Making an offer, when sale price is OIEO

Woolsery

We bought a OIEO property for the amount it was supposed to be in excess of. We said, "We agree it's worth that, but no more. Lots of work needed etc."

Agent came back, of course, saying, "There is other strong interest; * do you want to increase your offer to give yourself a better chance? "

We replied "Nope. We're offering cash and have nothing to sell. We don't bu88er about and that's what it's worth to us." It was true; we couldn't stretch any further and hope to sort the property out. It's best to know where your boundary is and stick to it.

A few days later our offer was accepted. As Scorpio says, some vendors are hard-pressed and ours was, but we didn't know that until later.

* Agent wasn't lying. We later met and made friends with the 'strong interest.' Happily for us, their strong interest and twisting relatives' arms didn't come to as much as our offer! Happliy for them, they found something better for their purposes a year later.

TheJP

lookstraightahead said:

I would offer under OIEO. It's just a game 

Its not really is it. Its an indication of the sellers thinking. Why else would they even add it if it wasn't. They believe the house is worth £x, but would like £Y willing to accept £x or £Y but nothing less. If this tactic doesn't work then they will change. I marketed as OIRO and got 2 offers over, seasoned buyers who knew exactly what that statement meant. The FTB who viewed didn't and never stood a chance.

EndlessStruggle

I've just accepted an offer and had one accepted.

My estate agent advised me to put OIEO at a 25k price under their "valuation" and 12k less than my floor to create a bidding war rather than a guide price.

Bidding war didn't happen, everyone bid as little over the OIEO of as possible and we got to 8k over the OIEO price so just 4k under my floor in the end.

I offered 10k under asking for new house, they accepted 7k under. 
.
So much uncertainty right now, just offer whatever you want.

They can only say no/ask for more and you can say no.

lookstraightahead

TheJP said:

lookstraightahead said:

I would offer under OIEO. It's just a game 

Its not really is it. Its an indication of the sellers thinking. Why else would they even add it if it wasn't. They believe the house is worth £x, but would like £Y willing to accept £x or £Y but nothing less. If this tactic doesn't work then they will change. I marketed as OIRO and got 2 offers over, seasoned buyers who knew exactly what that statement meant. The FTB who viewed didn't and never stood a chance.

It is a game, and seasoned buyers know it. It's a way of estate agents wanting business. Perhaps sellers don't understand that they're part of it.

TheJP

lookstraightahead said:

TheJP said:

lookstraightahead said:

I would offer under OIEO. It's just a game 

Its not really is it. Its an indication of the sellers thinking. Why else would they even add it if it wasn't. They believe the house is worth £x, but would like £Y willing to accept £x or £Y but nothing less. If this tactic doesn't work then they will change. I marketed as OIRO and got 2 offers over, seasoned buyers who knew exactly what that statement meant. The FTB who viewed didn't and never stood a chance.

It is a game, and seasoned buyers know it. It's a way of estate agents wanting business. Perhaps sellers don't understand that they're part of it.

Maybe some but not all. I had a price in mind that i could accept lower on and knew that interested parties if they really wanted the house would go a little over. For me the descriptions meant i didn't need to play bidding wars as the two offers i had were just over the advertised price. House sold within 1 day of going on the market.

[Deleted User]

It IS a game, sometimes the game is in favour of sellers (and so you get bidding wars and increasing prices and houses selling in 1 day) and sometimes (like right now) it's in favour of buyers and houses sell under asking and buyers start gazundering.

It really makes no difference what letters you put next to the asking price.

powerful_Rogue

KDavies16 said:

My husband and I are FTBs, we have seen a house that we want to put an offer in for. The sale price is "offers in excess of", but when we have reviewed recent sale prices for similar properties, the offers over figure is about £20k plus.
Is it acceptable to offer lower than the offers over figure? If so does the rule of making an offer of between 5% to 10% off the asking price still apply?

What is this rule you're talking about? It's nonsense. Offer what you think the property is worth to you. I love the house i'm currently in so went in at full asking price.

nicmyles

As others have said, completely meaningless.

All listed house prices mean "this is the minimum we think we are currently prepared to accept".

Every property I've bought and sold has gone for less than the original asking price; treat it as the starting point for a conversation. "How much would you take for the house?" "We think [listed asking price] would be fair" "Mm, not sure - I'm thinking more [listed asking price minus x%]" etc etc. That's all the system of asking prices and offers is. 

TripleH

It's why people say to research the area for what houses are going for and applying context.

We looked at a house that was nearly double other houses in the area, it was 2 houses knocked into 1 with a lovely covered area in the garden. We offered what was asked because we thought it worth it.

We tried to look at another house that was set at the same level as similar properties up for sale in the vicinity (estate agent turned up 45 mins late without notifying us), but the house was 1 year old and other property for sale nearby at same price were newbuilds so in our minds it wasn't worth it.

We bought at £10k below OIEO because we explained it would cost us that to access the garden and it was last house on a completed new build estate. Offer was accepted

sheramber

user1977 said:

No harm in making an offer. Certainly in Scotland (where "offers over" is the norm) it's pretty commonplace for properties to be sold for less than the asking price, just depends on the local market.

Don't bother offering below asking price in Edinburgh area. Houses can sell for 16% over.

You don't get bidding wars because if there is interest in the house it goes to a closing date. So you are bidding blind.

A home report is required before advertising so you know the surveyor's value of the house up front.