What would you offer on a £130k “offers over” house? First-time buyer advice needed

[NorthEastHomeHunter]

Hi everyone,
I’m a first-time buyer and I’ve found a 2-bed end terrace that I really like. It’s listed at £130,000 offers over and has only just come onto the market (around a week ago), so I appreciate it may still be in the early stages of pricing and marketing.
I’ve viewed it and would genuinely consider making an offer, but I’m trying to be sensible and not overpay.
From what I can see, similar properties in the area tend to sell a bit lower depending on condition. This one is fairly standard, no major upgrades, and an EPC in the lower range, but still a solid home for me.
I’m in a chain-free position, so I can proceed quickly if needed, but I’m unsure what a sensible first offer would be in today’s market without being either too low or too close to asking.
I was thinking around £123,000, but I’d really appreciate views from people with more experience — would you start lower in this situation given it’s just come on, or is that too aggressive?
Thanks in advance 🙂

Is it scotland. I thought offers over meant asking and above only and they wont even entertain below.

Hi, thanks for replying 🙂
I’m in England (North East), not Scotland, so I think “offers over” here is more of a marketing guide than a fixed minimum.

I think if its only just come on then they are likely to turn down a low offer and hold out to see what other interest there is. Generally it's properties that have been on ages that you can get away with a cheeky offer as they will be getting fed up.

Edited because I took so long to reply that you'd answered my question!

Thanks, that makes sense.
I guess my thinking is that it’s a fairly local market and the sellers are also buying onward, so I wasn’t sure how much that balances out the “wait for better offers” approach in practice.
I completely get they may well counter rather than accept, I was just trying to get a feel for a sensible starting point.

Thanks, it’s in England, not Scotland, so there’s no Home Report or formal valuation figure in the same way.
I understand the point about early listings though. I’m just trying to gauge what a sensible starting offer would be in a fairly standard local market rather than assuming £130k is a hard minimum.

Make a serious offer that you can afford and explain why you have come in lower than the offers over. Say you are genuine and understand they may hold out, but they are welcome to come back to you if nothing else works out.

If I’d only been on the market for a week, I’d reject any offer under £128k.

Thankyou. That’s broadly what I’m thinking, to make a genuine offer at a level I’m comfortable with and explain why it’s below the offers over. I appreciate they may choose to hold out for better offers at this stage, but I’d be happy for them to come back to me if nothing else comes in or works out.

That's good to know thank you

There is nothing wrong with offering under, even if it specifies offers over, especially if similar properties have recently sold for less. As a FTB you are not in a chain, and that might make a difference if they want to move quickly. I'd offer at least 12% under as an opening bid, they can only say no.

Thanks that’s really helpful. That’s pretty much the approach I was leaning towards, looking at recent comparable sales in the area rather than taking “offers over” too literally. I agree being chain free should hopefully count in my favour if they’re keen to move quickly, and I suppose I’m just trying to balance starting at a sensible level without going so low that it gets dismissed outright.
Appreciate the perspective 🙂

I'd offer £125k if you are chain free with a mortgage offer, and leave it on the table if they decline, as a PP said.

Speak to the agent. Tell them you are interested but only to the value that it's worth to you, so please ask the sellers to get in touch with you if they decide to lower their minimum price range and leave it at that.

Also, end terraces sound good, only one neighbour, but have their pitfalls:

• They are often on corners: more traffic. More colissions, more people congregating, more road works/drain works/electric pole works etc. I've lived on corners in the past and I now actively avoid corners when house hunting.
• they are the ones on the "bad" disadvantaged side of access rights in the deeds. Pipes for a while terrace can pass through the end terrace house, meaning you have only the disadvantages and none of the benefits of the rights
• more maintenance. A larger surface area for re-pointing.
• the design of terraces factor in the terracing itself for things like structural insulation. End terraces sometimes suffer more with damp and cold.

Thanks Treetopssofree.I’m planning to do something similar with the agent and make a genuine offer based on what I feel it’s worth, so thats good to hear. On end terraces, those are good points I hadn't considered. Appreciate the input 🙂

Thanks BBK for the number.
That’s really helpful, especially as £125k is pretty much the top end of what I was considering anyway going in at as a starting point.

Ah good. I would say you've looked at property prices, you think that's the correct price and it's the top of your budget. So many properties are reduced at the moment, they may go for it. If they decline, act indifferent and say you're happy to leave it on the table for consideration. It takes nerve, but it will happen, if it's meant to be.

Our house was an "offers over..." and we didn't know what to offer but went about 50K under. They said they'd accept if we increased our offer by 10K. Sometimes it's just how the estate agents word it.

I don’t think the agent will even put it to the seller, if it’s specified offers over

They have to do so.

Depends on how you phrase it

I would acknowledge that it is listed as offers over, and ask the agent to let the sellers know that should they consider offers under down the line, I'm interested to the tune of 125,000, and this is my position.

That message is more likely to get passed on than pretending to not see the "offers over"

Yes, in that area most similar houses seem to sit around the £120k mark, so I’m starting a bit lower to give room for negotiation.
My main hesitation was that it’s only just come on the market, but as you say, sometimes you just have to hold your nerve and it if it’s meant to be!!!🙂

Thank you for sharing this! I’m hoping to use a similar approach to open the door for negotiation 🙂

This is a great point actually, to address the offers over. I will do this.

That's a good approach @NorthEastHomeHunter . If you offer £123k and they decline and you nudge up a couple of thousand, they'll feel there's been a compromise. Exciting times for you 🤞🏼