Is this a cheeky offer?

Not at all, especially if gardens are your thing!

Even if it means not selling it?

Garden landscaping is super expensive. Have you costed up the garden you would like? We have a very small terrace garden and I received quotes from 12-40k depending on finish/materials. Landscaping is heavy and dirty work to live through, if you don’t have a side access they carry it all through your house.

Some estate agents have a reputation for overvaluing homes in order to get the seller to choose them. Then when they don’t sell at that price, the seller ends up reducing the asking price. But it takes longer than if they’d just valued it realistically in the first place. When I had my house valued, my lowest was 425k and the highest 500-550k. I didn’t put it on the market but if I had, the lower valuations would have been the most realistic.

If the improvements are ‘purely superficial’ then why don’t you offer on one of the cheaper 3 bedrooms and then you can spend money making your own improvements? It sounds like what you value is the feel and the location and the garden, which are nicer than other similar properties and probably why priced as it is.

it depends on many factors.
What are other similar properties (size,location, garden,facilities,modernisation decor) priced at currently and selling for?
How long has it been on the market,what other interest has their been in the property?
How desparate are the sellers to sell?
You could discuss how you feel about prices of larger 3 bed properties in the same location and say you feel its overpriced and see what they say.
Or you could make a really low offer (you risk them thinking you are not serious)

What do you mean superficial? New kitchen and bathroom or just a lick of paint?

You say you know nothing about it so maybe ask what improvements they've made. You can't see rewiring, a new consumer unit, a new boiler for example.

20% off is very low. I just accepted 10% but I really was desperate to sell.

You can offer and they can tell you to do one. What you’re looking at is expense borne by the vendor: hardscaping, plants and interior design/building work all take time and money. Generally while the work happens the vendor has to tolerate massive inconvenience. If these are superficial things you can afford to recreate yourself (with your time and money you have saved) you should go for cheaper property. Generally first time buyers like to wrap that cost up in a mortgage, rather than expose themselves to the risk of unknown building costs.

People list their houses at stupid prices. Just offer what it's worth and don't think about whether they'll find it cheeky or not. Chances are they'll be offended but then they're not exactly living in the real world with that price.

Offer it. They can only say no then if you’re still keen raise the offer. You are a FTB and they have somewhere they want 🤷‍♀️

Just make the offer they can decline or make it known they are will to negotiate

I have had much lower offers I don’t take it personally once we negotiated and came to an agreement the other time I straight away declined

Sometimes it’s the seller that has unrealistic expectations. When we were buying our house there were two we looked at with a £40k difference. Houses next door but one to each other, same number of bedrooms, cheaper one had a bigger garden and better parking. I knew the parents of the person selling the more expensive house and knew they were looking in a much more expensive area so needed as much as possible for their old home. We went with the cheaper one and they eventually sold eighteen months later for £6k more than we paid. The estate agent was handling both houses and was very honest that the price it was up for was not their valuation, it was what the sellers set. Without knowing where the OP is buying it’s difficult to say who’s being unrealistic here with the price.

It’s ridiculous. £260k is not the kind of price where sellers will accept a £50k reduction.

I think you’ll annoy them with such a low offer.

Personally, unless you had the cash in your hand, I would laugh in your face. But the vendors may feel differently. Are you imminently proceedable? That's an important factor. The length of time the house has been on the market is another.
I accepted a slightly lower offer for my own house from first time buyers, but it was nothing like that degree of reduction, and it still hit my minimum selling price point. Your vendors might have one too, and it's probably not 210k.

It doesn’t matter to a purchaser what price the vendor needs to fund the next house. What matters to the purchaser is what it’s worth to them. The vendor may want or need £260K, but if no one’s willing to pay that, it’s not going to happen.

The EA selling should have based his valuation on similar properties, sold prices in the area and the market in the area. If the vendor has taken that advice, 20% below is probably not going to fly. If the vendor insisted on the price, against advice, that’s different.

There are other factors that would make you an attractive buyer - mortgage lined up, no chain, can be done in 6 weeks, etc - is any of that part of your offer?
I’d disregard the 2 vs 3 bed as a metric and instead consider square footage, and weigh up other comparisons. I don’t quite understand how you land at 210 from 260 so unclear if that’s an insulting offer or not.

What if it's 20% overpriced? There are definitely some where I'm looking that are just madly overpriced which almost direct comparison properties making that clear.

Obviously the buyer can reject a low offer. But some need to accept the reality of the market.

Exactly!!

By your own admission you know nothing about the subject but you've decided that they are taking the piss? I had one like you when I sold my house - a really lowball offer which I turned down flat. She was a bit shocked when she tried to increase her offer and was informed that I had stipulated that I would not sell to her under any circumstances, even if she offered the asking price (which, incidentally; was what it sold for). FAFO

I think it's rude of you to claim that when you clearly have no knowledge or experience in valuing properties. There is SO much more involved than the number of bedrooms.

Nothing to stop you offering what it's worth to you, but very rude & ridiculous to describe them as piss takers with your complete lack of knowledge.

The price of the house isn’t just determined by the number of bedrooms, it’s the location (near to schools, shops, stations, nicer areas), modernisation required, size of garden, driveway and parking, renewable energy options. To say there are 3 bedrooms on for £10K less is only one element of the asking price.

This house has a nicer feel to it than the three beds you’ve seen, otherwise you’d have offered on one of the three beds available in the area.

You’re free to offer what you want. They don’t have to accept though. If you want the house, you don’t want to piss them off but if you’re not fussed about losing out on the house then it’s worth a short.

There are two values that you need to consider when buying a house - your maximum affordability and the amount you would be sad that it went to someone else. So your maximum affordability might be £250K but if you would be unhappy to lose the sale at £220k but wouldn’t be unhappy to see someone else get it at £230K, your maximum limit is around £225K. When you work out what your maximum is for each house, that then lets you know what first offer is.

They may have to sell the house at the price they have it listed for in order to buy the house they want. So I wouldn’t assume that just because they have found somewhere, they will accept such a low offer.
Personally I think an offer 20% under asking price is taking the piss