Offering below asking price

22truth

First time buyers, very clueless!
Want to put an offer in on a 3 bed flat. Has been on the market 2 weeks (London - for the area, this is a long time for something to be on the market - usually they sell in days). EA says no offers so far & that owner is keen to sell; she more or less advised us to offer below asking price of £400000. As only other potential buyer so far has house to sell, whilst we would be chain free.

But how much less?
3-4 bed houses on same street have been going for around £450000. Similar flat a few streets over is sstc but went on market just before Christmas at £350000.
Flat effectively needs some work e.g. new bathroom, probably new windows. We could afford asking price (would be top of our budget though) but don't want to pay over the odds. However, don't want the seller to completely discount us due to an offer that is too low.

Any ideas/guidance would be really greatful for!

marksoton

22truth wrote: »

First time buyers, very clueless!
Want to put an offer in on a 3 bed flat. Has been on the market 2 weeks (London - for the area, this is a long time for something to be on the market - usually they sell in days). EA says no offers so far & that owner is keen to sell; she more or less advised us to offer below asking price of £400000. As only other potential buyer so far has house to sell, whilst we would be chain free.

But how much less?
3-4 bed houses on same street have been going for around £450000. Similar flat a few streets over is sstc but went on market just before Christmas at £350000.
Flat effectively needs some work e.g. new bathroom, probably new windows. We could afford asking price (would be top of our budget though) but don't want to pay over the odds. However, don't want the seller to completely discount us due to an offer that is too low.

Any ideas/guidance would be really greatful for!

So split the difference and offer £375,000

Thrugelmir

Make an offer and negotiate from there. From the sellers point of view 2 weeks isn't very long. So won't be in any immediate rush.

eddddy

22truth wrote: »

EA says no offers so far & that owner is keen to sell; she more or less advised us to offer below asking price of £400000.

EAs will often say almost anything to get a negotiation started - so don't raise your hopes too much.

With most sellers, there's no harm in starting with a low offer - it may or may not help you achieve a lower final price.

But I know of at least one seller (who happens to be a BTL investor) who gets very angry at people who make very low initial offers - and enjoys 'punishing' them, if possible, by selling to somebody else. But I think they're the exception.

marksoton

eddddy wrote: »

But I know of at least one seller (who happens to be a BTL investor) who gets very angry at people who make very low initial offers - and enjoys 'punishing' them, if possible, by selling to somebody else. But I think they're the exception.

What a lovely chap they must be to deal with...

alchemist.1

Make an offer at what you believe the property is worth.

theartfullodger

alchemist.1 wrote: »

Make an offer at what you believe the property is worth.

- or what you believe they will sell for, if less....

bigfreddiel

Make an offer, ignore counter offer, say yours still stands and let the seller get back to you.

It worked for me, seller got back to me after a week at my low offer. And he had only been on the market for a week!

Good luck fj

Debtslayer

Make an offer (start lower than your absolute maximum), that way if your first offer gets rejected you have wriggle room
Don't offer more than you are willing to pay
Do make it very clear that you are FTB's and no chain etc...

DRP

as others have said - how much do you want / can afford to pay?

Offer that minus 15%
When they rebuff it, go up by something substantial to keep their interest e.g. 8%
When they rebuff that, tell them your searching behind the sofa and have managed to come up with 1-2% more as your final offer...

Never fails!

TrixA

In London I wouldn't offer 15% less than the asking price, most sellers/agents will consider that time wasting. If the asking price is £400k and the property has only been on the market a couple of weeks, the lowest offer I'd contemplate would be £375k, and not really expect them to accept anything under £390k.