What to offer on £291k house with motivated sellers?

song_of_calliope

We want to offer on a house that's on the market for £291k, reduced from £301k three weeks ago. It has been on the market since October. This is in the North where prices are rising only slightly if at all at the moment.

The sellers have found a house they really like and have indicated to us that they're keen to sell before that house goes. Therefore we are considering being very cheeky and offering £250k due to the stamp duty threshold.

What would you offer if you were us? We could afford to go a bit over the stamp duty threshold, say up to £265k, but before we did that on this house we would probably offer £250k on a different house that's on the market at £260k and likely get it. But we strongly prefer the one that's on at £291k.

pcgtron

If someone's put their house on the market for 301 and then 291, unless it was massively overpriced, they'd be mad to accept the figures you're talking about

gallygirl

song_of_calliope wrote: »

We could afford to go a bit over the stamp duty threshold, say up to £265k, but before we did that on this house we would probably offer £250k on a different house that's on the market at £260k and likely get it. But we strongly prefer the one that's on at £291k.

Why would you offer 250 on a house you don't want rather than 265, that you can afford, on the one you 'strongly prefer'?

Are you in a position that you can progress immediately? If you are then that puts you in a strong position.

250 seems unrealistic and if you start with that then you may not be taken seriously. If you then start to increase it, how will they know 265 is your maximum? If I really wanted the house and was in a strong position I'd offer 265, stressing it was my best and final offer, I was in a position to progress etc. If it's turned down I'd say I'd leave it on the table for say 3 weeks, then I'd be walking away. Between 2 and 3 weeks I'd phone the estate agents and ask them to put the offer forward again, with a withdrawal date of a few day's time, then I'd walk away.

Only then would I consider making an offer elsewhere.

That's what I'd offer if I were you - others will no doubt think differently. But don't lose a house you really like over 2 or 3k - which equates to a McDonalds a month!

theGrinch

work out the max you can afford, take off stamp etc and thats your max offer. you can try £250k but I dont think you will be successful.

Stratus

I once bought a house for 250k which had previously been marketed at 300k so your suggestion is not completely ludicrous. They are keen to move and have been on the market for a while so that counts in your favour.

It would help if you could find some recent comparable sales to substantiate your offer.

[Deleted User]

I know what I would of said to that offer

bluep

Do you know what they bought it for? If they bought it close to £250k or say for £230k-£240k then I'd say you have little chance of them accepting it. If however they bought it for a lot less (i.e. in my area the house prices have doubled in the last 7 years), then they might be prepared to take it, given that they still see a "big rise" in value from what they paid.

Personally as a seller, I put my house on the market for what I thought was a good value, not overinflated, and I would have laughed myself silly at being offered nearly 20% under asking price (and dismissed you as a buyer who wasn't serious)

DRP

It is impossible to make an educated comment without knowing the context.

as posted above - find out what they paid. Find out what similar houses are selling for.

If they bought recently and at close to the current asking price, it is unlikely they can afford to drop their price by 40 grand. If the house is over-priced compared to recently sold similar properties then they haven't got a hope in hell of achieving that...

Their house has been on the market at possibly the slowest time, so its not a huge surprise that it hasn't sold tbh

ess0two

Move on,you cant afford it.

getmore4less

Check what similar places have been seeling for since Oct that will give a better idea of what it's worth and how close you can get. also look at the trend on those selling prices.

It might be the sensible thing will be go in with a one off, this is what we have if it looks well short.

Paully232000

I would second having a look around to see what the average is for similar houses in the area and see how £291 compares to this. Then you will see if your offer of 250 is in the ball park.

If i was a seller and had my house on for circa 300K (unless i had done no research whatsoever, and had a rubbish agent) I would not accept anything like 250K, but what is the worst they can say...No.

Maybe they cannot afford to take that much of a drop in price due to their mortgage, house they are wanting to buy etc etc.

or maybe it is that you just cannot afford this house and will have to compromise on the cheaper one.