have i been totally unrealistic?

before_hollywood

hi all, made my first offer on a house today :j :j :j :j :j

although i think the vendors e.a are playing stupid beggars :rolleyes:

i've posted on here before there is one i cannot stand and i only went and fell in love with a house they were selling, went to view, needed work which was not on details that it was in need of modernisation or repair, fair enough i thought.

anyway made an offer at 10% below asking price, it has been on market for about a year, is vacant but owner still owns it himself. first e.a person i spoke to very helpful, said they would put the offer to the vendor and hopefully get back to me today.
about an hour later ''she'' rang :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: she being the e.a from hell, patronises me cos i am young with a relatively small budget and wont go and view their collection of shared ownership flats. anyway she says that she doesnt think the vendor will take the offer but will phone him and ask anyway, and there have been other viewings :rolleyes:

1. i know they havent had lots of demand for viewings, he went to the house especially to show me round and that was 1 week ago
2. the first person said she would phone the vendor- shouldnt they at least get their stories straight?

anyway about half an hour later, dragon called back, its been declined, they will take about 3% under asking price- which doesnt even cover the cost of the work that e.a never mentioned needed doing, i personally think she has been encouraging them to hold out for more money

sooz

Ignore how the EA behaves. They are agents for the vendor, not for you, & it IS their job to get the best possible price for their client.

However, I think they are obliged to pass on ALL offers, regardless of what they 'think'. Be polite, stay professional, state what IYO needs doing to the place, & confirm your offer in writing.
What is the maximum you want to pay for the house? Was it 10% less? Then you should have started by offering even less. If you are happy to pay 5% less, they'll probably meet you in the middle.
Make all offers subject to survey, & then let the surveyor's report help you to negotiate your offer price down further, if more work needs doing.

before_hollywood

i've increased a bit now and made a final offer, its still about 5-7% less than what they want but its decision time for them, as i am prepared to walk away if its declined

Bethankim

I am selling my house and if we are offered 5% below asking price i would take it. It depends on how realistically its been priced - how does it compare to other houses.

we have ours on 20K below anything else near by - 2 reasons it doesnt have off road parking and it does need a bit of work (only cosmetic) had 4 viewings so far in 2 weeks but no offer yet..grrr the no off road parking is a sticking point,.

you know what you can spend, and your offer of 5% below sounds fair. fingers crossed for you.

For me its a fine balance i know people want a good deal when they are buying, but i also know what my bottom line is.

before_hollywood

Bethankim wrote: »

I am selling my house and if we are offered 5% below asking price i would take it. It depends on how realistically its been priced - how does it compare to other houses.

we have ours on 20K below anything else near by - 2 reasons it doesnt have off road parking and it does need a bit of work (only cosmetic) had 4 viewings so far in 2 weeks but no offer yet..grrr the no off road parking is a sticking point,.

you know what you can spend, and your offer of 5% below sounds fair. fingers crossed for you.

For me its a fine balance i know people want a good deal when they are buying, but i also know what my bottom line is.

its horrid, i've felt nautious all afternoon from the worry, and now i wont find out till tomorrow a.m at the earliest :eek:

sellers e.a is always horrid with me so when i upped the offer a family member phoned up, said i had been called in for something work related and they had given me a loan towards my deposit for the difference.
this was mainly because when i phoned up to put in the first offer her colleague answered, was nice as pie to me and then the one from hell phoned up to say she thought the offer was too low, the vendor wouldnt take it but she would speak to him anyway

Teacher2301

If the vendor is desparate to sell then any offer will be taken seriously. Like a previous poster said - be professional, it's your money so spend if carefully.

If you really dislike the eastate agent then say you want to deal with another person - most ea's have a commision of about 1.5% so that's a lot of money for someone and it may make the rude member of staff think twice - remember 1.5% on the average house price (say £160,000) is £2400 +vat - and at 10% less, the commision would only be £2160 - £240 less - that could hurt if its the only sale that week. Money talks as they say!!!!

geoffky

You Have Offered Too Much..prices Are Dropping 2k A Month On The Average Price House....think About It...

lethal0r

I would have thought hardly anyone offers less than 10% below right now.

Im seeing my first house tomorrow, hopefully the EA wont be a berk.

before_hollywood

geoffky wrote: »

You Have Offered Too Much..prices Are Dropping 2k A Month On The Average Price House....think About It...

i have paperwork from the e.a from when they took it on, he has dropped about 20% on a house that is half the price of an average house if he takes todays offer

before_hollywood

lethal0r wrote: »

I would have thought hardly anyone offers less than 10% below right now.

Im seeing my first house tomorrow, hopefully the EA wont be a berk.

i have offered about 8% below as a realistic offer, i offered 15% below and was pretty much laughed out by e.a

i cant really say too much about it but its not in an expensive town, my parents viewed on my behalf on somewhere (i am a ftb in my 20s and was working, e.a wouldnt give a viewing on my day off) and the house was overpriced at 60k, and i mean vastly overpriced

mark5

Just because someone offers less than 10% below the asking price doesnt mean they are getting a bad deal its possible they are getting a better deal than someone getting a house at 20% below asking price.

It all depends on how competitive the selling price was to begin with and if the op really likes the house then maybe its worth the extra few thousand to them.

The main thing is the OP being able to afford the house and being happy with the deal they get, if the offer is accepted!

Goodluck!