first offer - how much to offer?

buyer1989

Hi Im new to the board,

My girlfriend and I are looking to buy first house listed at 225k.

What is a reasonable first offer?

Seller is moving to coast and has part exchanged house so builders are responsible for negotiation of selling fee.

Thanks

Sam

LandyAndy

Offer rather less than you think it is worth and negotiate up from there if necessary.

Don't pay more than you think it is worth.

LandyAndy

Really, no one can tell you what to offer. How can we know if it is fairly priced now or if the vendor is being outrageously optimistic?

Anyone who says 'offer x% under asking price' is whistling in the wind.

Is there a rightmove link? That might help evaluate it.

SG27

The house we bought was on at £235k we offered £206k which was rejected then £210k which was accepted. Also got some nice white goods and oven thrown in.

It does very much depend on the vendors though.

G_M

£218,961


:d

robatwork

Start at 218,812 as this has more symmetry. Work up to 218,961 in increments

NinaSwiss

Some of the following might help to determine what to offer :

• What you can realistically afford so you don't offer more than this
• How much other properties in similar condition and in the same street/area have sold for (NOT their advertised asking price) to gauge if the asking price is too high or too low.
• How much is the property worth to you (for extra things like being close to work, good schools, very close to family/friends ). I call this a wow factor.
• How long it has been on the market at that asking price

Once you've then determined the MAXIMUM you are prepared to pay for the property... offer less and work your way up to that maximum.

For example, if houses in the area go for £200k then £225k is way above asking price. However if they normally sell for £210k and has the 'wow' factor, I might be prepared to pay upto £215k Max in which case I'd offer £200k to start off.

That said, the property I'm buying was on for £217,500. Abit of research also showed it was advertised a year ago for £230k. I offered 195 which was rejected. Then offered £197,500 which was then accepted. However I wont have gone above £200k as it needed work to be inline with other properties that sold for more. Each case is different really so no one can pluck a figure from the sky for you.

G_M

robatwork wrote: »

Start at 218,812 as this has more symmetry. Work up to 218,961 in increments

It's a tactic but - trouble with symmetry is it's predictable.

keep the buyer on the back foot. Be unexpected!

Start at 218.813 and work up in unequal increments.

Fortheloveofmoney

If a developer is selling it then I would say it's worth a chance at a lower offer.

We part exchanged our house last year and the developers put it on the market for 210k which was realistic. The people that bought it paid 205k.

My friend purchased a property from a builder last year and got 20k off a 250k asking price. 250k was realistic as other similar properties has sold for that within the last 2 years.

The most important thing to developer is how proceedable you are. The people that bought ours were cash buyers and my friend had a large deposit and was chain free.

hazyjo

Compare against similar nearby sold properties. How can we (or you) know the vendors aren't wildly optimistic (a house near me was on for £100k more than ours - pretty much exactly the same house!). Or maybe it's priced to sell or to end up with a bidding war...

How long has it been on the market? Use Property Bee (on firefox) to see its pricing history.

Jx

robatwork

G_M wrote: »

It's a tactic but - trouble with symmetry is it's predictable.

keep the buyer on the back foot. Be unexpected!

Start at 218.813 and work up in unequal increments.

Next house I buy I am going to wrong foot the vendor by offering something with pence. £218,007.50

And not a penny more!