Sellers - how much below the asking price would you actually accept?

[MumOnTheNurseryHunt]

House hunting for our first home. Found one which is 20k over our maximum budget (about 7% below the asking price). Made a couple of offers - both rejected. We can still go up a little bit before we reach our limit. I just wondered from a seller's point of view - do you put your house on the market at a certain price expecting to get X% under the asking price? If so, how much below would you be happy to accept? It's all a lot of mind games at the moment and as a first time buyer I'm not used to it all!

Oh - and the other houses on the street sold last year for about 30k less than they're asking for. It's been on the market for nearly a month (I know that's not really that long but other houses in the area have been selling within a week or two) and they've not had any other offers. Please give me hope!

We accepted 10% less, only because they were chain free and had the money. But, we have refused to negotiate any reduction post survey. There is little to fix and certainly nothing that was not obvious at offer.

Had the buyers offered more in the first place, we might have given some off after survey.

It all depends on how much you want to move.

Decide on the maximum amount you want to pay for that house-if they accept it great, if not keep looking. We accepted £280 on a house on at £295, paid £500 on a house on at £550.

8% tops.

I think it all depends on where in the country you are. When we were looking for a house this time last year in outer SE London most properties were going for way over their asking price! It was a complete nightmare, almost every offer we put in went to a bidding war. Think things may have slowed a bit now though.

So the house is on at £270k and you've got a budget of £250k (or very similar figures)? Is that right?

What have you actually offered?

Our house is on for just less than £270k and we're really looking to get at least £250k (about 7.5% off). We would take up to 10% off. We'd be very unhappy about renegotiating post survey if it takes the price below £250k.

It also depends on the local market and what other houses have been selling for. Similar houses in this street have sold for £275k in the last year. Smaller houses have sold for £250k-£260k recently. So I don't think we're being ridiculous in our expectations. (Someone else on the street with a very similar house are trying for OIEO £320k, which is being silly).

So it's not simply a case of taking off a standardised percentage. If comparable properties in the street have been going for £260k or £280k, they're not going to take an offer of £240k. If comparable properties have been selling at £230k, then they should take an offer (and of more than 10%) or they're just not going to sell.

The people who're looking for £320k on my street for example, aren't going to sell because they're clearly not open to sensible offers. They're even asking for offers more than a price that's £41k more than the highest price ever achieved on this street (and their house is not uniquely huge or wonderful). There'd be no point even trying to make an offer.

We've put our houses on for the price we want but we're in no hurry so can afford to bide our time. We certainly wouldn't consider dropping by more than a grand or two.

We did get a chain free offer from a cash buyer that was about £15k less we declined but others may well have accepted. It depends on the sellers circumstances.

Also bare in mind that house prices have risen a lot since last year and the market at the moment is fairly good. You may find that you're competing with a lot of other buyers.

Thanks everyone, interesting answers and not too discouraging! It's on for 280k. So far we've offered 255k. Can go up to 260k. I suspect they'll want us to go up to 265k which is difficult because we were trying to be v strict with our top budget. No other offers yet and similar houses went last year for 250k on the road.

Totally depends on what they need from sale to be able to afford the house they want to buy. It may be you make a perfectly reasonable offer but if that doesn't give them enough capital to upsize they may prefer to stay where they are. Impossible to say. All you can do is offer your max and if you have to walk away do so

2% the first time and 3% the second time. But I knew we'd priced realistically so there was no reason to go lower. But it doesn't matter at all really what other people have done, its all down to the individuals involved, how they priced in the first place and what the market is doing for that particular type of property in your area. If the vendor thinks its worth £280k or close to that, they're unlikely to accept an offer £25,000 or £20,000 below. Thats quite alot of money.

If they want 280 they are unlikely to go below 265 but it really depends on the local market/if the house is overvalued/have they found their dream house.

I always think it's best to state your highest offer, say to the EA - genuinely this is as high as we can go, higher than we intended to go' and then let it go if they won't sell.

Yes I think that's what we're going to do Dust. Ah, such a weird process! Thanks everyone.