Selling our house

[sippo]

Our house was on the market at £195k. It's been on with one estate agent, then we moved. In total it's been about 3 months. We started slowly, but now we are getting at least two to three viewings a week. We have only had one offer at £190k during this time - from Mr Cash Buyer.

 

Anyhow, neither estate agents could realise why were weren't getting offers. So yesterday we reduced it to £190 OIEO. I was really hoping for £193k, but understand that may have been optimisitic. We have done this to hopefully increase the offers.

 

So Mr Cash Buyer has come back and now offered £190,250. This is after two weeks, and he has an offer on another property.

 

Now, do I accept considering we've had no offers. The Estate Agent says we should because he's in a good position. I'm undecided. We have three more viewings booked in this week. I would hope one would make an offer, as one is a second viewing (but in a chain). I just feel mr Cash Buyers 'new' offer is a bit of insult. I'm up for negotiation, but that is taking the mick.

 

We are in no rush to move as we haven't found anywhere to move to or where we like. If we sell, we would have to move to the mother-in-law's. Gulp.

 

Any advice would be truly appreciated.

[abillybob]

That's nothing. My mum tried selling her house earlier this year at 260,000 (she bought the house 3 years ago at 254,000) she got quite a few viewers but no one really made an offer and those that did where in the region of £220,000. My mum eventually took the house off the market.

 

So yes personally if I were you I'd sell the house at the loss of £3,000 in this market I don't think you've done too bad!!

[teejay]

Our house was on the market at £195k. It's been on with one estate agent, then we moved. In total it's been about 3 months. We started slowly, but now we are getting at least two to three viewings a week. We have only had one offer at £190k during this time - from Mr Cash Buyer.

 

Anyhow, neither estate agents could realise why were weren't getting offers. So yesterday we reduced it to £190 OIEO. I was really hoping for £193k, but understand that may have been optimisitic. We have done this to hopefully increase the offers.

 

So Mr Cash Buyer has come back and now offered £190,250. This is after two weeks, and he has an offer on another property.

 

Now, do I accept considering we've had no offers. The Estate Agent says we should because he's in a good position. I'm undecided. We have three more viewings booked in this week. I would hope one would make an offer, as one is a second viewing (but in a chain). I just feel mr Cash Buyers 'new' offer is a bit of insult. I'm up for negotiation, but that is taking the mick.

 

We are in no rush to move as we haven't found anywhere to move to or where we like. If we sell, we would have to move to the mother-in-law's. Gulp.

 

Any advice would be truly appreciated.

 

TBH unless you're in an area with very high demand then getting a cash buyer at that price I'd be snapping their hands off. If you've had it on sale for that long with no other offers then I think you'll be very lucky to get anything better. When we were selling a couple of years ago, the cash buyers were putting in offers £15-20k below the asking price. We ended up selling to a first time buyer, but that wasn't exactly an easy process.

[dry]

£3k is nothing imo! I've got an estate agent friend who's always telling me tales of the 'tyre kickers' of Estate Agency who will happily go on as many viewings as they can fit into a day and offer silly amounts- £80k for a £150k house, for example. Out of respect for the vendor he refuses to even forward that as an offer usually.

 

I think some people who go on viewings do it because they've nothing better to do with their time. It's a large market and not only have you got to compete with all the other houses for sale but time wasters too.

[nikaso]

Our house was on the market at £195k. It's been on with one estate agent, then we moved. In total it's been about 3 months. We started slowly, but now we are getting at least two to three viewings a week. We have only had one offer at £190k during this time - from Mr Cash Buyer.

 

Anyhow, neither estate agents could realise why were weren't getting offers. So yesterday we reduced it to £190 OIEO. I was really hoping for £193k, but understand that may have been optimisitic. We have done this to hopefully increase the offers.

 

So Mr Cash Buyer has come back and now offered £190,250. This is after two weeks, and he has an offer on another property.

 

Now, do I accept considering we've had no offers. The Estate Agent says we should because he's in a good position. I'm undecided. We have three more viewings booked in this week. I would hope one would make an offer, as one is a second viewing (but in a chain). I just feel mr Cash Buyers 'new' offer is a bit of insult. I'm up for negotiation, but that is taking the mick.

 

We are in no rush to move as we haven't found anywhere to move to or where we like. If we sell, we would have to move to the mother-in-law's. Gulp.

 

Any advice would be truly appreciated.

 

You've said offers in excess of £190k and you've received one. It may not be what you have wished for but it's only 2.5% less than your original asking price so in the absence of any other offers why not accept it? Can you delay accepting it until after your viewings, you can let the viewers know you've already had an offer in excess of £190k so they can try and better it if they wish.

 

When we sold my wife's house it went on at £155k and ended up taking £143k after about six months.

[sonofsanta]

I think the expectation is that you never pay asking price for a house. You won't sell yours for the full amount, but nor will you buy at the full amount. Only £5k down is a mighty fine offer, I reckon; we accepted something like £15k off our last one, because we were buying our new one at about £15k under as well, so we wanted the sale.

 

I think my parents have ended up taking £22xk on a house they first put up at £250k. £190k on £195k is really pretty good.

 

Also worth saying that houses either sell in the first few months, or they don't sell for years; all the interest in them comes when they're new on the market, from people who have saved searches on RightMove etc. The level of viewings you're getting now will most definitely die off, probably around the end of the year, with maybe a brief spike in the Spring (that's house buyin' season!). If this is the only offer you've had, and it's a good offer, take it.

Edited October 15, 2015 by sonofsanta

[win]

If you're not desperate to move then wait for a better offer. If you found a great place already then take the cash one for a quick sale.

