Making an offer...

[Stu 9-5]

I’ve spotted a house that the wife and I wish to make an offer on.

Initially, (Jul 10) it was on the market at £290k, in Sep 10 it was reduced to £275k, 2 weeks ago it was further reduced to £249k.

There are similar properties in the area, mainly in the region of £270 - £290k. We’ve viewed them all and none of them meet our requirements as adequately and are not of a significantly higher specification to justify the additional cost.

The house is for sale as a result of a matrimonial split (not admitted by the vendor, but the agent let it slip…).

There have been no offers so far...

We are chain free, substantial deposit, mortgage in principal from the bank.

So, in the current climate and with my favourable position, what’s a reasonable offer to go in at?

[russ_a]

We brought end of april, house up for £240k we brought at £210k (£208k after survey results)

Starting offer was £195k

[mrmaggit]

I'd start about 210k and go from there.

[ln1234]

Make sure you keep highlighting the fact that you are chain free and can can move pretty quickly.

[Stu 9-5]

Thanks for the advice so far, was going to go in at £230k... seems that may have been too high for an opening bid.

Between a rock and a hard place, really want the house but don't want to stitch ourselves up with the price paid.

[jas xjr]

ln1234 said:

Make sure you keep highlighting the fact that you are chain free and can can move pretty quickly.

+1

it is the quality of the offer that matters . not just the price.
i did this fifteen years ago. the house was up for £225k then reduced to £199. i offered £169 ,chain free and able to complete in 28 days. was not too worried about overpaying as i will never move from there

[matts4]

It would never have sold at £275k due to the increase in tax at the 250k bracket

I would imagine they are now looking at wanting to get rid and have seen the £249k as the right place to be.

Best of luck with the £210k offer, but no matter how much they want to get rid of it, neither will want to be left with that little equity for their property I doubt as they may well want a deposit for any new home they want seperatly.

Personally I reckon you'll nail it for nearer the £235-240k ballpark, just depends on how much you want to haggle, how much you want the property and are happy to lose it to people who would pay £240k now its been reduced?

edit to add- An offer of £230k doesn't seem a mile out, and would give you an idea of what reaction you'll get from them.

Edited by matts4 on Tuesday 30th November 13:21

[worsy]

210 is taking the piss and is likely to put their back up. As prveious poster says, 230 is low but not so low you'll antagonise.

[KrazyIvan]

worsy said:

210 is taking the piss and is likely to put their back up. As prveious poster says, 230 is low but not so low you'll antagonise.

Rubbish, its only worth what some one is willing to pay, and if that is £210K then thats whats its worth, I would say that £210K is a good starting place, offer it, expect it to be rejected, offer more (220), expect that to be rejected, give it a few days then make a final offer and stick to your guns.

If its been up since the start of the year, and had no offers then it was over priced, by now they are going to be keen to sell, and they know that there not going to be getting many offers around christmas, so you have a little time to play with while they think about it.

At the end of the day offering anything less then the asking price is always a gamble of how much you want to pay against how quickly you want a "yes".

As for upsetting the seller, who are you trying to make happy yourself or them?

[sleep envy]

you can always increase your offer, decreasing it is slightly harder...

[TooLateForAName]

KrazyIvan said:

As for upsetting the seller, who are you trying to make happy yourself or them?

depends. If the house is a commodity then you can get away with trying lowballs until one bites.

If it is more specific then be more careful.


I can say that the arrogant dick that came around, slagged off everything about the house then made a series of low offers on ours ensured that the agents were told not to bother contacting us with anything else from that person unless it was a full asking price offer with a 10% non-refundable deposit against failure to complete in 8 weeks.

[worsy]

KrazyIvan said:

worsy said:

210 is taking the piss and is likely to put their back up. As prveious poster says, 230 is low but not so low you'll antagonise.

Rubbish, its only worth what some one is willing to pay, and if that is £210K then thats whats its worth, I would say that £210K is a good starting place, offer it, expect it to be rejected, offer more (220), expect that to be rejected, give it a few days then make a final offer and stick to your guns.

On one hand it's worth what someone is prepared to pay, on the other make two low ball offers and expect them to be rejected. Why? Is this just to play the "no more money available" game?.

[Stu 9-5]

Thanks for the opinions.

I think I'll go in with £222k, as that's just over 10% below asking price. I think it's 'near enough' as an opener and hopefully my favourable position will mean it is considered seriously.

Will probably go up in uneven/small increments and would like to get exchange sorted this side of Xmas. I'm in no rush to get the keys so I'll offer them a decent enough period in the New Year to find somewhere else to go to (seperately!).

