Making offers?

chocoholic1_2

Next week we are going on a house hunting spree - we are relocating. We have sold our house and will be chain free. We have about 20 houses lined up to view so far, with lots more in the pipeline. But none of them are the dream home.

My question is, when we have decided which one to buy, and come to make an offer, how low would you go? I have heard people say someone made an offer 30 grand below the asking price and they were really upset, whereas someone else said they accepted an offer 27 grand below the asking price. I don't want to offend anyone, but I want the best price possible.

Most of the places have no onward chain, and priced between £140,000 and £180,000.
So, how low would you go?

confused31_2

They can only say no, offer what you think the house is worth, if the seller dont agree with you they will just say no, i wouldnt worry about feelings, if you feel the price of the house is 40,000 pound cheaper than what they are asking then offer it.

I spoke to someone yesterday who said house prices have gone up in the last 2 months but i doubt it very much, the thing is you can only tell when the price comes up on the land registry, but i know even the houses that sold at the start of the year didnt sell 40,000 pound cheaper than what the sellers where asking for, but every area is different.

not_loaded

This is always a thorny issue, as you don't know how they have pitched the price they are asking. If they have pitched 20 grand over what they think they will get, then it's not so much of an insult.

However, if they've recently dropped 50 grand to try and sell urgently, then your 40 grand below offer isn't going to be appreciated.

Additionally, have they been on the market two days, two months or two years? It's a complex issue.

As confused31 says you have to offer what you think it's worth. The only way to know what it's worth is to do your homework very well.

HGLTsuperstar

There is no hard or fast rule. Some houses will be blatantly overpriced in the first instance, others might not be. Some will be ready to move in pronto, others may be falling apart. Soem vendors may not have even started looking for their next property while others may have boxes packed up in the hallway.
Bottom line is this is the biggest purchase you will make, and you're doing it for you not to be polite and not offend the seller so offer what you like.
Remember you can always up your offer later, but very hard to drop it back.

chocoholic1_2

Thank you for the replies.

So if you saw a house for £170,000 that had been on the market for at least a few weeks, no significant reductions in price (according to property snake), and no onward chain, what would be your opening offer?

not_loaded

I wouldn’t expect any significant reductions in price in just a few weeks. No onward chain is a benefit to the buyer, not the seller. If the house was perfect and ready to move into, you might end up having to go very close to asking.

The factors that are missing are: 1) how many similar properties are on the market in the same location, and 2) if so, at what price/condition, and 3) does the ‘no onward chain’ mean they want to move quickly, vacant possession, or they don’t care when they move?

For our sale, our ‘no onward chain’ means we can be flexible to the buyers’ needs, and exchange/complete at a mutually agreed point. We don’t care when we move and won’t be the reason for chain breakdown, hence no reason for us to be too helpful on the price.

There are loads of factors to consider, but my personal feeling is that 30 grand below at £300,000 would be pushing it. For an ask of £170,000 at 30 grand below I don’t think you’d be taken seriously unless they’d inflated the price to counter low offers.

Can I ask for a rough geographical area? Is it a depressed area?

missz_2

I think you could safely offer 150,000. They might be eager to sell in which case they'll take it. If you wanted to push it more you could go to 140k. Consider if you want to put in a lower offer, then increase it if they decline the first offer, or if you want to give a take-it-or-leave it offer.

chocoholic1_2

Thank you, very useful comments, especially MissZ.

It's difficult to give more details as we are looking at lots of properties, and we have no idea if any of them will prove to be the dream home. I suspect none of them are, and we will compromise on something, but the actual sale price would be a key factor.
I may be back to give more details when we have our shortlist, but we may not have internet connection! which is why I'm posting now.

It's good to know £20 grand below wouldn't be unreasonable. That's the kind of ballpark figure I was hoping for.

not_loaded

It's nowhere near as simple as ‘they are asking 170 so I’ll offer 150’. If you bear in mind all the points made above, you'll be alright.

If you go by a simple ‘20k below’ rule, you could easily end up paying too much.