What kind of offer and general advice on house buying

Cheeselady

The house we are interested in is on for sale at £239,000. What kind of offer would you say we should start at? We have tried low offers on two other houses and both have been rejected, I don't know if we are being unreasonable or not so thought I would pick some brains on this forum if you don't mind.

First house we were interested in was on for £199,950, it needed everything updating including double glazing, electrics, new kitchen, new boiler, new bathroom it was the family home being sold by the child/ren and hadn't been touched for a few years, and it had been on sale for about 6 months, we offered £184,000 which was refused and we decided it wasn't worth any more than that because of the work that needed to be done so didn't increase our offer.

Second house was small, not in bad condition just needed updating a bit but was liveable for a while, it was on for £210,000, we offered £193,000 which was refused and was told by the agent that they wanted £205,000, so no point offering less than that (our second and final offer would have been 196) as it had only been on the market a few weeks.

Are we being unrealistic with our offers? I have read on here about offers and we seem to be within the acceptable guidelines (though I guess if it's not acceptable to the vendor then it's just not acceptable, lol!) but it's not working for us. We are cash buyers (money is in the bank from a previous house sale and we are renting at the moment) so are not reliant on selling a property ourselves but this doesn't really seem to be making any impression.

Would appreciate any advice you can give, thanks.

BitterAndTwisted

Perhaps the prices were reasonable taking into consideration the local market and the current climate. There's no mathematical formula for offers. Offer what you think a property is worth to you and no more. I'm amazed that people aren't snatching your hands off with a cash offer dangling in front of them.

Cheeselady

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Perhaps the prices were reasonable taking into consideration the local market and the current climate. There's no mathematical formula for offers. Offer what you think a property is worth to you and no more. I'm amazed that people aren't snatching your hands off with a cash offer dangling in front of them.

Me too, lol, but it hasn't been the case. The are is a very good area with excellent primary school and a really great high school with Sixth Form, so I know that will make a difference to prices, but we really do want to stay in this area if we can, but it depends on whether we can find something that fits our need and our budget.

dopester

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I'm amazed that people aren't snatching your hands off with a cash offer dangling in front of them.

There has been more than one story where the seller won't budge to a lower offer price because of knowing the would-be buyer is a cash-buyer.

I've heard and read stories where the seller comes back saying, "you could get a mortgage" (to pay the price we want).

It might be different if the prospective buyer offering cash is on the older side. Certainly when they're younger it can and has caused resistance in some sellers.

Cheeselady

dopester wrote: »

There has been more than one story where the seller won't budge to a lower offer price because of knowing the would-be buyer is a cash-buyer.

I've heard and read stories where the seller comes back saying, "you could get a mortgage" (to pay the price we want).

It might be different if the prospective buyer offering cash is on the older side. Certainly when they're younger it can and has caused resistance in some sellers.

Hubby is near retirement age so definitely in the older bracket! :eek:

myhouse_2

Sellers want to achieve the max price and when an EA or friend tells them it's worth XXX, anything less than that feels like crystalising a loss.
There are many stories of sellers rejecting "unreasonable" offers only to sell for less than that a year later. You should expect a few knockbacks if you are offering less than asking - you just need to persevere and hope for a vendor who understands the market and can afford to take less.
Sounds to me that your offers are very reasonable - I wouldn't have offered so much! Anyway, it's your money and it's wise to not give it away too easily.

Cheeselady

myhouse wrote: »

Sellers want to achieve the max price and when an EA or friend tells them it's worth XXX, anything less than that feels like crystalising a loss.
There are many stories of sellers rejecting "unreasonable" offers only to sell for less than that a year later. You should expect a few knockbacks if you are offering less than asking - you just need to persevere and hope for a vendor who understands the market and can afford to take less.
Sounds to me that your offers are very reasonable - I wouldn't have offered so much! Anyway, it's your money and it's wise to not give it away too easily.

Thanks for the advice and comments. We have a few months of our rental agreement on this house left so hoping to find something by then, so will just keep on going.

Cheeselady

Just wondering if anyone has any comment on what is a fair offer for an asking price of £239,000. Thanks

Beckyy

I think it depends on a few factors

- The value of the house
- How much you can afford
- The area
- How much you want the house

Your other offers seem reasonable to me, but natually, people want to get as much as possible for their property.
1st house sounds like the children being a bit greedy and being determind to get as much as possible, even if the market doesn't allow it.
Second house sounds like they were hoping they would get a higher offer as it had only been on the maket for a couple of weeks.
Unless they accepted low offers I don't imagine either would be sold in 6 months time, and I think they made a mistake not accepting!

What kind of offers are you toying with at the moment?

hcb42

a fair offer is one you are prepared to pay for it, in the location, taking into account local prices, and vendor expectations more than likely. There is no magic bullet here.

BitterAndTwisted

Cheeselady wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone has any comment on what is a fair offer for an asking price of £239,000. Thanks

That's an unanswerable question. Non-one except you can find out what similar properties in a similar condition have sold for in the same neighbourhood.