Correct first offer for £210,000 new build

custardo

Hello,

My partner and I are first time buyers and have finally found our dream home in the location we need for commuting purposes.

We are unsure what kind of offer we should be making, I was told to go in at 20% under the listing price but this seems cheeky!

I always assumed you were lucky if you got 10% off.

Thank you in advance

myhouse_2

In this market, the seller is lucky if they sell for 10% discount. Starting at 20% off sounds about right, but there are plenty stories of people getting 30% off in cases where seller is desperate.

pinkteapot

Is the house complete or still going up? How many on the new estate are unsold?

A friend of mine bought a new build a couple of years ago. It had started life with an asking price of £250k. By the time he viewed it, the house was built and the asking price was £218k. He got it for £168k on the agreement that he completed the sale within 2 months - the builder was 2 months from their financial year-end. The builder had 12 houses standing empty and a BTL landlord bought 8 of them, presumably at even less each than my friend.

In contrast, there's a new estate going up near me. Personally I think the houses are hideous (crazy design - I posted a link on another thread the other day). They aren't built yet and all but 3 are reserved (on a large estate). In these circumstances, I doubt people are getting very much off the asking price.

asharon

All of the 20% or 30% is not relevant at all. It depends upon how the property is priced.

The massive discounts come from properties that were not priced properly to begin with.

The simple rule is that you can always go higher but if you go lower people tend to get upset.

quintwins

i always thought it was 20% however i was shocked this week when i saw a house at £40k with an offer on it for £30k it was one of those notices of offers where you can make another offer before exchange so it must have been accepted and there hoping for a better offer, i've seen a few similar to that recently so when we come to making an offer i'll prob go in at 20%

custardo

To be honest, this house seems pretty cheap anyway.

Its a 4 bed detached, I think its 'cheaper' as its on one of those new-build estates and its away from the city.

Obviously I still want to be a good money-saver and get the lowest possible offer accepted.