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Original poster

Is this offer offensive

152 replies

natashaaaaa · 20/12/2019 22:16

About to put an offer on a house.

Very very dated 70s 3 bed semi but good location in affluent market town.

Asking price is £330k

Would offering £258k be offensive? I've never done this before so AIBU going in at this price? Been on the market a month with no offers.

Any advice would be super helpful on how punchy you can go on asking prices.

OP posts:
AutumnRose1 · 20/12/2019 23:24

Not only would I say no, if you upped your offer, I’d refuse it because I think you’d drop it again later.

The way our system works is shit.

gingersausage · 20/12/2019 23:25

People really are ridiculously emotionally invested in their houses and what they think they are worth. A property is worth what someone will pay, not what the estate agent values it at. I don’t understand why people would be “offended” or upset by someone putting in a low offer. Why would you even care? Just say no and move on with your life. As for refusing to sell to them even if they decide to offer more; that’s just pathetic. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Pixxie7 · 20/12/2019 23:27

If the agent priced it at 330k it must be worth near that mark and 1 meh is not that long. I think a 5 percent reduction might be acceptable but your offer is insulting.

SunshineAngel · 20/12/2019 23:34

That's a ridiculously low offer, but considering it goes through the agent and you wouldn't actually have to face them with the offer .. maybe just do it anyway. You never know, you might strike lucky!

DarklyDreamingDexter · 20/12/2019 23:34

You can offer that by all means. However if was the seller, I’d tell you to piss off. I wouldn’t be insulted, I’d just think you were a chancer and wouldn’t take you or the the offer seriously, even if you came back with a higher price later.

OnlyLittleMissOrganised · 20/12/2019 23:39

You might find that when you get the survey for the mortgage it comes back with a valuation lower than the asking price. This has happened to two couples I know recently. Sellers are just chancing their luck.

I would go in for the low offer especially if other houses in the same street have sold for less in the past year.

Clymene · 20/12/2019 23:44

I'd tell you to sod off and not accept an offer from you even if you raised your price because I wouldn't trust you.

What you want to do to the house does not count as what it needs to make it habitable. The fact that they've moved already reduces your bargaining power too.

AutumnRose1 · 20/12/2019 23:50

pixxie “1 meh is not that long”

This gave me a much needed laugh, thanks!

I have got to figure out how to use that in a sentence 😂

keepingbees · 20/12/2019 23:50

What Fraglesrock said.

It's very very low, but it's only worth what someone will pay.
If you're going to go for it then you need to tell them exactly why and your position of being chain free.

IdiotInDisguise · 20/12/2019 23:51

I’m with Divebar on this, if the house is at that price in an affluent market town is because it is sold as in “need of refurbishment” and the valuation already reflects that.

If they were totally unaware of the £60,000 work needed, I would probably suggest the price to be lowered by £30,000, maybe a 10% discount but less than that I would not even bother in making a counteroffer.

My neighbour got a similar silly offer for her beloved house, which really needed to be refurbished. She got sooo ofended, she refused to sell it to that buyer even when they came back with a very reasonable offer.

bigbubbles · 21/12/2019 00:07

A few years ago when the stamp duty limit was £520K i put my house on at £520 knowing that it would get £500k. Very desirable house in hard to get location.

After a few days someone offered £450, I laughed and declined. Next day someone offered £500k I accepted. The £450 people went mad, emails, calls, knocking on the door, shouting at the estate agent. . They had offered first, why didn't I comeback to them and offer £500? They would have paid £500, surely I knew that?

The reason, I thought they were chancers who showed that they were not serious and who even if they paid £500 were likely to try and knock me down again during the process.

Offer the most that you can afford if you really want the house. Or walk away. Don't make a low offer- you won't be taken seriously, even if you later increase it.

lucy101 · 21/12/2019 00:09

I have put in a low offer on a house as it was genuinely all I could afford but I really wanted to live in this particular street. I also wrote to the buyers saying as much and that I really hoped they wouldn't' be insulted and I would completely understand if they refused my offer outright. They accepted as they had been struggling for a while to sell and we promised to be straightforward buyers and we were, they even waited for us when our first chain feel through.

