Bali2010

price paid is the observed value & therefore always more accurate (though as in my experience not necessarily palatable) than a stated value (estimates / opinion)

but I agree with the 'fair' principle logic as the willingness to wait for the match buyer which I cannot do now, or the fact that i value views / cows more highly than others might have done when i bought this place has definitely influenced it.

apologies to the OP though in the bit of geekdom I could not resist

houses are also homes though, with hard graft & love in there that makes this a much more personal affair than any economic principle can ever do in terms of how it feels

for me it is the location that I will miss so perhaps i am less sensitive this time round

doesn't mean I like the price drop - still feels a steep drop in price in the last 4 yrs

Piff Poff

I remember my Mum offering on a house in the late '80's early '90's for 40k gbp below the asking price, it was more than they could comfortably afford, didn't think they would get, they did, but then couldn't afford any enhancements so had to live with worn out carpets until they eventually moved.

We also accepted an offer on a house here (it was only this year, seems like forever ago) that was $20k cad below asking, we could have held on for longer if we wanted but we weighed up another year mortgage, another year of stress, another year of not being able to do what we wanted and it was worth the drop, we lost a bundle but hey ho! We sold it for what we bought it for, we just lost the money we spent on the garage and the deck and the realtor.

Now our current house has been assessed by an assessor (and a realtor), do we put the house on for the assessed price or a little more? The markets are slow around here but things are moving faster than they were a year or so ago.

Tangram

Depends on the speed of sale you want. I would put it on for $5k above assessment and see if you get nibbles.

__TJ__

In uk we are trying to sell and one agent has had it 10w and not one viewer, another agent had it one week and we had a viewer! Same price, same house etc, we haven't sold yet but the Market is not the only factor, the talent if the agent cones into it!

Fingers crossed for us as we are financing our move with the equity and if we get asking or thereabouts we can stop in niagara falls on the way to Vancouver, for our first holiday in three years. If not asking or thereabouts, its cattle class and direct flights. Also our method of shipping is dependant on the money we make.

Ideally we will settle everything here before the move and start fresh in Canada but if not then so be it.

lmartin999

http://propertysnake.co.uk/

Bali2010

well b***er me, according to this the house I am buying was on for even more when first listed.

20% reduction in last 6 months!

lmartin999

When my flat in Norwich was first listed in 2008, the agent suggested I would easily get $250,000 if not more. I paid $180,000 in 2004. I ended up selling in late 2008 for $175,000. The only way I managed to buy in the first place was by doing an equity release on my mother's bungalow. She had intended to be dead by now, so it's all a bit buggered up really.
Ah well at least I got shot of that condo in Kits in 2004 before the market crashed there

Piff Poff

That's exactly what I was thinking

etjotoft

Hi

We have accepted an offer our house 16% less than original asking price but had to reduce twice. Lots of buyers, especially 1st timers, putting in RIDICULOUS low offers as it is so much of a buyers market they can take a chance but they don't seem to up the offer as they can put really low offer in on a number of properties as there is so much for sale and try and get a bargain.

So we had to dig in our heels and hold out for someone who just really wanted our house rather than any house in the area, and they offered our final "offers in excess of" price, but people did try it on and offered much lower than the "in excess of" price!! It's tough selling at the moment! We are still waiting on completion, so are emailing solicitors and buyers constantly from Canada - slow process!!! Good luck to anyone trying to sell in this market.

janham

We are in Cheshire and had an offer recently of 12% below asking price, we tried to haggle for a bit more thinking we would take the 50 grand hit if necessary but the buyers then went after something else! So we had to realise they probably didn't want the house enough.

I've heard of people making an offer and then near completion time dropping it again so it could be very bad if you are already p****d about your selling price but then having it knocked down again.

Saying that what do we do now? I wonder how many people have rented their properties out and made the move anyway, maybe this is another thread but we'd be interested to know

engineer80

We just took a 12% hit on our house recently too. It's not ideal but the most important thing, in this climate it will allow us to sell our house and move on. There are a number of other houses in our area still up for sale so we are just thanking our lucky stars we've received an offer!

steff123

I'd say, given the fact the UK economy is in at the moment, a reduction beween 3 or 15 % is still a good sale in my eyes. Even at that stage, prices are still overvalued and banks are in genereal more reluctand to offer mortgages easily as they would have prior to 2008......

engineer80

Sad but very true. We started out pricing ours at just below valuation price but I realise now that we had no hope in hell of getting that figure in current market conditions. We've since brought the price down and though it pains us to go as low as we have, we acknowledge that we really have no choice if we want to move to Canada before the decade is out! Most people with their houses up for sale in our area have made the exact same mistake but are too stubborn to bring the price down to more realistic levels. I was shocked to find a house around the corner from us, exactly the same as ours, up for sale for £30000 more than ours. I honestly think they're setting themselves up for a fall if they're hoping for a quick sale.

Alan2005

What lots of people don't realize is that if they bought before or in the boom and they are now having to drop the price 10% (or whatever), is that the money they think they have "lost" never existed in the first place for them to lose.

engineer80

Yep, I agree. We bought at the beginning of the boom, before prices started to go crazy high. The house needed all the big things doing ie. new bathroom, kitchen, double glazing, central heating, which we have now done but we borrowed on top of the mortgage to finance some of it. At first I was annoyed when the prices dropped thinking we shouldn't have borrowed the extra and just left everything the way it was, that way we'd be walking away with more. However, the market, being the way it is right now, not only calls for you to have to drop the asking price of your property, it also calls for your property to be as in pristine condition as possible to be attractive to buyers. You lose no matter what you do! It's definitely a buyers playground right now - if they can get a mortgage that is