AIBU to think low house offers are always worth making?

[coulditbeme2323]

Why do low house offers annoy Mumsnetters so much?

Surely a cheeky offer is always wort it.

Yes they need as much as they can, and are often pressured by a ex male partner to sell asap. They often have a deadline. So when you come along, you're right that these are easy targets to pressure to undersell the property to you due to their desperation. Well done, you!

Because it signals that they are time wasters

I don't mind receiving cheeky offers. Easy enough to either refuse or negotiate.

Due to their audacity. Other people will want the place who aren't as disrespectful.

But I added the caveat of a non refundable deposit.

The might not, depends on the property and the market.

Business is business.

They annoy people because :

i) It reinforces that nagging doubt that their house might actually be worth a lot less than they think it is. And no one likes to find out they actually have something worth a lot less than they think it is, especially when a "lot less" can mean tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds.

ii) It increases the probability that their house is in fact overvalued by a significant amount, and them having to at some point face reality.

iii) It increases the probability that no one out there is going to fund their next life plans. Mansion/fast car/world cruise/comfortable retirement.

I'm pretty sure if someone turned up and told you you were worth 100K less than you thought you were, that would not be well received.

As the Descates quote goes :

"Man is incapable of understanding any argument that interferes with his revenue."

OK.

Theres a house in a popular area that you really want. It’s on for £500,000. That’s within your budget.

Five offers are made. One at £505,000, three at the asking price, and you offer £480,000.

The vendor is going to accept the £505,000 or ask those who offered £500,000 if they can match or offer more.

If it were me, I wouldn’t invite you to do so because I’d conclude you weren’t serious and that you also wouldn’t bump up your offer by £25,000.

Even if you did, I’d be more inclined to go with others who offered the same, as I’d conclude you were a bit of a chancer, or clueless.

I wouldn't be selling a property that won't be of interest.

Fair enough - but not everybody is in the luxury of that being a choice.

That’s probably contravening all kinds of codes of conduct to presumably let you know which owners you can fleece

And your values are yours to hold and justify. We don't all believe we will meet a maker who will judge how Good we are, but some do.

I know so of course we can exploit people who have no other options. It's just some of us choose not to such things for personal gain.

I mean you say "fleece" but they are only accepting our offer if it's the highest genuine offer on the table.

So really you’re proving that your assertion that you should ‘always’ offer lower is wrong as you don’t bother viewing properties than you know won’t accept a low offer…

I am struggling to see the problem.

The vendor is going to take the highest offer they get, if that happens to be ours then so be it.

Why is paying someone the best offer they've had for a property exploitation?

Refer back to my above post, if they are accepting my offer it means there hasn't been a better one.

Only on MN!

I don’t think it’s cheeky at all and I wouldn’t be put off by it. If I thought it was too low I’d just say no and move on. I also haven’t found any correlation between buyers coming in at asking price straight off the bat and the sale progressing smoothly later. We had a buyer who offered asking price, cash buyer with evidence of funds etc but they still dicked us around for months with stupid issues, holding up the whole chain and then tried to lower the price two days before exchange claiming the market had
moved since they’d made the offer. That in my mind is a CF, not someone who comes in with a lower offer at the start of the process.

If "business is business" why get wound up at someone getting outraged at a low offer ?

Just walk away and find somewhere else.

So you offer £400k and then go back and offer full asking with a deposit? Nah sorry, these are often people’s homes and they don’t want to deal with dishonest people who think it’s okay to offer a pathetically low price to start.

We get it Op, your agent lets you know which properties are owned by people desperate enough to take a much lower price and then you snap them up. I’m all for capitalism but giving someone less because they are desperate is not something to boast about.

Presumably the agent is also supposed to be acting in the best interest of the seller?

Our recent experience: offers over 500k, buyers offer under, few weeks later they squeeze us down further. Then pull out due to their buyers pulling out. It went back on market. Offers come in, we ask for best and final. Highest bid comes from the CFs which was a bit of a shock, as a full 100k over their knock down offer. We accept the second highest bid based on most likely to complete. Haven't looked back.

When you go in low, and maybe one day I'll do the same as I'm not against in principle, you are sending a message. Be sure about that message.

Because the OP admits purposely seeking out those who have no choice but to sell. So people in desperate need. It isn't illegal but I wouldn't want friends who thought like that.