What is a reasonable offer?

1echidna

I know it may be difficult but it is best to regard a lot of what goes on in buying and selling as a game. You may put in what is objectively a perfectly reasonable offer and be met with sarcasm or derision as part of the process of softening you up to get you to offer far more, perhaps to meet a deluded idea of what their property is worth. Another vendor may react entirely differently.

poppysarah

If sellers make it clear they're in no rush to sell and are holding out for the asking price then buyers might not make cheeky offers.

asajoseph

I'm selling at the moment too.

The difficulty is, having obviously spoken to a lot of agents, it's clear that some are pricing properties with a view to taking an offer somewhat below asking, and others are giving their clients estimates of close to where they think the market actually is.

I've had no experience with meeting anyone viewing my property (I'm always out), so I can't speak for manners, but it sounds like a shame that people are behaving like that.

That said, I've still found a number of properties where the vendors are being clearly unrealistic - and sadly, they've also been the nicer properties on the market.

asajoseph

That said, my approach has changed - I was thinking about going in with a seriously lowball offer, and then negotiating upwards.

Right now, I'm feeling more like going in with something pretty close to what the property's worth. I don't want my first offer to be insulting, but I'm fairly confident that it's competitive on a property with a fairly major drawback, and that's been on the market for a good time.

Hope I'm successful!

chinup_3

asa... WHAT is this concern rubbish about being ''insulting'' ? this is 1,000's of £'s for %&*" sake !! you don't now them and believe me they do not care about ''insulting'' prospective buyers with there almost certainly over- inflated price !!

jeez

hethmar

Its the way its done that makes it insulting or not. If you remain polite then people will take your offer seriously. Rudeness, nit picking and cockiness is what will get peoples backs up, not the price you offer.

Very best of luck.

Bufger

Always do it case by case because some properties will be very fairly priced. Remember that sellers already have prices in their heads and if you get to meet the owners you can generally get an idea on what they're like. Its also good to know what reason they have for moving as it can help in your bargaining.

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Example 1: Hot headed bloke is head of the family. He's Already reduced his house by 5k as its been on rightmove for months and months. He had a couple of viewers recently but not loads. Reason for moving: wife wants bigger house so she can have a study.

Hes not going to budge much on price because his heads telling him hes already reduced what he considers a bargain. Hes put loads of DIY effort in and there is no way hes not getting the best price possible no matter how long it takes. - you might get away with a couple of thousand but no more than 3%.

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Example 2: Reasonable guy is head of the family. He's already reduced his house by 5k as its been on rightmove for months. Hes had a couple of viewers recently but not loads. Reason for move: made redundant and has found a job 200 miles away. Needs to relocate family to new job quickly or they'll have to live apart paying rent and mortgage.

This guy needs to move and hes willing to be reasonable. He'll take a further 5% if the buyer is proceedable. He'll maybe take 10% if its someone without a chain completely. Maybe even 12-14% if its a cash buyer that can do it immediately!

Scallie

When I started this a few months ago, my benchmark was to start at 10% below asking price and negotiate up, with the understanding that people generally price their house slightly higher than they expect to sell at.

Round here at the moment, this approach isn't working. Houses are flying off the market at the asking price and more (some within the day of appearing on Rightmove, most within the week - we're struggling to get in to see places before they're sold, and we're checking rightmove every day!), and we're starting to see more and more gazumping with offers over the asking price. We offered £250k on a £275k house and lost out to someone who immediately offered the asking price. We were offered the asking price on ours without the viewer even arranging a second viewing.

Tonight we're going for a second viewing on a house we like, and the we're going to offer the asking price before someone else snaps it up and to avoid being gazumped. Having been stung once and knowing how things are right now, we're not risking it.

Appreciate things are different elsewhere, but that's how it is in South Cambs at the moment.

not_loaded

Bufger wrote: »

Always do it case by case because some properties will be very fairly priced. Remember that sellers already have prices in their heads and if you get to meet the owners you can generally get an idea on what they're like. Its also good to know what reason they have for moving as it can help in your bargaining.

---

Example 1: Hot headed bloke is head of the family. He's Already reduced his house by 5k as its been on rightmove for months and months. He had a couple of viewers recently but not loads. Reason for moving: wife wants bigger house so she can have a study.

Hes not going to budge much on price because his heads telling him hes already reduced what he considers a bargain. Hes put loads of DIY effort in and there is no way hes not getting the best price possible no matter how long it takes. - you might get away with a couple of thousand but no more than 3%.

---

Example 2: Reasonable guy is head of the family. He's already reduced his house by 5k as its been on rightmove for months. Hes had a couple of viewers recently but not loads. Reason for move: made redundant and has found a job 200 miles away. Needs to relocate family to new job quickly or they'll have to live apart paying rent and mortgage.

This guy needs to move and hes willing to be reasonable. He'll take a further 5% if the buyer is proceedable. He'll maybe take 10% if its someone without a chain completely. Maybe even 12-14% if its a cash buyer that can do it immediately!

This post sums it up beautifully!

There is no set formula for offering. It’s psychology as well as maths.

As you can see from Scallie’s post, some people just want to get on with their lives and not wait forever for the best ‘kill’ on a house.

asajoseph

chinup wrote: »

asa... WHAT is this concern rubbish about being ''insulting'' ? this is 1,000's of £'s for %&*" sake !! you don't now them and believe me they do not care about ''insulting'' prospective buyers with there almost certainly over- inflated price !!

jeez

Chill Winston!

It is easy forget sometimes quite how big these sums of money are!

However, what I meant to say was, I want to be able to put a competitive offer in, one that, even if not accepted immediately, would mark me out as someone who is serious about purchasing. Worked well for a friend of mine, who recently completed on somewhere after having a 2 month old offer accepted.

Believe me, I know some of these prices are over-inflated in this market, but I also feel that a good property will sell quickly. We've been looking for 3 months, and so far only seen 3 properties worth looking at twice, one worth an offer. As someone else mentioned, for me, I want to get on with things and get moved, and if a property's right I'm going to put in what I consider a competitive offer. Of course there's going to be negotiating, but that's just part of the game.

As it happens, my 'reasonable' offer was turned down, and there's quite a gap between where we are and what the agent says the vendors want. I'm considering upping my offer a bit, but I'm not likely to go as high as where they're pitching it.