Low Ball Offer?

ReadingTim

steph2901 wrote: »

You have nothing to lose by offering. The worst that can happen is they say no. I wouldn't accept a low offer on mine, but I wouldn't be offended either.

Errr...no. The worst that can happen is that they think you're a timewasting dreamer who can't afford the place, and tell the agent to have nothing further to do with you.

You might not be offended, but others might be, and given housebuying is as much emotional as it is rational, disregarding how others might react to your actions isn't necessarily a route to success. It's not a task on 'The Apprentice'!

glasgowdan

kilby_007 wrote: »

Length of time on the market, the seller's desperation to sell/move, previous offers, and market price are the main factors. Is the market value of that property 170K (based on similar properties that have sold recently on the same street)? Is it 29K overvalued, or are you hoping to grab a bargain? If they've priced it about right, then it's highly unlikely they'll take 85% of their asking price, unless there's something wrong with the property or there's some unusual circumstances that mean they have to sell it quickly.

We've just offered on a property that's been on the market for 7 months. The estate agent told me they've had no offers yet, but when we viewed, the vendors flippantly said they were 'probably' off to retire to France and I didn't sense any urgency in their desire to sell. We offered 280K on their 300K property. That was over a week ago, and they haven't come back to us, so it kind of says to me "we're only going to move house if we get our asking price" and this is probably the reason it's still on the market. Sometimes it's worth a shot, but expect dissapointment and move on.

We saw a house with almost exactly the same scenario... it's been for sale since September 2014 with no price drops! When we viewed they were giving it "we're not looking for any offers., that's the price. We're going to France, the cooker is coming with us so the buyer needs to get their own".

Basically some people are willing to completely put their lives on hold because of their greed.

AnotherJoe

ReadingTim wrote: »

Errr...no. The worst that can happen is that they think you're a timewasting dreamer who can't afford the place, and tell the agent to have nothing further to do with you.

You might not be offended, but others might be, and given housebuying is as much emotional as it is rational, disregarding how others might react to your actions isn't necessarily a route to success. It's not a task on 'The Apprentice'!

But that doesn't matter at all (either that they say they dont wish to deal, or are offended) since in that case the vendor was never going to sell to them anyway because their price is above the OPs top, so no harm is done.

ReadingTim

AnotherJoe wrote: »

But that doesn't matter at all (either that they say they dont wish to deal, or are offended) since in that case the vendor was never going to sell to them anyway because their price is above the OPs top, so no harm is done.

Sorry, I didn't catch that bit in the thread. My point was that you don't want your first offer to alienate the other party so much that they're deaf to subsequent offers which might have led to an agreement. Clearly it's equally possible that the parties might never have agreed, but I'd suggest it's handy at having the opportunity to have more than one bite at the cherry.

ElsieMonkey

If your reasons for offering low are genuine and based on factual evidence that indicates the property is overpriced for it's condition etc. (not because you personally simply just can't afford it) then I don't see the problem (although be prepared for it to be rejected and for you to stick to your word and walk away).

But, I would say if you are prepared to pay the asking price or close to it, and the property is within your budget and you think actually it probably is a fair price, don't go in that low for the sake of it. It may make you appear not that serious a buyer.

I recently sold my flat in London. Was advertised at 415k, which was a very competitive and fair price based on sold comparable properties, and the place is completely renovated too, so no reason at all to offer lower. Have accepted an offer of 405k which is in the region of what we were happy to accept and what we know it's genuinely worth. On he same day we received that offer, we received another offer from someone else at 360k! This man clearly hadn't done his homework as in the previous year the same flats not in refurbed condition like ours were selling for between 390-405k. Before he put in his low ball offer he gave negative feedback about the property. Whilst he was viewing the property he was so rude and was texting on his phone whilst we were speaking to him. He was definitely playing a game and tried to prime us for a low ball offer. Even if he came back with a higher offer than the 405k we accepted from our current buyer, I wouldn't have accepted. Why? Because he clearly from the start showed himself to be a time wasting game player with no manners or integrity, so I would never have been able to trust him. I wasn't insulted about what he may or may not thought about my home, I couldn't care less whether someone likes my home or not, I was insulted that he thought I was stupid enough not to see through his "strategy".

Not saying you are doing the above, just I don't think it's worth starting such a transaction with someone on the wrong footing, IF you are really prepared to pay the asking price and think it's fair.

steph2901

ReadingTim wrote: »

Errr...no. The worst that can happen is that they think you're a timewasting dreamer who can't afford the place, and tell the agent to have nothing further to do with you.

You might not be offended, but others might be, and given housebuying is as much emotional as it is rational, disregarding how others might react to your actions isn't necessarily a route to success. It's not a task on 'The Apprentice'!

I would just tell them their offer was too low and tell them to come back with a better offer. I wouldn't not sell to them just because they put in a cheeky low first offer.

I currently have my house up for sale and know exactly how far below the asking price I'll go to.