Offer on a house etiquette

btcp

Redwino222 said:

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 

The market is crazy now, I agree. We looked at one house that was on a market for a day and by the time we viewed there was an offer over asking price. We didn’t bother. But the one we are buying didn’t have a proceedable offer and the seller needs to sell fast. That’s why we negotiated a bit, but there was no guarantee that during that time someone came with a different offer. It’s a combination of market forces and luck! 

Redwino222

lookstraightahead said:

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.

I’m not quite sure what you mean here?  Do mean don’t bid, hope it falls through and then try and bid again if it goes on the market a second time?

Again, it’s not a tactic I would or could rely on in my market.  Yes some houses do come back on the market, but you need to move fast when this happens.  When houses are sale agreed within days, slow and steady wouldn’t win at all here unfortunately.  I was lucky that my upper limit for the house I was bidding on happened to win.  5ere were ten of us bidding and it moved fast.  Sale agreed within ten days of going on the market.  Slow and steady would have lost me the house.

lookstraightahead

Redwino222 said:

lookstraightahead said:

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.

I’m not quite sure what you mean here?  Do mean don’t bid, hope it falls through and then try and bid again if it goes on the market a second time?

Again, it’s not a tactic I would or could rely on in my market.  Yes some houses do come back on the market, but you need to move fast when this happens.  When houses are sale agreed within days, slow and steady wouldn’t win at all here unfortunately.  I was lucky that my upper limit for the house I was bidding on happened to win.  5ere were ten of us bidding and it moved fast.  Sale agreed within ten days of going on the market.  Slow and steady would have lost me the house.

This is madness (not you, the situation 😁).

It's hysteria and things will bang back down to earth I think.

I was a 'victim' of very high interest rates and negative equity so I'm cautious and can't entertain this type of house buying.

robatwork

Put yourself in the seller's position:   First person (you) to see the house has offered.  So it must be desirable, we'll wait to see if we get any more offers.

Do you know any more about the sellers? A couple splitting up may be more motivated to sell than an inheritance property for example. 

Finally I find being reasonably straight with the EA helps. If you love it and think it's worth £325k to you, tell the EA your offer is full and final of £325k and you continue to look. Emphasise you're ready to go and nothing to sell. The unknown by anyone here and yourself, is who will see the house in the meantime and value it more or less than you.

steampowered

I would call the EA and put the £325k offer on the table. It won't get accepted but it might start a negotiation.

The vendor might say "no, we want the full £350k".

The vendor might say "£325k is too low, but we would be willing to accept £xxx".

Then at least you know where you stand.

The_Real_Cheddar_Bob

Redwino222 said:

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 

this is precisely what is causing house prices to go up. Desperation. Fear of missing out.