Advertising Price - Guide or Offers Over

JustinTime19

If you saw a property that you liked and wanted to make an offer  (Similar properties in the area going for between £475,000 - £500,000)

If it was advertised with a Guide Price of £500,000, or offers over £475,000.

Would your initial offer be the same irrelevant of guide price, or offers over ?

RHemmings

JustinTime19 said:

If you saw a property that you liked and wanted to make an offer  (Similar properties in the area going for between £475,000 - £500,000)

If it was advertised with a Guide Price of £500,000, or offers over £475,000.

Would your initial offer be the same irrelevant of guide price, or offers over ?

I'm a buyer dealing with smaller sums than that. But, I pretty much ignore the wording, and think only of the number. My initial offer for the properties would probably differ based on the description of guide price of £500,000 or offers over £475,000.

But, it could be that I consider the offers over £475,000 property and offer, while I decide the £500,000 property is too expensive for me and I don't offer. If the £500,000 property sticks around, I'm likely to make an offer. But, having been conditioned on the numbers, I would probably be offering more than I would for the £475,000 property. 

Given that we're talking about the same property here, what I would do is probably 'wrong' and I should (too late ) work out what to offer based on the property and ignore the price. But, for me personally, the initial number makes a difference. 

NameUnavailable

I too would offer what I thought was fair (and what I was prepared to pay).

Some vendors have unrealistic expectations so it's good to be able to back up your offer with some benchmarks if necessary.

chanz4

offers over ignore, offer what think worth

UnderOffer

I offered 20k under an “offers over” £figure. They accepted 15k under, so they weren’t expecting any offers over 🤷🏻‍♀️

eddddy

In my experience, buyers don't really take any notice of the "offers over" bit

So if the listing says "offers over £475K" - they just regard it as an asking price of £475k.


TBH, I think "offers over" is a ploy estate agents use to trick sellers, for example...

• The seller says "I want £500k".
• The EA says "OK, as a compromise let's list it at 'offers over £475k, and the offers might be near £500k'"
• But the EA knows the offers will be £475k or below

Grumpy_chap

JustinTime19 said:

Would your initial offer be the same irrelevant of guide price, or offers over ?

Yes.

eddddy has given an explanation of "offers over" meaning.

"Guide Price" can be interpreted in alternative ways.
For auction properties, "guide price" is often near the reserve or target opening bid.
For properties listed by a regular EA, "guide price" can often be exactly what has been described for "offers over".  Vendor wants £500k, EA knows it is a £475k property but wants to secure the sale, so "guide price £500k" and invite any interested parties to offer.

Ultimately, the property is worth what someone is willing to pay for it, so simply make your offer what you are willing to pay.

RHemmings

eddddy said:

In my experience, buyers don't really take any notice of the "offers over" bit

So if the listing says "offers over £475K" - they just regard it as an asking price of £475k.


TBH, I think "offers over" is a ploy estate agents use to trick sellers, for example...

• The seller says "I want £500k".
• The EA says "OK, as a compromise let's list it at 'offers over £475k, and the offers might be near £500k'"
• But the EA knows the offers will be £475k or below

This definitely applies to me. 'offers over X = X' in my mind. Or less. Not more. 

AlexMac

Surely it depends on the local market and whether property is selling fast or sticking?

We’ve not bought for over a decade, but looking at my last three or four purchases, we’ve tended to go in with an offer at over 5% under asking and have settled at 3-4% under (E.g. buying at £720k against an ask of £750k in 2013, £152 against £157 on a BTL in 2007).

 But in a hot market in 2000 or so we paid the asking price of £365k as a couple of people were competing..

And I was amazed when a fairly ordinary house locally sold last month in less than a week for £1.4million against a silly asking price of £1.5m. But then, we live in a popular road. 

So you can’t generalise? Happy offering