Would you be offended if someone offered under asking price?

Moomum

We offered 730k on a 780k house expecting it was a starting point and to be knocked back but was accepted. Depends on sellers circumstance.

Mrs_Imp

Tancred wrote: »

No, I think you have the mental issues it seems to me, if you think you can offer thousands below the asking price and expect success. Maybe up north you can get away with it, but in the cluttered south-east no chance, unless the seller is desperate to move.

'cluttered south-east'??!!
London may be quite crowded, but compared to the Manchester/Liverpool and Bradford/Leeds conurbations, the south-east is positively empty. Not to mention the industrial heartland that is the midlands - Sheffield, Birmingham, Nottingham. Next time you drive round the M25 take a look at the side of the road and admire the countryside - there's plenty of it. I worked for several months on the M25, and was able to eat my lunch watching the peacocks sitting in the trees by a peaceful stream.

When I sold my flat it was initially on for 115k (too high in my opinion, but still lower than the EA suggested). I would've accepted 90k no questions, and probably 80k after a few hours thought. No offer would've offended me, because I was a realistic seller. I might've laughed at a 40k offer, but I'd have admired their audacity in asking, then opened negotiations to see if we could agree on a price.

We now live an hour from London, and were successful in offering 15k below asking price on our current house, because the seller was realistic.

So OP, it is normal to offer below asking price, and a realistic seller won't be offended in the slightest.

oxfordrocks

We offered £250,000 against asking price of £265,000. The vendors didn't seem to mind. We found out why when debt collectors and the police came round a few months later looking for chap who used to live here.

Tancred

sharpe106 wrote: »

So you have lived in the house for 7 years and still want to get 40k more than you paid for it and think that an offer of 25k more than you paid for the house is insulting.

My price is in line with price rises in the local area - simple as that. I could get a 3 bed detached for £250k in 2005 but now it's £300k. I am aiming to trade up, and given that the moving costs are £15k or so, I need all the pennies I can get. Someone else under different circumstances might be willing to take a low offer - horses for courses.

Tancred

Moomum wrote: »

We offered 730k on a 780k house expecting it was a starting point and to be knocked back but was accepted. Depends on sellers circumstance.

On such an expensive house £50k is not as much as one might think.........

Lolzicles

We had a budget of 250k, went to look at one that was up for 275k cos we werent finding much for our budget.. just to see if it was worth upping our budget a bit.. if u get THAT much more. We liked it but it needed work. We offered 245k just out of sheer curiousity to see if we could get a bargain.. they accepted! (this is in a very sought after area too!)

I wouldnt be offended at your offer... id be very pleased! Its only worth what someone is willing to pay

Cuckooclock

There are other circumstances sometimes we had sold our house, our house was empty moved abroad with Navy. We dropped 5K they dropped 13K, as we could do a quick move, these were both in the £200,000 area. All 3 were content with the buys/sales. :j:j

ukcarper

The OP is in scotland and the system is different normally offers over so it's unlikely they will accept a offer of 10% less.

Bogof_Babe

al_1232 wrote: »

Well lots of debate on this thread which is good and interesting - exactly why I created the thing to try and gauge how different everyones opinions are on what is a good offer and trying to get a bargain to what would offend others.

To the idiot who implied I am not ready to buy and have not researched the market well enough because of this thread - away you go and spin. I have been monitoring the market for well over a year as I have been saving my deposit and I am now more than familiar with the buying process and what is required. I put in an offer under the asking price - which apparently in Scotland isn't always the done thing - and I just created a thread to try and find out what peoples personal opinions would be if this had happened to them, so I m sorry but I fail to see how that therefore means I am not ready to buy.

Anyway, in other news the seller rejected our offer of 75k today (was offers over 77.5) and told us they are looking for 80. We have put in 78 and have told them it is our final offer, we are ftb in a good position, flexible and ready to move so if they want to lose a buyer because they wont come down 2k then they can also go spin.

The Scottish "Offers over" system does tend to put a slightly different angle on the discussion. In England it is expected that you don't offer asking price, whereas the Scottish system seems geared to using the asking price as a starting base point.

Depends how religiously adherent to the old way your vendor feels he can afford to be.

Edit: ukcarper beat me to it!

lessonlearned

Tancred wrote: »

I'm not in a desperate hurry to sell. The key is the price for me, and I'll wait as long as it takes. Personally I would be wary if a seller accepted an offer well below asking price - to me it's an indication of a 'problem house'.
And since when is it the fault of sellers that the SDLT is so high? Not my problem - the government sets this, not me!!

This is not necessarily the case.

You are clearly not a motivated seller, however someone else might be much keener to achieve a sale.

So for this reason your comments about "problem houses" and the "wealthy cluttered south east" are very much missing the point.

People will have all sorts of motivation for selling a property and for accepting a slightly lower price in order to achieve a quick sale.

It could be a probate sale in which case the house will be standing empty costing money and the family will just want or need a quick sale to settle affairs.

It could be a relationship breakup and again people need a quick sale to move on. It could be redundancy, illness or just plain overload of debt.

There could be dozens of reasons why someone might want a quick sale and are prepared to accept what you might deem to be a too low offer.

You may be able to play the long game, others may not be. Very often sellers either can't or don't want to hang around. They just want to get the sale and get on with their lives.

A motivated seller may well be perfectly happy to accept an offer a lot lower than the asking price. It doesn't make them foolish - it just means they have a deal they are happy with or content to accept.

From the purchasers point of view it is always worth going in at below asking price - you never know. Your low offer may just be accepted. If not you keep increasing the offer until a successful compromise is reached.

Whilst it is your perogative to hold out for your price, it does not make a villain out of someone who is making a low offer. It's not personal, it's business.

The other thing to remember in all this is that working out the asking price is not an exact science. There is no mathmatical formula involved. It's only guesswork, based on what the EA thinks the market can stand.

If the surveyors and lenders disagree with the offer price, they will down value anyway.

Why do some people think it wrong to haggle over the price of a house. We haggle over a car, or any other large purchase, we haggle in markets, antique fairs, car boot sales. Why is a house any different.

And for what it's worth - did you not realise that you are perfectly entitled to haggle in any retail outlet you choose. A rrp is only that - recommended . It is commonplace to haggle in Harrods. I have successfully haggled in John Lewis, Curry's and various electrical retailers on many occasions.

This is a money saving site don't forget, the purpose of which is to help people save money. Therefore it follows that it's perfectly reasonable for people to discuss haggling and look for tips on how best to do it.

Whether it's buying a house or buying car insurance - the principle is the same.

No need to get uppity about it.