Very cheeky offer. Insulting?

[Pufflemum]

We are interested in purchasing a property on the market for £1.1m. It was previously marketed at £1.25 and has been on for two years. It's a complicated site which includes a few holiday lets. It was run by an elderly lady who unfortunately passed away so now her brother is selling it. He sees it as a burden. He and his wife are lovely and we have built up a good relationship with them.

The building requires a lot of work, an architect suggests around £600k. This take us over budget as we expected to spend £400k on work and would of offered £950,000. Do you think we could offer £800-£850 without mortally offending this lovely couple? It would still be very tight for us financially.

Insanely jealous of your budget

I dont think your offer is insulting at all given the work that needs doing and the length of time it has been on the market.

Good luck!

I don't really understand 'insulting' when it comes to offers. You just offer what you feel it is worth and can afford. I've been on the receiving end of very low offers and haven't felt offended, just rejected if too low.

I think it unlikely you'll be successful if the drop from 1.2m to 1.1m was recent. If that drop was a year or two ago then that's different. Good that the price has dropped once - at least indicates that they understand that price may be a barrier and they need to be flexible, even if they don't want to flex down to your level.

600k of work is an incredible amount. Have you broken that down and validated it?

No offer is too cheeky, as long as both parties know 'the game'. Have you visited with your architect/advisors and with the vendors present? I think when you're talking about these amounts, and especially when there is business involved and not just residential, the more groundwork you can lay and the more you can prepare the vendors, the more likely you are to get a considered response. Also helps if they have an idea of your intentions with the property especially if they are emotionally invested at all (a lower offer might be more sympathetically received if your vision doesn't involve decimating everything his dear sister worked for. Of course, if you are going to raze it to the ground, I might be rather vague!)

This is not in Kent is it?

When putting in the offer you could explain you love the property, but the cost of the works you'd like to make will be far more than you'd expected, therefore, you are having to keep your offer in the £800/850 region.

For various reasons we met our vendors three times before we offered. When we put our offer in they're immediate reaction was that they were not amused by it. Still not amused by our second offer, but then came back saying they'd take it off the market if we increased by £1,000. Think they'd had enough of the stress of negotiating.

Anyway, we've exchanged telephone numbers with them now (been very useful as there's been a massive delay in completion and good to speak to others in chain). Last time we spoke, they said they'd be moving out the day before and were willing to give us all gate keys on departure so we can leave our plant pots locked in back garden, so they've got over our initial offers!

Thanks for your thoughts. It's a lot to think about. The budget is huge due to there being a derelict listed building on site that we would convert to a home. The current antiquated house we would convert to more holiday units, so it's a lot of work. The budget is a very rough estimate based on per square metre cost which we have been advised is £1800.

We have been building a relationship with the owners and already phone them direct rather than the estate agent, so they know we love it, to the extent they have invited our children to look at it and have lunch this weekend! This is all lovely but is why I would hate to insult them.....will leave my DH to do that perhaps!

Starfish, your story will push us onwards, thanks.

Gemma, it is a big budget but we are quite old so got on the property ladder a long time ago. Also means my DH works his old bones to the ground and is always stressed. A huge building project would obviously help this

Theres a difference between what work a property needs and what work a buyer decides to do beyond that 'acceptable' standard. So, it sounds to me as if the house doesnt need £600k of work so isnt actually overpriced.

But, at the end of the day you can only offer what you can afford so as long as you do it graciously and explain the reasons it shouldnt offend. Not sure I would have invested so much emotional involvement in the house of the owners at pre-offer stage though....

I agree, the £600k is what you want to do to it, not what it needs.

Only one way to find out. They can always say no.

The £600k is based on an industry standard rate based on per square metre to convert a listed building to an 'acceptable' finish. To convert to a 'good' standard with high quality fixtures and fittings was even more! We would just need the basics rather than a Smallbone kitchen etc which we know isn't doable. Lots to think about.

They may feel the price reflects the work that needs doing. Once the work is complete what would you expect to be able to sell it for (in today's market)?

Ultimately a property is only worth what someone is willing to pay. Do you know if there is much interest?

We had this with an identical house to the one we eventually bought. It needed so much work it wasn't worth it to us. Luckily one a couple of doors came up that needed less work and we snapped that up!

You never know unless you put an offer in. My mum wanted shut of her old house, just wanted it gone. Bad history. It was on the market at the correct price but someone came along and put a cash offer in the next day, it was really low but she took it. Best thing she ever did, it completed in 4 weeks no issues. Mum was happy buyer was happy.

The £600k is based on an industry standard rate based on per square metre to convert a listed building to an 'acceptable' finish.

Maybe but, like Snowman said, what would it cost to buy fully renovated? It has been valued in the state it's in., not as a renovated property.

I doubt you have anything to lose by putting a cheeky offer in but 800-850 seems very cheeky indeed.