Finer points of making an offer

patch9495

2-3 should be fair. Any more looks desperate

shortcrust wrote: »

Crikey. It’s not that complicated...

Maybe not however bagging a bargain is part of the fun and following this ensures you don't overpay. Can be as simple or complicated as you like

Murphybear

shortcrust wrote: »

Crikey. It’s not that complicated...

Last time we bought a property we took the EA aside after we had spent a considerable time looking around and made an offer there and then. We had seen many properties but knew this was “the one”. We then wandered round the gorgeous garden while he discussed it with the vendors. They accepted our offer and we were invited to sit down for tea and cakes.

The rest of the purchase went like clockwork

eddddy

I would start by having a chat with the EA.

Bear in mind that the EA's main goal is to get the property sold asap - and it won't matter too much to the EA if it sells for asking price, or 5% less or 10% less.

(But it will matter to the vendor.)

Try some fishing like "It's a bit higher than my budget, how far do you think the vendor might come down?"

The EA will also do lots of fishing like "So what is your absolute max budget then?" (But if an offer is rejected you can always re-do your calculations the following day, and find that you can miraculously afford another £10k.**)

Often 80% or the call will just be a game of bluffing each other, but you might get some useful info out if the remaining 20%.


But I would suggest that you never make an actual offer during that kind of phone call. Go away and think about what the EA has said first. Does it all sound credible, etc?

If you're not used to negotiation, some EAs can tie you up in knots - and you'll later ask yourself "why did I believe that nonsense?"

AndyTails

1980sFlunky wrote: »

Thanks all for the replies, much appreciated. Perhaps I am overthinking it, but sometimes you need to post on a friendly forum before you realize it haha.


Thought of a follow up question that possibly also falls into overthinking territory, but how many offers would one usually put in on a house? I've seen "aim for no more than 2" bandied about a little, how do you all feel about this?


Having never sold a house before (obviously), I can only empathise so much with the vendor - at some point I can appreciate repeated incremental offers will become annoying and I don't want to come across as, or indeed be, a timewaster. I would think 2-3 is reasonable - is this a fair assumption?


Thanks again to all who've replied

First offer for £a - should be a bit cheeky and expect to get rejected.
Second offer for £b - should be sensible but not at your maximum. The aim here is get the vendor to say "Well I know we were asking for £f, but we'd settle for £e"
Third offer £c - If your second offer was flat out refused, then third offer would be a best and final. If your second offer started negotiation, then you're either expecting them to accept your offer of £c, or come back with a revised counter offer of £d, which should hopefully be acceptable to you.

Obviously every negotiation is different, but this is what I "expect" to happen. It's based on my first house purchase, and an aborted second purchase (we agreed a price but we later pulled out).

For my actual second purchase we went straight in with our Best and Final, because it was all we could afford and thought it'd be too low. It was, it got rejected. We left it there, because it genuinely was all we could afford, so we kept looking. 2 weeks later the agent phoned us up and told us our offer had been accepted!

comeandgo

"First offer should be a bit cheeky", there endeth any further negotiations, I don't like first time buyers and I certainly don't like cheeky people.

1980sFlunky

That sounds like a dream, Murphybear! If only they were all so easy haha

Murphybear wrote: »

Last time we bought a property we took the EA aside after we had spent a considerable time looking around and made an offer there and then. We had seen many properties but knew this was “the one”. We then wandered round the gorgeous garden while he discussed it with the vendors. They accepted our offer and we were invited to sit down for tea and cakes.

The rest of the purchase went like clockwork

1980sFlunky

comeandgo wrote: »

"First offer should be a bit cheeky", there endeth any further negotiations, I don't like first time buyers and I certainly don't like cheeky people.

That seems like you take negotiating a little too personally. I'll try not to but thanks, it is worth knowing that some vendors might take these things a little too much to heart.


Don't like FTBs, may I ask why? This seems unfair - I assume you were lucky enough to never have been a FTB then?

1980sFlunky

Thanks again everyone, appreciate your time . Given me a bit to think about - and to stop thinking about too haha. Hopefully I can turn all your tips into a successful negotiation... fingers crossed!

Murphybear

1980sFlunky wrote: »

That sounds like a dream, Murphybear! If only they were all so easy haha

This was 20 years ago, things may have changed a bit

klew356

I think it depends on how much you want the house? I was told if you aren’t embarrassed by your first offer its not low enough! my first offer was rejected but the EA gave me an indication of what the seller would take below the asking price and I thought to myself (being the haggler that I am) they still aren’t getting that so I offered again lower than suggested and they accepted.