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Original poster

Low Offers - Why?

57 replies

SmilingSpider · 28/10/2014 16:37

Had our house on the market for a few months now, lots of viewings but no offers to date. Had a couple came round last week on the Thursday, phone call on the Friday asking for a second viewing the next day. At the second viewing they turned up with a parent each and made all the right noises, then today got a call from the estate agent with an offer £25k under the £175k asking price.

Just don't understand why people do this. I turned it down, and they've not re-offered. Are the playing with us? Do some people seriously accept offers like this? According to Zoopla it's worth around £175k (i.e. the asking price).

OP posts:
Sparkle9 · 28/10/2014 16:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AnnOnymity · 28/10/2014 16:45

We accepted an offer well below the asking price on our last house as we were desperate to move and they were in a good position to move quickly. At the same time we offered well below the asking price on the house we moved to and this was accepted, for the same reason.

LL12 · 28/10/2014 16:47

I don't think I would have the nerve to offer £25K less, I was nervous putting in an offer 5K less when I bought my house.
I don't think it is helping when property programmes show nice houses and just because the kitchen/bathroom is more than a couple of years old say "Well that needs updating".
A lot of people don't seem to be able to live with kitchen/bathrooms that are not the current fashion even if there is nothing wrong with them.

beingsuper · 28/10/2014 16:50

We offered a similar percentage off our house and it was accepted straight away. Its not that unusual. People look at your house and decide what it's worth to them. Its up to you to decide if you say yes or no.

TBH if you're going to get close to selling price it usually happens quite quickly. The longer a house is on the market, the lower the offers will get.

Zoopla's pretty crude.

nemno · 28/10/2014 16:50

People do accept really low offers. Many reasons for trying to get a bargain, but at the moment the offerers might be anticipating house price falls. We've had a developer reduce his offer because of this, 20% less. But in the past we've had a 25% under asking price offer accepted.

wowfudge · 28/10/2014 16:52

Exactly what I was going to post! You need to look at actual sold prices for comparable properties on the same street/in the same area.

Your EA can tell you what sale prices they have agreed on comparable houses recently as the land registry info is usually a minimum 3 months old before it's in the public domain.

beingsuper · 28/10/2014 16:54

When did you go on the market?

noddyholder · 28/10/2014 16:54

I always offer at least 15% below. I think its only worth what its worth to them. Property has no essential worth just what someone will pay and the bank will lend post survey. If its been on months with viewings but no offers its too expensive.

Quitelikely · 28/10/2014 16:55

Noooo don't accept!

Firstly your agents should be ringing up everyone after the have viewed your property to see what their feedback is. Often enough there will be a general theme. Listen to this. Maybe it's your carpets or something similar.

Also did you go with the agent who valued your place the most? Sometimes I think they do this to grab your business. Something you could do is offer cash back upon completion or some sort of incentive. So if you get the asking price give £3000 cash back. IMO that is better than reducing by 25k

noddyholder · 28/10/2014 16:59

Cash back on completion Shock! Its too expensive or there would have been an offer Its not the carpets!

Original poster
SmilingSpider · 28/10/2014 16:59

Actual house prices on our street are usually in the range £160 - £190k - they're all pretty similar 3 bed, 1930s semis. Occasionally one goes for well above this (if it's been very extended) and the odd one goes down to £150k (usually if everything needs doing). Ours is in good condition, kitchen, bathroom etc okay. Only others up for sale currently are at £205 (extended), £169k (needs new kitchen, and 'modernising' throughout), and £185k (bit more sparkly than ours with a bigger garden).
I hadn't realised that people would sometimes accept this % below. I think my surprise was that they didn't re-offer at all, given how cheeky I thought their original attempt was.

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Original poster
SmilingSpider · 28/10/2014 17:04

We had 4 valuations, all £180 - 185, so we put it up for sale in November at £185 with not much interest. Reduced it in June, lots of viewings since then (>50). Feedback always that it's nice house, good condition but not for them for some reason or other, no general theme (e.g. garden too overlooked, no garage, 3rd bedroom too small no space for their piano, they've decided they're not going to move to this area after all.....) So nothing specific that we can really change to shift it. We've been told by the estate agent that if the price is to high you just don't get the viewings, and they wouldn't advise lowering it.

