Is an offer of 10% under asking price stupid?

Exorsister

Hi All,
My partner and I have just put in an offer on a house we liked, and because it needs a lot of work doing, we offered about 10% under the asking price... the estate agent has just called, and made me feel really stupid for offering a low price, said the vendor said 'No way!' as they'd already dropped the price once... but we can't base our offer on what the property WAS on for, and I thought a first offer of 5-10% under asking was the norm?
Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance.

surreybased

Hi,

I wouuldn't be too concerned about this - EA is obviously keen to make you feel that you need to pay more. A house is truly only worth what you want to pay for it. If you feel the price is fair then don't offer more. The sellers may need more (i.e mortgage situation or they are planning to upsize to a property) but it's your choice what you pay. In my current area houses are being sold below asking BUT those houses which are highly desirable, good location are selling above asking.

Do you have propertybee installed ? This would help you determine how long it's been on the market, what the previous price was.

NAR

Totally agree with above post - don't be bullied into increasing your offer. If in another few weeks time they have received no other offers then they might realise that your offer wasn't stupid after all.

Exorsister

Thanks SB, I have got propertybee, so I can see that they have dropped the price, almost as soon as they put the property on the market, from £310 to £290, so they weren't very hopeful about getting it! I think our problem is going to be that they paid more than they should have for the house (£275 in nov 2008, although it was sold 2 years previous to that in 2006 for £225), and have done some work, so are trying to re-coup what they've spent...

And thanks NAR, think we'll give them a week or so to stew, then increase our offer a bit...

poppysarah

You could go back to the EA and say that it's your final offer - and don't increase it.

Money aint growing on trees anymore.

rl290

What an obnoxious sounding EA. I would have told them that, if they've lowered their prices once already, then they did a dreadful job of valuing it in the first place. Furthermore, I'd say that if they didn't take this offer now then they might be waiting for a long time for something else to come along. Stick to your guns. Keep looking elsewhere.

R

Squish_21

If you arent willinging/able to increase your offer, just tell the EA, you think its an acceptable offer and it will remain on the table for X number of days. The offer will hopefully stay in the vendors minds for that time then and theres a chance they may see sense!

VIGILANT22

rl290 wrote: »

What an obnoxious sounding EA. I would have told them that, if they've lowered their prices once already, then they did a dreadful job of valuing it in the first place. Furthermore, I'd say that if they didn't take this offer now then they might be waiting for a long time for something else to come along. Stick to your guns. Keep looking elsewhere.R

Quote: the estate agent has just called, and made me feel really stupid for offering a low price, said the vendor said 'No way

Why is the EA "obnoxious sounding"...they have just relayed the client's message...they didn't tell the OP they were stupid, it was the OP who "felt" stupid...we are all responsible for how we feel.....not other people....why should a seller accept just to keep a buyer happy...I thot it was a seller's right whether to accept or refuse!...........

loopyanna

Our first offer was 10% under asking, we got the same response but stuck to our guns. The seller came back with an offer 6% under asking which we accepted.

At the end of the day it's worth what you're willing to pay. If the seller won't accept what you're willing to pay then look elsewhere.

Coveredinbees!!!!

Go back and say you have reviewed the condition of the property again and offer 15% under

Harry_Powell

We put in a lower offer for our house, but justified it with quotes for the work that was needed to bring it upto the same standard of other houses in the area. We supplied details of the selling prices of these houses and details of the quotes we had. This had a knock-on effect of making the vendor and estate agent think we were 'savvy' investors (we were quite the opposite!!) and that we were serious buyers (which we were).

Good luck on finding your home.