how cheeky an offer is realistic?

before_hollywood

hi all, looking for a bit of advice.

i've seen a house i like, going on monday to get mortgage offer in principle and been told what my wage will allow, only problem is i dont know what to realistically offer.

house is £70k, down from £90k nearly a year ago, needs work but its all do-able. what is a fair offer?

btw i have £12k deposit

house is empty and i am a ftb with no chain

Rossa_3

IMO you are in a strong opinion to make a low offer just to test the water and find out how keen the vendor is to sell. You can always increase the offer. They've already dropped the price by over 20% so they may be open to anything.

Don't expect the agent to help you as their commission is based on the selling price. They do have a legal obligation to pass on all offers to a seller so don't let them fob you off with saying that they won't.

You could do an assessment of what work needs doing and knock that off the price. If doing the work yourself do allow an amount for your time, effectively pretending you're the builder, plumber whatever.

Otherwise it can be a case of seeing who blinks first. Also if there is another punter in the frame you may not get it so be prepared to walk away. Once you have a decision in principle from your lender you will have a budget to work from. Though bear in mind that any offer you make can only be subject to mortgage offer anyway.

Agent may try to say there is another buyer in the frame to push up your offer so watch out for it. If you want to check, get a friend to call the agent, say they're interested in the property and ask if it is under offer. If they say no, they either haven't passed yours on or are keeping their options open hoping to attract in another buyer.

Good luck

ukcarper

Don't believe all of the above post typical agents fees 1.5%. 1.5% of £10,000 = £150 I don't think agent will lose a sale for £150

But you can make a low offer after all you can always increase it

before_hollywood

i have my own ammo- the vendor recognises me as i worked somewhere he was a customer, so he told me where he lives (about 3/4 of an hour away) etc. when leaving feedback i was told by the e.a there was apparently developer interest, but then again i know the old car sellers trick of there is a guy coming up this afternoon with cash.

i was thinking subject to survey offering £60-62k?

i dont want to offend the guy and make him unwilling to sell to me though (although i'm in the business of buying a house not making friends).

zone

Is it a terraced? Your offer of £60k sounds ok considering they have come down from £90k. You could try £50k to start with depending on how you feel about the place.

ukcarper

I can't see how people can tell you what a reasonable offer is as they don't know anything about the house not even where it is 60k wouldn't get you anything where i am but would get you a nice house in other parts of the county .

Can't you see what other houses have sold at, look on nethouse prices and see what they were selling at a few years ago early 2004 seems to be where a lot of people think we are.

If he can't sell he would have to be very sensitive not to sell to you because your first offer was to low