Is it worth a cheeky offer?

surferrosa100

We've just viewed a house which is at the very top end of our budget. The house is a 5 bed detached in a lovely area, nicely decorated with a small but lovely garden. It ticks all of our boxes. The thing is is that this house went on the market last August at £750k, they dropped the price to £695k the following month and then nothing. And we're in a city where most nice properties go SSTC in a matter of days and the house we've just sold went for over-asking within a week. Our comfortable budget is around £600k and hubby is very reluctant to go much above that. Unfortunately there's nothing else currently on the market in the area that we like. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the property so we think it must be very over-priced. We'd love some advice in how to approach this. Thanks in advance. 

boxer234

I’ve asked a similar question on the thread low offer might be worth a read I’ve had some good advice. 

Exodi

So the house has been listed for £695k since September?

You're free to put an offer of 600k in, the seller is free to accept or reject it - I'm not sure what us humble forum-goers can give you (especially as we don't know the particulars).

In my honest opinion though, in general a 14%-20% discount on the asking price would be offensive - BUT, you don't ask you don't get I guess? Do you know when it was last sold, what value it sold for? What price have other similar properties sold for recently?

Again, personally, I'm suprised you're looking at properties for £700-£750k when your budget is £600k. To me, that would seem like a grand waste of everyones' time.

Skiddaw1

To be fair, the OP said house was originally listed at 750k and that the current figure of 695k is at the top end of their budget (rather than they have a fixed budget of 600k).

OP, if I were you I'd make a cheeky offer. They can only say no...

SavingPennies_2

Skiddaw1 said:

To be fair, the OP said house was originally listed at 750k and that the current figure of 695k is at the top end of their budget (rather than they have a fixed budget of 600k).

OP, if I were you I'd make a cheeky offer. They can only say no...

OP said: Our comfortable budget is around £600k and hubby is very reluctant to go much above that.

There's no way of knowing without asking, but I would imagine they have had lower offers, and the fact they haven't sold suggests they are not willing to budge on the current price. If I understand correctly you are thinking of offering 95k under the asking price, seems like a long shot tbh but if that's your max then I guess you have nothing to lose, if they are offended and say no way, it's not like you can raise your offer anyway.

surferrosa100

We can afford asking price so definitely not wasting sellers time by viewing the property! It's just that it has been sitting on the market for 6 months with no movement which is very unusual for our area which suggests it's over-priced. 

Thanks for all of the other replies. Now trying to decide what are opening offer should be!

daivid

I doubt you'll get it. The vendors are probably expecting/hoping for more than you can afford but there is no harm making an offer. If it genuinely meets all your needs and most wants then offer £600k (provided you are sure it is worth that), when they reject your offer ask for a counter offer (if not provided). If they counter with something closer to your budget you need to think hard about what you can truly afford and are happy to spend. If you can't/won't meet their counter you could offer again in the middle if that suits though I would be tempted to leave it at “get in touch if you change your mind”. No harm keeping an eye on it as you look elsewhere, if it's still on the market in a few months they may be more open to offers.

youth_leader

This is the trouble with EA's over estimating the price.  I was looking at future house purchases in the price range my EA valued mine at, but it wasn't selling, and I had to keep reducing to sell.   In the end I sold for far, far less than they valued the house at and had to completely change my budget and expectations when searching for a new property.

 If you offer the £600K I think you might be instantly rejected, in the vendor's mind they have lost £150K from their original anticipated sale price. 

HotPantsCruiser

boxer234 said:

I’ve asked a similar question on the thread low offer might be worth a read I’ve had some good advice. 

What thread was that?

Exodi

surferrosa100 said:

Our comfortable budget is around £600k and hubby is very reluctant to go much above that.

surferrosa100 said:

We can afford asking price (£695k) so definitely not wasting sellers time by viewing the property!

Sorry bit confused now of what your max budget is? If your max budget is £700k then probably don't p*ss the vendor off by offering £100-£150k under asking?

[Deleted User]

Exodi said:

surferrosa100 said:

Our comfortable budget is around £600k and hubby is very reluctant to go much above that.

surferrosa100 said:

We can afford asking price (£695k) so definitely not wasting sellers time by viewing the property!

Sorry bit confused now of what your max budget is? If your max budget is £700k then probably don't p*ss the vendor off by offering £100-£150k under asking?

I read it as 'we have the affordability to go to asking price but we don't think it's worth that much and would be much more comfortable spending £600k rather than the top end of our affordability'

I think it's more a case of looking at other properties that have sold and trying to gauge the realistic proper market value of the house. It sounds as though it is overpriced if it's been on the market so long and they may well take a lower offer if it's realistic but you could end up in a situation where you burn your bridges if you go too low. 

If you have good market equivalents you can show that support the £600k then that's fair enough, but I suspect it's probably somewhere between what OP would like to spend and what the vendor would like to achieve.