Making an offer

Wobblydeb

The reason for the offer has got to indicate to the estate agent that either you aren't willing or able to offer any higher. They are experienced negotiators, and will be able to spot a mile off if they can get an extra £5-10k from you.

So - whatever reason you give, make it solid, and stress the point. It doesn't even have to be the truth, as long as it gives the estate agent enough reason to think this could be the highest offer they will get from you.

You are effectively negotiating with the estate agent, not the owner, so DON'T tell them any background other than your good reason.

The most solid reason is one that the agent cannot argue around - so stuff like - "This is the maximum amount I can get from mortgage plus deposit"
(Although they may suggest you see their in-house mortgage broker just to check - DON'T DO IT!)

Or if you have solid sales evidence, stuff like - "This is £3k more than a similar house sold for recently. I will not pay a bigger premium than that".

etc. etc. and good luck!

harrup

jonny_power wrote: »

I don't want to give away too much info incase the seller reads this but they've been in the house a long time, done a lot of work but will definitely be doing well from this sale. QUOTE]

Totally understand.

And let's face it, unless you try your luck with a cheeky offer you will never know. Plus the valuation may ultimately well support your offer.

good luck

TOBRUK

jonny_power wrote: »

thanks, we will definitely play it cool. when we viewed it we (both) got the feeling that they have already found a house although they tried to be coy about it. I'll get my mum to ask them about their circumstances to see what they say.


it doesn't need a huge amount of work, only minor cosmetic stuff which is probably why the AP is slightly higher, however our offer is within the range of prices that houses have been sold for within the past year or two.


Again this is what is it comes down to, we just got that feeling that they were keen to sell and that's what's driving us to put a low offer in. if we hadn't have got that feeling we may not be looking at going in so low (and we are happy to pay a bit more than our offer).

We'll make the offer and say our reason is that is comparable for the prices of other sold houses in the area and just take it from there...

If your feeling is right (probably are) the fact that they have found a house they want to buy would mean that they are quietly a bit anxious!

The estate agent will ask you what your budget is - never disclose how high you can go! They are testing the waters!

Wobblydeb wrote: »

The reason for the offer has got to indicate to the estate agent that either you aren't willing or able to offer any higher. They are experienced negotiators, and will be able to spot a mile off if they can get an extra £5-10k from you.

So - whatever reason you give, make it solid, and stress the point. It doesn't even have to be the truth, as long as it gives the estate agent enough reason to think this could be the highest offer they will get from you.

You are effectively negotiating with the estate agent, not the owner, so DON'T tell them any background other than your good reason.

The most solid reason is one that the agent cannot argue around - so stuff like - "This is the maximum amount I can get from mortgage plus deposit"
(Although they may suggest you see their in-house mortgage broker just to check - DON'T DO IT!)

Or if you have solid sales evidence, stuff like - "This is £3k more than a similar house sold for recently. I will not pay a bigger premium than that".

etc. etc. and good luck!

I agree with Wobblydeb, when you put in an offer you can really give the impression that it would be a stretch to go to a certain figure etc etc.

REMEMBER IT IS A GAME, you don't know how much they will really accept and they don't know if you could go higher ....!

I remember how I felt when I put an offer in on a property a few weeks ago, and I also know the feeling when I received an offer on my house a few weeks ago! The first offer I had was an offer I would have accepted but I left it a few days saying I would have to think about it - (played it cool!) and then the same person contacted the estate agent wanting to know if I had made a decision and put a higher offer which I accepted - only £2,500 under the asking price - I knew she was very keen on the house and really wanted it!