"Offers in Excess of" in England

iamstacie

Hi, I understand Scotland has an 'offers over' system where you can expect to pay around ~20% more than the written price, but is it the same for houses in England listed as 'offers over'? The house we're looking at has been up for sale for around 7-8months I think, and has had several reductions taking it from about £130k down to its current 'overs in excess of' 95k.

Are these sort of listings still negotiable usually? Its not a high demand area, its not a stunningly attractive house, its been up for sale for ages and the last (similar house) on the street sold in August this year for £80,000 so I would hope there would be room for negociation, but I'm just wondering if anyone had any experiance of this?

Any info welcome
Thanks

lynzpower

OIEO is usually a decision they come to ( Eas generally) to jemmy up some interest. It gives that slight undertone of Auctions/ bidding wars. this is really to get interest, more than anything else. No, its not like the scottish system there is no rule of thumb.

theyve priced at 95 now, they are hoping for more ( in this climate, sealed bids I expect occur v rarely- anyone know?) but Id say in this climate dream on.


95 is the price, so go in at your normal level, 87 etc. Take it from there

Ignore the OIEO- you can offer ony what you think its worth. If it was worth in excess of 95- then why hasnt it sold earlier then

jonewer

iamstacie wrote: »

Hi, I understand Scotland has an 'offers over' system where you can expect to pay around ~20% more than the written price, but is it the same for houses in England listed as 'offers over'? The house we're looking at has been up for sale for around 7-8months I think, and has had several reductions taking it from about £130k down to its current 'overs in excess of' 95k.

Are these sort of listings still negotiable usually? Its not a high demand area, its not a stunningly attractive house, its been up for sale for ages and the last (similar house) on the street sold in August this year for £80,000 so I would hope there would be room for negociation, but I'm just wondering if anyone had any experiance of this?

Any info welcome
Thanks

The system in Scotland is "offers over" either. You just bid what you think its worth.

If a place went for £80 in August, its worth noting that prices have gone down since then, not up. Sounds like the vendor is being a tad optimistic.

Running_Horse

The other one I have seen recently is "fixed price". Although the vendor might be insisting on a certain price, I would still feel free to make a lower offer, and expect any serious problems in the survey to be reflected in the final price.

Strapped

The worst that can happen is that they say no. The comparable you've quoted means you're in a strong position.

Although from experience, I have sold a house at "offers in excess of" in the past when I needed to move quickly due to family illness, and priced it at what I needed to achieve to be able to move (and £15-20k less than similar properties). Not saying that's the case here, but it could be.

PasturesNew

In my opinion and experience, these type of labels put me off even looking.

I think they are a barrier to the nervous type to even get through the door. And as any EA will tell you, once you get people through the door they can fall in love with the property and buy it.

If you aren't getting people through the door, you're missing out on a whole bunch of potential buyers.

While I appreciate that it is a statement that they wouldn't accept less than the price stated, I wouldn't even read the details. I just see the words and pass quickly on, not even reading to check rooms/sizes/features etc.

gingin_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

In my opinion and experience, these type of labels put me off even looking.

Where I live it's Haart that seem to like putting houses on at offers over. Seems ridiculous in this market. One was on at £365,000 for 6 months plus then went to offers above £350,000 this was way above the ceiling price for the street for a very typical newish build.

Another was on at £850,000 and has gone to offers over £800,000. Still there of course, still above the ceiling price for the street and needs work doing to it.

I agreee with everyone else in that you should go in with an offer of what you believe the property to be worth and can afford, You have nothing to lose, all they can say is no.

macaque_2

iamstacie wrote: »

Hi, I understand Scotland has an 'offers over' system where you can expect to pay around ~20% more than the written price, but is it the same for houses in England listed as 'offers over'? The house we're looking at has been up for sale for around 7-8months I think, and has had several reductions taking it from about £130k down to its current 'overs in excess of' 95k.

Are these sort of listings still negotiable usually? Its not a high demand area, its not a stunningly attractive house, its been up for sale for ages and the last (similar house) on the street sold in August this year for £80,000 so I would hope there would be room for negociation, but I'm just wondering if anyone had any experiance of this?

Any info welcome
Thanks

In current market conditions, the golden rule is that "the one with the gold makes the rules". Ignore rules of thumb and fix a price you are happy to stick with. If another property has sold for £80K, I would be inclined to make an opening offer in the 70s.

dys

in england this "offers in excess of" business seems to be a tool to be used in rising markets to see how much people are really prepared to pay.. as we are not curerently in a rising market i suggest go with the other comments and just offer what you think it's worth.. IMHO less than the 95k...

iamstacie

Thanks for all the advice. We've been to see it today, its a lot of house for the money but the area its in really lets it down, its being added to the 'possible' list as we know we'll have to make some compromises being ftbs on a budget, but the advice you've given is encouraging. Thanks again.

Nenen

gingin wrote: »

Where I live it's Haart that seem to like putting houses on at offers over. Seems ridiculous in this market.

That's very useful to know gingin :beer: We've seen a property on with Haart for 'offers over 275K' and we've been put off offering anything at all for it with them. Wonder why Haart seem use this strategy more than other EAs?

It's been on the market for about 6 months now and still hasn't sold. It is an ex-LEA house bought for £192K in Jan 2007 by a builder who has done it up (probably spent about 30K doing so) and is now trying to sell it empty. We think it is actually worth about 245-250K at the moment but don't imagine he'd consider this sort of offer as wouldn't give him enough profit margin. I suppose it depends on whether he has a cash flow problem any time soon. :eek:

We did offer 245K three or four months ago (when it was marketed by another EA and was simply priced at 275K rather than 'offers over'). That offer was declined. I'm debating whether or not I should now contact Haarts and repeat my offer (or up it to 248K) but had been put off doing so by the 'offers over' as I assumed it meant they wouldn't consider anything lower.