Lowest offers you've made

[Blushme]

Looking at a £450,000 house nice area, good decorative order. Would it be really cheeky to offer £425,000? What are the lowest and best offers that you have made when buying/or have accepted or your own properties?

[Allthebestnamesareused]

We bought a house for £525K which was on for £595K (offered £500k initially).

However our last one we paid £30K over the asking price (different town, different market).

[ScrubbyGarden]

cantthink I love that. People are weird...

[cantthinkofanythingwitty]

If a seller wants to be offended they will be. You can't worry about that. We offered the asking price for a lovely house and the seller was offended because they wanted us to offer more

[cantthinkofanythingwitty]

If a seller wants to be offended they will be. You can't worry about that. We offered the asking price for a lovely house and the seller was offended because they wanted us to offer more

[peachy94]

I would worst case scenario they say no and you up your offer? My friend put in a very cheeky offer of 60k on a 90k house and got it accepted!

[cakesandphotos]

Our house was on for £140k. We offered £125k and got it. We offered lower to start and worked our way up. According to village chat, he was offered £145k when he had it up for £150k but rejected it. Lucky for us!

[roofio87]

We bought our first home in May, it was on for 149k and we offered 135k and it was accpeted. It had been on the market for a long time and we knew the neighbours so had inside knowledge that they were desperate to sell due to divorce after an affair. I felt bad about profitting from their bad times but the house was worth only about 140k really.

[Blushme]

Great advice thanks awkward. Enjoying reading everyone's buying and selling stories!

[Viserion]

We looked at a house that was on for £600k. Beautiful Victorian detached house in a quiet location. It needed a huge amount doing to it. It had ageing single glazed sash windows which all needed replacing/restoring, replumbing, rewiring etc, let alone the cosmetic stuff. We gave an initial offer of £500k and later told the agent we wouldn't go above £525k and he laughed so we walked away. More fool him, it eventually sold about a year later for £500k after the owner did a shedload of work on it. Saved ourselves a huge amount of work and overpayment on that one!

[Doublechocolatetiffin]

Really good summary Awkward to add, I think if you email the estate agent they have to send it on to the buyer (I could be wrong, so correct me if I am). We used this to our advantage when buying our second because it was a special property that we knew the owners loved and that it was a really hard decision for them to sell.

We set out our offer and included details of why we'd come to that price, highlighted our excellent position as a chain free buyer, flexibility in timing for the move as we knew that was important to the owner and we also said how much we loved the place and wanted to look after it as we knew they wanted it to go to another family who would love it.

It worked and we got the house for significantly less than asking! So often it's about knowing the position of the seller too and tailoring your bid to make it enticing for them.

[Snagz]

Great summary from Awkward.

[AwkwardPaws27]

We offered £20k under and were accepted (originally on for £370, but I knew they had previously accepted £360. I got it for £350 in the end).
I was clear about why I was offering that - I listed the main issues that needed fixing (mainly new roof and some other issues).
They had another, slightly higher offer but I stressed that we were in good position (buyer in place for our flat), and that we were well aware of the issues, so would not be dropping our offer after the survey in response to these.

I think the key thing is:

• evidence for your offer (work needed, nearby sold prices etc.)
  
• being able to proceed quickly/flexibly (no chain, short chain etc)
  
• clear communication, and building a rapport with the agent - so they feel you are a serious, straight forward buyer
  
• & a good dose of luck!

[Snagz]

Also more likely to be magnate than a magnet. Thanks autocorrect.

[Snagz]

The EA has a vested interest to sell it for more - higher means more commission for them. Legally they have to put forward any offer you make.

It all depends on the sellers situation, and the market. It’s slowing now, a great time for offers!

I sold one valued at £140k for £123k as it was empty and needed to sell. Bought another for £280k on asking of £325k. And another for £615k when asking was OIEO £670k.

Another one I offered £625 but they wanted £680. It still on the market a year later...

Makes me sound like some sort of property magnet, I’m not, just been unlucky enough to need to move areas a few times!

[MamaOfTwos]

I've offered £125k on £150k house and has it accepted

[MaisyMary77]

We were really cheeky. We bought in 2013. The house had been on the market for over a year and we knew they were eager to sell. Asking price was £537k, we offered £460k. They eventually accepted £480k. They weren’t upset, they’d bought the property in the 70’s and were looking to downsize. They were very pleased with the huge profit they’d made.

[arsenalwatford]

I had a house on at 375k in a market where they went like hot cakes at 350k and was offered 310k. The estate agent phoned me and was like 'I legally have to pass the offer on, but I have said no on your behalf'. They then came back and offered 315k and I was like
Sold to someone else for 350k

[SummerKelly]

Estate agents don’t always want to get the highest price, sometimes they want a quick sale for their cash flow so have an interest in accepting a lower offer quicker.

[Changednamejustincase]

Whether an offer is cheeky or not depends on whether the asking price is realistic, priced to sell quickly or ridiculous. We sold our last house the day it went on the market to the first viewer who offered asking price. We had priced it to sell quickly as we really wanted a house and didn't want to lose it to someone else whilst we waited for someone to offer us bigger bucks. Anything below asking price would have been a bit cheeky as we had it on for about 20% below market value. I wonder now what we were thinking but I was in love with another house.

If we had put it on for 50,000 more then a much lower offer would not have cheeky so it all depends on the asking price.

If nobody offers asking price and a house has been on the market for months then the asking price is more than the house is worth.

[Blushme]

Thinking I'll start a bit lower than 425 now and see how that goes!

[MrsFezziwig]

flyingpigsinclover
You can get a lot of new appliances for 30k, so can’t imagine the buyers were too worried that you took your old stuff.
People should remember the old saying that a house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. And offers/acceptances are skewed by how much a buyer wants a house and how much the seller wants to get rid of it.
I sold my house for the asking price but paid a bit more than I would have liked for the one I bought because I probably wouldn’t have got it otherwise and I’m hoping it is my forever home.

[BarchesterFlowers]

No it is not. Houses sell at the right price. Generally if it hasn’t sold it is overpriced for some reason imo.

[SellMyFlat]

This is all positive news. I know most people would expect cheeky offers, I just don't want to be so cheeky they freeze me out

I've seen a house I like at £260k, it was dropped from £269k a few days ago. Is it cheeky to offer £245k bearing in mind the original price of £269k?

[Ruhrpott]

Ours was on at £295K and we offered £245K. Got it for £249995. Just under the stamp duty rise limit at the time.

[ScrubbyGarden]

Crickey, sellers too offended to hear another offer sound like hard work!
You've got to start somewhere!!! I'd say 425 is a very good first offer, and be inclined to start lower, unless its keenly priced already.