Putting in an offer - cheeky price?

shjo558

Hi,

I'm selling just now and doing a lot of 'window shopping' in the local area. My top price for moving on is £125K - I could afford a mortgage a bit more than than but want to avoid stamp duty.

This is the first time we will have actually purchased a house via estate agents etc as our current property was a RTB.

I've been assuming that the majority of people selling between £126K and £135K will probably accept £125K but can anyone tell me if I being a bit optimistic?

Also, are cheeky offers really a bad idea - I'm in the south of Scotland and live in quite a small town with just 3 estate agents so I don't want them to think we are just chancers.

I have spotted a gorgeous property for £145K, valued at £150K and did think about a cheeky £125K offer but do you think that would be laughed at?

As I've said, we're all new to this so any guidance would be really useful.

sonastin

There is no harm in looking at things a bit over your budget - especially as you have left yourself room to move on your budget as well, just in case you really fall in love with something and the vendor won't drop to £125k. I would say don't go too far above though as it is a real pain in the backside for vendors when viewers come round and can't really afford to buy!

As a general rule of thumb, the longer it has been on the market, the better chance you'll have of getting a cheeky offer accepted but as you don't know the vendors circumstances, that won't necessarily hold true. Its a bit different in Scotland as your valuations are already done before the offering bit so I guess in theory houses up there are more realistically priced in the first place?

If the house on for £145k has only recently come on the market, I would suspect it isn't worth bothering with an offer of £125k. But if its sat there not moving for a few months, the vendor might just be prepared to listen. Or he might tell you to go away, but its worth a try!

Orpheo

What is there to be concerned about? I don't think cheeky offers exist. Only offers that may be accepted and offers that may not be accepted.That said, be as "cheeky" with your offer as you like, the vendors can only say no. the problem is that people get emotionally wrapped up in the business of selling their house and thereby get emotionally wounded by offers they don't like.

I offered 20K below the asking price on a house in October 2008, they not only declined the offer, they made it quite clear that they found it to be "derisory and insulting." The house remains on the market to this day albeit at a current asking price of 5K less than I offered and 25K less than their original asking price.

When I sold my house in the summer of 2008, I sold in 6 weeks. I put my house on sale at the median valuation from a number of EAs and then I dropped the price by 5K every fortnight (I should add here that we were keen to sell due to relocation). I took an offer of 13k below my initial asking price, it would have been 15K but I managed to talk the offer up by 2K. If the buyers had stuck to their guns I would have accepted their initial offer, but they buckled. Heck, they could have offered 5K less and I would have accepted. No emotion involved.

After trying to buy houses and being faced with sellers determined to "get the asking price" I decided to rent for a while and just take my time with the house hunting. I did almost buy a house, but the survey found issues with the construction of the kitchen which had been extended into an outbuilding. The vendors refused to remedy or reduce so I pulled out.

Right now I am satisfied in rented while looking for something to buy. I am sitting on a 60k deposit (which provides, in interest, over £100 towards my rent each month), I have zero debt and an unblemished credit record from 10 years of home ownership. This year, in Lincoln, I am watching huge falls, some properties losing 5k off their value a month. In effect, because of price falls, not buying a house is paying entirely for my rent. I may pay 6K this year for my rent, but when I buy a house that will have been compensated for in price falls. A price reduction of 5K saves nearly 9k over the lifetime of a 25 year mortgage at 5%.

When I buy it will be from a realistic seller. I won't be paying asking price just so the vendor can avoid negative equity, I refuse to buy somebody elses debt. I won't be getting involved in any bidding wars, as soon as EAs try to get me to compete with other buyers then I will walk away. I won't be getting emotional about my househunting. When I make comments to EAs about houses that I have viewed it is always factual and businesslike without emotive phrases like "oh we loved it".

You are making a huge financial decision, maybe the biggest one in your life. Don't be afraid to make "cheeky" offers.

Fiddlestick

Orpheo wrote: »

What is there to be concerned about? I don't think cheeky offers exist. Only offers that may be accepted and offers that may not be accepted.That said, be as "cheeky" with your offer as you like, the vendors can only say no.

Some great advice there