AIBU to think low house offers are always worth making?

It seems as though you’re in quite an unusual position OP, if you buy houses so frequently that you have the local EAs filtering houses for you, so I assume you either have a property portfolio or you buy and sell frequently.

For most people, that’s not the case. There’s a fine line between offering a figure for negotiation and offering such a low figure that the vendor refuses to countenance any other offer from you. It also depends on the market in the area and whether the vendor needs or wants to sell. The two are different. At present, in many areas it’s a buyers market, so low offers are common, but then onward purchases are probably lower too. I’d also consider the position of a prospective purchaser. The EA should advise about that.

It is a business transaction, but it differed from many business transactions, in that a house is a home where you have lived, perhaps raised a family, invested time care and attention on making it the way you want it. That, inevitably is a conflict between head and heart.

Many years ago, our house was on the market for £425K. A young couple, living with parents, offered £385K. The agent was really not happy to tell me that. It was refused. Time went by and the couple offered £395K, also refused. More time, then they offered £405K, then £415K, then £420K. We accepted then, but it pained me to do so and we only accepted because they were in a good position and there was no chain.

This is it. The fact that a property is on for a particular price doesn't make it 'reasonable'. The proof is in the pudding, not some abstract.

I think you meant exactly that. In your rush to point score you overplayed your hand and have only revised what you wrote because people pointed out that no estate agent would do that.

Offering 91% of asking price in a falling market is hardly a "cheeky low ball" offer on a house that isn't selling.

It looks like you have answered your own question, as you don't make cheekly offers

No different to Vinted. The seller accepts your cheeky offer or tells you to do one. No harm in asking.

Perhaps the OP should change their title to ‘am I a morally dubious, prancing twat’ they may get a more definitive answer.

’Business is business’
‘Low balling’
‘Nothing morally wrong’

You sound like a failed apprentice candidate. The sort of person you overhear boasting in a pub and boring the pants off everyone while having absolutely no ability to read the room and understand what everyone actually thinks of you.

What you describe as your business practices sounds repugnant. Your relationship with your estate agent sounds dodgy at best. I’m very pleased that you have such certainty in your abilities and cleverness. Always good to be able to inflate your own ego. Sadly such things often seem to be at the cost of being a decent person.

Making a sensible offer on an overpriced house isnt the same as making a low offer on a house for sale at a reasonable price.

So what did you mean by a nod and a wink?

Pointing out houses that aren’t selling would not breech the code of conduct, but revealing to a seller that a vendor ‘needs rid of’ a property absolutely is a breach of the code of conduct unless the estate agent has to explicit permission from the seller.

House was on for 425. I offered 350. It was declined. I offered 375 declined but they finally accepted 385. I was a cash buyer. It was in covid. I never thought of it as cheeky. The offer was what I could afford and what I was willing to pay. There’s no place for emotion in house buying. It’s a financial agreement.

And the people most likely to lose through this are divorced women and elderly people entering care homes.

So why don’t you explain? Are they getting permission from the seller? They are certainly not acting in the sellers’ interests from the sound of it.

We get it - you just wanted to boast how clever you think you are. Well done.

If there's a code of conduct breach that's one thing, but identifying people who are clearly struggling to sell and need rid of the property doesn't require that.

For an estate agent to tell a buyer how low a vendor will go or give them a ‘nod and a wink’ will go is unethical and usually breaches the agent's professional code of conduct unless they have the vendor's explicit permission.

Do you honestly expect us to believe an estate agent would do that? If it’s true, you are colluding with the estate agent to exploit the vendor.

One of the main questions I asked when house hunting was the reason for selling

My estate agent was being more driven by the buyer. He cost me a sale and I ended up reporting him. What a surprise, nothing came of it. I had a gut feeling about my buyer after I'd accepted his offer above the asking price. This was during the back end of covid though, when it was a seller's market. I should have gone with the young first time buyer girl who viewed with her father. Her offer was for just under the asking price. A lesson learned.

It’s fine if you think having a shit agent is hilarious as it helps you get your bargains.

If they are passing info without permission and someone finds out, they won’t be doing it for long

We put an offer in 40k under asking, it had been on the market over a year, not moving, we was then invited round by the lovely elderly couple for a coffee, we then mutually negotiated to 30k under asking, I type this in the garden of that house !