[sippo]

It's a catch 22 situation. We are in no rush but obviously want to sell.

 

Mr Cash Buyer made his offer around two weeks ago, so obviously likes the house. We have more viewings booked under the new price. So who knows.

[LeMarchand]

Yep - sounds like a good offer to me. I don't think it's easy for vendors because:

 

 

1. Estate agents always seem to overvalue properties, presumably because they know everyone will try to knock (at least) a few grand off.
   
2. "Property Porn". When they reveal the price of a property they nearly always say "It's on the market for x but we think they'll accept y".
   
3. The way everything else seems to work (phone/TV contracts etc) - you refuse to pay the going rate and the supplier will usually try to accommodate.
   

 

When the aged Ps were last trying to sell their house one buyer made a ridiculously low offer because he wanted to knock out the living room windows to create a patio/veranda thing out to the garden and thought my folks should drop the price so he could afford to do the remodelling. Sorry, but if you want a house with a fancy veranda then buy one. Oh wait! That would cost a few grand more. Strange that.

[Roberto]

Nobody wants to sell for less than they can get, but I don't see how one can feel insulted by pricing the house at (essentially) between £195k & £190k and receiving an offer around £190k. Especially if it's a cash buyer/no chain, I think that's a fantastic offer.

[Rob_D]

I think the expectation is that you never pay asking price for a house. You won't sell yours for the full amount, but nor will you buy at the full amount.

That really depends where you are in the country. The house opposite me (down south) sold within a day of going on the market, for about 6k over asking.

@sippo, I can't really comment on the offer, but don't underestimate the value of not being in a chain.

[sippo]

I've just told them I want £191k minimum. Think that's realistic.

 

When he viewed he said it was worth £192k. That's fair imo.

[Andrew_C]

£5k drop? Bite his arm off. Seriously; then tell the person you're buying from that you need (unforeseen circumstances, whatever) to drop your offer by £7k and let them haggle you back up to 6.

[Sagima]

I think you should take his offer

[LazyFanatic]

The offer is not unreasonable but beware. If Mr Cash Buyer has offers in on other properties he may try to play you off against each other and drop his offer just prior to exchange. you are in the fortunate position of not having a chain and therefore can tell him where to go if he tries it.

[sippo]

He's thinking about it, and got to work it out on his spreadsheet.

 

In the meantime, we have three viewings booked tomorrow.

 

I now realise why I don't move very oftern!

[sippo]

Well since we have reduced it yesterday, we have had 5 viewings booked in for tomorrow, the weekend and next week.

[abillybob]

My mum did the same (reduced the price) she got a load more viewers but no more buyers looking to pay the asking price. All wanted a fair wack off! Good luck but if I was buying a house and the owner was challenging me over £1,000 I'd be pretty peeved and not bother.

 

Problem is in this market they buyer has most of the power especially if he has no ties.

[CHR1S]

I've brought two houses as a cash buyer, almost 3, both successful buys were done in no time, the sellers bit my hand off. I think I got around £6k off the asking price each time.

 

The unsuccessful time I was pretty much paying full price, it was already cheap to be honest. The seller pulled out at the last minute waited a few months and then put it back on the market nearly £15k more where it still sits up for sale now.

 

As others have said, the cash offer is very good.

[sippo]

Accepted an offer on our house yesterday. £193k. Chuffed to bits. Part cash buyer. No chain.

 

It's true when they say patience is a virtue. As stressful as it is.

 

The hard work starts now. Finding a house for us, otherwise it will be moving in with the dreaded mother-in-law.

[sippo]

We are looking at purchasing a 1960's/70's house. We have just had our buyers report back, and one thing that sticks out is the possibility of 'wood worm'.

 

The surveyor says he couldn't see any but due to the age of the property it could be a possibility of some. He couldn't check.

 

It says we should budget for future treatment, but should get a timber report before exchange of contracts.

 

Now this is the catch 22. We need to move quickly, as in this month. Do we raise this with the vendor, or just proceed and take the risk? A full building survey will cost around £1000 which we do not have.

 

We really do not know what to do.

[FN-GM]

I really can't see an issue here. A buyer has offered slightly over your asking price and your not sure if you should accept?

[elsiegee40]

If there is wood worm, it will cost more than £1000 to fix. You are taking a huge risk, by not getting this checked out thoroughly in my opinion. However, you could ask the seller to give you access to the loft space and check the timber for worm holes yourself which is where you are most likely to find them. If there's a cellar, check there too.

[Sagima]

We are looking at purchasing a 1960's/70's house. We have just had our buyers report back, and one thing that sticks out is the possibility of 'wood worm'.

 

The surveyor says he couldn't see any but due to the age of the property it could be a possibility of some. He couldn't check.

 

It says we should budget for future treatment, but should get a timber report before exchange of contracts.

 

Now this is the catch 22. We need to move quickly, as in this month. Do we raise this with the vendor, or just proceed and take the risk? A full building survey will cost around £1000 which we do not have.

 

We really do not know what to do.

 

If you otherwise love the house, need to move and can't afford the survey at the moment I'd probably go and buy it. I think the treatment for an entire house costs about the same as the survey would seem to so just save up when you can.

The people before me had it and treated my house before I moved in (mine is a late 1930s house) - it came up in the extended survey we had done. We got the certificates for the treatment as part of the rest of the paperwork for it.

Edited January 14, 2016 by Sagima

[CHR1S]

Woodworm in a 60/70's house, I'm no expert but that seems a strange period for it. My house is late 60's and was never told it could be an issue in the surveys we had and since having work done all the joists, beams and boards have been fine (barring some water damage).

 

Did anything jump out at you during the viewing, uneven floors and dodgy boards? Did you look in the loft?