I think I got the tone right in the letter too, it was respectful and acknowledged that it was a lovely house and that we would be very lucky to be able to live in.

We are now selling and have received a low offer, and the way it was presented to me definitely rubbed us up the wrong way and one of the main reasons why we wouldn't accept it...

LonelyGir1 · 21/12/2019 00:10

we put offers in that wee £100k less. Don't think it's offensive (vendor may say otherwise) if you have researched and it seems reasonable.

VenusTiger · 21/12/2019 00:16

It’ll get laughed straight back at you. £70k is a ridiculous amount to knock off, especially as it’s asking price and not ono.
If it’s got no chain and it needs work, someone will make an offer £20-30k less. Or, someone who doesn’t think it needs the work will make an offer nearer to asking price.
Have you checked what neighbours houses are worth? Has the agency accounted for the works in the asking price?

Havaina · 21/12/2019 00:41

No, considering that it needs £60k of work, you would be crazy to be in an offer for the asking price or even £300k, especially as a developed property sold for only £290k last year.

Equanimitas · 21/12/2019 00:47

If it actually needs the steels and remodelling, that will already have been taken into account in setting the price.

Havaina · 21/12/2019 00:55

it actually needs the steels and remodelling, that will already have been taken into account in setting the price

Is likely if a similar house sold for £290k last year and they went £330k?

I wonder if it’s on the market just so you’ll do the survey OP and send them a copy. There was a thread about this recently.

AmICrazyorWhat2 · 21/12/2019 00:55

So it needs £60k in structural work, plus it's decorated in a dated 1970s style so you need to factor in money for that as well.

I agree with PP's -research what similar properties in the area have recently sold for and work from there. Yes, it's a low bid, but the owners also have to be realistic if the house needs expensive work just to make it structurally sound.

Would you be prepared to go a bit higher if the seller rejected it outright?

AmICrazyorWhat2 · 21/12/2019 00:59

I don't agree that the structural work will have necessarily been taken into account when setting the price. Some sellers will try their luck - we experienced this recently with a property that was listed on the high side for that area, but when we did the survey, we discovered all sorts of things that needed fixing. The sellers wanted to make a certain amount of money and didn't want to fix anything!

Dieu · 21/12/2019 01:04

Very cheeky, and I really hope you don't get it.

Notso · 21/12/2019 01:07

We refused to negotiate further with potential buyers who gave us incredibly low offers.
I think because the house was empty it was assumed we were desperate to sell, we weren't and were happy to wait for the right price and buyers who wanted to live in the house rather than BTL.

FloppyBiffAndChip · 21/12/2019 01:15

OP, I have been worrying about this kind of thing for the last 6 months of house hunting, but I'm getting braver and braver the more frustrated I get at not finding anywhere. I have just offered 130k under the asking price on a property! I was embarrassed, but if you don't ask you'll never know. Turns out it wasn't so cheeky after all as we've just found out the only other offer on the property (made a couple of months ago) was 110k under the asking price. They turned that down, but it was a while ago, so they r currently considering ours. (The house was on for around 450k - so our offer felt very cheeky and I was worried about offending. But hey .. you never know! the estate agent the house is on with is notorious for over pricing everything!)

FloppyBiffAndChip · 21/12/2019 01:16

Dieu - why so nasty? Why do you hope she doesn't get it?

Aridane · 21/12/2019 02:10

I have just sold my mums house for £90'000, under the sale price as it needed complete rewiring, had extensive damp, structural damage and more, plus we needed a quick sale, it's always worth a punt

So your mother's house was massively over priced.

Does anyone actually put their property on the market for its actual value or is there always this dance

Beansandcoffee · 21/12/2019 07:46

If it needs steels is it falling down? I assume you need steels because you are planning to extend it. Updating it means new kitchen, bathroom, central heating and decorating. Not major extension work.

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