Offer over?

trailingspouse

As has been said many times before, a house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. So, if they're asking for £210,000 and no-one offers that amount, then the house isn't worth £210,000. However - if they ask for £210,000 and lots of people offer that or more, then it is worth whatever the highest offer is.

So - you have to decide what the house is worth to you. That is decided by a combination of what you can actually afford (work our your absolute absolute highest amount you are prepared to spend), and what you think you can get away with based on current market conditions, how long the property has been on the market, and how much interest there is.

In the past I've sold a house with an asking price of £95,000 - we had 21 viewings in two weeks, with 4 firm offers. The house finally sold for over £100,000. And I've also bought a house that was advertised at £240,000 - my absolute maximum that I could afford was £230,000, I offered £216,000 (asking price less 10%) and finally bought for £225,000.

So - the asking price is just that - what they're asking. It doesn't meant that's what they'll get.

tightasagnats

It totally depends on who else might be offering, how long it's been on the market and what position you're in (cash buyer, chain etc). Whether the place is probate (families often hold out for more/have unrealistic ideas about what Grandad's old dump is worth) or empty (may want to shift it).

In my area of London properties usually have OIEO (offer in excess of) but may go for 50k less than this or as much over. If you can, get to know an estate agent well, and they will often be fairly straightforward about what someone may take in my experience, and say something like "well make an offer" i.e. lower (and they should know your budget) or "they're looking for a fair amount over the asking price" and will also know if properties in that area, street etc tend to fetch the asking, go above or under. It's not in their interest to allow you to waste your time or theirs.

I'm looking now, and the 2 agents I have got to know are very good. We've watched the market over past few months and they've been pretty accurate with their advice. Ask around and see who people think are good. If you're new to that area, see if there is a Facebook page locally and groups that relate to properties and local services. THese can be invaluable in recommending agents, solicitors, etc.

Good luck!

ChasingtheWelshdream

We listed our property as 'offers over'. In reality, we wanted it priced realistically to sell, whilst having a minimum we needed. The 'offers over' was that minimum. Had we not stated that, we would have risked having offers underneath. At the same time, had there been a flurry of interest, we may have had higher offers.

If we had upped the price, to allow for lower offers, we wouldn't have appealed as much.

We got the asking price, which suited us well.

It worked for us.

Conversely, we bought a house with a guide price by offering the lower price. We assumed that would be the minimum.

cashbackproblems

Surely its only worth what similar places in the market are going for and listed for. They can ask what they like equally your offer can be lower if its too high.

Many places in my area are being reduced and they carry the oieo tag...doesnt mean anyone will

ThePants999

FWIW, we last sold at "offers over X", had multiple offers of X and ended up selling at X + 2.5%.

kilby_007

"offers over" doesn't help anyone as nobody can agree on what it means. If you really want an offer over 200K then decide what the hell you want and advertise it for that, or a little above that. If you're worried that "a high price might put buyers off" and that's why you've put "offers over" a lower price then the high price you have in mind is too high anyway!!

Clearly in the case of my first house purchase the vendor didn't mean "offers over" because they accepted 4% under. They probably lost an awful lot of potential purchasers because they thought the price was unrealistic.

Crashy_Time

vernall wrote: »

I am in England......so are you saying the £210,000 is really £231,000:(

Yes, plus at least 10% mark up.