Offering on overpriced house

hats123

Hello, I wanted some advice on what to offer on a house we have viewed twice now. Its on the market for £175,000, which is the same as they paid for it in May 2007 - they have done no work on the house since buying it, it was newly renovated when they moved in. Neighbours houses have sold for around £170,000 - but these have large extensions which this house does not. Zoopla estimate says its now worth £157,000 - which I think is about right, our very maximum is £160,000 which we will not go a penny over. What would you use as an opening offer? We are first time buyers, and ready to move - they still need to find a house to move into. Thanks very much!

Linton

I would say that if you really want the house, think that £157K is "about right" and can afford £160K but no more, you offer £160K and tell them that it's all you can afford.

You could try offering less but IMHO it's a bit of a waste of time and you will end up at £160K anyway. No point in playing games - if you offer what the seller thinks is far too low they will reject it out of hand.

hats123

I agree, I think they will be annoyed with an offer of £155k which I would have opened with and then increased to £157k, then 160k. We have the mortgage offer to go higher than £160k, but I'm not willing to pay anymore than £160k because prices just aren't what they were in 2007. The house has been on the market for over 6 months now, so I think price is probably the problem!

hazyjo

Blimey, a correct zoopla estimate? That'll be a first. Tonnes of posts on here saying to take no notice. No way to do an exact calculation of a property's worth. It overvalued the house we bought by nearly £200k!

How long has it been on the market (sorry, just noticed that was answered in post above)?

Has it dropped in price over the 6 months?

What have similar properties nearby sold for recently?

Jx

Horizon81

From personal experience I wouldn't go in at your highest offer as your first and final offer. Sellers and agents are almost conditioned to refuse the first offer, even if it's a decent one. I'd be flabbergasted if you said 160 and they said yes. Makes more sense to go 157 and give your reasons and how you feel its a decent offer. They'll say no then you go to 160 and say it's your final offer. At least it shows like you've made an effort and the seller will feel like they've benefitted a bit.

Sounds silly I know but that's how this game seems to work.

TrickyDicky101

hats123 wrote: »

I agree, I think they will be annoyed with an offer of £155k ...

Having recently been in the position where my house had been on the market for 6 months with no firm offer I can categorically state no seller would be annoyed, irritated, upset, offended, suicidal, murderous, nor any of a dozen other irrational emotional states, caused soley by an offer you make on their property!

Don't believe any junk an EA will tell you about how 'offended' their seller is/would be.

I personally would go in substantially less - if you don't and the seller accepts whatever offer you make you have almost certainly paid more than you needed to.

itgirlinuk

I would also support the idea of going in on a lower offer. Anything that is 20% lower is acceptable in this market. The way I have phrased is by saying I am very interested in buying it and I have got all the paperwork lined up. And I have done all the analysis and this is the price I think is reasonable for the property....always assume that they will try and negotiate and go up in small numbers rather than 5k jumps.

angrypirate

Go ahead and aim to offend. Its not like you are looking for these vendors to be new friends

brit1234

Offer £155k, you have nothing to loose. You can always go to £157k later if they refuse.

After all 2007 was the peak of the bubble and house prices have fallen a lot from then apart from prime London.

hats123

Ok, £155k opening offer it is then I think! Would you wait a few days before offering, or straight away? I don't want to appear too keen!

billybear1

We are going to be viewing houses soon and contemplating putting offers in. This is how I would play it, go see the house, think it over overnight and if we agreed to put an offer in, go in early and go in low. My reasoning on this is your serious, but your looking for a bargain. If you can, which I will be, play the FTB chainless card.

So in summary, hard, low and fast and work from there.