Buyers out there what percentage did you knock off the asking price when it was agree

PasturesNew

I think the "problem" is that there are two figures:
- the price of the house in £££s
- the percentage

Dropping £10k off a price seems a LOT more to a house seller than the corresponding %age drop.

Sellers are dropping in £££s, not percentages. Because of the high asking prices, the £££s equate to a p155-poor %age offering.

Catch them offguard by making them think you're mad. They'll laugh and might go for it .... whatever you offer, make it "and 50p"

apuleius

I think you've hit the nail on the head - we tend to think in percentages, so a 10% drop in the current market seems right to us, but to sellers it seems like a lot of money. In the scheme of things, it's not... particularly if the downward trend continues...

brit1234

Its difficult, we are clearly limited to what the banks will lend. So a typical £250,000 one bed in London you are going to need at least a £25,000 deposit then a lot more for the other costs now. This alone is going to put people off, but the ones who are up for it will have to save like mad unless its a Barrats home where the sales assistant will put a gilt trip on your parents to contribute.

I would buy at 3.5 times salary and my hard saved £25,000 deposit or try to haggle down to this.

lostinrates

brit1234 wrote: »

Its difficult, we are clearly limited to what the banks will lend. So a typical £250,000 one bed in London you are going to need at least a £25,000 deposit then a lot more for the other costs now. This alone is going to put people off, but the ones who are up for it will have to save like mad unless its a Barrats home where the sales assistant will put a gilt trip on your parents to contribute.

I would buy at 3.5 times salary and my hard saved £25,000 deposit or try to haggle down to this.

Thanks. Yes, I think its important to remind ourselves that in home buying what we can afford is really the deciding factor.

We have a good deposit, and in 20 months my Dh's salary will more than double (contracted and fairly recession proof). Unless something really astounding came up befor then we'd probably be financially foolish to move beofre we could borrow 3.5 times the increased salary. BUT, I put that against the fact that living as we do now (apart through the week, but saving) is not what we want at all, and is at times really stressful I just can't stop looking anyway

Reds-on-Sea

I'm an ftb, just bought 3 bed semi, up for £209,500, (reduced from about £225K) "snapped it up" (sorry, just kidding! hehe) bought it for £201k so only about 4% saving. Excellent condition though - practically nothing came back on the survey, but not decorated at all inside, just cheap blue carpet and magnolia walls right through. Anything we do will add value, though not in it for the money ) As long as you get a fair price for your product, %s aren't really relevant. If the asking price is phenominally high to start with , then yeah, you're likely to get a large % discount, rather then a fairly priced house. I compare it to "Sales" where they say everything's half price, but it's not really because, they just whacked the prices right up for the 2 weeks previous - Just so they can advertise that everything's 50% off, but in reality it's just the same price as 3 weeks ago. But y'know, everyone rushes in on the bank holiday weekends thinking they're getting a bargain...

PasturesNew

How about "all mortgages should be 3x one salary only".
That'd bring it down and give singles a fighting chance.

PasturesNew

Because I am not looking for a particular house or area, I do a lot of random "research" on house prices. I will quite often simply pick a house that catches my eye and look at the prices houses have sold for .... I am still seeing a LOT where the asking price is significantly higher than any other house has ever ever sold for on their street.

One or two, you might think "oh maybe they're bigger/different/whatever", but there is still a lot of opportunistic pricing out there.

neverdespairgirl

Reds-on-Sea wrote: »

But y'know, everyone rushes in on the bank holiday weekends thinking they're getting a bargain...

I have never, ever, been shopping on a bank holiday.

I tend to think that people who do are just filling their existential void through spending.

Reds-on-Sea

hehe - I admit to have been shopping on a bank holiday, but only cuz I ran out of milk ) discounts mean nothing if the original price wasn't correct to start with.

sparklycat

We have been looking to buy in our area and some houses are defnitley overpriced. We viewed one last week and they wanted 179,000 for a 3 bed semi, but houses have sold previously on that road in last year for no more than 150,000? not sure why they think they can get asking price as it needs work(bathroom and kitchen, decorating, windows!). Spoken to EA and they said they want full asking price! hmmmm...we are in excellent position, cash buyers etc. So we will see.

Also saw 2 houses on same rd, identical(except decor), one priced at 235,000 and other at 205,000. Guess which one has sold within a week of being on market!!2 different agents . I'm confused why they think their house is worth 30,000 more!!

Think we'll just carry on renting!!