To think that 10% below asking price for a house is reasonable?

[Flossyfloof]

I have seen a lovely house, and would like to put in an offer. I would be paying cash, which puts me in a good position. Do you think going in at 10 or even 15% below the asking price is sensible?

You can find out online what other houses have gone for in the same road. Don't make any offer until you've looked at that.

Go for it you have nothing to lose especially as a cash buyer. Do you want to buy a tatty Victorian Terrace (loads of original features) would willingly accept 10% reduction, it's got 8 bedrooms 3 mins from sea

Make your offer as attractive as possible -state your position (cash buyer/mortgage in place/chain free/whatever makes you an attractive buyer) and offer 10-15% below the asking price. Do everything you can to make yourself look like a serious buyer. And then, if the don't accept (which they probably won't), up your offer a bit and take it from there.

2 years ago DH made an offer if about 20% less than the asking price. The EA laughed him off the phone. We bought somewhere else, which we love, and the first house is still on the market - its been standing empty all that time. The only reason afaik is because it is overpriced by at least £75k and the owners won't budge on price.

You have nothing to lose by offering it. Of course, the vendors have a lot to lose if they accept it . However, with all these things, depends how much you want it, how desparate they are to sell, how long it's been on the market, whether they have any flexibility with figure on what they are buying next, how many other buyers are interested, how near (above or below) the 'asking price' is to what they had thought their house was worth before asking the estate agent, etc, etc.

It is worth a go.At the moment many people are re organising their finances because of the economy and changes to taxes job losses etc. I have been buying and renovating for years and always try and get at least 10-15% off but that is generally for a wreck. When they are done I expect near the asking and I would wait if I thought I could get a better offer. Cash is king in this market so go for it.

We just put our house on the market. It was priced very fairly and we have had a number of offers each week very close to the asking price which we accepted subject to them getting a move on.

A couple of people offered 10% less but we didn't need to even consider.

Irritates me when estate agents say 'they've just dropped the price so they aren't going to consider a lower offer'. Clearly they were asking too much in the first place, then!

Quite Edam.

People still insist on their properties being put on at above the highest valuation they get so I had no difficulty in offering what I thought house was worth.

We didn't negotiate either - we offered our max and made that clear.

I don't understand why some people get offended by low offers either - you just say no thanks. But if you don't get any offers apart from very low ones - well . . . .

I am seeing round here properties on the market for years where people just don't drop the price at all - most odd. I can only assume they don't really want to sell.

Oooh I love a good 'buying' thread

Have you had a good look at what other houses have sold for on the street/local area yet?

Have you decided what you are going to offer?

I'd always go in with a cheeky offer - as someone else said, 'If you aren't embarassed by your offer, you are offering too much'

... you can always go up, but you can't go down!

We decided to ask a fair price because we didn't want a record showing 'dropped price'.

We had 3 quotes and put it in the market at 2% more than the lowest. We were therefore reluctant to accept below our lowest evaluation.

This appears to have worked out very well for us.

We were never offended by people offering lower though. We just agreed to disagree on hat we could get for it.

We just put our house on the market. It was priced very fairly and we have had a number of offers each week very close to the asking price which we accepted subject to them getting a move on.

We've just done exactly the same - priced the house fairly and had lots of interest/offers.

Interesting that it is supposed to be a buyer's market - we've been outbid twice so far (not in London or anywhere near) and offering 10% less than asking doesn't get you anywhere near...

It does depend so much on the area of course and the house and also how much the vendors actually want to sell.

We took 3 years to find our current house so I knew the local market as well as the local estate agents in my opinion . So I was pretty confident that I wasn't taking the p when I made our offer.

And there are still some people wanting silly money for their homes because they were once valued at some amount and they won't take less.

Starlight - you see you weren't greedy but were realistic.

We put in an offer 3% below asking price. It was accepted. They then got a better offer and dropped us. It ended up going to sealed bids and we won. The house is what one might optimisticly call a "doer upper" so we thought it was worth it. Not sure how we'd have played it if it had been a full price and high value house.

I just can't be faffed with the game playing. We researched what it was worth and were confident in our asking price.

There was no need to get into guessing games and bluffing etc. We were serious sellers but were also luckily in a position of strength i.e no chain etc.

If it's just gone on the market, they are unlikely to accept it but you've got nothing to lose. If you know the local market well, you'll know if it's priced keenly (and so will everyone else who is looking). Good Luck!

Ooh, a house by the sea - please send me some more info!!!
The house is in a very sought-after village, and other houses on the road are probably up to 8X the price. I think this one has been done up from a shed or something, it is not on Zoopla.
I too hate playing the game. I think it would be far far better to put a house on at a reasonable price in the first place - but it is the way things are. I am also hidebound by what I can genuinely afford! (But inevitably you look at places advertised at higher than your top whack, I think).
Thanks ever so much for your responses, much appreciated

yep try 15% less - and 10% less. We got ours for about 12% less but it needed work

You'll more likely to get a 'bargain' if it's not in a prime location and if it's been on the market for some time i.e it's overpriced in the first place so no-one has snapped it up. Believe me, houses are definitely still selling quickly if they are priced right. We were slightly naive when we bid 10% under asking price on another doer upper in a prime location 12 mths ago as a cash buyer. It sold for full asking price within the week. We didn't make the mistake the 2nd time an opportunity came up 6 mths later.

though sometimes, of course, the reason why a house has been on the market for ages is that the vendors won't take any offers that are much below the asking price.
A house being obviously overpriced and on the market for years doesn't always mean they are open to offers, because they might not really need to sell, or they might have unrealistic ideas about how much they can get and are holding out for their crazy asking price.

I did hear a story once about a couple who refused to deal with people who offered a ridiculously low price for their property. I think they have put this one on the market to see. It is surrounded by very much more expensive houses. I don't want to price myself out of the market and don't want them to bin me, but as several people have said, lots of people put houses up at very inflated prices. Who knows? I will be able to speak to the agents tomorrow - they are not there today - and find out more. Unfortunately, because it was derelict and the current owners (I think) have done it up, I can't find what they bought it for, which would give me a bit of a clue as to how much they might expect.

I don't think you can second guess vendors.
Someone on here recently was insulted and cross because she had been offered 5% below asking. Other people are taking 20% discounts even though they are way below what they paid for the house a few years ago. There is such a variety of views of what the market is going to do.

as a experienced estate agent (i worked in one for three months doing the filing!)

i would never offer the stated price again.
I know poeple who have offered 50% and got it accepted?

just one thing though, people do get emotional about houses so if you can back up your offer with a fact... I'm offering x because....
You have more likihood of it getting accepted.
Be prepared to be gazumped though, if a better offer for the seller comes along.