What was the asking price of the houses you viewed vs budget? Did OIEO, OIRO matter?

natasha22

Hello, Im just wondering wether you viewed houses that were out of budget? Did you change what you viewed based on OIEO, OIRO? 
For example our budget is 230,000. Weve opened up our search to about 250,000 on the basis an offer of 230 would be 90% of asking price, but viewing a house so out of budget when we know our offer is going to be low feels cheeky! 
Thank you

Getting_greyer

I think it's probably a general norm that people would look slightly above their max budget.  A lot will depend upon the seller's situation.  They might be asking for 250 hoping for 230-240 but they could easily being asking for 250 hoping to draw in viewings and a bidding war. 

Don't ask, don't get.  At least if they so no you can look elsewhere.

Chloe901

Our budget was £250,000, and as we're using H2B ISAs it was a very definite ceiling. We were searching for houses up to £275k on the web, but the 'most expensive' one we viewed was on for 'offers over £250,000'. I think if we'd seen any in the £260-£270k bracket which we liked enough, the asking price wouldn't have put us off viewing - it's just an asking price after all! The house we're in the process of buying was on for £235k, and we made two lower offers before settling on the asking price. Best of luck with your viewing/buying journey!

Thrugelmir

natasha22 said:

For example our budget is 230,000. Weve opened up our search to about 250,000 on the basis an offer of 230 would be 90% of asking price, but viewing a house so out of budget when we know our offer is going to be low feels cheeky! 
Thank you

Speak to the EA. Little point in wasting everybody's time. They'll know how flexible the sellers might be. 

theartfullodger

It's what the place is worth to you that matters, not what your budget is.  And who cares if it's OIRO or "offers over" or whatever.. You are perfectly entitled to offer what you wish - high, low, whatever.

I bought a house at a substantially below bottom price quoted for "offers over".  Put offer in, formally: Was 'phoned by agent and had the most direct "our client has never been so insulted etc etc.. " talking to.  I thanked them politely. Waited a week, same offer, identical, made, also formally: Accepted a couple of days later.

Your choice!

Wkmg

We viewed places above our budget and found out our budget was higher than we thought when we had to increase it to get the type of house we wanted. I always treated oieo as the same as oiro. Nearly all the oieo houses I saw online were houses that had been on at a really high oiro price for months and then had dropped to a lower oieo price. I suspect that was just to mentally cushion the blow when they slowly realised their house wasn’t worth as much as they thought. 

fishfingerbutties

I just ignore OIRO or OIEO. They have no legal meaning and can still offer below and has to be passed forward. Estate agent guff. 

snollygoster7

Always look slightly above budget never offer asking price  

natasha22

Thanks all, Its a tricky balance! Dont want to waste the sellers time, i imagine having to tidy and show people round is tiresome and dont want them to feel its a waste if they were never going to accept lower. However equally 90% doesnt seem completely out of the question.

Trying to remember that sometimes being bold is good and that is not all about being polite! (We didn't go forward with the last house, and i felt so guilty saying we werent going to make an offer!)

cybervic

 OIEO or OIRO tell you what vendors want in their ideal world and they are generally reluctant to reduce the price in a hurry but it doesn't mean they will get it. I've seen properties with OIEO that were eventually sold for far less than the original asking price so don't be put off by those wordings. 

It's always worth checking out properties 1 or 2 price band above your budget. There are always some over ambitious vendor who will, given time, come to a realisation of real world. One of my friend recently bought a place that was advertised for £500K to start with, reduced twice to £450k, and was eventually sold for £425K. Keep your eye on the market, it'll pay off.

scrola

natasha22 said:

Hello, Im just wondering wether you viewed houses that were out of budget? Did you change what you viewed based on OIEO, OIRO? 
For example our budget is 230,000. Weve opened up our search to about 250,000 on the basis an offer of 230 would be 90% of asking price, but viewing a house so out of budget when we know our offer is going to be low feels cheeky! 

Don't think like a victim, the vendors will have put the property on at a "cheeky price,just as much as you are thinking of putting in a "cheeky offer".  Don't even think about OIEO or OIRO or any other EA guide. Make comparisons, have a target price irrespective of what they are asking, make an offer below that and go to sleep. If they are serious sellers, they will come back with a counter offer, and you work on it. If they are time wasters who give you the "I know what my house is worth and I will not acept a penny less", walk away. No perfect house is perfect, another one will come along.