Putting an offer on a house when there are other offers out there

Mard1980

Hi me and my wife put an offer on a house. we put the offer at the asking price of 110,000 now the estate agent has informed us that there are 5 other offers on the house. Our maximum we can afford would be 125,000 for a house. They won't tell us what the highest offer is. We are looking for advice on how much to offer. Any advice would be much appreciated. This is our first house we are buying. We have a 15% deposit for 125,000 

Squirrelz92

Rule number one. EA spin every buyer a yarn...they will say anything to try and get a sale. There may well be 5 offers on the same property, or they may just be trying to add a little pressure to make you increase your offer when there is no need to. Have you asked the EA about what the seller is willing to part with his property for? That is often a good starting point. Don't be dragged in to a bidding wars or you may find yourself out of pocket with a house that isn't worth as much as you bought it for. Offer what you feel it is worth! Good luck!!!!

General rule is that you could go in as low as 10% off the asking price and then negotiate once more from there. If the house is new to the market they may want to test the waters and not be interested in low offers. However if the property has been on a decent period of time, they either arent desperate to sell or they may be willing to drop to a lower than asking price to confirm a sale. 

Mard1980

We haven't asked the EA how much the vender willing to take. But we looked on zoopla at the property estimate and it say the property is estimated at 128,000 I don't know how accurate the zoopla property estimate tool is 

SameOldRoundabout

Mard1980 said:

We haven't asked the EA how much the vender willing to take. But we looked on zoopla at the property estimate and it say the property is estimated at 128,000 I don't know how accurate the zoopla property estimate tool is 

Not very. All you can is offer what it’s worth to you and hope that’s enough. If you love it and it’s worth it you could go back at £116k or so but that’s entirely down to you, you can’t know what the other offers are or if the vendor will take best position over higher price. Reiterate your 15% deposit etc. Good luck. 

RelievedSheff

It is up to you if you want to offer any higher or leave you offer on the table and continue looking at other properties.

You will not find out what the other offers are so can only offer what the house is worth to you. If you really want this house then put in an offer that is the highest you would consider the property to be worth.

AdrianC

Mard1980 said:

Hi me and my wife put an offer on a house. we put the offer at the asking price of 110,000 now the estate agent has informed us that there are 5 other offers on the house. Our maximum we can afford would be 125,000 for a house. They won't tell us what the highest offer is. We are looking for advice on how much to offer. Any advice would be much appreciated. This is our first house we are buying. We have a 15% deposit for 125,000 

Offer the maximum you think this particular house is worth. No more. If somebody wants to pay more, let 'em.

If it'd been advertised at £125k, would you have seen it and offered that?
How does it compare to other £110-125k properties?

sharpe106

If you want the house decide what the most you will pay for the house, then try adding a bit more to your current offer. See where that gets you.

YoungBlueEyes

EA’s do tell fibs. 

When I bought this wee house the EA told me all sorts to get me up from my low offer. It was autumn 2018, middle of the Brexit palaver. House had been on the market for 6 months and was on for £125k, my max was £120k. In hindsight I must have been a bit keen looking round cos she said there’s been such a lot of interest, the owner is considering 2 offers both over £145k. “And I promise you that’s true” she said. “In this climate?! Well how pleasing for him, he should take one of those, I would. I’m out.” EA- “oh er umm err hang on, if you’d like to put in an offer we could go back to the office and I’ll put it to him straight away.” I offered £110k. “I’m sure he won’t entertain any offers below £120k, can you come up any more?” Sure, how’s £111k final answer?

And that’s what I got it for.  

You never know if the other offers are real or just an EA trying to get as many pennies for their client as possible. Make your offer based on what you can afford and don’t be drawn in. There’s always more houses. 

RelievedSheff

Equally there are times when there are multiple offers on the table.

Our last house went on the market on Friday afternoon, after 6 viewings over that weekend there were 5 offers on the table by Monday morning.

blue_max_3

There are other factors to a good offer, other than price. No-one would choose to be in a chain for example, especially if they want a quick sale.

D.L

Mard1980 said:

We haven't asked the EA how much the vender willing to take. But we looked on zoopla at the property estimate and it say the property is estimated at 128,000 I don't know how accurate the zoopla property estimate tool is 

Not at all. Zoopla has estimated our home to have increased by 25% since we bought it in September last year. It definitely has not got anywhere close to that, even before coronavirus.