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wowfudge · 28/10/2014 17:06

Sometimes it depends how you reject the offer - do you know anything about the couple from the EA? Their cheeky offer might be right at the top of what they can afford.

Always worth asking what they have based their offer on too. That way you can find out if they have just discounted their offer 'because everybody does' or for some other reason which makes a big financial difference for them.

Go on, post a link to the house on Rightmove and the lovely ladies on here will give you their honest, helpful appraisal Wink

noddyholder · 28/10/2014 17:07

Its been on nearly a year and the market is slowing. I view loads at least 20% above what i want to pay and never re offer so sounds like they are looking for a bargain. The prices peaked in about May.

beingsuper · 28/10/2014 17:09

I hate to say it but a house that's been on the market for almost a year (at whatever price) will bring out the bargain hunters.

They might come back and up their offer but they may be playing a long game, waiting to see if you change your mind.

SolomanDaisy · 28/10/2014 17:12

People will be able to see it's been on the market for eleven months. Once something has been on the market that long people will always offer well below asking price. It's also the start of a negotiation, most people's first offer will be lower than they're prepared to pay.

thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter · 28/10/2014 17:19

Stamp duty costs? From what you've said it's not like you're reasonably priced for what's around.

Would it be worth styling the interior so that's it's more neutral/easier for people to imagine their stuff in there but with a few 'wow' elements.

How long is your street? If there's lots of houses up for sale all at the same time buyers might be worried something's afoot (planning for say a rubbish tip - extreme I know but just an example!) or there's a local business/neighbour causing noise/nuisance. Am really clutching at straws with this though.

Is that your first offer as well? A couple of months doesn't seem long though unless you're in a hurry to move!

Sorry lots of questions!

thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter · 28/10/2014 17:20

it's not like you're not reasonably priced* Sorry!

thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter · 28/10/2014 17:26

Ah right sorry re-read, lowered in June but on the market for nearly a year.

AnnOnymity · 28/10/2014 18:57

If you've been on the market that long with no other offers I'd bite their hand off!

Mampire · 28/10/2014 19:12

Well as my father used to say when I was house-hunting, if your first offer doesn't cause offence, it's too high.

A lot of houses are over valued by estate agents. People can't be objective about their own home. They think 'oh i spent however much on this beautiful avocado bathroom'

Mampire · 28/10/2014 19:15

If they don't come back to you with another offer, perhaps you could re-open negotiations by suggesting 165. then they say no. then hopefully you agree on 160

roneik · 28/10/2014 19:16

20% below asking offers in a property downturn twas always so

Snakesandpropertyladders · 28/10/2014 19:48

As someone who is currently looking to sell and buy somewhere new I would say that they probably did make that offer hoping to be accepted.
Our place had several valuations and the lowest and highest valuations were 60k apart. Which just goes to show that estate agents are making it up as they go along. Now if I see houses advertised by the agent who gave the high valuation I automatically assume it's been over valued.
Also if a house has been for sale for longer than a month or two I do start to wonder why.

Original poster
SmilingSpider · 28/10/2014 20:12

Gosh, I genuinely am surprised that low offers are 'normal'- we've been looking at things that are max of 5% above our budget (hoping we could get ca 20k off max on a more expensive house). Also, the estate agent thought the offer was taking the piss too, so I wonder if in our area people are much closer with offers (we're in a small town, north England, haven't had the whole housing price boom this summer that's gone on in London etc). I did ask for feedback as to why the offer was so low, but they didn't say.

We're not in a huge hurry to move, and are getting quite down about the whole thing. We originally planned to sell with an asking price of £175, but then when the 4 valuations matched we took the estate agents advice, and it now seems that this has gone against us and people think something is wrong with the house as it was up at the higher price for 7 months. We're considering taking it off the market for 4 months over winter, then starting again in spring (same estate agents, but new photos, and new listing on Zoopla/Rightmove, so that it doesn't look like we've been selling so long). The estate agent is trying to persuade us against this, anyone tried it and found it worth doing?

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