Initial offer on house rejected - next steps?

chil_ros

Hi, I'm fairly new to this forum so would appreciate any advice.
We recently placed an offer on a property which was rejected in a couple of hours. Property marketed at £300k, and we offered £273k.
The EA has suggested that he doesn't think the vendor will accept anything below £285k, but may consider anything from £280k onwards. This to me seems like a tactic to try to get us to offer £280k, which they might still reject in an attempt to get closer to £285k, and neither of us want to go that high.
The market has been very slow in the neighbourhood, with the house next door selling for £266k two years ago. The property has been on the market since September and as far as I know, they haven't had any other offers.
What should our next steps be? Should we try to offer again for under £280k? How long should we leave it?
Thanks

AnotherJoe

I see two options.
1. Offer more and then make a best and final offer should that offer be turned down.
2. Just make your best and final and avoid the messing about .
Since it seems they won't accept under £285 and you won't offer that much, then you can just start looking elsewhere after this, and maybe at some point they will come back and accept your offer or maybe you'll find somewhere else in your budget.

BodyOfBones

How badly do you want the house?

jonboy321

You can always offer more, but it is very difficult once the offer has been accepted to offer less. If you dont think anyone else is interested I would give it a few days to let them sweat and see how much they want the sale and go back with 277k. If that is rejected tell the EA you will need to speak with your mortgage provider and see what you can do.
You are offering an awful lot lower that the list price so I thing you will be lucky to get this.

brewthebear

Why offer so low when there a 95% chance theyll turn it down.
Either you want the house or not. Stop looking at properties if they are above your price limit.It just wastes everones time The fact of how long its been on is irrelevant, the spring is around the corner when the housing market starts moving.

hazyjo

Depends what they need from the sale to consider actually moving, and how desperate they are.

I offered on a house up for £300k in 2013 (end of recession) and got it for £274k. It had been slightly overpriced for what it was, although that was pretty much a bargain price and if the EA/seller had used their noddle and marketed at £280k, they'd have prob had offers over.

It was an effin' nightmare though. Was hanging on for weeks when they kept putting me off saying the market was improving and soon I'd never afford anything, let alone this one. It was empty, unloved, probate property, and had been on the market for months with one failed offer - his mum had died and it had been rented out and somewhat trashed for a year or two and he wanted as much as he could get, but nobody else would buy it.

EVENTUALLY after rows with the EA and tears (they talked to me like absolute sh*** and were extremely belittling), they finally took £274k.

So, depends if you can hold your nerve, risk losing it, how much you want it, and what your budget is. Lots of combinations really, but don't cut your nose off to spite your face!

I don't always go in like that. Often it's a few grand under if it's fairly priced to start with.

PasturesNew

Most houses are priced at the price where they belong. You've gone considerably under that. While it's possible that some people, in some circumstances will be willing to take a very low offer .... most wouldn't.

You have three choices:
1/ leave it, walk.
2/ increase your offer until you do reach a price you're prepared to pay and they're prepared to accept.
3/ do the 2nd one, but not go high enough .... so "stick" and see if they ever come back to you.

Somebody living in a house doesn't have to sell to anybody - and won't if the whole reason/point of them selling cannot be achieved by accepting a low offer.

Mutton_Geoff

chil_ros wrote: »

The EA has suggested that he doesn't think

Sounds vague to me. What’s your own position? As a seller that would have a huge bearing on how much I was prepared to accept.

babyblade41

whenever I have sold and it has been many times I always have a specific price, not offers overs and above or in the region of. I put it up a couple of percent over what I would accept bottom line

My reasons were because that is what I specifically need to move forward, nothing underhand and just plain old economics.

I do m research and roughly know my market and price expected so never over inflate there is absolutely no point

Your vendors maybe at their lowest no matter how long it's been up for sale. If they can't sell it for the lowest offer they expect then they can't move
They don't need to sell and are under no obligation just because it's been up for sale for a while

Aaleigha

I would get a full structural survey done if you havent already and then use the findings to bargain with

JakeHall

It may help if you provide some further information.

What is the area? You've said it's slow but has it always been quite slow or has it been slow for the last couple of years?

Are there any material differences (larger plot, extension, etc.) to the one that sold for £266k?

How long has the property been on the market for and what's the record for the street?

Without that information it's not possible to identify whether it's the seller pushing their luck or if there are legitimate reasons for the difference in value.