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Original poster

Offers over?

155 replies

NotMyCircusMonkeys · 21/08/2018 23:05

I'm a first time buyer with a maximum budget of £195k-£197.5k.

I've seen three properties I like advertised, two at "offers over £200k" and one at £210k. They've all been online for 2-3 weeks.

I'm just wondering what would be a reasonable offer? Is "offers over" normally really strict, with no exceptions, or would it be worth offering £195k on either of the two listed at £200k? Also, would I have any chance at all of getting the £210k house for around the £195k mark?

I'd just like to try and work out really how much sellers generally accept under the asking price (I appreciate it will vary depending on circumstances!) so that I don't waste anyone's time.

OP posts:
GooseFartingInTheFog · 21/08/2018 23:44

The house price is really just an indication of what the vendor (seller) wants to get (and more often than not, what an estate agent has told them it’s worth.

In reality, a house is only worth what someone is willing to sell it for AND what someone is willing to pay for it.

There is no harm in putting your offers in (make sure you do it in writing) and even leaving them on the table for a few weeks to think about

Herewegoagain01 · 22/08/2018 09:21

We are completing next week on a house that was “offers over”, where we got it for £7500 less than the offers over price. But it had been on the market for a while. No harm in putting offers in, worst they can say is no! Tbh your offer isn’t much lower then the price so I’d say you have a chance.

Mommybearx · 22/08/2018 09:23

I think you should put the offer of what u can afford just in case they want to still accept
Everyone wants as much as they would like but will eventually sell for what they can

MaisyPops · 22/08/2018 09:31

Personally, I've tended to find with estate agents that when they've said 'offers over it's generally been a fair enough figure (often already reduced to reflect our local market), but that might just be our area and a very slow market. They've had to start being more reasonable.

If you offer a little under the offers over figure then you might stand a chance. If you offer substantially under then you may be told to take a hike. We had an offer substantially under the OIEO figure for a house and we told the estate agents we didn't want any more offers from that buyer (we figured they'd probably either be the type to be trying to buy out of their budget or might start seeking substantial reductions later using the 'We'll pull out and break the chain' as leverage). We had other interest so didn't need to deal with cheeky fuckers.

A house being on the market 2-3 weeks is not a long time.

HopefullyMoving · 22/08/2018 10:28

My house was on for 'offers over' and I received an offer under. I would have accepted it but for getting a higher offer.

AnalyticalChick · 22/08/2018 11:21

Offers over means offers over. I wouldn't want the the embarrassment of having an offer under rejected.

RubyTrees · 22/08/2018 17:10

'Offers over' means the seller is trying it on.

I tend to ignore 'Offers over', 'Offers in excess of', 'Offers in the region of', 'Fixed price' and asking price ranges.

They're all pretty meaningless especially in a falling market.

I wouldn't want the embarrassment of having an offer under rejected.
What is there to be embarrassed about? You make an offer, it's rejected, if you don't want to make a counter-offer, you simply walk away.

Life goes on.

AnalyticalChick · 22/08/2018 17:29

What is there to be embarrassed about?

If a seller says they are only willing to accept 'offers over', I take them completely at their word. It would be terribly embarrassing trying to start a negotiation with a seller who has already made it abundantly clear that they are unwilling to negotiate under any circumstances, so I don't even bother really looking at the advert.

Jayfee · 22/08/2018 17:34

First view the property, then if you like it make an offer.

AnalyticalChick · 22/08/2018 17:37

@Jayfree
No, I prefer just to ignore any adverts that are 'offers over'. It gives an indication that the sellers are likely to be control freaks. My ex-husband was a control freak and I don't want to have anything to do with that type of person again.

tomatosoup1 · 22/08/2018 17:56

Id say put an offer in of around £5-10,000 less than you actually want to pay to allow room for negotiation.
Best bet is always to view a lot of properties to see if the price is right. some home owners know they put their houses on for far more than they are worth, and you'll soon see this once you've seen a few. If it's one of those then you'll know you don't need to offer over the price. Also don't go straight back with a counter offer, let them stir for a bit while you pretend you aren't interested and then they may take a lower offer than they initially wanted

MaisyPops · 22/08/2018 18:13

No, I prefer just to ignore any adverts that are 'offers over'. It gives an indication that the sellers are likely to be control freaks.
Or they have already factored in work needing doing (as we did) and chose a fair price (which anyone could see comparing the one we sold vs other houses) and were hoping for a reasonably swift sale and so people low balling an already fair asking price was being cheeky.
We weren't control freaks. We wanted a fair price and reasonable buyers.
We didn't want to waste time with cheeky fuckers because we felt they were a risk to the process and would probably mess on and didn't want that risk. As it happened we had a lovely buyer, sold for a fair price, everyone got a good deal and the process was done in a matter of weeks.

