What percentage of asking price would you say counts as a ‘cheeky offer’?

[AgonyBeetle]

And at what level does it go from ‘cheeky’ to ‘downright insulting’?

Based on my own observations, I think 10% below asking price in the current market is expected. 12-15% is pushing it...and 20% seems derisory

Hmm, that’s kind of what I thought.

Does the actual price make a difference to the percentage, do you think? And how long the house has been on the market for? We’ve not bothered putting in low offers on houses that have just come on, but if it’s been on for, say, nine months? We’re talking family home in London prices, so even a small percentage is a large amount of money.

[wibble]

Definitely worth considering the length of time on the market, as well as the sellers’ situation...

We didn’t make an offer on a one particular house because there was a steep drop between what we thought it was worth and the asking price (both percentage and real terms). With hindsight, I wish we had gone ahead now, as it’s just sold for 15% below the original asking price (after 7 months on the market, couple divorcing so rush to sell)! I think our offer would have been 12% below. It was a great property, so next time I wouldn’t hesitate to make a considered offer

It depends. I read a lot of articles on this topic... and one of the main reasons when there is no offer for months is that the house is overpriced and people are afraid to "insult" the owner with a low offer. I think that 10% is reasonable, 15% is OK if you have a good reason (issues with the property) and 20% if the house is really overpriced or in a very bad condition. We placed a very low offer once. But the flat was at least 100k overpriced and in fact, it was a ruin that needed a full refurbishment. The EA agreed with us that the asking price really wasn't reasonable and recommend that we should try our luck. The EA then told us that the owner went mad and he immediately took the property off the market :D He wants to refurbish the flat in hope that he will get the money this way. Btw our offer was first after 6 months on the market. But lucky us, just two weeks after we found our dream property so I'm glad the previous seller refused as we were prepared to go ahead.

I started a similar thread earlier as I know my max budget (£290k) a d am wondering what price range to look up to. Consensus earlier seemed to be £315k ok but £325 pushing it.
But 325k is only slightly more than 10% more than 290k so I guess the % off that is viable is dependent on what price the property is in first place.

Ok x

Well I haven't been lucky with my offers which were only 3 to 4% lower than the asking prices so I think it also depends on the price of the property

Depends on so many things. How realistically priced the house is to start with mainly!

I'd never be offended by an offer. I just reject if lower than I wanted. That being said we've just accepted an asking price offer.

Yes the price of a house makes a difference. If it's on at £600k then an offer at £540k (10% below) would just be laughed at. If I were the seller Id just think the people offering were game players.

It's really about knowing the market and being reasonable.

But if it’s been on at £600k for nine months with no offers, then surely £540k would be a good starting point for an offer, no?

Again it's about knowing the market. So if it had been on for 9 months here there would be something wrong with the house (houses don't stay on the market that long usually) or something wrongbwoth the vendor (deluded about price). So like I say if you know the market and £600k seems reasonable price compared to sold prices but its been on for 9 months I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. If £600k was overpriced and it'd been on for 6 months, chances are someone else has offered what it's really worth and been turned down. Either way it would be a waste of time!

We paid 20% less the asking price on our current house. Took the vendors 3 months to accept the offer though.

However, as we have spent an awful lot on a total renovation and about to spend another £50k on the garden, I think it was a totally fair offer.

Offer what you can afford and what you think the house is worth. Some vendors take the highest valuation they get and then add another 10% on top.

I don't care if someone is insulted by an offer - god, I was pretty insulted at the crazy prices some people thought their houses were worth.

Like everything else in life, it depends.

What are similar properties in the area selling for?

How much work will the property need?

Is there a chain that will drag it out for a long time?

Is the property market going up or down?

How long has the property been on the market?

Is the asking price based on what the Sellers 'need' to buy a different property or on the realistic value of the actual property they are selling. A lot of Sellers think what they 'need' to get is what their house is actually worth ... it isn't.

How desperate are the Sellers to sell? This can be harsh, but it's realistic. Property buying/selling isn't a charitable act in most cases...

Hmm, I think Namechanged’s assessment may be right for urban areas where the houses in a given price range are pretty similar to one another, but doesn’t work so well in rural areas where there are huge differences in size, location, atmosphere, condition, accessibility etc etc.

I’ve been rightmove obsessing for about 6 months, and there are lots of lovely houses with no obvious defects which have been on for a long while, often with reductions. A few do go quickly, but I think it’s because either they are very sensibly priced, or because they happen to tick a particular buyer’s matrix of requirements despite being quite expensive.

There seem to be quite a lot that were/are priced to last year’s market, and haven’t really taken into account that things seem to be going downhill rapidly.

So in that context offering 10% below asking price on a house that is clearly overpriced at, say £875k would seem to be perfectly reasonable.

Hmmm. [thinks]