…to ask what to offer for this house?

[HouseBuyingNovice2022]

It’s so difficult to know what to do in the current market, so I’m grateful for any advice/tips I can get!

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/127313855#/?channel=RES_BUY

Have fallen in love with this house (obviously haven’t told the sellers this). I want to offer but simply don’t know where to pitch it. It seems to have been reduced by £50k since originally going on the market (not sure why) though the owners say that they’ve rejected at least one offer they’ve had because it wasn’t at a number they could accept…so I’m guessing maybe they aren’t totally desperate (?).

Help! Minefield!

If you love it and it's already been reduced 50k and you think 600k is affordable and sensible based on the area then just offer 600k and say you want a quick sale.

£600k

No advice on what to offer as the market has changed since I was last in this position but the house looks gorgeous. Fingers crossed for you.

Are you a cash buyer? Do you need to arrange a mortgage? Is your own property under offer or up for sale? These are all factors that could have a bearing. You could offer £20k below to see if they'll bite but be willing to negotiate. If you love it and can afford it, go for it!

Probably some movement because otherwise they might have asked for offers over 600K. I’d probably try 585K, worth a punt. Lovely house by the way.

Full asking.

I've always in the past offered anywhere between 10-20k less. The house I am in now I got for 10k less than asking.

They can only say no, but if they say yes? Great.

Start cheeky I always think, and you can work up from there.

Thanks so much for the super-quick feedback! I do need a mortgage so don’t have the leverage a cash buyer might unfortunately but I could instruct to get on with stuff ASAP - my house has been SSTC so I’m basically ready to go albeit in a chain. Do you think it would be cheeky to ask for assurances around exclusivity?????? Or maybe that isn’t the done thing in this kind of context?

Exciting….and daunting!

Full asking and remove from the market immediately was our agreement. It's not out of order to be asked for that, especially if you have agreed a sale.

Is there plumbing for a dishwasher? Not mentioned.

@HenBob Hugely appreciate your no-nonsense advice - thank you! May I just ask when (ie in which season and year) you bought?

I’d better have a think about these here numbers then…!

Absolutely beautiful house OP.

I'd offer £550k and go from there. With the rise in interest rates/energy costs this house has got so much more expensive every month.

Depending on the area, is it sort after? Is it likely to be affected by the impending house price crash? Is this a 1 off property that will always be desired and its location. Personally id not be mortgaging anything unless you have a deal secured at a really low rate for a significant number of years.

@newtb lm pretty sure l saw a Smeg dishwasher in one of the pictures?

Yep 👍🏽

Actually, yep, you can see it in one of the kitchen pics!

This is lovely! I’m not hugely experienced in housebuying but I’d go for maybe £560-580k (depends a bit on the area).

Also, when we offered on ours, a condition was that viewings stopped and they marked it as under offer immediately upon acceptance of our offer. There were 11 other second viewings booked but fortunately they were all cancelled so nobody else offered!

Depends how long it’s been on the market, I’d probably offer £575k unless it’s been on for 6 months or more and then I’d offer £550k.

It’s a good point though, for a house of that spec l would want a dishwasher

Gorgeous house! I like the utility room upstairs idea, it makes more sense. Not sure about the market in that area but l would be tempted to go with full asking as it is lovely

This is exactly where my brain goes. Not re these £numbers specifically (as I keep going round in circles on those) but in terms of the rationale/what-ifs. Thing is, as a PP earlier mentioned, it’s a total one-off, so I think it might be a case of trying to work out whether that fact (and the reasons for it) means the house is to a certain extent insulated from a dip more than non-unique houses (???). Gah.

Seems it last sold in 2014 for £308k and the current zoopla guide price is
Estimated price
£501,000 - £554,000

By you saying that you think it's been reduced by 50k already I'm guessing it was 650k.

To me that's always irrelevant as you're not looking at a property valued at 650k you're looking at a property advertised at 600k, if you get me..
Can you afford 600k, if so go full asking.
Having been reduced by 50k is there now much more interest?
If not you could go in at 565k and see how the land lies, then go from there.

I’d have to go significantly under asking. I don’t think I could live with myself if I didn’t. In my current house our first offer was 25% under asking. We eventually settled at a price a little over 14% under asking. Which is a chunk of cash and you never know unless you try.

We bought a house a year ago and good houses were being snapped up immediately. We offered the full asking price on the house and it was accepted. They had other people who also offered full asking price but we were in a stronger position.
I feel that if the house has only recently been reduced from £650k then offering £550k won't be acceptable to them. It's a full £100k less than they wanted. If you want to risk it, it's up to you but someone may well come and offer the full price.

100% on the dishwasher point and thankfully that’s covered 😃

The utility room thing is funny - it had never really occurred to me before but I thought the same when I viewed. Tbh I don’t get why we in the UK don’t as a rule just have them upstairs given that that’s where clothes tend to get taken off and put back on… But I digress!