Reasonable offer?

tortoiseshellcat

Sorry I know people are always asking the same question on here so I hope this isn't boring but...

I am interested in a property on the market for £299,950. I am in rented accommodation and nothing to sell to fund the house purchase, due to family kindly offering a short term loan until my property sells. I have a large cash deposit and a mortgage in principle for the remainder. I only need to give two weeks notice on my rented accommodation.

Do you think £282,500 is a reasonable offer on a house priced at £299,950 given my circumstances. I think it is but would appreciate other people's views. Thanks.

motherofstudents

It depends on how the market is where you are. Have you checked sold prices ?
It's a bit difficult to say with nothing to go on. What is it worth to you ? The vendor can only say no so why not try and see what happens, you can always increase but if you start too high, it's hard to go back with a lower offer.

phill99

What is reasonable to you may not be reasonable to the vendor

Whether it is reasonable or not is academic. They either accept it or they won't.

ian103

we looked at a property circa £350k that we knew was way over priced, our starting offer was 25% less than the asking price, we had to increase our offer to get it accepted but nowhere near the stupid starting price, but we had done our research and told the estate agent that we were not prepared to pay anymore than properties in the street had sold for recently.

therefore your opening offer may be too high or too low, only you will know based on research

buzzyzoe

Agreed, it's affected by area. If sold prices are around the £300,000 mark for similar properties, and you're not in a hotspot property area (like London or Cambridge) then I'd go even lower with your opening offer.

You are in a good position having no chain, good deposit and mortgage agreed in principle.

Is there work that needs doing on the property? If there is, again I'd reduce my offer unless this was already reflected in the asking price.

I'd go in with an opening offer around £270,000. This is still only 10% below asking, definitely not unreasonable.

It also depends on how often properties like this ones come up, how eager you are to move and how much you'd be willing to walk away if you can't negotiate on price.

tortoiseshellcat

Thanks for yr replies, the last property the same style as that one sold for about 346 in 2010 but may have been better condition and could park outside, this one you can't. Next door where you can't park outside sold for £229 in 2009.

tortoiseshellcat

I already offered £280 which the ea said was "speedily rejected".

ian103

i'd make sure the estate agent understands the financial position you are in.

we put our initial offer in and it was rejected almost immediately, but then i put a final offer in but stressed our good buying position (no chain, purchase not reliant on sale of property etc), the estate agent said it would be rejected immediately but it took the 48 hours to reject it, and given the questions the estate agent were asking we knew we were close , a marginal increase (still less than they wanted) on our final offer secured the property.

robatwork

If you want a considered opinion you will have to post the rightmove link here....

makeyourdaddyproud

Was your "speedily rejected offer" done by the EA or vendor? I wouldn't go back with a higher offer at all. Silence is deafening and painful, because you situation is so good.

Like previous posters have said, location, demand and scarcity are crucial factors that will temper your offer price.

Have you asked if there's been other offers?

tortoiseshellcat

The ea rang me back to tell me my offer had been speedily rejected but he actually rang me back within five minutes of my phone call to them which does make me a bit dubious. I have increased my offer to 282,500 but have done this via email to a different lady within the ea office. In my email I have outlined the fact that most of my money is cash with a mortgage in principle, that we are in rented accommodation not tied in with a contract and that if my offer is accepted I will instruct my solicitors immediately.

I think offering 6% less than the asking price is very reasonable considering the good position we are in so fingers crossed ...