Received offer for flat - opinions please?

ngka

Hi,
I was wondering if it would please be ok to get some opinions on an offer I have received on a one-bedroom as I’ve technically never bought, or sold before. Apologise, this is all very new to me.
In 2019, I was left a one-bedroom flat located in Mitcham, as inheritance. The flat is on the top floor of a three floor block and the freeholder is Moat Homes. I put the flat on the market around Sept 2020 and received one offer for £180k which I accepted. The buyer pulled out as Moat had taken too long to respond to queries. 

I have now put the property back on the market. There have been some viewings and a final offer of £170k. From what I can tell, flats around the area aren’t selling well.
I just wondered please what other people’s initial opinions on the offer were and if it reasonable? Would really appreciate it. I am unable to post a link to property so apologise for the screenshots from rightmove. Thank you! 

MaryNB

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/108017810#/

Crashy_Time

Just grab it while it is still there, don`t mess about over 10k IMO.

ngka

Thank you very much Mary NB for linking it, very grateful! 

Thank you Crashy_Time, that was my initial thinking too but someone suggested otherwise which got me a bit worried. 

GixerKate

Have you checked what has sold recently in the area?  Not stuff under offer but actually sold?  I don't know the area but usually I'd say the first offer is an opening offer rather than the most that they could offer.  When I sold my place recently I declined the first offer stating I would like something closer to the asking price and then got another offer a bit higher which I accepted.  Have you asked the EA if you think they can increase the offer?  I had pretty good steer from my EA at the time such as 'I doubt they are in a position to up the offer' or 'they really liked the place and there is room to negotiate'.  

It entirely depends on your urgency, if you think you can get more/need more and there is little urgency then you can push it a bit but if you need a quick sale and don't want fuss then accept it.

Crashy_Time

ngka said:

Thank you very much Mary NB for linking it, very grateful! 

Thank you Crashy_Time, that was my initial thinking too but someone suggested otherwise which got me a bit worried. 

Someone will always suggest trying to maximise your price, maybe you can, but with management charges, ground rent and the prevailing economic climate plus the supposed move away from flats/no garden I think 170k would be a good offer.

bouicca21

In my bit of London, further east than Mitcham, local EA says there are twice as many flats on the market as in normal times.  I’d grab what you can get.

eddddy

It's all a bit of a game.

If £170k was their first offer... a lot of people pitch their first offer low, and expect to increase it.

You could say that you want a minimum of, say, £176k and see what happens, if you want.

I doubt they'll storm off in a huff - so if they refuse to budge, you can always decide to accept £170k anyway.

firsttimesellerldn

If the buyer seems a good bet then I’d probably take the offer. It’s not much under asking and it sounds like you’d like to get the process completed after the previous sale fell through? 

Jeepers_Creepers

To a large extent, this is a psycho'l game.

There's a good chance that if you say 'yes' to this £10k-less offer, they'll initially go "Great!". Then lots of stuff will go through their heads; "Hmm, that was a bit easy - I wonder if they are desperate to sell?" "Is there something wrong with it...?" "Should we try and find reasons to go lower - let's go through the survey with a fine-toothed whatsit".

Or, "Hmm, prices seem to be dropping at last - let's not rush and also see what else is available."

They might think these things. They might not.

I hope that helps.  

If, instead, you say "Thanks - but I think that's a bit low. Tell you what, if you can squeeze your offer up by, ooh, £3k, it's yours - and I'll take it off the market", it might actually enhance their desire and commitment to it; they haggled, you weren't a pushover, and they've still saved themselves £7k and had their competition removed.

Have you any idea how easy it is to write stuff like this when you are not personally involved? Yup. Easy

I hope that helps

ngka

Thank you all so much for all your comments (sorry, I wanted to reply individually but can’t see how, or if possible). 

Lots of food for thought and interesting points. I really appreciate you all taking the time to respond, so thank you again. It’s really helpful to have more objective points of view from people outside of the situation like your good selves