Do people really offer 10% under asking price? Even in London?

[NotAnotherNewNappy]

DH and I are preparing to buy our first property. I hear a lot of stories on here about how the housing market is flat and buyers should go in at atleast 10% under. Rightmove says on average homes are going for 92% of asking price

So... Have you really ever offered as much as 10% under asking price? Even in London? Did the estate agent not laugh you out the door or sneer at how poor you must be?

N.B. When I say London I mean a not particularly glamarous area of zone 4 - not Chelsea!

Someone else around here posted a link to www.propertysnake.co.uk/.

You can search on a postcode and it finds all houses that have been reduced, tells you how much they've been reduced by and how long they've been on the market. It can give you an idea of acceptable prices in an area.

Zoopla can tell you actual sold prices.

Thanks gallicgirl, great link.

Depending where you are, some houses are priced at nothing like their value. Do a bit of research of mouseprice etc. and work out the cost per sqaure metre of a similar type of house in your area and get a concensus, this is the base the estate agents use to price anything. Where we are, we've seen thinigs priced as much as 50% over their "real" value, and all that happens, if the vendor doesn't want to take a sensible offer, is they stay on the market till the price erodes to something sensible (with the odd exception as ever). Don't fixate on the % below asking, work out the value and pitch it there. The value is what someone would pay for it, not what someone's asking, so if they pitch it too high and you capitulate, you inheret their foolishness really. Some market areas are on the move but many areas are dead in the water, and above a certain price (e.g. 250k round here) much slower than in first time buyer price brackets. Now's the time for buyers, go kick some ass.