what would you offer on house listed at 355k

[mavornia]

id be grateful for your opinions please

dh and i have finally found the house we both love, it's listed at 355k

the house next to it is almost the same and listed at 335k

dh thinks we should put in an offer on the house we want at 300k given the current market and the fact it's likely to drop further(we're in n. ireland)

i think this is far too low, i think we should offer 320k minimum with a view to paying closer to 350k in the end. i also really liked the vendor and she had a serious illness and surgery last year and i don't think we should stress her with insulting offers! but this thinking drives dh potty (rightly so but i cant help it)

what would your opening offer be?

Is an Estate Agent involved? If so, I would talk to them first and ask why there is such a difference in price between the two houses ?

yes ea involved

the other house is cheaper because the couple divorced and the lady is desperate to sell

also ask yourself why you have fallen in love with that house over the cheaper 'identical' house? Is that reason worth the 20K difference?

I'd go in at 310 to start with and be prepared to go up to about 335... Good luck!

well it's very similar but the kitchen in the house I like is much better, much more my taste, room for a sofa, has an open fire etc

in the other house it's just a galley kitchen which didn't grab me

lots of other small details like linen closets, layout of utility room which make the more expensive one much more appealing to me

If I was in NI I would offer at least 15% off as prices are falling there quite rapidly. 300 is fine

might be worth working out what it would cost you to make the cheaper one more to your taste (presumably knocking through to make a bigger kitchen etc).
If the owner of the cheaper one is desparate to sell, you may be able to get it for (say) 310 and i dont think it is worth paying more for the other one than that plus whatever if would cost to improve the cheaper one.

well a nice kitchen (with open fire, space for sofa) will easily add £20 K to the price of a house, compared with a galley kitchen.

I expect the cheaper house is hoping to sell (below value, due to divorce) at £300, which means getting yours for £320 would be a bargain, but you will prob have to get up to £335. I would offer £315 to start with.

How long has the house been on the market? And how desperate is the vendor to sell? Both these factors will affect how low an offer she might accept. And the other side is, of course, how much do you want the house?

the cheaper house has been on the market for 18mths-2 yrs

the one I love just came on over a month ago and I don't know how desperate they are to sell (but I hate exploiting this aspect, I think we should offer what we can afford)

dh and I have arguments over value and worth and what's fair

noooo! that's crazy talk to 'offer what we can afford' !

I'm more with your DH here, although I don't think it's been on the market long enough for her to accept an offer of £300, but there is no harm in chancing your arm - you can always increase your bid.

£300K does seem a very low offer. But the other house has been on the market for a long time. It all depends if you think somebody else will get in before with a better offer and you'll be really disappointed to lose it. I'd think if you offered say £340K they might well take it. Depends on what you think the actual house is worth and how much you can afford to pay. It's difficult!!

i'd be gutted to lose it

we were going to build our own house and our offer was accepted on a plot of land in a lovely spot but our solicitor advised us that there were too many problems with the title and we didn't have rights over the access road so we would have been essentially landlocked

I didn't think we'd ever find something we'd feel as excited about and then this house popped and I just loved it, it has a really good vibe and I could picture us living there as soon as I walked in

zoopla reckons the value is 325k so I think a good opening offer would be 315k

thanks for all your comments

Ours was on at £355k and we paid £325k for it. Our first bid was £305k. Had been on market for over 6 months.

Northern Ireland is falling fast (as you know) and the cheaper house hasn't sold in 18 months - why would you pay a load more? Even the cheaper house is overpriced if taking over 18 months to sell.

I'm completely with notsomanicnow. I don't understand why people say they will "pay as much as they can afford", unless that's equal to or cheaper than they think the house is worth. I can afford to pay £50 for a bag of crisps but of course I won't do.

The house is probably worth below 300, if you consider that the (almost identical) house next door can't sell against asking of 335 (& presumably they're willing to accept offer below that)

Why not speak directly to the vendor...get an idea from her?

thanks - think I needed a reality check

I do get a bit too emotional about it - after having someone pleasant taking me round their house I felt like a bit of a louse offering 50k less than they wanted

but of course my family should come before a stranger

thanks!