Making an offer on a house - How much?

Katie_F20

Hi there, 

As a first-time buyer, I am wondering if anyone can offer some advice on making the right offer on a property - should you make an offer above the guide price and if so, how much more so that your offer is likely to be accepted/successful? The house we are currently looking at is on the market for £315,000 and in a popular area. Any advice or guidance would be much appreciated.

GDB2222

Impossible to say. At the height of the clamour to buy, people were offering well over guide. Currently, they often offer well under guide. It depends on the area.

Don't be afraid to start low. Your first offer may be rebuffed, but you won’t be put on some sort of black list for making a genuine offer that’s a bit low. 

We have our house on the market, and we received an offer well below the guide. We turned it down, but we would happily sell to these people if they make a significantly better offer. 

mi-key

How is it being advertised? Does it just have £315K as the price, or does it say offers over that? That can make a big difference on getting offers accepted.

Of course if you really like the house and want it, and don't want to lose out to someone else you can always just offer the asking price.

It also depends when it came on the market. If it was quite a while ago then it could be worth trying a low offer. If it has come on recently then it has been valued by the estate agent as being worth that so the seller is less likely to accept low offers 

robatwork

There's a massive difference between a house that needs a lot of work, on the market for a year and in the middle of nowhere, to something that has just come on the market and ready to move into. Even then, if the ceiling price for the street is £275k then £315k may be wildly unrealistic. Nobody here can say based on your info. Especially not Zoopla.

[Deleted User]

You can always offer more if they don't like a lower offer. No point going in high unless you really, really want that specific property and are willing to pay more for it.

cymruchris

You say it's a popular area.

How much are similar sized/condition properties up for/recently sold for?

How much do you WANT that house?

If you really WANT it - and it's a popular area - I'd say you'd need to be close to asking or even asking £312/315

If you're prepared to lose it until the next one comes along - then go in a bit lower £305.

If someone offers £315k, has the finance in place, and is ready to roll - if you come in at a lower offer, you might not even get a chance to negotiate.

It's the luck of the draw - some you win some you lose - it depends on how much you want to win

gazfocus

robatwork said:

There's a massive difference between a house that needs a lot of work, on the market for a year and in the middle of nowhere, to something that has just come on the market and ready to move into. Even then, if the ceiling price for the street is £275k then £315k may be wildly unrealistic. Nobody here can say based on your info. Especially not Zoopla.

To be honest, I think ceiling prices have all but disappeared now. Where I live, we are seeing silly prices and it’s getting me quite worried as we are near completion on the house we are selling and haven’t decided whether to buy or sit on the money yet (we currently rent anyway). The way prices are going though I’m half wondering whether to pull ours from sale and keep it a bit longer. 

Slinky

A ceiling price is only ever a ceiling price until somebody breaks it.  Agreed if we're talking about a large estate with fairly identikit houses, there will be more difficulty in raising the top price, but in so many streets there's differing styles of house, different demands due to the location, that means a house is worth what somebody (and their lender if required) is prepared to pay, and what the vendor is prepared to accept.

I would go in with an offer that if I found out later somebody else had got it for, and I wish I'd paid that I would have been upset I'd not been bolder.