What to offer on £499,950 house?

cherry76

This house was on the market 3 yrs ago at the above price and it was bought for £465,000.  The previous owners bought it at £475 so they sold at a loss of £15,000 in 2017.  I have not been able to view as am not prepared to travel by public transport.  In this current market I think it is over priced, it was on the market for £507,950 and reduced to £499,950.  Will it be cheeky to start negotiating at 10% off current price. I do not think sellers will be happy to sell at a loss. Previous owners did.  I have just registered my interests with EA. Last year a similar house  was on the market for the same price and sold for £415,000. Buyers and sellers were concerned about brexit but now during the pandemic not sure about the current market and recession.  Should I wait and hope it wll be reduced? Thanks

eidand

I am doing just that, I have a few houses on my list that are 450k and up and looking at the area the're clearly overpriced.  Will just wait for a bit and then put in some offers which are more realistic.

I don't know what area you're looking at but if you want to offer 10% less then I don't see any harm in trying. You never know the position of the seller.

Greatgimp

How can you possibly know what the current owners have spent on it since buying? They may have changed the windows, kitchen, doors, driveway, in fact anything to make its value greater.

eidand

Greatgimp said:

How can you possibly know what the current owners have spent on it since buying? They may have changed the windows, kitchen, doors, driveway, in fact anything to make its value greater.

That's not a helpful comment at all.
Sometimes previous pictures are still available, so you can compare. Otherwise, no, can't know, but if the area has a price cap,which most do, then a seller can only get so much for their property. One can make an offer and take it from there. No harm done. They might even drop the price themselves. I've seen properties listed at 525, then down to 500, then 475 all in the course of a couple months ...

Comms69

Whats the rightmove link?

As an aside, why would you not travel by car to view it?

swingaloo

I'm baffled that you are prepared to spend half a million pounds without viewing.

blue_max_3

What you don't know is what everyone else viewing it is thinking. You can plan your own strategy, but it may be academic.

cherry76

swingaloo said:

I'm baffled that you are prepared to spend half a million pounds without viewing.

Will view if the price goes down but not at current price.Will definitely not buying without viewing.

D.L

cherry76 said:

This house was on the market 3 yrs ago at the above price and it was bought for £465,000.  The previous owners bought it at £475 so they sold at a loss of £15,000 in 2017.  I have not been able to view as am not prepared to travel by public transport.  In this current market I think it is over priced, it was on the market for £507,950 and reduced to £499,950.  Will it be cheeky to start negotiating at 10% off current price. I do not think sellers will be happy to sell at a loss. Previous owners did.  I have just registered my interests with EA. Last year a similar house  was on the market for the same price and sold for £415,000. Buyers and sellers were concerned about brexit but now during the pandemic not sure about the current market and recession.  Should I wait and hope it wll be reduced? Thanks

If there is a similar property that sold for £415,000 last year, why are you willing to pay £450,000?

Go for it. Generally, I wouldn't think 10% below asking is an outrageous offer but obviously depends on the property... As an aside, if you are going to start negotiations at 10% below, that suggests that you are willing to go up a little. If that's the case, it doesn't seem that the asking price is "overpriced" in the current market.

GixerKate

Do you intend to progress to completion or are you testing the waters so to speak?

Speaking as a seller right now, its a very stressful time and having spurious offers put in doesn't go down well!

If you are truly going to go ahead with a house purchase without a viewing then fair enough but if you are not in a position to move on the offer then you shouldn't put in an offer at all.  Completely understand your position concerning public transport, have you your own transport you could use or perhaps a taxi?

eidand

GixerKate said:

Do you intend to progress to completion or are you testing the waters so to speak?

Speaking as a seller right now, its a very stressful time and having spurious offers put in doesn't go down well!

If you are truly going to go ahead with a house purchase without a viewing then fair enough but if you are not in a position to move on the offer then you shouldn't put in an offer at all.  Completely understand your position concerning public transport, have you your own transport you could use or perhaps a taxi?

I wouldn't expect any seller to take offers from someone who hasn't even viewed the property