What should I offer??

MAYFLOWERS

HI

Just wondering if anyone could offer any advice on what would be a reasonable price to offer on a property i am interested in buying??

It is on the market at £159,950 - basically it belongs to a man who has split up with his partner and he is selling it - she is living in the property while he sells it (not a nice situation - especially when viewing!) . It is not in run down state but needs a bit of T.L.C - it defiantely needs a new bathroom and the living room is half finished with coving hanging of the wall etc!! There is stuff everywhere in it !!

It is in a lovely spot and I think it has great prospects! It has been on the market for approximately 2 weeks and as far as I know I am the only person who has been to look ...so far! I have just put my own house up for sale and was going to wait to see if I got an offer on mine before I went in with an offer on the other one.

I was thinking of going in at £150,000 - would thins be too low....or should I even chance my arm and go in a bit lower??????

Any help would be appreciated as i have not really done this before!

Thank-you

alanobrien

When we bought our place just before xmas property was generally selling at 95% of the asking price. If that still holds true then you should be offering around 152k

I guess it depends on how much you want it and if there are any other buyers on the scene.

Remember there is always the opportunity to renegotiate the price anyway if your survey comes up with the need for additional work on the house which i suspec it will
(they usually do).

Good luck with it.....

theGrinch

85% of the asking so £135,958

Loaded_Bachelor

I am also about to make an offer, but on a flat with an asking price of £100K.

My question is how in practice are offers responded to by the seller. I am a first time buyer so have no clue about this.

Is it a bargaining process to some extent? For example if I offer £94K could the seller (via the agent) come back and say no to £94K but say that they will accept £96K or is it normal for the seller to just say yes or no to an offer and if its a no just wait for an improved offer?

Thanks for your help with this.

firrybabe

I bought my 1st place just before xmas, and my 1st offer was at £10k below the asking price. (I was shaking as I rang them). I also explained why I offered under and stressed my chain free 1st time buyer status.

The agent came back and said no, and told me the price the vendor wanted. I said that's too much and left it. To cut a long story short, agent called me a few times over the following days saying the vendor had cut the asking price. A week later I made a 2nd offer which was rejected for being too low, but eventually I managed to agree on a price under the asking price. (The price I paid was the price I wanted to pay and I could afford to pay).

Making offers is a gamble, but ask yourself what you think it is worth and also what you can afford to pay. Do not be afraid to start low because all they can say is no and you decide if you want to increase your offer or find somewhere else. Don't let the agents pressurise you either, stick to your budget and try to not get too emotional.

Hope this helps

dippy

Check out this thread over at the motley fool about how a house in london went on the market with an asking price of £1.2 million in late 2003 and later dropped to £1.15m. The owners rejected an offer of £1.05 million and nethouseprices shows it as sold for £850k.

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=9069958&sort=threaded

Further on in the thread, there's another post giving asking prices and final sale price of another house. BTW, what a cracker nethouseprices is. Estate agents will soon have to stop taking us for mugs.

theGrinch

its a negotiation process and depends on the parties involved.

some vendors will just say yes or no...others will have a price they want. if your offer is rejected speak to the agent about what is an acceptable offer but don't be naiive and think asking price (unless you really x 100 want the property or you know the property to be undervalued) not in the current climate.

you can make your offer more attractive i.e. chain free, have a solicitor ready, mortgage offer on table, offer a 4-week exchange but only give something if you want something.

if the house is less than perfect then I would be tempted to start at 85% of asking.

Ticklemouse

When we offered on ours, we came in at 5k below. We were turned down but the seller said he'd take 2 k below, which is what happened. We live in quite an expensive house (for the north) so you can't always go on percentages.

Go in low, you can always up the bid.

Do you really want that house, over any other potential buyers?

Are you intending to stay there a good while? If so, the price will undoubtedly go up over time anyway, so will paying an extra couple of thou now really matter in 10 years time?

If it got that potential, then you still should be quids in.

Check nethouseprices.com - fascinating stuff

Joannaclaire

We are hunting at the mo. In our area apparently houses are now going for about 92% of the asking price (according to findaproperty). So our offers are all going to be at around the 90% of the asking price as we are first time buyers, renting, have mortage etc sorted so are in a good bargaining position...