Price per sq m - good to justify an offer?

[Deleted User]

The problem is that you can spend an hour explaining to an estate agent why you are offering a certain amount and they dont care. Its not their property.  They will then call the owner and say 'ive got an offer for you, its below asking cause the guy says other properties nearby are cheaper and/or bigger' 

I worked in an estate agents office for years and now spend my life battling through deals with them and 90% of them will simply take very little notice of your reasons behind an offer.   The sales negotiators will be looking at an asking price and your offer and thats pretty much it.  They dont value properties so they wont really take much notice of your calculations. The person who valued it and knows about the comparables wont be the person taking your offer.   

eddddy

Realistically, I think sellers just want the most money they can get for their property.

So,

• if you make an offer, and the seller thinks you might be prepared to offer more - they'll reject your offer (and wait for you to offer more)
• if the seller thinks somebody else might offer more than you (within a reasonable timescale)  - they'll reject your offer
• But if the seller thinks you won't offer any more, and they don't think anyone else will either - they might accept the offer

btcp

Deleted_User said:

The problem is that you can spend an hour explaining to an estate agent why you are offering a certain amount and they dont care. Its not their property.  They will then call the owner and say 'ive got an offer for you, its below asking cause the guy says other properties nearby are cheaper and/or bigger' 

I worked in an estate agents office for years and now spend my life battling through deals with them and 90% of them will simply take very little notice of your reasons behind an offer.   The sales negotiators will be looking at an asking price and your offer and thats pretty much it.  They dont value properties so they wont really take much notice of your calculations. The person who valued it and knows about the comparables wont be the person taking your offer.   

I see, thanks for sharing you experience. Maybe my agent is different,  as it was their suggestion to put it in writing so they can forward it to a seller. Or maybe I am overthinking it. 

Falafels

You don't need to justify an offer. Just name the price you'd be prepared to pay and leave it with the agent until they get back to you, and take it from there. 

eddddy

btcp said:

Deleted_User said:

The problem is that you can spend an hour explaining to an estate agent why you are offering a certain amount and they dont care. Its not their property.  They will then call the owner and say 'ive got an offer for you, its below asking cause the guy says other properties nearby are cheaper and/or bigger' 

I worked in an estate agents office for years and now spend my life battling through deals with them and 90% of them will simply take very little notice of your reasons behind an offer.   The sales negotiators will be looking at an asking price and your offer and thats pretty much it.  They dont value properties so they wont really take much notice of your calculations. The person who valued it and knows about the comparables wont be the person taking your offer.   

I see, thanks for sharing you experience. Maybe my agent is different,  as it was their suggestion to put it in writing so they can forward it to a seller. Or maybe I am overthinking it. 

I suspect they want it in writing to ensure that there are no misunderstandings.

Also, they will be interested in your 'proceedability' - for example:

• Do you have a property to sell? If so, is it under offer? If so, how advanced is the sale?
• Do you require a mortgage? If so, do you have an agreement in principle? What LTV are you looking for?

That's the sort of info you should include in your email/letter with the offer.

btcp

Falafels said:

You don't need to justify an offer. Just name the price you'd be prepared to pay and leave it with the agent until they get back to you, and take it from there. 

I can be prepared to pay plus/minus 50k. For this amount I can replace heating, bathroom and kitchen. If the house is priced to sell (which I don’t know how to establish due to a lack of compassion) I can pay more , move in and save for this work. I don’t want to overpay if I don’t have to. And my preference is to spend  50k on upgrading right away. 

btcp

eddddy said

I suspect they want it in writing to ensure that there are no misunderstandings.

Also, they will be interested in your 'proceedability' - for example:

• Do you have a property to sell? If so, is it under offer? If so, how advanced is the sale?
• Do you require a mortgage? If so, do you have an agreement in principle? What LTV are you looking for?

That's the sort of info you should include in your email/letter with the offer.

Ok it makes sense. The same agent is selling my house so I assumed they are well aware of my situation. I can certainly summarise it in writing so they can forward it. 

theoretica

btcp said:

Deleted_User said:

The problem is that you can spend an hour explaining to an estate agent why you are offering a certain amount and they dont care. Its not their property.  They will then call the owner and say 'ive got an offer for you, its below asking cause the guy says other properties nearby are cheaper and/or bigger' 

I worked in an estate agents office for years and now spend my life battling through deals with them and 90% of them will simply take very little notice of your reasons behind an offer.   The sales negotiators will be looking at an asking price and your offer and thats pretty much it.  They dont value properties so they wont really take much notice of your calculations. The person who valued it and knows about the comparables wont be the person taking your offer.   

I see, thanks for sharing you experience. Maybe my agent is different,  as it was their suggestion to put it in writing so they can forward it to a seller. Or maybe I am overthinking it. 

One of the risks of giving reasons for your offer is you are opening yourself up to be argued with.  My offer is X doesn't give them the same opening to come back and say you should offer more because the second bedroom has new carpet and the garden shed should be included in the area calculations and...  Unless of course they appear to have missed that the place is falling down or there has been a planning application for a sewage farm next door since they started advertising or something they might not know about.

917700

Renovation can cost you a lot. I purchase a house recently. The actual costs are more than twice of what I thought. Especially, all contractors are busy at this moment and their materials costs and labour costs are higher than usual. 

I would suggest you to prepare a to do list and get an estimated cost. 

btcp

917700 said:

Renovation can cost you a lot. I purchase a house recently. The actual costs are more than twice of what I thought. Especially, all contractors are busy at this moment and their materials costs and labour costs are higher than usual. 

I would suggest you to prepare a to do list and get an estimated cost. 

Yes, good  point. I have a list. I want to do a lot in that house. But that’s somewhat irrelevant to my offer. One can get a B&Q kitchen or Magnet - big price difference.