Gardeninginspring · 22/08/2018 18:18

Jeez Analytical...have serious issues. I would love to know how offers over suggests being a control freak. Surely fixed price is more controlling😂😂

AnalyticalChick · 22/08/2018 18:27

'Offer over' is basically the sellers ordering anyone who will not offer over the asking price to get lost before they have viewed the property. I take the sellers' command completely seriously, so I go away before I have viewed the property. What does make me confused is when an 'offers over' price is repeatedly reduced, but always to another 'offers over' price.

RubyTrees · 22/08/2018 18:35

MaisyPops, if a seller believes the price they have chosen is fair, then list that as the asking price. Not offers over/OIEO/OIRO etc.

Buyers are either going to ignore the conditions attached to the price, or they're not going to bother putting in an offer at all because they can't be bothered playing guessing games trying to figure out how much the seller really wants.

Inferiorbeing · 22/08/2018 18:47

We just got an offer accepted for 2k over the "offers over" but it had only been on the market 5 days and already had an offer for below the minimum price. If it's been on the market for longer I would have gone under but not by that much

AgentProvocateur · 22/08/2018 18:56

OP, are you in Scotland? OO is the norm in a lot of areas here, and in some places they go for way over.

RubyTrees · 22/08/2018 18:56

What does make me confused is when an 'offers over' price is repeatedly reduced, but always to another 'offers over' price.

^This.

Just goes to show how meaningless it is.

MaisyPops · 22/08/2018 19:25

RubyTrees
Because people see 'asking price' and then insist on offering many thousands under on the ground of 'make a cheeky offer, my aunty's cousin's neighbour got £20000 off theirs. You never know. Just ask'. (You only have to see threads on here where people advocate viewing houses outside your budget because 'you never know, they may accept a low offer').

I'd rather not waste my time preparing a house for viewings when the people viewing it are taking the approach 'this property is outside our budget but we'll view it anyway in case the buyer might consider less money'. (Or worse, start the process of buying only to start haggling later with the threat of the sale falling through once a chain is built, which happened to my friend. It fell through with a week to go).

It's a useful filter for time wasters. Offers in excess of X means if my property is outside your budget then don't waste my time.

AnalyticalChick · 22/08/2018 19:52

The order given by the seller is: "do not bother to view unless you are willing to make an offer over a certain price".

However, without a viewing, a prospective buyer does not know what offer, if any, they would be willing to make. But since the seller has already told prospective buyers, who are unwilling to make offers over a certain price to not bother with viewings, those prospective buyers will never get to know what they would be willing to offer, because they have already been told by the seller that they are not welcome to view the property unless they are willing to buy it at 'offers over'.

It is like telling prospective buyers that they are only allowed to view a property if they agree to buy it. It is absurd control freakery.

MaisyPops · 22/08/2018 20:00

It is like telling prospective buyers that they are only allowed to view a property if they agree to buy it.
It's not at all.
I don't expect every viewer to want to buy it.
I'm entirely open to the fact that buyers might get to view it and realise it's not for them (just like we did when we felt bedrooms felt small, wasn't as light, garden looked bigger on photos, didn't get the feeling its their house etc). They may even view it within their budget but feel they're paying extra for X in my house, which they are less bothered by, and can get another house with a better Y for their needs or that say my house has a big kitchen diner come family room but after viewing it they didn't want to pay for the space as it's not soemthing that mattered as much to them. After all we all want different things and houses involve compromises most of the time in some respect.

But I don't want my time wasted selling a house for (hypothetically) £200,000 getting viewing from people who have a £190,000 budget if I know already that due to the price I paid, inflation etc that I'm not going to be up for selling my property at a loss if it's already reasonably priced for the local market.

RubyTrees · 22/08/2018 20:00

MaisyPops

You don't like time-wasting buyers - fair enough.

I don't like time-wasting sellers. If I make an offer, I base it on the location, size and condition of the house. I offer what I believe it's worth (isn't that what you're supposed to do?)

I realise for lots of sellers it's a huge inconvenience preparing a house for viewings but what's the alternative? Maybe buyers should be prepared to handover hundreds of thousands of pounds with just a virtual tour perhaps?

AnalyticalChick · 22/08/2018 20:07

How does a buyer get to know what they think a property is worth without a viewing? People who do not know how much they would be willing to offer have already been ordered by the seller not to view the property.

zebrapig · 22/08/2018 20:22

Our estate agents uses 'offers over' as a tactic to get the minimum you are willing to accept for your property. It worked for us as that's exactly what we got. Unfortunately that sale fell through, we went back on at the same price and had an offer £10k under at £230k. We told them no we needed another £5k because of onward purchase. They then said best and final £233k, we refused as we needed the extra money as we'd already taken a hit. Very quickly they agreed to the £235k.

HopefullyMoving · 22/08/2018 23:10

Ours was offers over because it was valued £10-15k higher but we pitched it lower at offers over for a quick sale in a very fast moving bubble we live in.