Why should desperate vendors fear their neighbours asks Edel Morgan

Last week we received a call from a woman in a desperate dilemma. Her house has been on the market for an eternity and she wants to lower the price for a speedy sale. But she was in mortal dread - not that property prices would make a sudden comeback and she'd lose out but of another more formidable factor, the neighbour factor, a relatively new phenomenon in the market.

The neighbour factor is particularly in force in older, established areas where people know each other, their children may play together or have grown up together and there is a strong residents' association beavering away behind the scenes. A siege mentality can develop with residents standing firm against a falling market in a bid to defend property values in the neighbourhood. Anyone who breaks ranks and reduces the price for a quick sale can find themselves quickly sent, not to Coventry, but to the icy wastes of outer Siberia. And these neighbours don't even have to be selling their own homes to take umbrage - the knowledge that there's a Judas in their midst is enough .

I know of a road where there are three houses on the market - one for well over a year - and all refuse to budge on asking price despite what the market is telling them. They've all lived on the road for years, are friendly with each other and, it appears, are all still clinging to the memory of the heady market of 2006. There appears to be an element of them brazening it out together, but to what end?

For those who want to reduce their price but are being held back by the neighbours, my view is that ultimately a vendor has gotta do what a vendor has gotta do. With price drops across the board even if you sell at a lower price, the chances are you are going to buy your next property at a lower price too, so it's all relative.For those who have lived in a property for years, there is still a substantial profit to be made.

But then again that's easy for me to say. I've only being living on my road for a few years. Great neighbours that I have, I can't say I'd lose sleep over reducing the price of my house if I had to, but if I'd lived there 10, 20 or 30 years and had built up a network of friendships, I might feel differently. Maybe it would be worse again if I was intending to stay in the area and knew I would be forever bumping into them at the shops or at PTA meetings.

Estate agent Rory Kirwan from Lisney believes that as a rule of thumb "you've got to be selfish and look after Numero Uno". He says his office has received irate calls from people reeling at the price of their neighbour's house and declaring it a "disgrace" even though "they might have no intention of selling up themselves".

He says if a house remains unsold for a long time, it's because they're asking too much money "and it's a timewasting exercise for everyone involved. It's a buyer's market. If people deem a property to be too dear they won't even look at it but if it's fairly priced there will be activity on the viewing front."

The ones who sold at the end of 2006 were the lucky ones. "These are probably the same people who did well on the stock market." The rest of us are still in a period of adjustment and it's not just vendors who have to acclimatise to the realities of a new market "but agents too".

Holding summit talks with the neighbours can work wonders for diplomatic relations. "Not that you should have to but if it makes life easier you can address it with them in a certain way and tell them what you're doing and what you're circumstances are. You're less likely to fall out with them than if you say nothing. Ultimately though it's the biggest investment of your life and too important to worry about other people."

emorgan@irish-times.ie