Advice with an opening offer

jsb990

Afternoon. Please forgive me for lacking knowledge in a variety of areas here. Firstly I am new to the forum and to the property market. After viewing a number of properties recently one in particular has caught our eye. It is a 2 bedroom end of terrace in a popular village in Somerset. It is currently on the market (with a single agent) at £189,950 but has been on since July 08 and has dropped £10,000 over that period. I was wondering if anyone could offer me some advice as where to begin with an opening offer. Any help would be much appreciated. Cheers.

overandout_2

You should compare house prices around the area and what they are selling for......

Use the Land Registry website to check how much the vendor paid for their house and when they bought your house and also, any improvements they have made to their house since.

Also, have you heard of propertybee? Have a look at it just to confirm the £10k drop...

As for offering, it is usually 5-10% below the asking price (but dependant on location, the house itself, etc...) but that's the general rule. And usually, the initial offer tends to get rejected......

Good luck!

jsb990

Ok, thanks for your help.

lellow_lorry

If it has only dropped 10k and was correctly priced in July 2008 then its overpriced. Maybe why its been on the market coming up for 2 years. Ask the agent if they have had any offers over this period? They wont tell you how much but if no offers then then the ball is in your court. 10% is a good starting price below but should already be priced at least 5 % below asking price based on most stats....check like for like in the area to give an idea what it should be pitched at.. Remember its been on a while so be strong and push hard for the best deal for you....hardly likely to sell in next couple of weeks so let them sweat on it..not you and you may come out of this with a fair deal