Is this offer offensive

[natashaaaaa]

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.

Beansandcoffee That was my understanding of the situation as well. It doesn't currently need steels, but would need them if the OP buys it due to extension / changing the layout.

Sounds like you are pitching too low but if you do offer make sure the vendor is made aware you've had quotes for work and your ability to complete as it shows you are not a tyre kicker/CF.

That would kill any chance of wanting to deal with you as I couldn’t take it seriously. I’d be thinking you’ll be mucking me about again further down the line.

That’s a stupid offer. The agents know what they’re doing (within reason).

Wanting to remodel it doesn't mean it 'needs' £60k of work, it means that's what it will cost to do whatever you have in mind. That is nothing to do with what a house is worth.

I don’t really understand the choice of the word offensive.

Offensive would be “I’m offering £70K below because it looks like you decorated it blind and drunk, and frankly the photos of your inbred looking kids made me knock an extra £2K off”.

It’s just an offer. It can be realistic or unrealistic - but not offensive.

What's a tyre kicker?

The usual procedure is to offer 20% less and then negotiate upwards so that eventually the seller accepts 10% less.

What's your intention? To offer this and walk away if not accepted because it's all you can offer? You have nothing to lose.

If you want to then negotiate and think that by starting lower, you'll end up with a lower half point, then again, you can try. There's probably a 10% chance or so that they will go as low as you wish, but everything is possible.

The only problem is if the owner and estate agent think it is a ridiculous offer to the point that they will want nothing to do with you at all. It could be that if they don't sell in 3 months, they might have been prepared to lower to a price you would consider but they could tell you to get lost even then out of principle.

No-one can say whether it would be the right thing to do or not, you've got to decide whether you want to go for it on the one off it pays off because you're not bothered to potentially lose out if you'd offer a more reasonable price.

How can an offer be offensive?

The property will sell at the market price. Your low offer may be the market price. Go for it.

P.S. Just make sure the agents present this offer to the homeowner. I keep hearing of estate agents who are lying and do not put forward the offers they receive which would reduce their commission...

@Havaina it’s an expression meaning someone who comes for a gasp but was never interested in buyer. So in context of a used car, they waste your time ‘checking it over’ by giving the tyres a kick to see if they’re inflated - but we’re only ever being nosy.

This is symptomatic for a housing system that is not fit for purpose.

Put the offer in, the worst that can happen is they say no and then refuse to deal with you (I wouldn’t want to deal with you because I think you would getter each stage of the process and expect money to be taken off here there and everywhere).

However what I would do before making an offer Ian a land registry search - £6 or so for the charges and map. We did this with a property tab was overpriced, turns out they had a massive loan secured on it so they needed it to break t ceiling ceiling of road. Unsurprisingly, the estate agent wasn’t aware, and it was taken off the market soon after.

The land registry details don't give the amount of a loan secured against a property.

Mention of "steels" sounds like someone wanting to knock rooms through or extend - this is in no way a requirement! If the house will fall down without the steels that's different.
What did the survey give as a valuation?

What did the survey give as a valuation?

Good question.

I agree that "offensive" is an odd choice of word.

No one can tell you if the offer is reasonable without having some insight into your local market. But if that's what you want to pay for the house then offer it. You'll quickly find out if they're willing to accept. If you're prepared to pay more then offer that amount instead.

I've never really got into the choreography of haggling and splitting the difference between what they say and what you say. Just decide what it's worth to you and offer that.

Sorry I misread the Op I thought it said £300k not 330k

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

Except with a unique or massively desirable home I'd say the "dance" is pretty much inevitable. The value's only what someone will pay and the sellers can't know that until it's marketed, so tend to try their luck on the basis they can always drop the price

Admittedly a really good agent can prevent at least some of this, but how many of those are there?

Why would it be offensive, and even if the sellers thought it was, why would you care? It’s a business transaction with strangers presumably, they aren’t your best friends.

Well she would care if it meant they would not consider any further offer from them on the house.
Depends if it's a buyer's or a seller's market really.

Well I suppose that depends on how desperate she his for a house. 3 bed semi, hardly sounds unlikely that others will come up.

hardly sounds unlikely that others will come up.

I sure OP could find others if she widened her search, but houses in this location don't seem to come on the market very often. OP herself says the last property nearby sold a year ago, and the one before that was two years ago.

I’m just glad I don’t live somewhere where I’d need to consider even £258k for a 3 bed semi!