How much to offer??

anders170

Hi, I've seen a house I would like, it is up for sale for £99,950. What would be a suitable offer to make? I don't really understand house-prices. I recently pulled out of a house purchase as the asking price was £30,000 more than the estimate on Zoopla and I felt it had been inflated. So since then Ive been trying to work out how they price houses and what they expect to get!! Is there a rule of thumb?

Landofwood

You should offer what the house is worth to you.

Zoopla valuations are often wildly inaccurate. If you base your offers on Zoopla estimates you are gonna have a bad time.

w00519772

How much do you want it? How long has it been on the market? I would not rely to much on Zoopla. When I bought my house last year; the price on Zoopla was much less than what I paid.

I found this tool useful: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-value.html/svr/1713;jsessionid=728E7DB61AE65F70CE22A6782793A75B. It will show what other local houses (similar to the one you are interested in) have sold for recently.

Kat88

As above, offer what the house is worth to you. Also make sure you do your research on the local area, what sold recently that was similar and for how much. Zoopla isn't accurate in most cases (apart from sold prices!) so don't base your offer on that...

padington

Don't listen to zoopla whatever you do, they are possibly the worst place to find the real market rates for properties. Their guestimate functionality is just a toy which gives you a very vague idea of prices and nothing more, usually out by 20 - 25 % in my experience.

Go by previous sales together with estate agents opinions and ideally tempered by some good personal research by yourself or a trusted individual into local market sentiment together with consideration into future local developments and current and expected macro economic winds.

Also when you ask people to give prices, ask why. Different people hold different expectations, understanding them begins to give you a clearer picture.

If you went by only one thing, I would go by recent previous sales. Money talks.

The next best advice I can give you is to find a decent estate agent in the area where you want to buy , someone you get a good feeling about and keep them on your side, they are actually worth their weight in gold. Look after them. They are looking for people they can trust to do a smooth deal with, be that person.

The universe always conspires to help the best outcome arrive from the least energy.

Hoploz

First thing to do is to have a good look around to see what your money will buy - familiarise yourself with the local market.

As everyone else says, ignore Zoopla and any other calculation tools - you cannot calculate house values, they depend on personal circumstances.

Sold prices are a good guide, but just remember that the deals would have been agreed at least a month and sometimes if there is a chain, several months before the sale eventually goes through. And then there is a lag for prices to be released publicly, so the market may be different due to seasonal differences as well as economics.

yllah

Zoopla is bad for doing your valuation with as others have stated above. Your best off looking at the recently sold prices.

Everything starts coming into play now such as is the property empty? How long has it been on the market? Is the seller in the chain?

It very much depends on the sellers circumstances - if they want rid of the property they are likely to accept a lower price, same as if they are buying another house in a chain. However if they are in no rush they may hold out for the asking price.

For a property listed for £102k (decent condition and not alot of work needed), it was then reduced to £98k. It had been on the market for 6 months and empty for 4 months with no offers made therefore my first offer was £86k. The sellers response was that they very much wanted to sell however still needed to pay the mortgage off and needed more. I left it a day and went back with £90k, they wanted to mull over the weekend but I didn't allow that and they ended up accepting that offer.

Rosetinted

The only way to really understand what properties in your area are worth is to do the legwork yourself. Get stuck in to reviewing the sold prices for houses of the same type and size as the one you're interested in (actual sold prices, NOT Zoopla's estimate values).

Also, get out there and view more properties. You start to get a much better idea of what you do and don't get for your money when you view some houses at, above and below your price point. The only way to really make an informed decision about what to offer is to get to know the market.

When you view a property, note down any issues that you spot and then figure out how much it'd cost to rectify them. When making an offer that's under the asking price, I provide reasons why I feel the price I'm offering is fair (i.e. a list of what's wrong with the house), so you can make use of anything you spotted when haggling.

ellie27

I would not tell a seller what is wrong with their house. If I was the seller I would find that very rude and tell you were to shove it (unless the offer price was close to what I was looking for)

MoneySpendingExpert888

ellie27 wrote: »

I would not tell a seller what is wrong with their house. If I was the seller I would find that very rude and tell you were to shove it (unless the offer price was close to what I was looking for)

Totally agree with this point.

"Wrong" is just your own opinion, they didn't build/decorate the house with 'you' in mind they did it to their own taste.

You could easily just turn it into a 'comparable' difference, if maybe they have a really old boiler which is non-efficient you can just explain that a comparable property has a more efficient boiler which might save you £ in the longrun and also to install a new boiler would cost £x amount.

Every listing is competing with another similar property in that vicinity whether a seller likes it or not, the sellers who are commercially aware of this will take that into consideration and maybe knock some money off based on your findings. Good luck

King_Slayer

View the house and see what repair/work would be required. Check Rightmove to see what prices other houses, similar in nature, have recently sold for in the area. Then offer a fair price subject to valuation and survey.