Is this a rude offer for a house?

[Taq]

House is £850k. We’d be offering 765k, maximum 775k.

First time buyers so totally new to this. Would it be an offensive offer?

765k is 10% off.
775k is 8.8% off.

We’re not in a chain if that makes a difference, and the house has been on the market nearly a month. It’s at a high price for the area but is a beautiful house with not much comparable.

Thank you!

Nothing wrong with the offer at all. Our house was listed at 290, we offered 250 and were very surprised it was accepted.

They may not accept it, and that's fine. Just don't go over your max if you think it needs a lot of work.

Not rude but you might not get the house. Depends on the buyers circumstances. Ignoring percentages and just looking at the amount in pounds, it's a lot of money. Their future plans might not be feasible.

It's not losing out on 100K though if no one is willing to give them that 100K. The asking price may be wildly unrealistic, we can't know unless we know the house and the area.

Houses near us are being reduced by more than 10%. One only sold when it was priced at 20% below and probably the buyer got a further reduction on that!
OP it’s a buyer’s market and you’re not in a chain. They can only say no, and you can then think again/leave the offer on the table.
However they might have found their own “dream house” which they don’t want to lose and might be prepared to take a cut just to get things moving
You’ve got nothing to lose!

Why can't you ask the estate agent that's selling it? It's their job to sell the property so should have more knowledge about what their client would likely accept.

@Taq Offer what you want, however a word of caution, go too low the vendors may get annoyed and refuse to accept any further offers from you. As much as buying and selling is a business transaction, emotions will always be in play.

You may not think the house is worth its asking price, the vendors currently do, there is a figure somewhere in the middle, however I do not think it will begin with a 7. Do not get hung up on the "must offer NN% below asking price".

@schloss good point. If I had buyers come in that low at the start (unless there was some proof my house was ridiculously overpriced) then I’d be wary of them even if they finally gave an acceptable offer, I’d suspect they’d keep trying to lower the price at every stage.

You don't need a professional here. There is no "right" price, only what the seller will accept, and what you are prepared to pay. You offer and they say yes or no, and if they say no you move on.

First time buyers often overthink and read lots of market advice and listen to lots of opinions who say what a house "should" cost, but it really just comes down to what the buyer and seller can agree on. In this case it is clear that you would not be overpaying, so make your offer. If/when they say no, you move on to the next and let this one go. Don't get stuck on it.

If you offered me that I’d probably laugh. If it’s on at 850k and imagine I’d want around 800k at the very least.

The way I would approach this would be to go to the listing agent and have a conversation. Say you don’t want to insult the sellers nor waste peoples time but the house isn’t worth £850k to you but worth £765k because of the work that would need to be done. Leave it alone and let the agent come back to you if the seller is willing to entertain the offer.

I have bought homes in both North America and the UK. This soft approach works very well and no one ends up offended. You also don’t waste peoples time.

I got a 23% discount by making a very very polite offer and hanging on for 4 months.

It seems very low - I would be wary of accepting anything from a buyer who started so low - I would worry that you would try to stiff me further down the line if you upped your initial offer.

I missed something out! Like lots of people I’m juggling lots of things in my life and mistakes happen.

@Lanawashington I hope posting this made you feel better because reading it certainly didn’t make me feel better.

There is a professional you can ask. They are called chartered surveyors who will value the house.

Alternatively go into 3 local estate agents and ask whether they think it a fair price. They will likely say no and try to flog you one of theirs but they may at least give you info why they think it isn't!

Round our way with lack of houses on the market it is still a seller's market and properties are going for asking price or near to it. In better times there tends to be a battle and they go over asking so a 10% below offer round here would be laughed out the office. People in your own area may know better the norm locally.

Because that’s all you can afford isn’t a good enough basis for such a reduction.
Perhaps look at cheaper houses.

Don't ask, don't get. I'd be looking at sold prices locally to see what is reasonable though. you should always get your first offer rejected, otherwise you've overpaid. We've always got 10% off. being chain free is a massive advantage.

Same here. And work you want to do to make the house suit your needs is at your expense not the seller's. A poor survey is another matter and should be a basis for negotiation.

The reason why you're getting different responses @Taq is that it depends on the market at the time, location and property, as well as the sellers, as to what is going to be an acceptable offer. There is no objective answer to your question so try and shift your perspective on this.

If that is what you can offer and what you think it is worth, make the offer. Provide some context. If it's rejected, leave it on the table. Our offer was initially rejected (c7.5% under) and we left it there for a good few months, sometimes checking in with the agent. In the end we increased by a pretty small amount and got it a few months later.

I don't think it is rude, just be prepared for a polite no to such an offer if that is the response.

What I think is rude and indeed would like to outlaw is seeking a fairly last minute reduction to a previously agreed amount.

Me too. I think most people would reject this offer a month on th4 market, it’s major low ball. Maybe in six months if they are desperate to sell and the market drops, but no one in their right mind would accept it a month in with the market about to increase.

people always think there is tricks to getting an offer accepted, be polite, go soft, get the first one refused, it’s all bullshit.

make your offer based in what you can afford, generally the agent will tell you immediately if it’s too low,but pass it on and often tell you where you need to be, ie won’t accept less than asking, or 825 or something,

thr market is about to spring back. It always does at this time so the op needs to be careful.

I wouldn't consider that acceptable but who knows what the market is like in your area and how desperate the people are to move

I'd be concerned about selling to you if you suddenly jumped from £765k to £800k as I wouldn't trust you didn't plan on reducing the offer somewhere down the line.

That you want to change things doesn't make a difference to the price you should pay for it unless those things that need to be changed actually devalue the property.

Not rude, but I certainly would not accept it. Things are going near or at ask around me. Maybe if it needed work and had been on for over six months...

I agree with this. That 850k asking price is also not really based on recent sales if nothing has sold in the area lately so they are as much in the dark as you are. That also may be the highest of 3 valuations and they may well have been told by other EAs that it is only worth 750k. I think it's worth putting in a low offer and be prepared to negotiate if you really want the house.

I've looked at a few houses lately and some sellers have priced their house as if it were in immaculate no work needed condition. One needed about 15k to level up a horrendous sloping garden wasteland but the sellers were in complete denial that this would be a tedious and expensive job.

For me it all comes down to whether that money off could be justified, in this case it perhaps sounds like it couldn't?

If the house is beautiful I imagine they'll be wanting something starting with 8 for it. I do think it's worth putting your offer forward though because you never know.

Offer what you like, just be prepared that it might not be taken well by the seller. We've never priced stupidly or allowed an estate agent to persuade us to do so! We got a stupid offer on one property and turned it down flat, with the 'asking price' or nothing from us, as we knew the value, were not going for an over inflated price and that our property really was ready to go, but the silly buyers believe the hype and they kept nibbling away by making offers, regardless. We went with an asking price buyer (lovely couple) and then the silly buyers tried to offer slightly over, as turns out we were in the road they wanted to be in, near to their family and they'd been waiting for a while for something in the street to come up. We don't gazump and so they lost out. The house they ended up buying (the next year) for £85K more, was in a very poor state, whilst we'd renovated ours to a high standard. Pay what you think it is worth to you, don't play games but be prepared that you might lose what you really want!