Selling a house is frustrating

[GraemeL]

 
I am not trying to take advantage of anyone etc. This is the biggest investment of our lives, just because an owner may think their property is worth ex amount, doesn't mean they are going to get that for it.

If the market is such that there are plenty of people wanting to buy then you may have a chance, but this is not the case.
I have been able to have a very good look at the property and honestly believe that is all the property is worth, given the location (country) population, facilities and amenities.

There are other things that come into play in such an area, such as resale value and the amount of time it would take to sell, condition of appliances as well as age and the house itself, what needs to be done and also it's age.

If the owner is not willing to let it go for that price then so be it, we have the luxury of not only being able to wait as long as it takes, but also have the option to look at 3 other properties that are available in that area. We are also not set on that particular country town, so our options are wide open at the moment.

[Bunyip]

Surely $60k varience is also dependant on the sale price of the property (GraemeL by this I am NOT asking the price) but $60k less than $360K purchase price is a large varience. $60K less when they are asking $1M is a drop in the ocean.

It is all about the context, and as Greme said he has the luxury of options.

We made the classic mistake when we looked this time (despite telling ourselves we wouldn't do it) and really wanted te property we were looking at. In our eyes it had pretty much everything we wanted so we went higher than someone who wanted the house but did not get themselves attached to it.

As it turns out the day before we were due to look at the house the owners dropped the asking price to what we thought the house was actually worth so that worked out well for us inthe end.

[GraemeL]

That's the trick, don't get attached to a particular house, keep your options open.

We have been lucky, we have been able to thoroughly inspect the property (empty) prior to making an offer and my assessment, is based on that inspection along with the location and other current property prices that are similar to this one. Plus the fact there are no other buyers at the moment.

[Pipeliner]

Would you realistically sell your own home if you received an offer $60k less that what you were advertsing it for?? 

That rather depends on how desperate I was to sell it!  If I was sitting on a $500,000 bridging loan and yours was the first offer I'd had in 6 months, then I might well decide to negotiate the offer rather than have the bridging loan interest extend indefinitely into the future.

And the fact that the offer was $60,000 below the initial asking price doesn't mean that it would be the final sale price.

[Mik01]

in a similar boat to Graeme - looking at the country and seeing overpriced properties (IMO).
have placed a couple of offers, but owners aren't budging and neither am I.

a house is only worth what someone is willing to pay - if no one else offers a cent, and I offer a low price, would you sell it to me?  if you had the luxury of not selling, then the answer might be no - but if not, you would have to make a decision.

in that instance, I would negotiate with the bidder (via agent) to prove why my house is worth more than they are offering, or throw in some other sweetener.