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

hmmm, when they came back with 197k, I would have upped my offer to 190k and hoped to meet somewhere in the middle.

I'd definitely say that was a cheeky offer and I'd be less inclined to deal with you again if I got a better offer. They may think you'll try it on again after the survey is done to get even more off.

We've offered £30k under asking but the house was £400k and had been on the market for over 5yrs with no offers. The estate agent pushed us for another £5k and the vendor still rejected it.

@catfeets sounds like they really don't want to sell for whatever reason. Has it been on at that price all 5 years or have they upped it with inflation?

Yes, the biggest difference in agent estimates for our house is 60k.

Sounds a bit cheeky.

I’m sure most people would replace carpets and repaint when moving into a new home anyway? When you said it needs work I was expecting new kitchen and new bathroom/s etc..

new paint and carpets are in many situations a given that they need replacing and reducing the price of a house at £210k by £30k on that basis is a joke.

Congrats OP. I think saying yes to their counter offer rather than trying to squeeze a tiny bit more was sensible and signals you will be OK to deal with. Good luck

@StarsonaString I think they were adamant it was worth a certain value when it really isn't. They're marketing it as an equestrian property because it has some shitty run down stables that need to be knocked down. It has no access to any land etc either which is why no one is interested in buying it.
They'd originally marketed it higher than £400k. We have our original offer price agreed now after the terrible survey results showed them they might as well get rid of it before it costs them a fortune. They haven't lived there for years so it's a waste leaving it empty and must be costing a fortune in council tax (band F).
They said no again but then came back to say they'd agree the price. I think we've still possibly overpaid - I don't think we'll get much more for it when we eventually sell it on even though it needs a LOT of work.

Congrats OP. £197k is still a good reduction.

Bid what you think it is worth. If a house hasn't sold in the first 2-3 weeks it will be on ages anyway and means the asking price is probably on the high side.

I had estate agent differences in value estimates of 20% for my house last year so it can be very very subjective.

A house is only worth the amount people are willing to pay for it.

House market is quite good at the moment so the owners may think they can get this sort of price for it.

If you don't ask, you don't get.

I used to work in estate agency (many moons ago) and had vendors who would refuse to entertain a buyer who gave what they considered to be a ridiculous offer (I'm not saying you did, I haven't seen the house or know the market in the area). I had a buyer offer quite a lot under the asking price and the vendor was so offended that they refused to even consider a counter offer or the buyer's increased offer. Wouldn't even discuss it.

I do believe that the buyer was just chancing their arm and they increased their offer substantially but the vendor actually sold to someone else for slightly under that offer. They firmly believed that the person who had offered so low was a piss taker and would just waste their time.

Look at 'sold' prices in the local area, for similar properties (Rightmove should have this); take into account the state of the properties, similarities & differences, work required, date of sale etc.
Look at other 'for sale' prices for similar properties currently on the market.
If the property you're looking at needs work, calculate how much this will cost. Ideally have some justification for why you are offering less.
(I'm not sure paint and carpets are enough justification for £30k....is there more work that NEEDS doing? You can't subtract simply for work that you WANT to do.)
But offering 10% less than asking is very normal, which would be £21k, so you're offering about 14% less than asking. Not cheeky at all.

But mainly: IGNORE the estate agent's reaction - they work for the vendor, and their only goal is to sell for as much as possible. It's their job to discourage lower offers, however realistic the offer is. Of course they want you to feel bad for a lower offer, but just ignore them.

We are in the process of selling our house and have accepted an offer just over 5% below asking price. I think 14% below asking is pretty cheeky and might have got their backs up. I would probably have started at 10% below with the hope that we could agree on 5% below.

I've had that reaction too, @MacDuffsMuff

As a would be buyer I just shrugged. The seller was obviously one of those who was selling a much loved home rather than a house.

It works both ways, I suspect!

Sorry just saw your update OP - great result!

We viewed a house that was just out side the area we were looking in - asking was 385, we only had 360 max - the house had been on the market for 18 months and was overpriced (but not £25k overpriced)

We wrote a letter with the offer saying that it was our best price, we were aware that it was a cheeky offer but we had sold our house to a cash buyer so not in a chain, would they consider us??

It worked and we are very happy here

@Lockheart

Lots of people horrified at the idea that someone would offer less than the asking price. The asking price is a rough guide. There is no set price for how much houses are worth - it's not like FX rates or the price of gold.

A house is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. No more, no less.

If your house is priced at £500k (say) and people are only offering £350k then that is how much it is worth at that time. They're not CF, you're overly optimistic. Now, there's nothing to stop you hanging on and hoping you get £490k offers - it's your house and your choice. But it's really not cheeky to offer what you believe something is worth.

Agree with this. In real life everyone I know offers what they think the house is worth and what they want to pay, but on mumsnet people seem professionally offended at the audacity of a lower offer. Its only an offer and you can reject but it doesn't make them cheeky to ask for a lower price.

Wow this thread has definitely been an eye opener for me. We have now secured the property and will start proceedings. Thanks for everyone's opinions and this will definitely be off help for future house purchases, I can't believe we have secured a house

The price in 2015 is of no relevance whatsoever.

I think within 55 or 10% is a usual sort of offer - keep bargaining until you reach a price you like, UNLESS you are likely to lose it to someone who is not horse trading with them. It would be daft to lose a house that suits you over a couple of £K.

depends on the asking price.
30k off an asking price below 300k (if the price reasonably reflects the value) is very cheeky and I wouldn't consider you as a buyer even if you upped your offer. spells troublemaker and pain in the butt during conveyancing,

X-posted. Congratulations!

Yay, well done OP.

Basically unless the market is really, really a seller's market, I thought offering 10% under was pretty standard. Obviously 15% under has enabled you both to end up with a price you're happy with.

I'm amazed they didn't tell you to get lost, but pleased for you.

I'm considering making an offer 30k below asking on a house that needs probably £60k worth of work. Now I think we might try even lower based on your experience!