Looking to make an offer on a house...

[SlinkyB]

Have never bought before, and was wondering what a decent offer on a £250k house would be? We're chain-free (dp is going to rent his house out as we can't sell due to market) so was thinking of going in at £225k? Is that a bit cheeky? Really like the house so don't want to put vendors off! (EA says they have another interested party...as usual). Any help appreciated...

I would offer £225k then if it gets turned down you can go higher rather than paying more.
My parents paid £128k on a house on for £150k so that's a bigger %

Some houses are listed at £250k with the aim of getting that much, because of the stamp duty bands. If it's one of those and is actually worth a bit more than £250k then it won't matter what you offer because the vendors are unlikely to take less than the full amount.

If it's not that situation then offer what you think it's worth. There are no hard and fast rules.

10% under asking might be too high for a first offer in the current market.

You need to research local sold prices, how long the property has been on the market etc.

You never know! Some houses are listed at realistic prices, others aren't. If you have looked at a lot of other houses in your area you should have a fair idea of whether it's a realistic price or not. Also helps to ask the EA how long it has been on the market for.

you need to find out sold prices (not asking prices) in your area and work out from that whether it is a good or bad deal.

and start off low, it's an opening offer not a final offer after all.

Thanks everyone! I've done some research on the net and the last sold price for the house was £89k in 1999?! (it has been extended since then I think) It's difficult to do price comparisons for the road as it's a big main road with lots of different styles/sizes of houses. The agent (who is also our agent, and a friend) said that it was previously on with another EA for 2 years? But has just come on with them and is attracting quite a bit of interest. It's being sold as the vendors are divorcing...not sure if this gives us more bargaining power or less?!

if it is a forced sale that gives you more bargaining power, as is the fact that it has been on for 2 years. Has the price changed in that time?

However if there genuinely are other interested buyers to compete with then you need to work out how high you can go and be prepared to walk away at that point, don't get drawn into a bidding war and end up paying more than you can afford, there will be other houses.