Can I offer under if stated "Offers over"

river_kwai

What is the significance of offers over? Can I even contemplate to offer slightly below the asking price? I live in England and I thought offers over is mainly used in Scotland?

Happy_saver_4

river_kwai wrote:

What is the significance of offers over? Can I even contemplate to offer slightly below the asking price? I live in England and I thought offers over is mainly used in Scotland?

Of course you can. Yours may still be the highest offer the vendor receives.

Always decide first what the property is worth to you. Then reduce this amount and offer that to the vendor or his EA. This leaves you some room to up your offer.

TIP - Never tell an owner their property isn't worth what they are asking - it just upsets them. Just say your finances/budget will only allow you to the price you've offered. Even if you could buy two at that price.

Poppy9

Yes course you can. The vendors are only trying it on to try to get buyers into making the best and final offer straight away. Any offer you make via the EA has to be passed to their client.

Doozergirl

There's no reason why you can't offer under. They can only turn you down! They tend to put 'offers over' to draw interest to houses that need work or a quick sale.

I have, however, been watching with interest a heartily overpriced, apparantly beautifully presented property being marketed at 'offers over'. The only reason I can think they're doing that is because they're ridiculously optimistic or their agent hasn't noticed the slowdown. Needless to say, it's been on for ages. I'm sure the 'offers over' really puts people off making any offer at all. Everyone likes to think they've got a bargain, having to pay over asking price goes against that; in England certainly. Maybe they will get to the point where they would take less, but people won't offer?

Maybe that's a good thing for you?

HGLTsuperstar

Just remember the simple rule: Start with your lowest bid (and you can bid literally anything) as you can always go up later. Ignore what the EA says, remember they're not working for you, and go with what you can afford and think is fair.

skintchick

OF course you can - but they probably won;t even consider it.

Ian_W

skintchick wrote:but they probably won;t even consider it.

I'm sure they'll consider it in the present market ... whether they'll accept is another matter.

It will help to have some idea of what other similar props in the area have sold for recently. Is it a genuinely low asking price, perhaps set lower because they need to sell? Or is it around about the norm, in which case it's probably a bit of kidology that might backfire on them if it puts off viewers, who think that's their bottom price.

If it's the former, they're probably going to need something around "offers over" price to say yes - at least straightaway. If it seems like the latter, I'd treat it as a normal price and offer accordingly. Either way, as said earlier, you need to decide what you're prepared to pay and stick to that, if you can get it for less so much the better.

lush_walrus

There is no harm in offering under as long as you are prepared to loose the property, I assume its not an auction property as otherwise Im sure you wouldnt have found the terminology strange.

In my experience, 'offers over' does mean exactly that, that the vendor will not accept any lower than that price and indeed in some cases the 'offers over will exceed the initial price substantially. Also this term is often applied to properties which are particularily attractive to buyers for whatever reason. Could be litterally a very unusual well presented property or indeed could be the very opposite and needs attention which attract lots of would be developers. Its not generally a term applied to the run of the mill 2000 simular terraced houses in simular condition.

One word of warning is that if you do offer lower that the 'offer over' price be careful that the property is actually being taken off the market and they arent just accepting your offer until a better offer comes along, especially if this is a property in need of some love.

HGLTsuperstar

The question was simply "Can I offer...", so the answer is yes, you can. Whether they consider it or laugh in your face is a different issue. The point is that in the UK as a whole we are not prepared/capable of haggling, perhaps a throw-back to the "stiff upper lip" and manners of days gone by? If you don't try then you've got no chance at all, and it doesn't mean you'll lose the property, you just have to go back with a better offer later. That's what negotiating is all about.

jezza1O1

skintchick wrote:

OF course you can - but they probably won;t even consider it.

I think that depends on how keen they are to sell. If the property is fresh on and the vendor has their eyes on another overpriced property it is unlikely they will drop. It will be yet another fantasy chain where each seller asks a crazy sum of cash but with no one able to buy the 1st house it will never go anywhere.

When the evil EA tells a vendor the house has put on 50k over 6months for no other reason than some time has passed they will want to believe it. Greed will hold up initially and with dollar signs in their eyes they will prob not wish to budge. However 6 months later when the property is still for sale (and this is very much the case with houses that I am tracking in my local area) and countless viewings have yielded no offer to match their silly asking price they might start to sink back to reality.

Unfortunately the odd greed fueled momentum of the last few years has pushed up prices way beyond wage inflation and simple common sense well tell even the dullest button in the box that people can nolonger afford to get on the ladder. My partner and I are both grads, professional jobs, no debts, savers by nature, but still priced out - if we cant buy then who can...

I would instantly go in at 10-15% under the asking price with the line that its all you can afford, when they laugh at you just take it on the chin and welcome them to get in touch if they change their minds. There are 2 properties in my road going for stupid sums that no one can afford and have been there for 8 months now. The 3 bed one has now dropped to the price of the 2 bed one - I guess greed is still gripping the latter vendor. Really not sure how he expects to sell his 2 bed when the 3 is nicer&bigger and priced to match... people are weird!

Thing is neither will sell as they are 1st time buyer houses priced at 210k+ in an unremarkable surburban road. Eventually people with big families will be forced to drop their prices as they search for the family home and perhaps that will trigger a slight decent. Due to greed and people unwilling to settle for less I think the market will be static for a number of years - at least until wage inflation catches up a little...

Anyways, good luck

Poppy9

HGLTsuperstar wrote:

The question was simply "Can I offer...", so the answer is yes, you can. Whether they consider it or laugh in your face is a different issue. The point is that in the UK as a whole we are not prepared/capable of haggling, perhaps a throw-back to the "stiff upper lip" and manners of days gone by? If you don't try then you've got no chance at all, and it doesn't mean you'll lose the property, you just have to go back with a better offer later. That's what negotiating is all about.

If the house is with an EA I would make the offer through them. Support your offer with information regarding your buying status i.e. FTB, Chain free, quick sale etc. The EA should have had feedback from other viewers so if he feels this is a good offer, even though it's less than they initially wanted, he might sell it to them for you.

I have always started at least -10% of asking price when buying and indeed when selling asked more than I wanted because I knew people would make offers. They are so happy to get their discount it makes for a quicker sale. Even my current house which was in a very 'hot' area and EA had only viewed 1 hour before me accepted an offer under his marketing price. They were happy to not market it at all as we were cash buyers.