How much should I offer?

Dr_Moe_2

I somehow managed to sell my house a few weeks before xmas and I'm now hunting for a new house. I have now found a nice place in Birmingham that has been on the market for over three months. The house is pricier than other houses in its vicinity and the sellers recently dropped the price by 2%. Apparently the sellers have already bought a property in a different city and are waiting to sell so that they can move on.
The asking price is 244,950. Given that the market is quite slow coming up to xmas, I'm planning on putting down a low offer. I'm thinking about starting at 15% less given that this house is not my dream house. Will they laugh at me if I offered £210,000?
How much would you put down if you were faced with a similar scenario?

Magentasue

How much is the house worth - to you?

They may laugh at £210,000. It may not be enough for them to settle their existing mortgage and buy their next property. They may, however, be grateful for an offer and happy to negotiate.

Nothing to lose trying!

PINGLEIST

Sounds like you are in a strong financial position so hit them with the low offer, if they need to move quickly it just might be close enough.

lypsey

Dr M , make sure that you make it clear this is the only offer they will receive from you , its a game and if they think you are mortgaged up to the hilt etc etc

Good luck , don't offer any more

dannyboycey

Basic rule of thumb: If you're not embarrased by your offer, it's not low enough.

poppy10_2

Agreed. 210,000 is a very reasonable first offer in todays climate.

eldowardo

if its not your dream home get the offer put in.

when i was looking round houses to buy, i used to enjoy putting low offers in, and then awaiting the call from the estate agent saying it was too low, and me then explaining why I thought it was worth the price I offered. I really got a kick out of it, but maybe thats just my strange mind!

SquatNow

Current selling levels are 20% below July's prices.

Offer them 200k and tell them the offer drops by 1% every day until exchange. If they don't bite, your wasting your time... they are dreamers who think their house is really WORTH £225k.

General_Mayhem

SquatNow wrote: »

Current selling levels are 20% below July's prices.

Offer them 200k and tell them the offer drops by 1% every day until exchange. If they don't bite, your wasting your time... they are dreamers who think their house is really WORTH £225k.

Wow, so with say 28 days to exchange, thats a 40% price drop since July! Apparently the house price crash has already happened.

Hmmm

210 is a good starting offer IMO

Running_Horse

There are so many discussions like this now.

Maybe we need a new sticky thread:

How to make an offer in a slow market.

PasturesNew

Check when they bought the house.

See if there's a judgement call to be made that their fixed rate might be resetting shortly.

Long shot, but it might be a reason why they're selling.

Just another small detail for those that are this thorough in trying to come up with a price.

Also, think about the reason they are selling. What is their motivation that you've been told? Remember: their reason for selling might not be the truth. Think about what you heard, think about the evidence you saw. What drives them to market? Where are they moving to? Do you think it's up? Or down? STR? Or reaching for the next rung?

You might see the chink in their armour.