What % under the asking price did you buy your house for?

cbr600f

How much below the asking price did you offer and sucessfully buy your house?

10%
20%
...30% below the asking price?

If you offered +20% less than the asking price why dont you let us in on your tips!

Has any body dared put in a daft offer and had it accepted?

Got to love a good bargin!... If that what you can call house prices nowadays!

mrs_motivated

Just had an offer accepted at 22 per cent below the original price, although it was reduced when I offered, so 15 per cent below.
240k, paying 187k, but it had been reduced to 220k (if someone wants to check my poor Maths )

No magic secret, they wanted to sell and I have no chain, so I guess they thought I would be a straight forward purchaser.

The one I recently sold, I came down 7.5 percent. Price 325k, got 315k. (again Maths done approx in head whilst enjoying a glass of vino, so probs not to accurate)

Gonzo33

We just had an offer accepted 5% under but we are looking at this as our 'forever home' so am not too bothered about it. Plus it was on at a good price anyway as it is vacant and we are in quite a good position as long as everything goes through ok.

Mrs_justjohn

We got a house (not our home) for £114K and the asking price was £170K

If my maths is correct that is a whopping 33% Off!!!! (Never actually worked that out before...LOL)

It went on the market for £169,995 and we offered £110k within 2 weeks of it going on the market. We knew it would be a hard property to sell, we also knew it was very dated and a lot of peeps wouldn't see beyond that, we also knew that the owner had died and the person who had inheritated the house was also the executor of the will and thought the whole process of selling the house was a drag!

We also knew that the offer would be refused but we left it on the table!

We watched the price drop from £170K to offers over £150K after 3 months, and then drop again to overs offer £135K after another couple of months. When it had been on the market for 6 months we approached the estate agent again to 'remind' them of our offer that was on the table, as we knew that at 6 months they ( the owner) would have to start paying community tax so it would be costing them money.

They responded by dropping the price again to fixed price of £135K.

At this stage we played our ace and said that we were cash buyers and there were various things on the home report that could make getting a mortgage on the property problematic and that we could complete within one month and would require no survey.

At this stage they tried to push us up to £125K and we said NO..!!!!

One month later we contacted the estate agent again and said that we wanted our offer taken off the table as we had seen another house that we wanted to offer on (We hadn't really though!!). Within an hour they came back and said we could have it for £115K, we even then had the cheek to knock them down by £1k to £114K as we said we needed that to cover our legal fee's.....LOL

It was a long haul...but we got there in the end and we were always prepared to lose the house - some you win and some you lose and on this occassion we won :-)

This was not intended to be a family home for us. We are going to do it up and use it as a holiday let therefore it was more important to get it for the right price - it was a decision ruled by the head and not the heart which often makes it easier when negotiating :-)

mrs_motivated

Mrs_justjohn wrote: »

We got a house (not our home) for £114K and the asking price was £170K

If my maths is correct that is a whopping 33% Off!!!! (Never actually worked that out before...LOL)

It went on the market for £169,995 and we offered £110k within 2 weeks of it going on the market. We knew it would be a hard property to sell, we also knew it was very dated and a lot of peeps wouldn't see beyond that, we also knew that the owner had died and the person who had inheritated the house was also the executor of the will and thought the whole process of selling the house was a drag!

We also knew that the offer would be refused but we left it on the table!

We watched the price drop from £170K to overs over £150K after 3 months, and then drop again to overs offer £135K after another couple of months. When it had been on the market for 6 months we approached the estate agent again to 'remind' them of our offer that was on the table, as we knew that at 6 months they ( the owner) would have to start paying community tax so it would be costing them money.

They responded by dropping the price again to fixed price of £135K.

At this stage we played our ace and said that we were cash buyers and there were various things on the home report that could make getting a mortgage on the property problematic and that we could complete within one month and would require no survey.

At this stage they tried to push us up to £125K and we said NO..!!!!

One month later we contacted the estate agent again and said that we wanted our offer taken off the table as we had seen another house that we wanted to offer on (We hadn't really though!!). Within an hour they came back and said we could have it for £115K, we even then had the cheek to knock them down by £1k to £114K as we said we needed that to cover our legal fee's.....LOL

It was a long haul...but we got there in the end and we were always prepared to lose the house - some you win and some you lose and on this occassion we won :-)

WOW, good on you. That's what I call shrewd work and patience :T

myhouse_2

Yep, most impressive. Particularly liked the final 1000 pound reduction. Complete opposite of those on the forum who are worried about insulting the vendors. How much would you say the house was actually worth? Many houses come on the market at absurd amounts of money. I should know because I spend months watching them come down in price. Maybe I'll get a decent deal too at some point.

Mrs_justjohn

myhouse wrote: »

Yep, most impressive. Particularly liked the final 1000 pound reduction. Complete opposite of those on the forum who are worried about insulting the vendors. How much would you say the house was actually worth? Many houses come on the market at absurd amounts of money. I should know because I spend months watching them come down in price. Maybe I'll get a decent deal too at some point.

EA was adament it was worth £170K when we put in our initial offer after 2 weeks, as (in his words) if you spent £25K on it it would be worth £200k. In my mind it was never worth £170K. As it stood I think it was probably worth £135k-£140k and I believed it could have been renovated for around £20K (DIY) and then it would be worth £185k-£195K. However this was never the appeal for us as any profit from the sale will not be released for many many years as this is intended to earn us a regular income.

I think the key is to know the property, know the reasons for the sale, know your own limitations (be them financial or DIY abilities). You also need to be ruled by your head and not your heart.

It is also important to know that not every house on the market is over valued and not every house is 'worthy' of a 'significantly lower than asking price' offer. You need to have 'logical' reasons behind your offer, and not simply assume that everyone that markets a house has increased the asking price to compensate for 'offers'.

Mrs_justjohn

I also think you need to not be afraid of offending and be prepared to use what you can to your advantage.

It may seem hard/harsh/cruel...but we knew that the person who had inheritated the house just wanted the money and not the hassle of selling a house! Of course they wanted as much as possible but at the 6 months stage they still didn't have the money in their pocket, they still had a house that they had to sell and it was at that stage starting to cost them money in community tax and insurances.

Strapped

It doesn't matter what the asking price is, or what % you "get it below", all that matters is the price you pay. It all depends on whether the house has been over- or realistically valued, depending on the vendor's circumstances.

CrispieS

its handy to know the history of the property, such as how long the property has been on the market and how much the vendor has dropped the price by. Can't remember the exact site now but there's a plugin called "Property Bee" thats really good for this. When you look on Rightmove (where all the properties are) it stores the price, so when someone else views the property they can see the price from when you saw it, and vice versa. Give it a try, it might turn up some interesting information such as a recent increase in the asking price (offer the original maybe?) or a series of decreases in asking price (in which case try your luck with a big drop). Good luck

Old_Git

actually i am looking for a house at the moment .I have a cunning plan I am going to offer £5,000 over the asking price just to make sure I get it .Do you think this would work. falling market my @rse