House on for £290,000 one down the road £250,000

Grenage

Doesn't seem a terrible offer for that house. The seller might think otherwise, but that's life.

megaginge

Dan-Dan wrote: »

It is each to their own , and your wrong

You're * ;-)

megaginge

Brightspark87 wrote: »

Right we are offering £262,500 (£30k over what she paid in Oct 2007).

Explaining to Agent why etc and see how it goes. Hopefully good news.

Good luck! Keep us updated :-)

Brightspark87

thanks everyone - typical been trying to get hold of the agent all afternoon! I will update you all once I know thanks so much for the support I am terribly grateful x

Brightspark87

Right offer made - agent goes on holiday tomorrow for 2 weeks so hopefully she comes back and says yes soon!

ukcarper

Brightspark87 wrote: »

Right offer made - agent goes on holiday tomorrow for 2 weeks so hopefully she comes back and says yes soon!

Seems a reasonable offer to me roughly in line with the 15% I quoted from Land Reg.

Wouldn't be happy with estate agent going on holiday if I was buyer or seller, would expect another member of staff to deal.

MiaFey

Hiya my first post on MSE! I'm also a FTB based in Bristol area (not quite the center) and are looking around in BS15/BS30/BS31 areas (around 250K budget).

I have viewed several properties, made a couple of offers but not got accepted yet. It seems that for most of the vendors of the properties I've viewed, the price they are willing to sell is >AP-10K. If there is an offer of AP-5K it is very likely to be accepted straight away. That's just 2-4% off the AP. What happened to the rule of thumb of 10% off AP as the first offer? :-(

My offers were in the 6-7% off AP region. I'm always prepared to negotiate, but reading some of the earlier posts made me very worried - have I already offended the vendors somehow by making an offer lower than what they had expected?

As a vendor selling their house you may have had tons of experience buying and selling and dealing with offers etc and know very well the value/potential of the property and are very clear as to what you would like to pay for a particular house. You may also be fed up with time wasters already. But as FTBs we simply haven't got a clue! I have never been involved in a house-buying procedure before and being brought up in a different country, I really have no idea what would be a sensible offer. It is a big thing for me and believe me I've done my homework. I've asked around and the general feedback I've got is that 10-15% off AP will generally not be considered offensive. As a serious FTB I myself want to get this figure right as well because if this figure is wrong then I'd be wasting a lot of my time looking for properties with completely wrong searching criteria. If as a general rule of the market in this particular at this particular time, the accepted offer is normally 10K below AP, then why the earth would I bother to view the properties priced at 300K if my budget is 250K? Vendors try to avoid time wasters but so do us buyers. Afterall if my understanding is correct buyings have more money at stake during the entire procedure and will be suffered from greater loss if the vendor pulls out half way through.

There is nothing wrong with trying to get a good deal, both for the vendor and for the buyer. If the buyer has not made offensive comments to the property but simply stated reasons why he/she is suggesting that figutre, why would the vendor be annoyed and reject even if he/she later is willing to pay more? It is true that a house with a garage is unlikely to lower the price for a buyer without a car. But what's wrong with the buyer suggesting that this is a superfluous feature for him/her in the first offer, and later agreed to take this into account and improve the offer? Buying a house is a big investment, why would polite bargaining be seen as offensive? It is always suggested that buyers should leave personal emotions out when buying a house, but it seems that vendors are all but emotion-free. Not many houses have been sold at or above their AP. It shows that vendors generally ask for a higher price and settle for a lower one. If the vendors are allowed to lower their price without being questioned whether they are serious about selling or just time wasters, why would a buyer be subject to such unfair accusation if he/she increases her offer?

Everytime I make an offer I tell the agent please tell the vendor it is by no way intended to critisize or underestimate their house. I understand it's their home and I like the house. Now I've read that it's only the figure that matters. I understand that vendors have a price in mind and may not wish to compromise. I wouldn't mind if we can't agree on figures. But I will be very sad if any of the vendors has assumed that I was not serious with my offers.

And, I think the agents are, required by law, to submit all offers they have received to the vendor. Correct me if I'm wrong.

LittleMax

Because at the moment it's a seller's market.

Davesnave

MiaFey, the thing that matters is how 'hot' the market is in the area where you're buying at the time when you're offering.

In London/South East it's currently quite common for houses to go for amounts in excess of the AP.

OTOH, in the North East, where there is much lower demand in relation to supply, an offer of 10% below might be seen as a good opener.

People are often emotionally wrapped-up in properties they've lavished time and money on, just like their children. A disappointing offer will therefore be subject to a range of reactions, tempered by what the vendor has absorbed about the local market, particularly if they are buying-on.

Dan83

Are the house's that different? Why not buy the cheaper house and spend the difference making your perfect home?