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Original poster

Cheeky couples on Location Location Location

137 replies

Arbesque · 12/08/2022 09:35

Just watched another episode where Bob and Lisa have been trying, for 2 years, to find a house within their 350k budget that meets all of their criteria.
Kirsty finds them one that has the 3 bedrooms, tick, big garden, tick, off street parking, tick and is in one of their preferred areas. It's on at 350k
Bob and Lisa love it and are beyond amazed that the perfect house in the perfect area, within budget, exists because in their 2 years of searching they have never one.

They decide to go in with a 'cheeky' (insulting) offer of 325. They are a bit miffed when this is turned down and up their offer to 330. Again, to their amazement this is turned down and the Estate Agent patiently explains that the vendors feel the asking price is fair.

Bob and Lisa very reluctantly up their offer to 340 and are shocked and hurt this is also rejected. They decide to 'walk away' and 3 months later are 'still looking' for their dream house.

No wonder, with that attitude.

If the house is worth it and you have the money just PAY THE ASKING PRICE and stop mucking everyone around.

OP posts:
Original poster
Arbesque · 12/08/2022 10:34

Icanstillrecallourlastsummer · 12/08/2022 10:29

LLL has followed the same format for years. Decades maybe even? It started in a market where offers were very much the done thing. They are clearly tring to keep that format going in a very different environment. And a huge amnount of this is orchastrated by the producers for viewers. And it works, you are talking about it on a public forum!

Show quote history

Yes that's true. I just feel sorry for the vendor selling a house for 250k and having buyers assume he can afford to knock 20k off the price.
I think that perpetuates an attitude that vendors are greedy and always overpriced their properties. Many vendors are biting their nails hoping they'll get the asking price because they can't afford to accept anything less.
There isn't usually 'a deal to be done' as Kirsty frequently announces.

OP posts:
mondaytosunday · 12/08/2022 10:36

@ComtesseDeSpair and @Minecraftatemychild I disagree totally. I always thought that Phil or Kirsty's recommended offer bid too high - I would have generally started lower. Certainly I don't think they encouraged 10% off! But bargaining is how to do it.
I bought last summer when things were supposedly going way over asking - and for sure in some pockets they were. The market was brisk, but I had three offers accepted under ask (one pulled out as couldn't find a house to buy, the other due to illness).
I have only ever bought one property at £3k over ask - open house and they had two other offers on the day. And certainly I have list out to higher offers. But every other property (and I've bought about 25 since the 80s in two different countries) I've bought for under ask.
The key is research. That couple on the show were just not reading the market.

ImAvingOops · 12/08/2022 10:47

The thing with couples on LLL is that when Kirstie or Phil make the offer, they say to the estate agent that this is the most the couple can afford, top of their budget blah blah blah, but we all know the couple can put in a few more grand if pushed. Which is why if I was selling a house, I'd completely disregard any starting offer under the asking price from K&P!

Some sellers are cheeky and have clearly overvalued their house and it's not wrong to make an offer. But where a house is in good nick, clearly fairly priced, it's rude as fuck to offer way under asking price.

SilverGlassHare · 12/08/2022 10:49

YANBU. Totally agree it’s just being greedy and shortsighted when they have the budget. We found our dream house 5 years ago, offered £10k under. Vendors said no so we immediately offered full asking price (this was me, DH wanted to go up by £5k but I was desperate for this house), they accepted, we all lived happily ever after. We’ve both said since how glad we are that we did offer full asking price - it was still under our budget and didn’t make much difference to our monthly repayments. We didn’t get round to cancelling our Rightmove alerts for ages afterwards and never saw anything we liked as much for the price.

AppaTheSixLeggedFlyingBison · 12/08/2022 10:53

We bought our house this year for 20k under asking. In our area it's quite common.
Someone I know is trying to buy in a different area and has lost houses to people offering 60/70k over asking so I guess it depends on the trends in your area!

