Offering on property taken off market

cramg

Situation:
House we like was on the market from March 2012 to Nov 2012. In that period it was priced £385K and reduced to offers in region of £375K.

It did not sell and was removed from the market in November 2012.

We are now in a proceed-able position but there are no suitable houses in our desired area.
I spoke with the estate agent to see if the said property was coming back to the market and their response was;-
'i have spoken to the vendor and they have no intention of marketing their house in the near future. They do not want the hassle again of lots of viewings. However, given your position and interest, they are open to you viewing their house at anytime and would consider an offer should you make one.'

Biggest question now would be our opening offer. The house did not sell at the previous price and only 6 houses in the road and none have ever sold, so no sale prices available. Gut feeling says £335,000 as an opener? Seem realistic?

Tixy

What have any other similar sized / comparable propreties in nearby roads sold for recently?

Mr_Moo_2

As above you need to do your research. In reality they don't sound like especially motivated buyers given they aren't really on the market so you have to doubt their interest in doing a deal? Is there an element of the EA smelling a deal and bigging this all up?

But nothing ventured and all that, just be prepared for them to knock you back on a low bid. Good luck !

nollag2006

If the property was taken off the market at £375k, they are not going to accept a whole lot less than that.

Offering over 10% below their last marketed price risks the vendors dismissing you as not serious.

I'd open at something a lot closer - £360 - 365k

Doreen11

I think you would be right to take at least 10% off the asking price. The IMF has UK house prices overvalued at around 30% so you are buying an asset that will probably go down in value.

But don't focus too much on one house. House prices may be massively overvalued but nobody is buying any so there is a lot of choice out there for serious buyers. Remember, it is buyers, not sellers that are in short supply.

Good luck