Offer on a house too low?

[Gemizzel]

We are going to view a house tomorrow and I have a feeling we are going to fall in love with it.
There is a lot of work to be done on it - decor and building work but the potential, for us, is huge
It has been on the market 12 months and haven't seen it "under offer" at any point. it has dropped in price twice in the 12 months a total of 14%.

If we do offer it would be 10% under the current asking price. Is that taking the mick seeing as though they have already dropped so much?
We actually cant afford the asking price, we can go up to 8% under asking. :/

I keep hearing houses are worth what people will pay for them

I think if you can make a firm and positive offer then they can decide and you have done your best.

What kind of price is it on at? and what general area of the country?

If it has been on for a year then their expectations are obviously lowering.

Not cheeky - offer 10% under, go up to 8% in negotiation, if that still isn't enough you can walk away knowing you did everything you could.

it was originally on at 450 then down to 500 now at 475, we'd be offering £425 ish.

I just keep thinking that if they are reducing then they need/have to sell and its that reason why we are going to look. We have sold ours and have a mortgage offer in place. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that it all goes in our favour.

I saw it when we first put ours on the market in March and keep going back to it and scrutinising everything about it but I just cant help feeling it is "the one"

Is the property market moving fast in your area? Has this house been on at a competitive price? If the answer is 1 Yes and 2 No then I think a cheeky offer isn't a bad thing.

its moving fast with certain houses and then there are some (lots) that have been on ages and cant sell!
The house would be a huge project for us and with the amount of money to renovate the parts what need doing we would be looking at 10yrs + to do it up. its not a cheap project by any stretch.
They seem to have priced it like it was finished - half of it is but even those bits need improving.
If I think about it too much I might scare myself by how much there is to do

We got a very good price on our house - it had been on the market for about 2 years. Some quirks made it less attractive to most people, as did the clutter and awful décor. We made it clear our offer was properly costed out, based on what we were getting for our house. We went up from the initial offer, but not by much and we had been prepared to go higher if necessary. As long as you are not saying 'we're making a low offer because it's been on the market for a long time' it's okay I think.

fudge the house is far from everyones cup of tea and I think it could be one of the things which is putting people off. The stuff they have is weird and nothing matches. its like its just been thrown together. The EA hasn't put photos of every room online either so I am keeping an open mind about what we are going to find in those rooms!

From the look of the pictures the house doesnt "flow" if that makes sense.... it might never flow but there are definitely improvements to be made and those improvements would suit us in the long term - I think.

You mean it came on at 550?

How long has it been on at 475?

Yes sorry £550. It was reduced to the current price a few weeks ago.

I'd start at 400 but take a builder round.

How much work needs doing?

I would take a builder round first, then offer. Maybe 12% less

Ive already pre-warned a friend that if we like it I'll need him to come back with us and give us his opinion. I just want him to give me a budget and at a glance it looks structurally sound
We intend to do as much as we can ourselves but will need professionals for some of the job

As low as £400? I know they say you should be embarrassed but I don't think I could be that cheeky

1/4 of it is a shell

Thinking about it probably half of it is a shell

How did the viewing go?

Go for it. They can always turn it down and its not like its only just gone on the market.

We bought our house last year which was on the market for 587. Our sale estate agent advised us to go in at 500. We didnt, but i guess he knows what hes on about and people must go in much lower than asking price.

I think the fact theyve come down a lot already would make me more inclined to go in low.

Hmmmm it was ok.

I didn't walk in and think ooh this is nice and homely because it isn't. There is so much to do and I'm concerned we would be biting off more than we could chew.
It is at the top of our budget so money would be in short supply.
DH has a lot more vision than me and he says it's got lots of potential but now I've seen it in the flesh I am struggling to believe that it could eventually be my dream house! Maybe if it were 100k cheaper my con list wouldn't be as long....

Ive agreed we need to go back and view it again and take a builder with us.

I asked the EA if they had any offers and she said "yes but none which were acceptable"

I imagine any offer we make (if we did) would definitely not be acceptable in that case. I think 10% under is too high having seen the house.

The problem is there is bugger all on the market for me to compare it to. We have been to see 4 houses in 3 months. I didn't like them online but thought maybe I was being too picky. I wasn't.

Sigh

If your heart is not in it now it never will be. Keep looking.

Buying at the top of your budget is fine if it doesn't need work.

If it needs masses of work (and whatever you budget you can virtually guarantee it will cost more than you think), where will you get the money to do it.

Living in brick dust and crap is grim if you have to do it long term.