Is an offer of 10% under asking price stupid?

goldbyron

I accepted an offer 10% under in the end. Then again I was getting fed up with it all. However rewind 5 months when I was new on the market I would never have said yes. The seller obviously is happy to hold out. Increase the offer to that which you are willing to pay then stick to your guns.

Exorsister

Thanks everyone, some really good advice! I feel much better now! We did detail what we thought needed doing, but it's a great idea to specify how much it would cost, thanks HP!
Think we'll give it a bit of time to show we're not easily pushed up, but compromise on how much we were keeping up our sleeves for the work to be done, and offer a bit more, as a final offer.

Gwhiz

Go back and offer less. Tell the EA every time he gets shirty, your offer reduces

Steve_Andrea

Hi,

We've made about 3 offers on houses for 10% and all have been turned down.

We've put offers in around the 6% mark and still been turned down.

I guess it all depends on what the seller wants and how much they paid for the property.

We've found a lovely house which is on for £269,999, land registry says it was bought in 2006 for £167,000 and 4 years later the owner wants £100k profit....

Sure they've done some work in the property but the EA's have told us they are turning down ALL offers below £250k

Guess it depends on the seller....

Dont increase your offer, we have lost a few houses we've really liked because we wont increase but in doing so we've seen so many more houses and you never know what might come on the market while the seller is struggling to get "asking price" for there property.

Just stay positive and dont let the EA's push you around

bosseyed

Nothing wrong with low offers - in a way, a house is only worth what you're willing to pay for it.

And I win on the low offers contest - our house was listed at £160,000, our first offer was £130,000 which I make a hefty 19% ish off the asking price Got it for £137,000 in the end, purely because of the work that needed doing. No way it was worth anything like 160k, that was the estate agents taking the mick.

Emy1501

As long as you have done your homework and are convinced that your offer is reasonable there is no need to be embarrassed. The fact that the seller can only accept a certain amount is not your problem.

The reality is though that you will struggle to get someone to sell to you for less than they bought especially when Haliwide have been saying prices are rising.

Sphynx

Ooh sorry to crash your thread but how do you find out what the house has sold for in the past? I am hoping to put a low offer (at least 10% off) a house due to the amount of work it needs but it would be handy to have some background knowledge. I have looked on the site which tells you the last 5 years but this is an elderly couple who have moved abroad. Suspect they have owned it for many years.

By the way I think you should stick to your guns as you are planning OP and don't be put off by the snotty ea. Probably they are working on a % fee

Exorsister

No probs, Sphynx, happy to help!

First try here, when you select sold house prices, you can change the date from button, it goes back to 1995:

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/

If that's no good, you can go to the official Land Registry site, it does cost £4, but probably worth it in the long run:

http://www.landreg.gov.uk/houseprices/

Cheers, Exo

azkaban420

No, I wouldn't say offering under 10% is stupid - you should offer what you feel is worth offering, and the first offer is usually never accepted so gives you room for negotiation. We offered about 12% under asking price for a house we liked (was up for £250k, and we came in at £220k) as it needs some work and bringing up to date. In the end, our offer was accepted at £235k so 6% under the asking price. Unfortunately we couldn't sell in time, and lost out to a higher offer, but since then the house has come back on the market, so am hoping it may still work out.

Every buyer and indeed every seller's situation is different. One seller may be insulted by less than 10%, others may see potential for negotiation. Some EAs consider a less than 10% offer as a good starting point for negotiations as mine does. At the end of the day, they can only say 'no' then it is your choice whether you stick to you guns, or re-assess and increase your offer.

Good luck

Muhasib

Don't feel uncomfortable about being turned down - I've had offers rejected at the asking price more than once - when I asked why the first time I was told that the vendor was now thinking it was worth more as they had an offer within the 1st week it was on the market; the second time it happened the property went for sealed bids as the vendor also was thinking the selling price was too low.