To put VERY low offer on house?

[HopingForSomeLuck]

Seen a house we really like - great location, good size! It needs a lot of work (though all cosmetic - new carpets,paint throughout, new kitchen...)

It's advertised as POA (price on asking? Price on arrangement?) Though I expect they r looking for around 520k AT LEAST.

We can only afford 420k

AIBU to view it and offer 420 on the off chance of a miracle?

Or is that just rude and insulting?

[itsboiledeggsagain]

Thing is: you haven't seen it nor do you have an idea of what it is valued for yet.

How do you know it is your dream house? Few pictures on a website?

Do it properly and don't get away with yourself in your enthusiasm.

[Mother87]

I agree with GinDaddy - this is a fluid situation/no harm in asking and offering... they may get a higher offer from someone in a chain/can you move quicker etc etc

[Popcornfan2]

If it is in a desirable area then it’s unlikely as you won’t be the only one interested. If not then just say “well the offer will be on the table for the next 6 weeks if you change your mind” they can only say no.

[AiryFairyMum]

Nobody wants an empty house over winter so it's worth a shot. We got about the same percentage discount on ours in similar circumstances. Good luck!

[Inliverpool1]

My ex husband is trying to sell my house for £100,000 less than it's worth to just get himself off the mortgage. No other reason at all. If you know the house is worth £520,000 could you actually live with yourself knowing you'd stitched someone up to the tune of £100,000 ?
In my case that's my children's inheritance - the only help they are likely to get in life.

[Nyon]

@Inliverpool1. Not everyone’s situation is as emotive as yours, so accusing the OP of ‘stitching up’ the sellers is ridiculous. Calm down and back off. The seller can say no or yes and people should never be stupid enough to base their or their children’s future on a house price - that’s one of the reasons that the market is so grossly overpriced

[theunknownknown]

Inliverpool. That’s pretty shitty of him but surely you don’t have to agree? As a co-owner surely you have some say? On the other hand, if your loss is £50k it might be worth it to be rid of such a shit.

[Toomuchgoingon]

A neighbour of ours is selling their house. It was on the market for just over £500K. Now it's been changed to POA - I don't understand why they would do that. It's comparable with the area and it's lovely.

If I was looking to move and saw POA on the listing, I'd think it was a lot more expensive and not even consider it.

[Sunsoottitsoot]

Good luck!

[LaurieMarlow]

If you know the house is worth £520,000 could you actually live with yourself knowing you'd stitched someone up to the tune of £100,000 ?In my case that's my children's inheritance - the only help they are likely to get in life.

Your situation is in no way comparable to the OPs, stop being ridiculous.

No seller is compelled to take an offer.

Your problem is that your ex husband is a dick (though I'm sure you know that).

[Frazzledmum123]

Just to add I'd go for it too, a house down the road came up which we liked and were wondering if we could get them to go 25k lower and decided there was no way they would. It sold and we found out they got it for 35k less! The house we are now buying we put an offer in of 40k less just because we couldn't go any higher and the EA kept saying they would be offended and wouldn't take us seriously. We got it.
Thing is, it doesn't matter that they may be annoyed with you, if you cant go any higher then it's either that or nothing, you wont have to deal with them again. It's only risky if you can technically go higher and may want to up your offer later.
You dont ask, you dont get!

[HopingForSomeLuck]

@Inliverpool1 - I think your ex sounds like a nightmare, good to be rid of him :)

I'm not trying to stitch anyone up or do anyone out of inheritance. We simply just happen to love the house and can't afford what they are asking. I think we'll write a letter explaining that we are sorry we can't offer anymore and hope they r a not insulted by the offer, but laying out what our offer is.

I think the sellers are an older couple and I'm hoping they'll forgive us for the cheeky offer and understand we just can't pay more. Not expecting to get it! And will obvioisly understand if we r turned down instantly!

[Kannet]

Did you find out what they are actually asking for it

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

There are so many factors here - demand in the area, demand for and supply of ‘doer-uppers’ specifically, your position (in terms of how quickly you can move rather than finances), how quickly they need to sell etc. I think supply and demand is the main one. In some areas, all the doer-uppers have been bought and done up, so an undiscovered one will be like gold dust and you’ll have dozens of experienced, chain-free developers ahead of you in the queue. If there are a fair few elderly people in the area, houses in need of modernisation won’t be that rare, so won’t be fought over in the same way.

