Another property q, listed at £435,000

[IWantSummer]

We are looking at a property listed for £435000
Previous sold in nov 2010 for £385,000
No major renovations since that time.

Mouseprice gives est of £395,000

Reading similiar thread and my heart is in my stomach. Not sure in this climate that we should be stretching ourselves? But it's a lovely house in an area we would like to live.

I think they have over-priced it? Nothing has grown in value that much has it??

[UKSky]

Generally it's accepted that you offer 10% less than the asking price.

But, offer a bit less than you can afford and see what happens, particularly if you are able to complete quickly. You can always increase your offer but can't reduce it.

[LadyKooKoo]

Go and see other houses in the area so you can see what else you can get for your money. That way you can back up your lower offer with facts. Post a link to the house on here and we can also have a look for you.

[PanicMode]

It depends on SO many factors - where you are, how long it's been on the market, how it compares to other things in the area, how many registered buyers there are vs the number of properties for sale. As an example a neighbour put her house on for almost 100k more than they bought it for 2 years ago; no major renovations - and it went to sealed bids after three parties wanted it and sold within a week for "well above asking". We are in a very secure grammar school catchment and it's a good road in a nice town - but it's not a particularly big or beautiful house.....

Something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it! If you're not comfortable making an asking or 10% below price, make a cheeky offer and see what happens. If it's been on for ages and you are the only offer then they may bite your hand off....or not!

[RCheshire]

Don't base an offer on 'what you can afford' or '10% off asking' because neither of those factors remotely takes into account how realistic the vendors asking price is.

Take this house for example:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-19463687.html?premiumA=true

It's on for 500k. It was originally listed for 765k. The asking price movement has been 765k > 735k > 700k > 650K > 600k > 500k

It's not sold yet, but can you imagine someone thinking that 10% off the original asking price was a good deal?

If you look at this graph you'll see that house prices really began to soar somewhere around the year 2000-2002 depending where you live.

My view is that you need to look at historical sold prices for the area you're interested in and see where they were 10 years ago. If you're paying a price which seems 'normal' for the last 5 years then you may be taking a big risk that the value of that house will have gone down a long way in a few years. This may or may not matter to you - i.e. if you're going to live in it forever and it's affordable then you might just shrug.

[minipie]

My own view is that historical sold prices are next to useless. As PanicMode says, properties in some areas sell for way more than 2 years ago with no trouble. In other areas, asking for more than 2 years ago would be laughable.

In my area (SW London), properties are selling for up to 20% more than they were in 2010.

You need to look at asking prices (and whether they are actually under offer or not) for the local area, and compare the price of this property with those.

[sereneswan]

Depends where it is. Prices round me have gone up about 10% in the last month (and probably at least 25% in the last 3 years).

[MarySA]

I must say I did notice the other day that a couple of houses have the sold sign up near me. I still think prices are far far too high. And people should think carefully before over stretching themselves.