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.

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

Exactly

@ CareOfPunts We rent but I like to keep an eye on the current ridiculous prices. A 3 bed semi down my road and the surrounding 0.5 mile goes for £500k in a state of disrepair/needing renovation 😳 and £650-800k+ in good condition. Prices drop to £370-400k a 10/15 min drive away. Crazy.

Hahaha. No chance.

Like I and some other posters said, I wouldn't be offended but I'd reject it out of hand and not negotiate further.

So it's not a great business tactic either.

I think being "offensive" only matters in a context where if the sellers reject your initial, very low, offer you would want to come back with something higher.

In that case even if your second offer is actually perfectly reasonable the seller may think you're a piss taker who will mess them around and be unwilling to do business with you.

If the initial offer, although low, is genuinely the highest you would offer for the property then fine, why not risk it.

There is no "usual procedure"!

Offer what you want. After a month very unlikely they would accept but entirely depends on their reasons. Sometimes a cheeky offer works out. I offered 150k under and they accepted, but that was after 2 years on the market.

I'd make the offer with the reasoning behind it. They may listen to your reasons or not.

But make sure that you are comparing houses of similar desirability.

Still, I might offer 10-20K below what you really want to pay, then go up, so that they can feel they have won something by negotiating.

If £258K is top of your budget then you have nothing to lose by making the offer

I would imagine the likelihood of your offer being accepted is very low but you will have lost nothing

I'm about to put my house on the market after Christmas and I would reject an offer of £72k below the market price. I also would reject any further increased offers from the same person because I don't want to play silly games. I want to sell my house ASAP & I'll take a maximum of 15% off the market price. I hope this helps you put an offer in that shows you're serious and not a time waster.

if you offered that and i was the seller i wouldnt accept any further offers from you, cheeky as fuck

I would be asking why this one is priced some much more than similar properties. DH buys and does up property and so we watch the market. We did get a sense that people were pricing on the assumption that historic price rises will continue; they haven’t and we are now seeing reductions.

I'd ask agent how much one in tip-top condition would go for ? Then ask builder how much to get from A to B ? Then deduct cost and offer 5 under that . I'd lay all that out to agent so your not just pulling figures out of air

I never understand people’s logic putting in low offers because “it needs remodeling, a new roof, new carpet etc.” it’s not a new house!!!! What do you expect?!! Just seems tight to me.

It depends whether the major structural work has been built into the asking price and whether you think it is going to have others keen to buy it in the next few months.

Your offer is more than 20% below the asking price. You have a reason for it, but it is still a big reduction. They will either say no or try to bargain you up. If they say no you can make a higher offer.

How did you get on, OP? I'm assuming you were going to make your offer today?

I think it's a bit too low.

However, when we were buying our house, we placed an offer on one we liked, $5000 below asking, and they rejected it with no counter. And they'd been on the market for nearly 6 months. You never know what people are going to do.

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

Because some sellers will then instruct the Estate agent not to accept any further offers from you. My friend did that when she had a stupidly low offer for her house. She's sold lots of houses since she has a few rentals and said she thought people who massively lowballed it were likely to mess around and be unreliable in the future even if they upped their offer eventually.

I think it depends, are the steels and renovations needed because it's in such terrible condition it's falling down? Then yes go very low, unless the surrounding houses are selling for a great deal more than they asking price.
Saying it needs steels and reno to maybe open it up for personal taste wouldn't make me want to drop the price.
You might hate my decorating tastes but my house could be in top condition just needs painting to your colours. I wouldn't drop my price to cover the cost of someone elses personal colour and style.

Just checking in. Such fantastic advice and different opinions. It has been great to read them all.

Called to make our offer today and the estate agent is away until Monday so will try then.

We're upping the offer slightly based on feedback above as we don't want to be cut off at the first post but do feel strongly it is significantly overpriced.

Structural work is needed as the layout is absolutely bizarre. The size is great but rooms are totally not workable for family living, hence the steels are needed and the low offer. £330k I believe is the right price for the house if the layout was like a standard house. We are not wanting to extend with the works but purely make the space liveable.

Area where we are wanting to buy is expensive. Victorian terrace heavy. £700k+ for a 4 bed period property. Clusters of 60s and 70s roads that are not as desirable going for way less. It's the only way we will ever be able to afford this area.

Excited and nervous for Monday. Will update.

Yes, it’s rude. I would rule you out straight away as a piss-taker.

Hmmm, you say that they layout doesn't work for family living but is that your family or because it's actually really bad.

If people offered low on my house because they wanted to knock through and make it open plan I'd tell them to jog on. Some people like open plan, some don't. I wouldn't reduce for that specifically as I'd prefer separate rooms, hence why my house is like that.

Hilarious all the people saying even if you increased your offer to a level they were happy with, they'd sack you off the "offensive" initial offer - how daft.

Agents know shit and they now price it high because thats the percentage they get now, the listing price not the sold price-they just rip people off-my dsis got stung on this it wasnt made clear when she put it up they put it on for 15k more than it was worth because they get the higher commission

put in your offer you never know

The size is great but rooms are totally not workable for family living

I'm curious - has it already been altered? Or does it just not suit your preferences? Layouts change over the decades, styles of living change. Sounds like you may have to spend £££££ on most houses.

It’s well under, it will have been priced to allow for modernisation.