Would you be offended if someone offered under asking price?

Tancred

sensiblesaver55 wrote: »

But isn't it normal for people to view houses that are above their budget with the intention of putting in a lower offer? The people viewing your house most likely have no intention of paying what you are asking for it.

Yes it's normal, but I think a reasonable offer should be fairly close to the asking price, otherwise you should not expect success. This approach might work in some cases, but not in others. In 2005 I found a really nice 3 bed semi for £244k and the seller refused my offer of £240k - now that is unreasonable!

Tancred

martinsurrey wrote: »

haha, identical house in same street!

very very very few buyers are looking for a specific Sq foot in a specific road, they trade off location and size, most people do not consider 1/4 of a mile to be far, and so if the £210k house is in a 'rougher area' the £267k house is very near to a 'rough area'.

but anyway, I'm bored of arguing with you, there is only one person who agrees with you, and that’s you. Let’s just all agree that everyone (99%) disagrees with you.

good luck selling your house for what you want (and I really mean that, I don’t like to see anyone sitting on the market for ages).

Nonsense. In a town centre location 1/4 of a mile is a long distance. Areas change from street to street. Look at London, where millionaires live cheek by jowl with council estate tenants.

I don't really care whether you agree with me or not.

martinsurrey

Tancred wrote: »

Yes it's normal, but I think a reasonable offer should be fairly close to the asking price, otherwise you should not expect success. This approach might work in some cases, but not in others. In 2005 I found a really nice 3 bed semi for £244k and the seller refused my offer of £240k - now that is unreasonable!

... you said you MIGHT accept an offer of £3k under asking in a stagnant market as anything lower is unreasonable

But you think not accepting an offer £4k under in a market that was sky rocketing (2005) was unreasonable...

Can you not see how stupid that comes across...

warehouse

Tancred wrote: »

I don't really care whether you agree with me or not.

Of 72 replies, 16 are yours, 9 ahead of the next nearest poster on this thread. In other words you do care very much.

Tancred

martinsurrey wrote: »

... you said you MIGHT accept an offer of £3k under asking in a stagnant market as anything lower is unreasonable

But you think not accepting an offer £4k under in a market that was sky rocketing (2005) was unreasonable...

Can you not see how stupid that comes across...

All these comments about the market are not true - I have a price that is fair for the the area - and this after taking a lot of advice from local agents. What makes you such an expert? Of course I will consider offers below the asking price, but not £17k below it.

Tancred

warehouse wrote: »

Of 72 replies, 16 are yours, 9 ahead of the next nearest poster on this thread. In other words you do care very much.

Just arguing my case. I'm surprised by all the interest in my situation - you guys need to get a life.

sunshinetours

You need to stop rising to the bait.
Its no point telling people they are wrong and you know the true market value of your property - you don't and your agent doesn't. Its an educated guess as all valuations are. The market decides the price not you. All you can decide is whether to accept that price or not
Complicate that with the stupid tiered stamp duty system that distorts "true market values" at or around those levels (especially the £250k one), and you can see how complicated valuing something like a house is (comparing it to a price of a loaf kind of shows a naivety to be polite).

What you need to get and what you want to get are irrelevant in valuing a house properly as are ignoring artifical external factors such as tax bandings.

Also as someone else posted the market is way different to 2005 in most parts of the UK including in the SE

Good luck with your sale and I hope you update as originally posted

Tancred

sunshinetours wrote: »

Good luck with your sale and I hope you update as originally posted

Thank you - nice to see a polite comment for a change.

I will post an update early next week when the series of viewings will have finished. I hope it will help some people.

lessonlearned

Tancred wrote: »

All these comments about the market are not true - I have a price that is fair for the the area - and this after taking a lot of advice from local agents. What makes you such an expert? Of course I will consider offers below the asking price, but not £17k below it.

Can't speak for the others but in my case 30 years as an EA/Developer.:rotfl::rotfl:

I am sorry but I am a "property expert".;)

However feel free to disregard any of my advice and comments.

I've dealt with hundreds of people who have your mindset. They think they know it all. Most of them come a cropper in the end.

All the advice that you have been given, not just from me, but from everyone else who has given so generously of their time and experience, points to one simple fact.

The key to successful negotiations is flexibility

Unfortunately you are too blinkered, too set in your thought processes and too inflexible to see this.

Your blindness and pig-headedness does you no credit. You have been rude to people who have tried to help you.

I for one won't be giving you any further benefit of my 30 years professional experience.

I have better things to do with my time that waste it on know it all armchair EA's who are too stupid to listen to good advice when it is given so freely and generously.

I have only been posting on the house-buying thread for a few weeks.

The rudeness and obnoxious behaviour of some people on some of the house buying threads has astonished and dismayed me.

I thought the the purpose of this site was to help people make good financial decisions and learn how to avoid pitfalls.

It would appear that there are some people who prefer to visit these threads to further their own agenda and who have an axe to grind.

Sadly all that happens is that their selfishness spoils it for the people who have questions and who are genuinely seeking guidance.

Just edited to add.

The original poster who began this thread asked a perfectly valid and reasonable question ie whether or not it would give offence to go in with an offer lower than the asking price. My understanding is that the original poster was from Scotland where things are done slightly differently.

Traditionally in Scotland, it was standard proceedure to ask for "offers over". I know this for a fact because I was an EA in Scotland for 5 years.

Because the property market has been depressed for some time, the Scottish system has now changed slightly to be more in line with the English way of doing things. My understanding is people are now prepared to accept offers lower than the asking price.

Obviously this will not have filtered through to everyone and they may be some Scottish Vendors who would be outraged at the very idea. This is probably why the OP was looking for advice.

DRP

lessonlearned wrote: »

Can't speak for the others but in my case 30 years as an EA/Developer.:rotfl::rotfl:

I am sorry but I am a "property expert".;)

//snip

to be fair to Tancred, I imagine he and his EA both know his local circumstances far better than someone with even 30 years working in the property market.

Is it that difficult to believe that in popular areas, houses will sell for very close to the asking price? I know my local area is popular and the best houses usually sell very quickly, at close to asking price and at way above 2007/8/9 prices.

ps. not aimed at you lessonlearned, but tancred is not the only one with borderline rude responses on this thread