Different types of “for sale” prices

Irishpearce26

AnotherJoe said:

Irishpearce26 said:

We put our house up as 'offers in the region of' because we had an idea of what the house was worth but also had a low figure we could accept to make our next move viable. 'Guide price' tends to state they don't know what they want but are open to offers. 'Offers over' pretty much states that the seller wants a bidding war in the hope that someone will pay over the odds.

saying "in the region of" is an open invitation that you'll accept a lower bid when someone might have bid higher or even AP to grab it. Its telling potential buyers straight away you dont really want what you are asking.

Dont do it again

As I said we wanted a quick sale and had a lower number we would comfortably accept. We sold over the asking with two bids meeting the asking within a day of going on the market. 

Next time i sell i may not be in that position so will think carefully how I market it.

user1977

okigen said:

Offer in excess of meaning they want at least the amount stated there

...but doesn't necessarily mean that they won't accept a figure less than the asking price.

purplebutterfly

As a FTB it really irritates me because it added confusion to the whole process.  I had to search what all the terms meant and then found out that they don't legally mean anything BUT the seller might attribute their own meaning to it etc etc.

OIEO initially put me off a lot of properties because it made me think there was no room at all for negotiation.  OIRO seemed to unnecessarily complicate matters because surely for ALL listed prices the seller is looking for somewhere in the region of the amount stated.

Guide prices put me off at first because I assumed it meant they were auction properties. 
Then my sister bought her house and offered £102K for a house with a guide price of £110-115K - it was accepted.
As a result, we viewed a guide price listed property and they accepted £3K less than their lowest figure.

I have learned a lot and would be more confident in future about offering on houses BUT I think it definitely puts a lot of people off.  Particularly as a lot of people don't want to cause offence or feel like they are insulting a seller with a low offer. 

We actually requested to make our offer to the vendors personally over the phone. We had met them at the viewing and wanted to explain that we didn't mean to upset them but we were offering everything we could afford and we would understand if they said no. 

daivid

Where I live 'Offers in excess of' seems to translate to 'the seller has an inflated and irrational view of the value'. If you have a property that you expect to sell within a week or two of listing then fair enough, but round here that is rare and I see OIEO properties hanging around for months sometimes years. I agree with previous posters that 'offers in the region of' is shooting yourself in the foot a bit. Just set the price with no phrasing attached and see what people offer seems best to me.

theartfullodger

Regardless of wording you can offer what you like:

More than 20 years ago I saw a house advertised "Offers over £xx,000. ".  I offered, in writing, significantly less (more than 10% off).  That was rejected with the most blunt and rude response I've ever had from an agent.  I thanked them kindly for their help.

A week later I made exactly the same offer, in writing, via solicitor.  It was accepted. I sold it in 2020.

lookstraightahead

Offers in excess of / offers over means that potentially the vendor has delusions of grandeur brought on by an over optimistic EA. The vendor then either hits it lucky by getting a naive buyer, or they sell and the house is then 'under' valued, or the vendor somewhere down the line has to re-adjust to reality and sell for less than they dreamed of.
I'm not cynical much!
Seriously if I see offers over I am defensive immediately, and then if EAs ask me for proof of what I could afford over the asking price, I walk away.

UnderOffer

We viewed an “offers in excess of....” property which we felt was already highly priced, let alone suggesting it was worth more, status didn’t change for 6 weeks, we then sold our property and offered 25k below their starting price. Deal done and accepted.

theoretica

It does depend on where you are - in Scotland 'fixed price' does tend to mean that - that if you offer the fixed price the seller won't try for higher from someone else.  While 'offers over' is usually a bit under the valuation and the seller hoping for more.  Of course, if a property has hung around unsold for a long time both might discover they will accept less, but when newly advertised they mean what they say.

user1977

theoretica said:

in Scotland 'fixed price' does tend to mean that - that if you offer the fixed price the seller won't try for higher from someone else.

Though I have seen "fixed" prices turn into a closing date scenario when the sellers realise how much interest there is.

alt80

(Agent (England - havent a clue re Scottish res market))

Buyers can be confused by this and I agree FTBs especially- essentially it’s just different ways of marketing a property. All I’ll say is that EAs are obliged to treat buyers fairly and pass any offers to the vendor in writing.