How much to offer - offers in excess of...

injectionday

Hi - we've had second viewings of 2 houses that we really like and are just deciding which one to put an offer on as they are quite different.

One is a terrace advertised as OIEO £200k, the other is a semi OIEO of £220k. We like the semi more but couldn't afford to pay much more than £220k for it.

When houses are advertised as OIEO is it acceptable to make an offer for a lower figure? Both properties have been reduced in the last couple of weeks and have been on the market since March.

Thanks

MacMickster

You can offer whatever figure you want. They can only say yes or no.

If you don't make an offer because you assume that it won't be accepted then you'll never know whether it would have been. If it gets turned down then at least you gave it a go.

Personally, when buying a house, I would be horrified if my first offer was accepted, because I may have got it cheaper if I had started with a lower offer.

jetblack61

We're in the process of buying a house which was advertised as OIEO. The property was on at OIEO £160k, we offered £158k and it was rejected. We've ended up offering £160k which was accepted.

Prior to this house, we offered on one that was listed as OIRO £165k and we tried both £158 and £160k for that one and didn't get anywhere.

You need to think about what the house is worth to you...and offer accordingly. Stick to your budget (and your guns...) and if it's not enough for the seller - there will be another house with your name on it that you will get for a price you're happy with

DRP

OIEO or OITRO is just estate agent gobbledigook

all things being equal, I go by the credo of offering the asking price minus 12% to start things off!

injectionday

Thanks for the advice, very helpful. I'll make sure we're clear ourselves on how high we're prepared to go and then put in a lower offer and be prepared to negotiate.

AFK_Matrix

OIEO means nothing. I actually didn't realise this when looking and had been excluding these type of properites. Luckily one EA pushed me into going to view one of these types of properties (on at OIEO £160,000) and I loved it. I only had £153,000 to offer so I offered this and waited. I thought I didn't stand a chance as the EA had said there had been offers of £170,000, I took this with a pink of salt though. Anyway the vendors hummmed and urrred and even asked if I could do £155,000 but I said I couldn't and in the end I got the house for £153,000.