Any guidelines to making offers?

first78

Can anyone tell me if there are any guidelines when making an offer on a property? I don't want to make insulting offers but I do want to be cheeky and see how little I can get away with...obviously the smaller the mortgage I have the better!!

firstaspect

In the current market I would usually suggest offering around 10%+ off to start with but making sure you know your own personal top price you would want to pay. It depends on many factors however depending on the exact property you're going for.

tawse57

According to the latest land registry survey out yesterday houses are going for about 91% of asking price - the land reg figures are lagged by several months so that is probably looking at the market back in April/may time. Since then, apparently, the housing market has stalled as a flood of property has come on the market for sale since the Govt got rid of HIPs. It is a buyrs' market.

In other words, bear the above in mind.

IMPO you certainly want to be offering LESS than 90% in the first instance as you, at most, you will only want to pay 90% of the asking price surely?

IMPO if your first offer does not embarass you then it is too much.

LilacPixie

i'm away to post something similar. IMO offer what you feel the place is worth to you. Each seller hopes to get as much as possible for the place so it's about getting that happy medium where you are happy with what you are paying and the price is acceptable to the vendor.

From what I have seen all places are different some already priced very realistic so getting more than another 5% off may be difficult, some houses are just very overpriced and offering 20-25% under the price is not cheeky at all.

When you fond someplace you like see what similar properties have sold for and when, see how long been on market and be very realistic about what work the place needs and view 2-3 times using your head not heart.

Catatonia

I think it also depends on the stubbornness of the seller. House A was on at £245k. In the last couple of years, none of the houses on that street have sold for more than £230, and most have gone for £220/225k. Bearing in mind that this house wasn't great condition, I offered £215k to start off with. I was told that the sellers wanted at least £240k (and have turned down offers of £235k), so I told them I wasn't interested. The house has been on the market for over six months already and is likely to stay that way, imo, if the sellers don't get a bit more realistic about price.

House B is on at £245k also. Top price for this road is about £245k, so, bearing in mind that this property has no radiators in the bedrooms, has horrible decor and 70s kitchen and bathroom, I again offered £215k as an opener. The agent told me that they have turned down much higher offers and would just be insulted with this, and again, they want asking.

I can't work out who's being more unrealistic, me or the sellers. There is another house I like which is on for £300k, and I really can't decide what to offer for that.

jozbo

I think it's impossible to give a blanket %age of how much you should offer on a property.

After several months and offers that weren't accepted, we have finally had an offer accepted on the best place we've seen (not just saying that!) In this case, the property has been on the market a long while and latest asking price was down 13% on its original listing. The offer's been accepted at 6% under the most recent AP. We were told the vendor was keen to sell, and in my opinion the property was actually fairly priced at the original asking price, but at that we wouldn't have been able to afford it.

On the other hand, I've offered on flats and houses where the vendors will not budge within 2% of the asking price. If it is fairly priced, then that's not necessarily an issue.

You have to see as much of the market as possible in your area and know it inside out before you know what's a fair price.

Plus to some extent when looking at properties within your budget you can ignore the asking price and whatever the EA has told you is likely to be accepted (we were told that the vendor would only accept within 3% of AP on the property we're hoping to buy but found out that was exaggerated - as you might expect.)