[KrazyIvan]

worsy said:

KrazyIvan said:

worsy said:

210 is taking the piss and is likely to put their back up. As prveious poster says, 230 is low but not so low you'll antagonise.

Rubbish, its only worth what some one is willing to pay, and if that is £210K then thats whats its worth, I would say that £210K is a good starting place, offer it, expect it to be rejected, offer more (220), expect that to be rejected, give it a few days then make a final offer and stick to your guns.

On one hand it's worth what someone is prepared to pay, on the other make two low ball offers and expect them to be rejected. Why? Is this just to play the "no more money available" game?.

Why give your money away just to make the buyer happy. If they want to sell it they will eventual accept an offer.

The "no more money" works both ways, how may times does a seller say "I won’t take less then XXX" only to accept an offer 5K bellow.

If you offer £210K, they will assume that you have more to spend and want as much as that as possible. The price on the books is a guide price, not a fixed price, what you pay is down to negotiations, if your 1st offer is accepted, then you went in to high, if they make a counter offer then you know you’re heading towards the agreed price they are looking for.

[KrazyIvan]

TooLateForAName said:

KrazyIvan said:

As for upsetting the seller, who are you trying to make happy yourself or them?

depends. If the house is a commodity then you can get away with trying lowballs until one bites.

If it is more specific then be more careful.


I can say that the arrogant dick that came around, slagged off everything about the house then made a series of low offers on ours ensured that the agents were told not to bother contacting us with anything else from that person unless it was a full asking price offer with a 10% non-refundable deposit against failure to complete in 8 weeks.

What if that person is the only one to make you an offer 12 months?

Granted I wouldnt be arrogant about the offer (or the sellers house) but neither would I be looking to kiss their arse about how lovley the house is. Look around the house, keep if breif polite and to the point.

[Muzzer]

Stu 9-5 said:

Thanks for the opinions.

I think I'll go in with £222k, as that's just over 10% below asking price. I think it's 'near enough' as an opener and hopefully my favourable position will mean it is considered seriously.

Will probably go up in uneven/small increments and would like to get exchange sorted this side of Xmas. I'm in no rush to get the keys so I'll offer them a decent enough period in the New Year to find somewhere else to go to (seperately!).

Madness

In this market, I'd start by knocking 20% off.

Worse they can do is say No. Then you can increase your offer.

What have you got to lose? Nothing. They're not going to refuse to sell to you just because your opening bid was too low.....

[grumbledoak]

Stu 9-5 said:

There are similar properties in the area, mainly in the region of £270 - £290k.

Sounds like it is already priced to sell, in truth. Don't insult them if it's the one you really want.

I think I'd start at £225.

[matts4]

It may well have had offers in the past 12 months.

If it was up at £290k and they got offered £265k they probably barked it. No deal, they want as much as they can from the sale of their marital home to enable them both to get a foot back on the lasser

3 nonths on Mr or Mrs has found a new bird/bloke and they dont wanna be living in the house anymore, they still want relativley good money out if it, so advertise it at £270k to try and get a similar deal to the one they turned away (who subsequently bought somewhere else)

No offers are forthcoming (or they are crap offers, dont believe the estate agent when he tells you there has been no offers...) so they think sod it, lets get this thing sold, I wanna move in with my partner, the lowest we'll take it £250k

This could be situation.

I guess you'd be in a better place of finding out how long they've been there? If it's the last few years they could well have 80% mortgage outstanding on the property, which could very leave little room for discount, bearing in mind house prices are almost what they were 5 years ago currently, this means they may have £200k left to pay off.

You need to really do whats best for you, sure hold out for the best deal if you dont really want the house, but dont cut your nose off to spite your face and save £5k if you really like the property. You'll kick yourself if you miss it for the sake of £5-10K if its a property you can see yourself living in for the next 5-10 years.

If you have to move again in 3-5 years to get the place "you really wanted last time" you moved (but missed out on it coz you didnlt get a good/reasonable offer in initally), you can easily spunk near on £10k in fees/removal alone etc when you move again.

Only my opinion, but I am speaking from experience of having moved house 4 times in the past 10 years.

The one we're in now is a keeper for sure, and I was happy to have the house for how it just worked for us now and how it will work for us with our 2 kids in the future.(even if that meant only getting a 25k discount on a 400k property)

[BadRotorFinger]

I'm in a similar position in making an offer on a place today, all points posted are very helpful. My question is, Zoopla house valuation on the internet, are they close to true valuations, should I consider the Zoopla valuation when making an offer?

[anonymous-user]

sleep envy said:

you can always increase your offer, decreasing it is slightly harder...

The best advice in the thread.........