AppaTheSixLeggedFlyingBison · 12/08/2022 10:55

We did pay what the house was worth though, in comparison to other houses on the same street so I guess a different situation. Our sellers had put it up too high tbh.

Eyesofdisarray · 12/08/2022 10:56

DillonPanthersTexas · 12/08/2022 09:52

I always wonder where some of the couples get their enormous budgets from when they come across as being utterly thick unemployable fuckwits.

🤣

SilverGlassHare · 12/08/2022 10:57

They had two other offers the same day (apparently), presumably also under asking price. It was only in the market for five days so I still feel like we got a good deal.

JauntyJinty · 12/08/2022 11:03

DillonPanthersTexas · 12/08/2022 09:52

I always wonder where some of the couples get their enormous budgets from when they come across as being utterly thick unemployable fuckwits.

I always think this - the intorduction is usualy along the lines of;

"This is Brad and Lindsey. Lindsey sells pieces of glass she finds on the beach on ebay. Brad works for tesco part time. Their budget is £600,000"

LadyDanburysHat · 12/08/2022 11:04

Candleabra · 12/08/2022 10:07

It can be a bit annoying with the fussy buyers but LLL is generally the only property show where people actually end up buying something.

The worst ones are the “Escape to….” genre. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone buy a house on that show. It’s very frustrating for the viewer.

Escape to .... are the worst.

The Country - this road is too noisy. You currently live in Central London and a village lane will have too much traffic for you?

The Sun - I want a 3 bed apartment right on the the beach for £100k when that will only buy me a 2 bed 20 mins walk away.

LadyEloise1 · 12/08/2022 11:07

I too am in Ireland - Dublin and was selling a property recently.
All the auctioneers(3) I dealt with said start with an asking price well below what you would like for the property, to get people in the door.
It's very frustrating for buyers who think they have a chance and really haven't a hope.
It's been like this since the late 1980s apparently.
I was always amazed at the "offering under the asking price" on LLL.
Very different to the Dublin market.

And as for Homes in the Sun 🙄
Sometimes the offers are insultingly low.
They have found the perfect place, under budget and they let it go for a paltry thousand. Bonkers.

Icanstillrecallourlastsummer · 12/08/2022 11:08

Home in the sun/ escape to type programs are purely people who want a free holiday.

ToffeeNotCoffee · 12/08/2022 11:09

I always wonder where some of the couples get their enormous budgets from when they come across as being utterly thick unemployable fuckwits.

This^

Been looking for a property for two years ? No, you've been browsing.

These people need therapy for their inability/unwillingness to make a decision. Most of them come across as not really grown up enough to be in the property purchasing game. Buying a property is just to much of a leap for a lot of them. So they just keep looking (playing for time.)

Kirsty's pandering to them gets on my nerves.

Are you seriously telling me they have never seen any of these properties themselves ? Then Kirsty and Phil turn up, then they're like, 'oh look....a house for sale.....to our preference....and budget...in a suitable area......gosh.'

The subjects of each episode don't look particularly happy or excited to see the, as Kirsty would say, 'p'hurfuct' house.

ToffeeNotCoffee · 12/08/2022 11:12

Home in the sun/ escape to type programs are purely people who want a free holiday.

Yup. I almost admire the brass neck of these people ! Let me guess, middle aged daughter and retired mother want to move to Spain/Malta/Italy/Portugal etc

ToffeeNotCoffee · 12/08/2022 11:15

Please do NOT let this degenerate into a 'B' word thread. Y'know, Hexit.

Transformatio · 12/08/2022 11:16

Last time I sold a house (2003) we had cash buyers who thought that this meant we would and should accept a lower price.

It was on the market for £230K (only for a week and I believe fairly priced - we had valuations above that too) and they offered £207K, which we declined. The estate agent reported back that they were really shocked and annoyed that we declined it and wanted him to ring us again and make it very clear that they were cash buyers. Right. A couple of days later we had offers of £228K and £230K come in - we accepted the £228K as they were in a position to move.

