Offers over etiquette

Mickey666

"Offers over" is a perfectly reasonable thing for a seller to ask for.  To me, it simply implies that they're not willing to sell it for anything less, but it really doesn't matter what we guess the seller actually means, because to a potential buyer it is meaningless.

Just offer what the house is worth to you.  No one else is important.

nyermen

It's interesting to read others views on this.  I bought (finally) last year, but while looking found that statement very off-putting.  After a mammoth weeks viewings, I had 3 houses I liked the look of, and ended up deciding against one property which had that as it made me feel the sellers may be harder work.  Maybe I read the statement more than I should in hindsight but hey ho.

mvteng

Mickey666 said:

Just offer what the house is worth to you.  No one else is important.

well - not really - the other potential buyers are important.
In Edinburgh, its absolutely normal for "offers over". the demand for property is high, and if you dont offer significantly over, you normally wont get the property.
On reading the comments and opinions of others - I'd generally ignore all of them.  You need to understand that in different parts of the country, different rules will apply

Mickey666

Well yes, really.  If other potential buyers push up the price then so be it, it doesn't magically make the property worth that much to the OP.  Paying more than a property is worth to you personally, perhaps more than you can actually afford, is a potential route to emotional or financial disaster.  THAT'S why no one else is important.

princeofpounds

mvteng said:

Mickey666 said:

Just offer what the house is worth to you.  No one else is important.

well - not really - the other potential buyers are important.
In Edinburgh, its absolutely normal for "offers over". the demand for property is high, and if you dont offer significantly over, you normally wont get the property.
On reading the comments and opinions of others - I'd generally ignore all of them.  You need to understand that in different parts of the country, different rules will apply

The Scottish system is totally different and that's partly because the offer may become legally binding in a way that the English system cannot. So 'offers over' is the default but it carries more meaning and practical impact than in the English case. 

eidand

mvteng said:

Mickey666 said:

Just offer what the house is worth to you.  No one else is important.

well - not really - the other potential buyers are important.
In Edinburgh, its absolutely normal for "offers over". the demand for property is high, and if you dont offer significantly over, you normally wont get the property.
On reading the comments and opinions of others - I'd generally ignore all of them.  You need to understand that in different parts of the country, different rules will apply

Equally can be said that if the OP is not looking to buy in Scotland, then the other opinions hold more water and yours doesn't

Scotbot

In England offers over works in a sellers market where more than 1 offer is likely. Thanks to Covid that is not the case so offer what you think it is worth, you are not wasting anyones time we are talking about a couple of phone calls, you to the EA and EA to vendor. Justify your offer by saying nothing has been done to the property and prices are forecast to fall. They will probably say no at which point you say the offer remains on the table. If the property fails to sell and the price is reduced they can get back to you.

theartfullodger

I was interested in a house once but the price looked ""optimistic", especially with "offers over" required.  I formally offered significantly below the "offers over" price.  Got a call from  the estate agent who passed on the vendors comments: How they'd never been so insulted, wouldn;t ever consider selling at that price etc etc etc..   In all my 72 years I've never had such a blunt and rude response to an offer.

I thanked them politely, and we ended the conversation: A week later I put in the exact same offer again, again formally.  Accepted.  Sold in Feb 2020... 20 years later...

Offer whatever you like!

mvteng

eidand said:

mvteng said:

Mickey666 said:

Just offer what the house is worth to you.  No one else is important.

well - not really - the other potential buyers are important.
In Edinburgh, its absolutely normal for "offers over". the demand for property is high, and if you dont offer significantly over, you normally wont get the property.
On reading the comments and opinions of others - I'd generally ignore all of them.  You need to understand that in different parts of the country, different rules will apply

Equally can be said that if the OP is not looking to buy in Scotland, then the other opinions hold more water and yours doesn't

Yes - but the OP doesnt say which country they are buying in.

Hence my final comment : "On reading the comments and opinions of others - I'd generally ignore all of them.  You need to understand that in different parts of the country, different rules will apply"

mvteng

Mickey666 said:

Well yes, really.  If other potential buyers push up the price then so be it, it doesn't magically make the property worth that much to the OP.  Paying more than a property is worth to you personally, perhaps more than you can actually afford, is a potential route to emotional or financial disaster.  THAT'S why no one else is important.

Hmmm.  I would agree completely that paying more for a property than you can afford is a route to disaster.

I dont understand your logic that other buyers are not important. You state that other potential buyers can push the price up. I would consider that makes them important. 
no other potential buyers = lower potential price
lots of potential other buyers = higher potential price
hence - other buyers are important