage, and passes all this information to the seller who makes the final decision.

We have just bought and sold a house. and we paid the estate agent a large fee for them to bring in the buyers and we expected the agent to work as hard as possible to get the best possible price for us. She did.

OP, when you say the house is priced at £100k more than what it's worth, what do you mean? Who has decided what it's worth?

If I put my house up for sale at £100k more than the house next door it would only be overpriced if the houses were identical and even then, that assumes that the one next door hadn't been underpriced.

House prices only really matter when you buy and sell. When you are living there they are really hypothetical. Nobody wants to pay more than they have to, but what you have to pay is what the seller will accept, just as what you will get on resale is what a buyer is prepared to pay.

If you plan to move after a year or two it matters if you won't get back what you paid (although if you are prepared to pay more than someone else has said the house is worth the chances are that others will do so too). If you see this as a long-term move, then what matters is that the house makes you happy. Who knows what will happen in the future? The housing market fluctuates, and local considerations come into play too. If an abattoir is built across the road prices might fall, and if a hospital is built nearby demand will increase and prices might rise.

Mt61

Mt61

The bungalows around here Monica were well over priced, that’s before the bidding wars started, (agents were actively encouraging the bidding wars) The ones we viewed were so old fashioned & dated, you would need £50k to bring them up to parr.
Yes mum was extremely lucky, only for the fact I happened to see the the person selling, messing in the garage, I cheekily asked them to show us the house behind the agents back, (we had viewing week after anyway) told mum to put in full asking price as it was super well kept, new bathroom, en- suite & beautiful new kitchen. Person accepted 😊

We kept that viewing by request of the person selling the house, agent tried telling us it was Ten thousand over than what it was- I said no it wasn’t, he became all flummoxed 😶

It is normal for the contract with agent, to specify that he will be paid the agreed sale commission regardless of whether he introduced the buyer. Your seller obviously knew that. He still had to put the sale through the agent. because he still had to pay the agent. He also needed to find out if your offer was proceedable. The property market attracts plenty of no-hope dreamers and fakers.

The seller can accept any price that suits him. Yours clearly needed an immediate sale more than he needed £10K.. Not uncommon in sellers facing a bridging loan, IHT or divorce.

Realistic buyers in the bungalow market expect that many of the sellers are old, oldfashioned, or even dead ( a probate sale).
My current property was a probate sale; owner had bought it new in 1980 and died age 102. The 50 yr old fittings were original and in perfect "as new" condition, the decor reflected her age and taste. (Totally irrelevant to me. I have absolutely zero interest in other peoples kitchen/bathroom/decor taste , and I've bought some shockers....then renovate to suit our own needs and tastes.)

In my 20 minute view of her home I could see she was an extremely careful and particular owner who spared no expense; IOW it was spotless and had been immaculately maintained. The best one can hope for.

50 years out of date, tant pis.

It is normal for the contract with agent, to specify that he will be paid the agreed sale commission regardless of whether he introduced the buyer. Your seller obviously knew that. He still had to put the sale through the agent. because he still had to pay the agent.

Yes, I thought that too, butterandjam but then wondered if I was correct.

One of our houses was only on the market for 15 minutes, hey hadn't even typed up the details. Money for nothing for the estate agent!

A bungalow about to go on the market was sold by word of mouth before it had gone on the market to someone the estate agent knew. Not the first time he did that, I understand. I wonder if he charged the vendors the full price?

The 50 yr old fittings were original and in perfect "as new" condition, the decor reflected her age and taste.
One bungalow we looked at had a Formica kitchen - DH disliked it instantly but I loved it - midnight blue shiny Formica doors, very retro.
A lovely bungalow but in the wrong position.

I think you need to negotiate a bit more. It's a game unfortunately. You offered 25,000 less. They said no we want the asking price, Probably hoping you'll come back with a better offer. Of course they're going to say we want the asking price It's all bluff and double bluff. But one thing you do know is they're not going to drop it by 25,000.. What you could do via the agent is ask them for a counter offer - so you're very keen but you can't offer the asking price and can they come back with a counter offer. If they do they'll probably only drop the price by about 5000 and then you go halfway between the 5000 and the 25,000 And maybe you'll reach an agreement. Or they might just refuse a counteroffer and still say we want the asking price. But most fellows will give a little bit. what makes you think it's valued 100,000 higher than it should be? Some properties are just a bit unique And ultimately it's worth what someone will pay. alternatively you could just go in with another offer of say 15,000 less which is a compromise position between your husband and the seller! if this house is your dream home and something you've always wanted and you really really want to live there I'd just pay it, which obviously you want to do and your husband doesn't agree. Maybe try saying to him this isn't about greedy people This is about us and our lives And we could be very very happy in that house It's perfect and I think we should just pay the price for our own benefit Regardless of whether you think it's right but we could try making another offer of £15,000 less and seeing if I'll accept it.

I've been on the other side when I was selling once and I did the same I just stuck to my guns and said no I want the asking price. because that's what I needed to be able to afford to sell.

sorry that should say sellers not fellows!

"£100k over value is not a rounding error, it changes your whole financial baseline. Even if you love the area, resentment can creep in fast once repairs, taxes, or rate changes hit.

I used Curetons during my search mainly to pressure test decisions like this and it helped me see when a house was pulling emotions ahead of logic. If both of you are not aligned now, pausing might be the healthier move."

Old thread.

Did the OP ever come back to say what happened or was it one of ‘those threads’?