Offering £30k under asking

[whatsontonight]

Viewed a house which we love, it needs a bit of work doing to it such as new paint throughout, carpets etc. It has a new ish bathroom and an ok kitchen. We offered £30k under asking, it is priced at 210k. The estate agent seemed completely shocked we had offered this and now I'm wondering if this was a CF offer

We had a first time buyer who did similar OP (sorry hadn't seen your last update) on our last property. We went with the person who gave a sensible offer, even though the original purchaser came back with a slightly higher offer as we felt they would mess us around/ try and pull somethjng close to exchange. If you like the house offer what you can afford. Playing games always leaves a bad taste in the mouth imo.

I think 30k below is cheeky. When they call you to refuse the offer ask the agent what offer would be acceptable. New carpets and decorating are not the sort if things you get much money knocked off for unless they have priced it the same as an immaculate house would go for. If you offer too low and are slow to negotiate up they wont take your offers seriously.

@IndecentFeminist

Sounds like a perfectly sound first offer to me. Doesn't everyone under offer first off with the potential to come up?

Of course. But not by £30k when all it needs is new carpets and to be painted

I know it feels horrible now but wait it out. They are unlikely to say a flat no without a counter offer or asking you for one. It's not like they can blackbook you. We have just bought a house for 24k under but that started at a 50k drop and we want back an forth until we got to a pint we were happy with. You risk being outbid by someone.else but you can't control that.

You can offer what you like.....doesn’t mean it will be accepted.

I know EAs get a bad rep but the things mentioned will have been taken into account when the agent did the valuation if they are visibly tired/worn, they will have been. I know people think they’re out to bleed buyers dry but in my experience (which is probably more extensive then most) they will give a a fair estimation, any over estimation is normally on the part of the vendor.

So as the previous poster said they probably feel you are being a bit cheeky as you don’t seriously think it’ll cost you 30k do you??

As we’ve not seen it you could also be confusing need with want. Just because you would want to do it for whatever reason doesn’t mean it needs doing. It is annoying for agents when buyers do this.

Hard to say without seeing it, but based on what you've said so far, £30k less for what's going to cost you probably £5k is cheeky and I'd think you're time wasters and would reject it. I personally would have gone in at £190k at least and expect to shake hands closer to £200k.

I think when you're buying a house redecorating is pretty much a given isn't it? If it was things like the bathroom and kitchen need replacing then sure but if the price is reasonable but it needs redecorating then I do think you were a bit cheeky, they might just refuse to deal with you if they take offence.

There's no way I'd accept 30K on a property worth 210K. I'd laugh in your bloody face. That's almost 200K off the asking price. Its not going to cost 180K for a new bathroom carpets and some paint is it.

That's a shockingly low offer for what sounds like standard wear and tear. Surely the house has been priced to reflect the condition it's in?

I imagine that the vendors won't take it seriously and will tell the agents not to entertain any more offers from you, unless they're really struggling to sell.

Just offer £195,000 and stop messing everyone around then!

Im so sorry I thought you meant you had offered them 30K rather than 30K less. I think you could go say 5K less but not 30K

A lot depends on availability within an area
Houses in my area are selling over the asking price so expecting to get 30k off for a bit of paint work and new carpets is a bit much, whatever they paid in 2015 is not an indicator of today's value , you need to look at prices of recently sold (this year) similar properties in that road / area
Depends how much you want the property really

Just wait it out. See what happens

@Awwlookatmybabyspider

There's no way I'd accept 30K on a property worth 210K. I'd laugh in your bloody face. That's almost 200K off the asking price. Its not going to cost 180K for a new bathroom carpets and some paint is it.

Is this satire?

Also just to add we don't expect to get it for 180, hoping to meet at 195k

The problem with this approach is it might not encourage negotiation. When our buyer went too low we just said no and didn't counter offer, so he ended up just having to increase his offer until we were happy, it can put you on a bad footing from the start.

Those things are usually taken into account when valued.

What sort of market are you in? I think the fact you're trying to get it more than 10% off even after you've raised your offer suggests you must be in a very slow area or it's very undesirable. And by that I don't just mean it needs redecorating.

My last house I put on the market for 215. The first offer was 195, which I rejected instantly. It sold for full asking price 2 days later to someone else. Basically the first person couldn't afford what it was worth.

In your situation I'd think you can't afford it and would be nervous to proceed even if you put in a decent offer. I'd definitely take another buyer over you if there was that option.

The house I like in was on for 230k 10 years ago. We offered and paid 175k

They've come back with 197k!!!

Live not like!

Our house was on for £145k and had just been refused from £150k. We offered £112k which in hindsight was too low but we knew the house had been on the market for 2 years and he'd accepted several offers and had them fall through. We went to £120k then did a final offer of £125k and got it. So technically £25k under their original asking price. Like many have said, it's only worth what someone will pay

We had a house on for £525, when the stamp duty cut off was £500. It was going to sell at £500

Someone offered £450, we refused, they came back at £475, refused

We got an offer for £500 and accepted. 1st person got really arsey and said they would have paid £500

If you would pay it then offer it. They came across as time wasters who were likely to use issues and try and renegotiate.

So I wouldnt entertain someone who offered £180 on a £210 house if as you say it is reasonable priced for the area. You would have ruled yourself out.

Offering 30k less is no cheekier than marketing a house at 30k more than it's worth.

Don't go back yet, OP, wait to hear what the EA says.

@whatsontonight oh that's great, they're nicer than me :) what are you going to counter? They sound keen tbh!

You can’t go back to EA without them coming back to you IMO as it makes you look less serious. We offered 190k on a 210k house but it needed a new garden wall, new flooring, new double glazing and this was in line with what others had sold for, seller wasn’t impressed but accepted as we were in a good position for a quick sale and they had been let down. 30k off for a paint job and carpets likely to cost 2k in total is taking the mick but it’s too late now, as a seller it would put me off trusting you even if you came in at asking. When selling my old house we refused to negotiate with bidders who came in too low.