"OIEO" £325k - how much to offer?

Bad_Accountant

Me and partner have found a property we like enough to make an offer on.

It was up for £340k in June and price dropped to offers in excess of £325k.

We are FTBs and have an AIP so are what they call 'proceedable' :cool:

There are no similar properties nearby sold recently - it is a fairly rare for the area 3-bedroom terrace with a little driveway. All nearby sales in the past year have been for houses that are 2-bed or detached or don't have off-street parking.

We don't want to over pay - equally we don't want to take the mickey!

I was thinking of offering £310k and when/if that's rejected going up in £5k increments, emphasising that we don't have a chain. But is this far too low to be taken seriously when it was on for £340k?

Would welcome any thoughts. We like it but our absolute max is about £330k and there are other places we could be happy with.

**dancingbutterfly**

The house I'm currently buying went up at 315k then dropped a month later to 310k I managed to secure it for 290k. Wasn't trying to be harsh but that was our budget! Where I live if properties are priced realistically they sell with a couple weeks.

The in excess of bit, my brother has just had an offer accepted of 10k under offers in excess of price! So I don't think it would hurt to start low? Id probably offer 305k to start. You never know! You can always increase, stick to your max! Good luck!

GoingOn30

Making an offer and then going up in 5k increments would make me think that you weren't that serious about buying and messing around.
It would also make me think you are likely to keep upping your offer so I'd be tempted to keep turning you down.

There's no harm in starting lower, but if it's rejected, I would make your second offer your best and final if you want to be taken seriously.

Thrugelmir

Bad_Accountant wrote: »

price dropped to offers in excess of £325k.

At the current time a clear indication as to the vendors thinking.

Might have to bide your time.

Miiade

My take is that they had zero interest / offers anywhere near 340k and now believe it’s worth 325k.

Personally I would offer low say 295k and see what happens. Sure they can say no but if they want to sell quickly they might take it.

need_an_answer

My view on making offers is 3 is the maximum.

set a top figure you will go to...make the first offer,up the offer once and perhaps once more...then leave that offer on the table for the vendor to consider if they reject

If they have a change of heart whilst you are still looking at other things and have not found anything your offer can stay in place until they firmly reject or you secure something else.

AdrianC

Bad_Accountant wrote: »

It was up for £340k in June and price dropped to offers in excess of £325k.

So they wanted £340k, but nobody was interested.
Now they've lowered their sights... Ignore the "in excess of" - if somebody had offered £330k before they reduced, it'd probably have sold.

There are no similar properties nearby sold recently - it is a fairly rare for the area 3-bedroom terrace with a little driveway. All nearby sales in the past year have been for houses that are 2-bed or detached or don't have off-street parking.

That doesn't mean you can't use comparables - you just have to adjust them, for location or for size/facilities.

We don't want to over pay - equally we don't want to take the mickey!

What's the worst that happens? They say "No". They aren't going to reject an otherwise-acceptable offer because you've already offered a bit lower than they want.

I was thinking of offering £310k and when/if that's rejected going up in £5k increments, emphasising that we don't have a chain. But is this far too low to be taken seriously when it was on for £340k?

But they already know nobody wants to pay £330-340k...

If it's just recently come down to £325k, then I might start at £315k.
If it's been a while since it was reduced, then go in with £310k.

RelievedSheff

Obviously you want to get the best deal possible but why bother with all the tooing and froing and playing mind games.

Go in with your best and final offer and make it clear that's what it is.

Ignore the offers in excess bit. Just find the price that you would be happy paying for the house and go in at that.

If it is a home you like why bother wasting time with petty haggling and risk losing it to someone else. What is five or ten grand over 25 years? !!!!!! all!

hazyjo

I always try to avoid the £5k increments.

If you go up in £5k jumps, it looks like you've not got a top figure and are just throwing more at it.

Chances are they'd seriously consider £320k. So get as near to below that as you can. I'd start at something like £214k. Then maybe £217k saying it's as much as you can pay for the property. They will push for £220k and try to say you'll throw in one more grand to show seriousness but that's it or you'll have to walk.

They will prob say no, but the EA will try to talk them round so it depends how much dosh they need to consider moving on. Not that you should fund that, but it will make a difference.

Do they have somewhere to go? Suggest to the EA that they might be able to claw that money back on their purchase if they can persuade the vendor to take a lower offer. It's what I've done in the past.

AdrianC

Sorry, £-5k offers are somehow suspicious, but £-4k/-7k/-8k aren't...?

You are going to have to explain that one to me...

vacheron

I would be offering the exact same amount that I would have done had the advert not said OIEO and had you not known about the price of the previous listing (i.e the amount you would be prepared to pay) as a best and final offer.

To me, "OIEO" always makes the seller sound somewhat pretentious and entitled which puts negative pre-conceptions of the seller in my mind before negotiations have even begun. This is just my personal feeling.

In the end, 4 extra letters should not make you change your approach and you should contiune to price the house based purely on its value to you.