What should I offer on house with large price range not an asking price?

lisa-loves-cats

dubsey wrote: »

Lisa-loves-cats, are Ward and Partners all over the country now then? I thought they were only Kent and surrounding areas. I dread to think that they are now everywhere!

Yes - most of Ward and Partners properties are either Guide price (between two figures), or 'From'. They told us that the vendor is looking for an offer in the centre of the two amounts, so obviously on a guide price of £300-£350k, the vendor would be looking to achieve £325k. We looked at lots of houses with them (because at one time all their properties were guide prices) and when we asked they said the bottom guide price is to open the door to negotiations and it works extremely well . Maybe in a rising market, but I wouldn't have thought it would have the same relevance today, unless they are going to do the opposite - Guide price £350k this month, £300k next!

hi dubsey, yes exactly, ward and partners use this method which I agree, only works well in a bouyont market.

will see, I am watching the market very closely in the area that we are moving too in Kent and very little price reductions have happened so far, though we are still trying to sell our own place in Leicestershire, we have so far dropped our asking price overall by 20%....

pricing and patience is key in this market....

flissh

Same for me. Interested in a house, price range 300-349k. And yes, it is ward and partner. I have been looking at houses around 270-300. This one, though I like it, the range puts me off. Do they mean offers in excess of 300k? Is it just a way of avoiding lower offers. Ward and Partners do seem to be doing it on all of their properties round here, (Kent), some of them have a very large range.

Grrrrr

jenz

We have 2 local estate agents and they do the same thing regarding range of price - we have a friend who works in one of these and he says most people are ignoring that at the moment and are putting in offers on what they think the place is worth to them. If you feel that the guide price range is too high why not make an offer on what is more realistic. Do a bit or research to see if the house you are interested in is overpriced. Look at other properties in the area and see what they are selling for , use web sites that show what properties in that area have been actually sold for in the past few years.

We recently went after a house that had a guide price of £215k - £240k, it had been on market for a while, we thought £190 was more realistic but stuck an offer in of £165 to test water, it was turned down as someone had offered a higher offer. We dropped out as we didn't want to get into a bidding war. Looking on upmystreet prices the actual sold price was £170.

My advice is not to let your heart rule you - be tough - it is not worth paying over the odds for a place you have fell in love with there will always be another round the corner better priced.

dubsey

I agree Jenz, don't be put off because of the price range. As I said they are looking for a price in the middle so flissh on your example of £300-£349k, they ideally want to achieve £325k. The £300k is to get you through the door. But - propertybee for this area shows Ward and partners guide prices are changing constantly. So today it could be asking guide price £300-£349k, but next week, guide price £275-£325k. It could be to keep the vendor happy, the price they wanted is still there but the bottom figure may lure a few more through the door

Ward and Partners are also advertising for staff in this area, in case anyone is interested!

tinecu

When making an offer on a property make sure you know how long it has been on the market...the longer they have been trying to sell the bigger the discount you can expect.
Also have they dropped the asking price?

You can find asking price histories at http://www.home.co.uk

You might also find their house buying guide useful. Here's the section on making an offer: http://www.home.co.uk/guides/buying/negotiating.htm

I'm biding my time right now...prices are falling fast but show no sigh of reaching bottom yet.

morg_monster

poppysarah wrote: »

Your income of 60k for a 180k mortgage should mean you've got a hefty deposit saved but you appear to only have 10k.

Explain why your income supports such a large mortgage but not saving for a deposit?

I'm guessing you're assuming an income of 60k based on current multiples on a single income being offered.

If that is true of faery's situation - my guess would be a newly qualified doctor. Mortgage advisors usually look pretty favourably on someone like this from the experiences of friends, even relatively recently, but if you do manage to get a mortgage, the rates will be high because of your small deposit. If you are on income of that level, as poppy says, you should be easily able to substantially add to that deposit over a relatively short period of time.

lisa-loves-cats

hmmmmmmm........... this could be become a very interesting little thread and a great guide of what to actually offer with these vague asking prices....

I am just about to put in an offer on the property in Kent on with W&P, the offer is way under the price range, so will keep you all posted on the reply or result I get

anybody else with any stories about these price ranges and offers submitted excepted/rejected, do please post your experience here for all of us to use as a guide

thanks

pawpurrs

It sounds to me like you could be both talking about the same house :eek:

My experience of these price guides is that the house normally sells between the two prices. But thats not in todays market of course.

I think these price guides dont really work in a market like today.