Quia · 12/08/2022 11:17

I saw an old ETTC the other day where the couple were moving to Norfolk, and wanted a house with four bedrooms, around 2 acres, and an annexe. So they get shown two houses that meet that specification, and each time say in wonderment "We would NEVER have considered looking at this house if we'd found it online". Why on earth not? There can't be that many houses in Norfolk that meet those requirements and are within budget, I was left totally stumped trying to work out what they would actually have considered looking at left to themselves.

Fupoffyagrasshole · 12/08/2022 11:20

meh i would have done the same & haggle!

we paid 5k under for our house in London recently - not much but still something

why should people just accept and pay the asking price - if you don't try / don't ask you don't get

They obviously didn't want the house that badly I guess though if they weren't willing to pay the asking

Original poster
Arbesque · 12/08/2022 11:21

LadyEloise1 · 12/08/2022 11:07

I too am in Ireland - Dublin and was selling a property recently.
All the auctioneers(3) I dealt with said start with an asking price well below what you would like for the property, to get people in the door.
It's very frustrating for buyers who think they have a chance and really haven't a hope.
It's been like this since the late 1980s apparently.
I was always amazed at the "offering under the asking price" on LLL.
Very different to the Dublin market.

And as for Homes in the Sun 🙄
Sometimes the offers are insultingly low.
They have found the perfect place, under budget and they let it go for a paltry thousand. Bonkers.

Yes I know of properties here being put on the market for 100k under the expected price.

OP posts:
Quia · 12/08/2022 11:21

When the presenters phone the estate agent, they always say something like "John and Mary absolutely LOVE xyz house". Wouldn't it be a better bargaining tool to say something like "John and Mary are thinking about buying xyz house, though they also like abc house that they saw this morning and have put in an offer. Would the sellers take £offer before abc house sellers snap their hands off?"

JenniferBarkley · 12/08/2022 11:24

I dunno. I have a friend who is buying and gets very worked up about asking prices - they don't actually mean anything. Similarly another friend who was furious when the mortgage valuation came in way under the price he'd agreed.

Remember, LLL is a TV show and we won't be seeing the full picture.

We always remember the episode set in Belfast, with a couple of young doctors with Irish names, wanting to buy in a naice, leafy South Belfast area. They were shown a house a few miles away that was amazing - but we know the area and it's painted kerbstones and flegs territory, not somewhere at all wise for them to buy.

JassyRadlett · 12/08/2022 11:24

Last time we sold (before the current mental market) every estate agent we saw wanted to list it higher than they thought wed get, because people would offer under and would be reticent to go to asking price.

OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow · 12/08/2022 11:26

My goodness, it’s almost like they are doing just to be on tv!

midgetastic · 12/08/2022 11:27

JassyRadlett · 12/08/2022 11:24

Last time we sold (before the current mental market) every estate agent we saw wanted to list it higher than they thought wed get, because people would offer under and would be reticent to go to asking price.

Exactly - people like to think they achieved a bargain

DillonPanthersTexas · 12/08/2022 11:27

It was on the market for £230K (only for a week and I believe fairly priced - we had valuations above that too) and they offered £207K, which we declined. The estate agent reported back that they were really shocked and annoyed that we declined it and wanted him to ring us again and make it very clear that they were cash buyers. Right. A couple of days later we had offers of £228K and £230K come in - we accepted the £228K as they were in a position to move.

Had similar when I sold my flat years ago. It had a lot of interest in the place and I was confident of getting an asking price offer. I did one viewing myself outside of normal agency hours and this absolute tool of a man tried to strong arm me into a way below asking price offer. He was like a Poundshop version of that Mike Brewer chap from Wheeler Dealers, all over the top mockney geezer. He could not get it into his head that I had already had offers way higher then his but he persisted anyway; "come on maaaate, you know it makes sense" before spitting on the palm of his hand and offering it in order to seal the deal.

He did not get to buy the place.