Whilst I’m sure everyone here has spoken out of kindness, some of the posters saying ‘awwh, go for it if you love it, you never know your luck!’ are doing you a disservice. Of course there will be people who got a house for £100k under the asking price, but it isn’t that common and, when it does happen, it’s normally on higher value properties than this, which have been on the market for some time or are subject to specific circumstances (repossession, deceased estate etc.)

Also, as others have said, do think very carefully about how you would live in a house that needs so much work if your total budget is £100k below what you think they’re expecting. You’re pinning your hopes on them accepting a very low offer that will leave you with no refurbishment budget (before you even consider legal fees, stamp duty etc.)

[Cloverbeauty]

Have you actually offered 420k on it? In writing?

Without knowing how much its valued at?

I do hope it's worth more than that, otherwise you've made a massive mistake.

[PickAChew]

Haha, no, POA doesn't always mean expensive. When we were hunting my search certain area, 3 beds+, up to 250k. A real shit hole of an obvious rental came up in those searches, for 165k, until the day it came up as "reduced" on rightmove, but still in the same place if ordered by price.

[JasBBGG]

Worth a try but it really depends on area and how desirable it is even with the work.

I'm sat here in a house that started at £625 reduced many times to £525 and we paid £492 for. People can be greedy and a house is only worth what someone will pay for it at the end of the day. People wouldn't buy ours because it needed a lot of work.

[jacks11]

But how can you make an offer when you don't know the asking price? It seems unlikely from what you have said, but what if the asking price is lower than you think and you end up offering more than you need to (or more than it is valued at)?

I do think you really need to think hard on this one, assuming the price is what you expect. If £420k is right at the top end of your budget, even if they do accept your incredibly low offer, I question whether you can afford this house because you say it needs completely overhauled and has not been touched for years. If that is true, it will need a quite a bit of money spent on it and some of that may be structural or work you will need to have done fairly imminently. If you pay the max you can afford to get the house, leaving no spare money for repairs/refurbishment and redecoration, what will you do if it does need money spent immediately? I would say be very careful- don't let heart rule head- and get a jolly good surveyor and quotes for cost of work needing done so you know exactly where you stand.

[Derbee]

Do it! I posted a few weeks ago asking about advice for making a low offer in a house. General consensus was that I was a cheeky wanker who would piss off the vendor, and nobody would want to do a transaction with me etc etc

Made cheeky offer, and it was accepted. We’re buying for £45k under the asking price

Nothing to lose, everything to gain. Be cheeky! Good luck

[Derbee]

Although be careful about paying more than it’s worth, and stretching yourselves too far to be able to afford the renovations. We’ve got money to do some of the work before we move in. I don’t think I’d be keen to move into somewhere that we couldn’t afford to renovate for years

[Oliversmumsarmy]

If the house hasn’t been touched for 70 years it is going to need a hell of a lot more doing to than just cosmetic painting, decorating, new bathrooms, kitchen and carpet.

It probably needs rewiring, replumbing (probably full of lead pipework)

There could be asbestos, wood worm, dry rot to check out

The roof might not be great and the whole place will probably need replastering.

Are you sure £420 is low enough

[Rememberallball]

We sold a family home last year for probate purposes and it was priced according to condition (new boiler/central heating system and required throughout but still had the original 1950’s bathroom and a 1980’s kitchen both of which needed replacing). We accepted an offer within 5 weeks of going on the market but had some viewings where they offered ridiculously below the asking price - think 20% less than asking price with stipulations on speed of completion which we couldn’t have managed even if we had wanted to due to probate process!! Some people will make offers that are unacceptable to the vendors because they want to chance their alarm at a bargain and others where they really want their dream home but can’t afford more than they offer.

[Raindancer411]

@hopingforsomeluck If the offer is too low, you may find the EA refuse to put it forward, as we had that at some point. Obviously ours was not a lot off the asking price but they knew the people just would not consider it.

[plantainchips]

Worth a go

[CRbear]

@HopingForSomeLuck the estate agent is obliged to put all offers to their client so I’d push it if you’re ever in that situation again!

From gov.uk website:

“Estate agents must also treat buyers fairly. They must show any offers promptly and in writing to the person selling the house.

Estate agents are also legally obliged to pass on any other offers for the property right up to when contracts are exchanged.”