Offers in excess...?

Ian_W

Hi, my name is Ian and I'm an idiot. I have come to this meeting of Idiots Anonymous to tell you I and my family have been idiotic in marketing a late, much loved, relatives house at an "offers over" asking price.

We did it in the foolish belief that we wouldn't sell for below a certain price and that an offers over price allowed us to make this clear to viewers. Rather than the very clever way of doing it, by inflating the asking price and letting a clever buyer offer 10% less and "bag a bargain".

Being on at "offers over" did not stop the clever from offering much lower but being idiots we found it easy to say NO. Then, lo and behold, some other idiots came along and offered over and actually bought it!

They probably never even realised that if they spent the £15-20K needed to modernise it, it would be worth £10-15K more than their total spend. Or that if they extended it over time as many neighbours had done they would move it to a totally different price bracket.

We're still in touch with the buyers who are still very happy with their purchase, but as the Idiots Anon motto goes - ignorance is bliss! Oh. and I'm also aware of one family of oh, so clever, buyers still camped with in-laws going around making clever offers, that's clever init! :rolleyes:

VKay

Hello again! Thanks for the comments. Chickmug, as you say the price crash has not seemed to bother with this area ( did I say SOUTH Devon, or are you reading my mind!!).

Think lots of people are viewing this property in a kind of open house type thing this eve, it puts me right off I have to say!!

keith969

Ian_W wrote: »

Hi, my name is Ian and I'm an idiot. I have come to this meeting of Idiots Anonymous to tell you I and my family have been idiotic in marketing a late, much loved, relatives house at an "offers over" asking price.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

chickmug

VKay wrote: »

Hello again! Thanks for the comments. Chickmug, as you say the price crash has not seemed to bother with this area ( did I say SOUTH Devon, or are you reading my mind!!).

Think lots of people are viewing this property in a kind of open house type thing this eve, it puts me right off I have to say!!

OMG I must be Psychic,you are right,you never said South Devon!!!!

I guess that is where my head is and my body will be soon.

Joyful

I agree with flea72. All homes I have ever viewed or bought in Edinburgh were exactly as said. Always been on offers over and frequently way under valued to get people through the door. If you then get hooked you will bid up and more than likely give the seller what he really intended to get for the property. I would often ask a seller how much they were looking for and they would add thousands on to the offers over price. These houses all sold. Of Course with the recession that has changed a lot here. There are more houses on fixed price than I can ever remember.

VKay

Hi all!
The house was ok but didn't tick enough boxes to get us excited enough to get in on the bidding frenzy which may follow- am quite relieved i didn't like it!

The agent said it's offers over £129,950 because the vendor (who apparently tried to sell it 18 mths ago at £159000) wanted to put it on at £154000 and the agent thought that was way over, so they agreed on the 'offers over' as a compromise. So that's the story.

Thanks for the input:D

South Devon is nice Chickmug, but not much sign of bargains!

chickmug

VKay wrote: »

South Devon is nice Chickmug, but not much sign of bargains!

What town/village/area are you hoping to buy in?

seven-day-weekend

Oh what tangled webs we weave!

Last time we sold a place, we put it on at a price very slightly below the EA's valuation and were prepared to take slightly less than that. (EA said just over £90k, we put it on at just under £90k,).

It sold the same day for £87500.

Simple. (As long as you are not in negative equity).

chickmug

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Oh what tangled webs we weave!

Last time we sold a place, we put it on at a price very slightly below the EA's valuation and were prepared to take slightly less than that. (EA said just over £90k, we put it on at just under £90k,).

It sold the same day for £87500.

Simple. (As long as you are not in negative equity).

I absolutely agree with your point and wish the sellers would all be as sensible. Not saying it is always the sellers fault for these silly ways but it often was in my working days.

nikkster_2

I just wanted to say thanks for this thread - even though it's nothing to do with me! I am currently looking at a house which was on the market last year for £250,000 and has just resurfaced for "offers over" £200,000. Personally I think if the sellers would accept dead on 200K I'd bea fool not to do some juggling and get it, but that's my absolute limit so was interested to see what the phrase meant. Round here (Ribble Valley) every other house is "offers in excess of" at the moment.....