Offer on a house etiquette

theoretica

Terrace said:

Irishpearce26 said:

Terrace said:

Irishpearce26 said:

What are the things that you feel need to be rectified?

Two bedrooms upstairs have had radiators removed. As apparently owners use open fire in the lounge and these two bedrooms are warm from it anyway.  I would not use open fire anyway. Hate the smell of it...

Squeaky floor in one are in the dinning room.
Bathroom floor is not tiled it has got cover looking like fake tiles. Almost caught me


I probably sound picky
But I am buying house not a dress.





 

Fair enough but £5K! 
Radiators in one room should cost about £200-£500 and as for the squeaky floorboards that's general maintenance of buying a house. You cant really ask for a reduction because you don't like the look of flooring.
Make an offer based on how much you want the house and how much you can afford.

I am not asking to reduce the price. If the house would be on the market for offers over 350k I would not be asking this question.

I am genuinely asking  does marketing the house with guide price means that price is negotiable.

That is all. 

You seem to be expecting the housing market to be more standardised than it is.  It isn't like dealing with a big commercial outfit with standardised prices and offers and knowing when the offers and sales are likely to come round.  You are probably buying from someone who has only one house to sell, may be a first time seller - or only slightly more experienced at selling than you are at buying.  A common mindset is 'we want as much as possible for the house, what shall we put on the ad to get this?'  The price is there just to get the ad seen by people who might be buyers.

The_Real_Cheddar_Bob

only a mug becomes cautious of offending sellers and estate agents, offer what you want and let the idiots buy whatever they want. 
if someone gets upset, tell them to grow up

Gavin83

I honestly don’t think there’s such a thing as an insulting offer. People are free to offer as low as they wish. What does annoy me however is when people get upset when you don’t accept their low offer.

I’ve had it with cars before. I had a guy once offer me less than half the price I had the car listed for without even having viewed it. Got very upset and argumentative when I politely turned him down.

lookstraightahead

Offer what you think it's worth and leave it at that. 

No one knows what it will be valued at so your offer might be generous in the end. Then move on to the next property.

buythedip

Terrace said:

sst1234 said:

In this market, it’s almost impossible that any vendor would even consider your low offer so soon after listing your property. Unless it’s a very niche house in a not very desirable location, they may reduce the price later. Without knowing anything about the house, all anyone can say based on your low offer is that you won’t be taken seriously. Perhaps if you share a link?

 It is a bit of niche house. 

Area I am buying is very interesting. I am looking to buy in a very small area, and within 1-2min walk from one street to another prices for very similar Edwardian terraces exactly same square footage range anywhere from 200 to 400k.
I have been keeping an eye on this area for about 9month. 
Very similar house just been sold 3 weeks ago for 320k but it was with garage and bigger garden. 

Very similar house again is on the market for 370k for 7month already and not selling. 
One came on the market day before yesterday for 240k it is very bizarre area to be honest. 

I have this nagging feeling that seller trying their luck
  

Good knowledge

btcp

I alway offer low. It is a starting point for me. Then negotiate and settle in the middle. The house we are buying also had a guide price range. I offered below the bottom range, we settled just a bit above. If I offered the same price we agreed on from the start, they would negotiate it up. That’s my theory but of course there are millions of other factors. For example, I could walk away when they didn’t agree to my first and second offered, but I like the house a lot and stretched the budget. 

Redwino222

btcp said:

I alway offer low. It is a starting point for me. Then negotiate and settle in the middle. The house we are buying also had a guide price range. I offered below the bottom range, we settled just a bit above. If I offered the same price we agreed on from the start, they would negotiate it up. That’s my theory but of course there are millions of other factors. For example, I could walk away when they didn’t agree to my first and second offered, but I like the house a lot and stretched the budget. 

Have you always been the first and only person bidding?

that tactic wouldn’t work in my market - any house I viewed had twenty or thirty viewings booked - I was the first person to bid a few times but your tactic wouldn’t work because of so many people bidding.  I just set my upper limit and made sure I stopped bidding. 

Offering below asking price wouldn’t have ever worked, settling the the middle wouldn’t have worked.

every market is so different 

Gavin83

I agree. Vendors won’t bother to negotiate if they don’t have to. In the current market near me where every house is going for way over asking a vendor simply won’t entertain a low offer. By the time you start negotiating it will have already sold.

lookstraightahead

btcp said:

I alway offer low. It is a starting point for me. Then negotiate and settle in the middle. The house we are buying also had a guide price range. I offered below the bottom range, we settled just a bit above. If I offered the same price we agreed on from the start, they would negotiate it up. That’s my theory but of course there are millions of other factors. For example, I could walk away when they didn’t agree to my first and second offered, but I like the house a lot and stretched the budget. 

This works for me too. I just make sure I'm ready to move - with everything in place, no awkward chain below me, and a large enough deposit for a smoother transaction.

Some vendors are savvy enough to see the benefits of this. I think the main one to be honest is breaking the chain. It also means there's enough money if the survey brings up things as I rarely ask for any money off post-survey.

lookstraightahead

Gavin83 said:

I agree. Vendors won’t bother to negotiate if they don’t have to. In the current market near me where every house is going for way over asking a vendor simply won’t entertain a low offer. By the time you start negotiating it will have already sold.

There's a huge difference though between 'sold' stc and very definitely sold. Not always, but often. Some buyers stretch so much on a mortgage then cause a load of stress to the vendor by trying to get a reduction later. Or the house is 'under' valued,
Slow and steady wins the race.