Offers in excess of...

DairyQueen

You acknowledge that this is a desirable property (8 views in 2 days) which will likely attract offers quickly. You are in the worst possible position at the moment as your property isn't even ready for market. It will take a couple of weeks to list and could take months to go under offer. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on the SDLT holiday and vendor will likely want to take advantage of it.

Sorry OP but I think you are correct to be concerned about making any offer. If I was the vendor no offer (however much in excess of the guide) from someone in your position would be taken seriously let alone accepted. I suspect that it will be politely filed as an 'expression of interest'. The premium placed on an offer from a proceedable buyer is high and this vendor looks like s/he will be in a position to be picky.

Mahsroh

I think Rightmove are partly responsible. 

I was recently given a valuation from an EA at £145k but was told to either market at £150k or "offers over" £140k as Rightmoves searches go up in increments of £10k at that level of pricing, so putting it on at £145k would mean it'd end up at page 3 or 4 of a lot of peoples Rightmoves searches. 

Personally, i'm not convinced it makes that much difference (if i'm househunting i'm pretty much looking at EVERYTHING within my price range, and I usually use map view), but it clearly is a process that a lot of agents follow. I'm searching for houses in the £300k's at the moment where they go up in increments of £25k and i'm sure it's no coincidence that there are a lot more houses priced at either £350k or £375k than there are at say £340k, £360k, £365k etc.

eddddy

Daveinlincoln said:

I'm worried that any offer i make won't be taken seriously as i'm not on the market yet...so, do i go high in order to secure it?

I think this is your biggest problem. I doubt the seller would consider any offer from you - however high - as your current property isn't on the market.


On a more general note - ask the EA what they expect the property to sell for. They want the property to sell, so it's in their interests to give you a realistic answer.

For example, there's no point in the EA telling you that you'll need to offer over £200k if that's not true. That just makes prospective bidders (like you) walk away if your offer would have been, say, £190k. So they end up with few or no offers.


FWIW, EAs have always given me realistic answers when I've asked (and later double-checked LR sold prices).

fishfingerbutties

I just ignore it and offer what I think it is worth. It's really that simple. 
Yes, it really is THAT simple.

yksi

The_Man_In_The_Pub said:

> its up for offers in over £180k. 
Just offer what you think it is worth.  If you think it is worth £155k, then offer 155k. Ignore any "offers over" marketing drivel.

I have to agree, I ignored it, offered under, and was accepted.

There's a word for agents that use this terminology and it rhymes with bankers.

Sometimes it's driven by an unrealistic vendor, sometimes it's because the agent doesn't really know what it's worth, and sometimes it's pure greed. Whatever the case, it puts buyers off when they are unsure. Buyers know the usual deal and feel comfortable following the yellow brick road (see a property, offer just under asking price). Buying a home is a really uncomfortable thing because almost nobody does it regularly enough to feel like it's routine, and when you put doubt into the sales process it actually scares buyers away - making "offers over" a pretty stupid idea. If you do get an offer accepted, feel free to let the agent know that you almost didn't bother because of those words.

davidmcn

For what it's worth, "offers over" is the usual expression with asking prices in Scotland, and it certainly doesn't mean that offers need to be over in order to be considered (though as everyone already knows the Home Report valuation, there's less cope for either party to be completely unrealistic about it).

3card

About 4 years we looked at a house marketed at 'offers over' and we offered the figure stated in the ad, 
We were cash buyers, the offer was accepted straight away. A couple of things were identified in the survey we had done and approached the vendors with a request to drop the price by £2K to cover some of this work.
At this point the vendor kicked off and told me she wouldnt move on the price because i didnt offer the asking price of 'offers over'

We parted company at that point 

Why cant people actually put a price that they want for a property? its not difficult

sgun

I have a different experience in the north east, it is quite common and does work well if the house is in a good area or is otherwise desirable. My house went up offers over and we had two offers over in the first week. A house I looked at but didn't offer on was up for offers over 290K and eventually went for 351K. Both houses a little bit different with large gardens but nothing else particularly out of the ordinary, both just in a strong sales area. Perhaps it is because we are near Scotland where it is part and parcel of the process. It certainly wouldn't put me off like it does other posters but I am used to it. It doesn't prevent anyone from offering under so don't really see the harm in it.

boots_babe

As you're not proceedable, and don't even plan to have your property on the market for a few weeks ,there's no point at all in making an offer. No vendor is going to take you seriously - why would they accept an offer from someone not in a position to progress? You need to wait until you're proceedable before even thinking about an offer.

ic

The house I'm in was listed for best part of a year at OIEO £350k, then OIEO £320k.  I offered £295k and we agreed on £300k.  Meanwhile the house I moved out of was listed Guide Price £220k to £230k - it sold in a few days for £230k.  The house I bought needed work, some immediate (but easy if you're handy), the house I sold was move in ready.  People really will pay for the finished article.