Ok so if the asking price is......

[Fluffycloudland77]

£150,000 what would you offer?

If it's £165,000 what would you offer then?

DH says he will make people silly offers and see if any of them bite but I am a bit cautious.

I havent bought a house before so I dont know the protocol in all this.

Thank you if you can advise.

Depends really on how long the've been on the market for, is the asking price already a reduction, work needed etc.

What are similar houses on for /

Just now near me there are 2 semi detached 2 bed houses for sale, in neighbouring streets.

House 1 has a coloured bathroom suite, half a kitchen, new double glazing, gas heating. Is on at £159,000.

House 2 has a new bathroom, semi decent kitchen, double glazing, conservatory and electric heating. It's on at £154,950.

Both been on for similar amount of time. House 2 to me should sell for more than house 1. So really what price should be offered for each one ?

The price is only one factor though.
Chain free people with all funding ready to go can be very valuable to a vendor, so the vendor might take a lower offer from a first time buyer with finance agreed, than they would from someone who still had to sell.

People can also be irrational in their decision making when selling the family home - they want it to be sold to "a nice couple/family" rather than someone they don't take to - I know it's not a financial decision, but it happens!)
Some people just want the property gone - perhaps winding up an estate or selling parents home to pay for care fees, whereas others need to achieve a minimum amount to realistically be able to afford what they want next.
If it's been on the market a long time, people are more likely to want rid than if it's new onto the market.
etc/.etc

Forgot to say - also depends how much you want it. If it's "the one" some unique feature that you'll never come across again, then you might want to not mess around so much, but if there are 3 similar properties you'd be happy with any of them, then you're in a better position to put in a low offer and see what can be negotiated.

I heard somewhere properties are generally selling for about 10% below asking price BUT clearly that varies hugely area-by-area and again between different types of houses/individual properties.

I wouldn't start negotiations by offering asking price on anything at the moment, though. Unless you are desperate for that particular house and there isn't anything else available.

Start low is my advice in this market

It depends on many factors as mentioned by others. Can you link to the houses on rightmove? (I'm nosey)

I see.

I'm not going to get too emotional in all this because on the estate we want to be on is mostly 3 bed link detatch or 3 bed semi, so if one goes there will be more along in the future.

We are renting so chain free at the moment.

So we have to be uber charming and read DH the riot act so he doesnt be abrupt (he likes to cut to the chase and doesnt suffer fools gladly).

Thank you everyone.

Ok I will link. But only because I'm nosy too!.

This

Or Twww.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32783500.html or this

See, I said they were all the same

Bit cheaper

A semi

No. 20 sold in jan 2009 for £153000, resold April 11 for £163000.

That was the Windsor close ones... I'll look up the others.

Blimey they are cheap for 3 bed detached! Minimum £400, 000 for similar here!

I would not get a semi if detached is possible.

Some need more work than others, so factor that in too. For instance the decor on last one is much more modern, how much would it cost to get the others looking as good? Also one of them (without the white goods in the kitchen) looks like maybe a probate one so they might accept a lower offer?

Adonis close no.28 sold nov10 for £169500, no 43 sold for 168950 in July 10 and no 3 was £154000 in Nov 2009

No I was thinking a link detatched was better but if needs must then I would have one.

It's a pretty quiet estate tbh. Not much goes on there.

I thought some did look like they had been pretty much owned from new and the owners had passed away or gone into long term care.

Check out the serving hatch in the semi! very margo leadbetter.

Out of those, the fourth one would be my best bet for a cheeky offer as it needs a new kitchen and bathroom and some updating in the living room. That would be the one you could add most value to, so a better investment IMO.

I would offer a price based on (a) what I thought was a fair price for the house bearing in mind the sold prices for similar properties and (b) what I could afford.

So when we bought we offered £10k under the asking price on one house (what we could afford) but weren't surprised when they turned us down (because the asking price was very reasonable for the house).

We then offered £100k under the asking price for a second house and (after some huffing, puffing and a few months later) the vendors accepted a second offer of £80k under the asking price. Which doesn't mean we got a bargain, it just means the sellers were overly optimistic, the house had been sat on the market for months, and they had finally decided to accept reality

Mouseprice is a useful website which gives Land Registry sold prices (you have to register to get access to the sold prices, but it is free). Then you can compare asking prices with typical sold prices for the area/type of house.

You can also look at the last sold price for the house you're considering if it has been sold in the last 10 years or so, which is very informative. So, we could see that even at our apparantly derisory offer, the vendors on our house would be making a substantial profit compared to when they bought the property . . .

Yes, but it's stc so I will have to see if it falls through !.

Can I point out something which may be relevant. If a house has been restored/updated by people who plan to live in it then the jobs will probably be done to a higher standard than if done by someone doing that renovation to make money.

Friends of ours bought a house which looked fantastic but the work was all done at a very basic standard and much of it needed redoing. Beware of paying more for a house that has been done by property developers, better pay less and do the work well yourself if you can manage it.

I like mouseprice but it doesnt seem to display all properties that are for sale?

We were up for sale last year at offers between 140-150k, we had bought it for 146k in 2006. Didn't want to take less then 145k but had our chain break down already. Cash buyer offered 137,500 and we accepted, sharing the loss with the two other people in the chain above us, so offering 207k instead of 215k on the house we wanted, which was our original accepted offer before the chain collapsed(we ended up 2k worse off, two people above took a greater hit). Hope that made sense? Basically aim low as you never know what they will accept and what position the vendors are in!

Start very low. My sister got 25,000 off the asking price of her house. It's a buyers market. On 150,000 I would offer 130,000. Nearly everyone says no to the first offer. Then offer £132,000 and explain that is as high as you can possibly go and sit tight. If they have no other offers it would seriously be considered.

happy I like your style!

How exciting. I have to say those 60 s builds are really nice to live in...great light and the gardens look lovely...go with your feeling too. You could offer on all of them and try and get the motivated seller. I would go in 15 to 2o below asking.

I like the one that's second from the bottom. Looks like there is loads of light coming in- needs loads of redecorating though and a new kitchen. But a nice white kitchen in there would make it a lovely room.
The one third from the bottom looks nice and private and the big kitchen/diner could be made into a lovely family space with a bit of work. Living room looks an awkward shape though.