Daily Mail-type, house price question

[marialuisa]

Sorry to be dull but any opinions welcome!

What is a reasonable offer to put in on a house as a percentage of the asking price at the moment? We are selling for 96% of the original asking price but we are desperate. We are going to put an offer in on a house whose owners are in a similar position to us (already moved for work reasons, need to sell to buy in new area), would it be reasonable to put in a similar sort of offer (i.e. 96% of asking price) or did the people we are selling to just smell our desperation?

well marialuisa I think you should assume that anyone who puts their house on the market really wants to sell too, so I'd put an offer in at slightly less than 96% so you can then put in a second offer slightly higher (at 96%) if they don't accept the first one. makes them feel like they have squeezed a bit more out of you and gives you the house at the price you think is the right one any way....

you are ALWAYS in the stronger position as the buyer

i'd put in a lower offer as first offer, you have nothing to lose by doing so. 85-90% asking price. you can increase it until you reach the point that you can't go further. surely the way to do it is decide how much you think the house is worth to you,and then put in an offer 5 or 10 grand below that, giving yourselves a chance of getting the property at the price you want? an estate agent let slip the other day that 95% was unbelievably good at the moment....prices are deffo on the way down imo...we've been looking since last sept and there are loads of houses that are still on since then, and have had reductions on asking price but still not takers...

snap pph

Interesting, as round here there seem to be a lot of people who put their houses on the market and then when they realise they aren't going to get the full asking price decide they are not so keen on moving after all (another reason this house appeals!).

From your comments I will suggest to DH that we put in a lower offer than planned. We are in Derbyshire and we've noticed houses having 30k knocked off the asking price within a couple of weeks.

Thank you