how much should one offer?

joesan

say on average when you wanna buy a house what would you offer for it? say for example 200k
would a offer of 195 be reasonable? or would you try for more?? i know there are many factors that come into play but just say on the average

Robert_Sterling_3

On the average.

Robert_Sterling_3

First point:

A seller would probably ask £210,000 hoping to get £200,000 approx.
You would then try to get the price down below £200,00 by offering £195,000. You would probably both then be happy to agree to £200,000.

In a fast rising market it might be worthwhile to pay the asking price even if that price was a bit "full" as we say in the trade.

In the present market you can perhaps afford to haggle the price down a bit.

Use the surveyors report as ammunition to get a reduction in price for essential repairs that are requred.

ginger_nuts

I sold my last house 7 years ago .The buyer was the third person to see it and she was a first timer buyer who was over keen .She told me her limit was £1000 over the asking price and she wanted to make a deal to bypass the estate agent .

I told her others where interested and if £1000 over the asking price was her limit she should put her bid in before someone else did . The result was I got £1000 over the asking price and she couldnt haggle when the survey was done .

The moral of the story is dont tell sellers or estate agents what your limit is .

divadee

how much you offer depends on how much the house is worth to you.

Dont pay over the market value but if its the house of your dreams you might pay more for it than someone else would.

personnally i would go in at 185 to test the water. you can always up the offer but you cant go less after your offer has been accepted.

Robert_Sterling_3

Re Above two posts.

N.B.  Anyone , buyer or seller, can haggle or drop out until contracts have been exchanged and more particularly after they have seen the results of the survey.

Edinburghlass_2

Different in Scotland where its offers over and once your offer is accepted that is your contract point.

crankup

If you are a cash buyer or 1st time buyer then use it to your advantage. People at the bottom of the chain hold most of the cards at present.
If a house is in v good condition with all decorating nice and recent, modern bathroom and kitchen and tidy gardens etc. then they'll be after 195 plus on a 200k place. Being a cash buyer, push them for 185k. Let them negotiate it up through the chain - they will if they're serious about selling.
We moved summer '03. The house was up for 200k, we paid 191, but it needed a little tidying cosmetically.

reubenpeckham

With all due respect, I don't beleive that the time to haggle over a house price is at the time of the survey- unless there is something significantly wrong with the house that could not have been reasonably predicted at the time you made the offer.

The reason for this, in my opinion, is that surveyors are so cautious in their approach they will generally high-light anything that might be of concern. For example, in an older house you could expect wall ties and sub-floor ventilation to always be raised- leading to perhaps £1000 worth of work- but there's no way that a surveyor can tell without commissioning a specialist survey.

In my opinion, someone purchasing an older house should be prepared for one or two problems (such as damp and perhaps some historical movemement), using this as a tool to negotiate a lower price at the eleventh hour is either underhand or a display of ignorance (in which case they should be purchasing a modern house).

With newer houses, providing they have been adequately maintained (which can be spotted on a house viewing even by an untrained eye), there should be nothing wrong that could warrant a demand for a reduction in price.

Unfortunately it's attitudes like this that can cause housing chains to collapse.

Robert_Sterling_3

The buyer is paying for a survey which will usually uncover some some faults which might have gone unnoticed otherwise.
The vendor might be an entirely innocent person.
The Estate Agent, to get the business, may have suggested an initial asking price.
An innocent buyer might actually offer the asking price.
When prices are rapidly rising this might be a wise move.
All the negotiations are "Subtract to contract" i.e.  Not legally binding.
So if the surveyor were to note that the property needed rewiring, damp proofing, dry rot treatment,  had subsidence problems, needed retiling of the roof etc etc ....
Then you should renegotiate the price.

all I M H O.

Pal

Your initial offer depends on how much you want the property. If you would like it but there are also a few more properties you like the look of, knock 20% off and see what happens. If you don't get it, you can either up your offer or walk away.

Of course, if you are making an offer on a two bedroom flat in South London you should add 50% or more to the asking price and promise to complete within 3 weeks.