Is offering 10% less still the thing to do?

marlot

Depends entirely on the local market. You need to decide what you think the house is worth.

We sold earlier in the year. Our first offer was 1.3% below asking price, and we sold at 0.65% below. But we'd set a realistic asking price. Sale took about 10 days.

Loopy28

As a buyer, I am not looking at properties and wondering what discount I can achieve off the asking price, I'm looking at if the property is priced realistically.

The problem in my area is definitely EAs giving vendors unrealistic expectations. My sister is a prime example, she has a lovely house which she purchased at the peak in 2007 for 170k. The HPI for my county shows prices have only just reached 2007 levels.
The EA told her it was worth 200k, one month on the market and no viewings and they encouraged her to reduce it to 190k. Still very little interest but she won't reduce it further as the EA has told her it is priced correctly and she thinks that she should be making a big profit after owning it for 7 years.

I'm in a difficult position because it looks like I have a buyer for mine so can't wait around too long to find something and have a mortgage erc so ideally need to sell and buy simultaneously. I guess that if I think they're overpriced then so will others and I have nothing to lose by offering what they are worth to me.

dirty_magic

I think 5% is more realistic, if I was a seller I'd think 10% was cheeky. If you think it's overpriced though just offer, they can only say no.

Gonzo1987

Remember - it's the vendor that ultimately decides what to market the property at, they might have unrealistic views of what their property is worth.

If you want it, offer what you are prepared to pay for it, if the vendor says no, walk away.

learningaboutmoney3

I got mine for 94.5% of the asking price
I did start at a figure just above 10% of the asking price and they immediately came down £5K and then we met in the middle.

mrginge

The official advice from the institute of house buyers is to offer :

[asking price] - ([asking price] * ([your age] * ([number of people in household] / 1000) + 0.1683) * 100)

I'm surprised no one else has mentioned this...

Doshwaster

It really does depend on the local market. In some areas houses are going for above asking price within a few days. However, around my way it does seem that sellers have recently been getting carried away and asking prices are becoming unrealistic. A tiny 2 bed which was sold for £155,000 last year is now up for sale again at £180,000 and the owner hasn't done anything to the property.

J_i_m

Yeah, exactly. Sometimes the markets gets a bit silly. The same house going up in value by 30k or something in a matter of weeks does seem a bit delusional if no improvements have been carried out.

I'm fairly certain that my salary or mortgage principal offer wouldn't have a similar generous appreciation upwards that's for sure.

AdrianC

J_i_m wrote: »

Yeah, exactly. Sometimes the markets gets a bit silly. The same house going up in value by 30k or something in a matter of weeks does seem a bit delusional if no improvements have been carried out.

<shrug> It's all about supply and demand. The fair market value is set by one person willing to sell and one person willing to buy.

JencParker

AdrianC wrote: »

<shrug> It's all about supply and demand. The fair market value is set by one person willing to sell and one person willing to buy.

I'm not sure I'd call it 'fair', however, I agree it is down to supply and demand. And also the availability of credit. Houses where I was looking have increased by around £100K this year alone because they are in high demand and people can afford to pay more for them. In reality, they may not have looked at that sort of property 10 /20 years ago, and the people who may have bought these houses 10/20 years ago can no longer afford them. I can't describe is as 'fair', but it is capitalism at it's best.