To think that the offer I just made on this house was not to be snorted at derisively

[LaurieFairyCake]

I am rapidly going off estate agents

House is on at 289, only one house in a row of about 300 houses has gone over the stamp duty threshold and it sold at 270 last year - it was a 4 bed detached, now it would be worth according to Zoopla 284.

I've offered 249999 on a 2 bed detached. On a busy road. That's been on 4 months. With 20 steep stairs up from the road to the front door thus putting off people with young children and the elderly (its a bungalow). And we have a very short chain as our buyer has cash.

Is that er..... snortable ?

[shewhowines]

ballon you take that into account when you check Zoopla. It is only a record of the last selling price.

[JamieandtheMagicTorch]

Snorting is rude, but then many estate agents are slimy turds, so what can you expect really?

[JamieandtheMagicTorch]

But not you Mrs DV. You are not a turd

[LastTangoInDevonshire]

Laurie - remember this saying: "If you're not embarrassed by your first offer, then it's too high." Very wise.

It's a game between Estate Agent and Vendor and Buyer. The sooner you learn how to play, the sooner you get what you want.

[NonnoMum]

Fair enough. It's the stamp duty cut off, isn't it?

But, I don't think it'll be accepted although the EA has a duty to legally pass on the offer.

If they do accept it, you can snort back...

[EglantinePrice]

There are several houses locally in this (tricky) price bracket that have been advertised at 280-300 and ended up going for 250 and under.

The estate agent is just playing a game and trying to make you feel like you shouldn't be making this offer. Don't let him succeed.

Even if they turn it down, they may be back in a couple of months asking if the offer is still on the table!

[MadBusLady]

Zoopla does have correct sales prices on it, but it's "estimated values" are complete bobbins. Our (recently bought) house is a semi and is mirror image identical to our neighbours' house, but ours is "valued" at £365k and theirs at under £300k, because they bought it in 1998 and Zoopla has under-estimated the uplift for the local area over that time. It just doesn't have precise enough information.

[MadBusLady]

*its

[inabeautifulplace]

As above, it's all part of the game. Not sure I understand why you've offered 250k, when you say similar properties sell for 220-230k?

[Jins]

When we were buying our first we were advised to go in at snort able level and move up by tiny increments.

[quesadilla]

It's not necessarily snortable but the agent is in the business of selling the property so not sure what you expect? He/she is hardly going to say an offer £40k below the asking price is generous. When I was selling a flat the agent brought an offer to me that was £30k under asking price but told the offeror she wasn't going to put it to me. Standard negotiating tactic.

Any agent who said to your face it was a good offer (regardless of what they told the vendor) wouldn't be much cop.

[MissPlumBroughtALadder]

My mum ended up accepting an offer one million less than her house was listed at. Yes, you read that correctly, one million less (well, almost, think it was 800 odd thousands less) so a drop of 40 is absolutely not snortable!

[BalloonSlayer]

"ballon you take that into account when you check Zoopla. It is only a record of the last selling price."

nnnnnyeeeess shewhowines it's not just a record of last selling price, though, it gives you an estimated worth right now. And some people would think, well THAT's what my house MUST be worth!

I was chuffed to buggery at the estimated value price that was on for ours. Then I noticed the estimated value price of the house over the road, which I guess would be worth a good £80,000 more, was in fact about £20,000 less than ours.

I can see that it is calculated from the last recorded selling price, and as ours was last sold in 2001, before the current problems, I presume it has skewed the figures somewhat. But someone like, say, my Dad, would be telling all and sundry that his house is worth £££XXX because that's what "They" said.

[saintlyjimjams]

We were snorted at by a very rude EA when I asked to view a property - when we had sold & completed on our house - just for asking to go & look at one (told we were too slow, that some other people were interested, didn't listen when I repeatedly pointed out we had completed & were living with my mum, didn't suggest other properties).. Oh how I laughed when that property came back on the market 6 weeks later.

[ZillionChocolate]

Estate agent was rude. No point pissing you off as you might be irrational and not want to buy anything through them. I've certainly picked the best agent when houses have been listed with two.

I think it's unlikely the offer will be accepted, but you never know. The agent's attitude won't help if they present the offer like that. We debated with an agent about what a house was worth (asking price of 275) and offered 250. It was rejected. 5 months later we'd bought a different house and they called up wanting to speak to us, a month or so later, we saw the house had sold for what we'd offered. Being greedy delayed them by 6+ months, but I think the agent's pig headedness contributed to it.

[Alwayscheerful]

The stamp duty threshold is £250,00 ie its 1% up to and including £250,000. There is generally no price point of £265,000/ £270,000 hence the estate agents "valuation" first offers are often rejected but 6 months down the line £250k might be the price achieved.

[fairylightsinthespring]

the SD threshold totally skews the market at that level. Lots of houses ought to go for 260k but end up going for 249 because people just won't offer the extra and go over the limit. The step up from 1 to 3% ought to be progressive (ie, you only pay it on the bit above the limit). Our old house, which we did a part ex on with a newbuild was sold by the very large building company for 60k less than we had it on for, just cos they wanted it off the books. Our experience was that vendors still are not really grasping what has happened to the market in the last few years and often are putting houses on at unrealistic prices. After 4 months, if the OP is in a strong buying position, the offer was perfectly understandable and the EA is a rude, unprofessional idiot.

[chickensaladagain]

My current house was on the market for 130k and I got it for 105k

Been on the market for 6 months and was massively overpriced

Offer was rejected

12 weeks later I put the same offer in again which was rejected

Turned out the person that priced it was from an office the other side of the city and was priced for that area and no one had the common sense to wonder why it was so much more than comparable properties

[sleeplessbunny]

Saying No is fine. Snorting is rude, YANBU
This is one reason why I don't like estate agents.

[Finola1step]

I tend to agree with Tango. The process is a game, a crap one, but a game nonetheless.

Hold firm on your offer if you really are reluctant to go over the threshold. We were involved in a very similar situation last year. Sellers wanted above threshold, we offered just below, went to and fro for two months. Agreed an offer £1 below threshold. Then survey came back with big issues. Seller would not budge on price, so we pulled out.

Two weeks later, better house on same road came on the market. Completed and moved in ten days before Xmas. And the first house? They have just sold it for 5K less then our first offer.

Hold firm and don't fall into the estate agents trap of pushing you that bit further than what you actually want to pay.

[wonkylegs]

EA is an idiot for being rude. Even if you get rejected by the vendor, you are a buyer which is a sought after commodity in many areas.
Rudeness gets remembered. When we bought our current house I witnessed an agent be awfully rude & snobbish to a girl who came in to make an appointment to view a house.... 9 years later it had still stuck with me when we put this house on the market. I got them out to value/quote & it was clear they still had the same attitude. I chose another agent, one that had been good when we were buying. It was a loss of a very easy sale to the 1st agent (we are in a very sought after area).
An offer is an offer - it's up to the vendor if they will accept it and will be affected by many factors. Hopefully idiotic EAs may nit be one of them. Good luck.

[lljkk]

Agent may be snorting because seller is arsey and unreasonable, not snorting at OP just snorting at the fact he knows seller will refuse. I would not take it personally.