Offers over?

[NotMyCircusMonkeys]

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.

There's no such thing as a "stupid offer" it's an offer.

Well said!

Bluntness100
Of course there's a stupid offer.

If I look round a half a million house when my budget is 300- 350,000 and then offer 350,000 theb it's a stupid offer.
If someone offers 1/3 under the OIEO price when the listing is clearly saying that it's priced accordingly then it's a stupid offer.

home
I mean pissed off as in 'the listing is clear, a quick rightmove shows the market and other houses, it says OIEO so why waste my time?' There are things I enjoy doing in life without rearranging plans for piss takers.

Running around after potentials goes with the territory unfortunately Maisie.

£350k on a £500k house is doable I bet! I know people who’d have a go.

Well I'd say it was more unrealistic and not that common 🤣

It reminds me of haggling in a Turkish bizarre, where the seller asks an inflated price and buyer makes a lowball offer, after which the seller feigns indignation. Haggling is a game that has conventions. In many countries, they are insulted if the buyer does not play the game.

Bluntness100 Why? You’re looking at it as a lowball offer. It could be a vastly exaggerated selling price.

It could be yes, and to be fair I've seen some vastly over inflated priced houses in my time, they just languish on the market for ages,,now that's stupid.😁

I hate to see 'offers over' and it means I won't view.

What does it mean? What is the price? Are people really falling over each other to bid the price up? Is it amazingly desirable? Are they being greedy? Has the EA advised them that this nifty new advertising is the way to go...and they haven't thought it through but been sheep like?

Anyway it puts me right off. I want to view a priced house that I can afford so look in that price range and maybe £10k above. If I see issues upon viewing which need addressing [roof problem, new kitchen and/or new bathroom needed, ancient boiler etc.] I will offer what I think the place is worth.

I'm interested and will be viewing a property on the market for £220k, but a bit scruffy, no central heating, so if the inside needs attention I will offer £210k. I think that's a fair offer and what would probably be expected around here. Lower would be insulting as it's a good location.

I'd go to see a house on at offers over, I just think it's a bit daft. If I wanted to buy it, I'd simply put an offer in based on what it was worth to me. The "offers over" would be irrelevant to me.

What I don't go to see is houses that have been languishing on the market for a long time and are clearly over priced. I assume the seller is just going to waste my time and argue over every penny, so I stay away.

Sometimes houses can look like they have been languishing on the market for months (the internet has increased how much information we get about such things) when it could have been a week away from selling after months of negotiations and had the sale fall through. RightMove and similar still may have it listed from the original date.

If this is the case with a home you are selling, take it off the market for a few weeks if you can. When it’s relisted it will start again from zero.

What happens in Scotland in a weak market, if the buyer gets no offers by the closing date? Do they just repeat the process again and again, and move the (fixed) closing date into the future?

In Scotland, have bought and sold within the last 12 months so I hope I can clarify. You get a closing date for a property if there are two or more notes of interest lodged at the agency (i.e. it's very likely that there will be more than 1 offer for that property). This means you know there's competition, you know it will go over "offers over", your lawyer should advise you how much competition is likely to be and you know there will be sealed bids opened at a certain date, and the offer you place is one and final.

If the market is weaker, if there is not much interest for the property, there is no closing date and the buyer waits to see if any offers turn up (or not). If there is an offer (which can be less than the "offers over" sum) he/she can accept it or decline it,or wait and see what happens after that (just like things usually happen in England). He/she might want to lower the price after a while. The person whose offer has been declined can come back with a higher offer later, if he/she wants etc

In Scotland usually "offers over" are less than what the home reports gives (for example, a property that has been valued as 150k in the home report will go on market "offers over 140k"), it usually means the minimum amount the seller is likely to accept, although more would be preferred. In my given example, the house is worth 150k according to the home report, but the seller would accept 141k, even 140k if no one else offers more; of course, the bigger the offer the better - if lots of people are interested in the property it can go 10%-15%-25%more or even higher than that! But if there is no interest the seller might accept less than 140k, and it's likely that after a few weeks of no interest the "offers over x" will be lowered, or could become "fixed price" , hoping for a fast sell

dark thanks that's a helpful summary.

It sounds like the 'offers over' system in Scotland is actually a helpful indication of the lowest offer seller might accept then, and therefore actually means something!

So much will depend on the market where you are - buoyant or stagnant - and whether the house is priced realistically.

Some sellers will not budge from what they like to think their house is 'worth', even if that's more than they're ever likely to get, and as a result the property may languish on the market for a long time.

The best approach is to DYOR on recent sold - not asking - prices locally for similar properties. But as above, some sellers can can be extraordinarily stubborn on pricing, especially if they're not in a hurry to move.
Personally I think 'offers over' - unless the local market is very buoyant or the price is very realistic - is a good way to put buyers off.

As a general principle, though, you should never be apologetic or embarrassed about making an offer. They can only say no.

I have just reduced by 15k with OIEO and we weren't doing it to be controling or greedy. We did our homework and decided this was (hopefully- there are no guarantees obviously!) the best option for us.

We were tempted to reduce by 10k without OIEO, but this would keep us in the same bracket on Rightmove, so we wouldn't have had fresh interest.

Bottom line is, we need a certain figure and if we don't get it, it's really not worth us moving, so we'd be prepared to wait.

OIEO might very well put off some potential buyers, but the way I see it, if they can't afford that price, then there's no point in wasting their or our time anyway.

I've done a lot of research with our EA in our area on OIEO and many have sold for that price or just above recently. They're not all sitting there getting dusty, although there are lots which are, which are massively overpriced without OIEO.

Honestly, as a buyer OIEO did used to get my back up a bit, hence my concern, but when I think about it, it didn't put me off going for a viewing. If I wanted to offer below, then I would.

In our position, I believe it's the right decision, but in someone else's, it might not be.

Wow, I wasn't expecting so many responses!! Thank you all.

I'm in England, not Scotland. It does sound as though I may have a chance then.

If I liked one of the properties that was listed as 'offers over £200k', what would be the best way to act? I think I'd initially offer £190k and then move up in £2.5k increments until I got to £197.5k - if they still rejected that then I'd have to seriously consider how much I liked the property. Does that sound like a sensible plan?

If you think you really like the place and want to put an offer in then do it, but be prepared that the seller may bit a bit hmm. (Especially if it's listed in line with other properties in the area with a range of estate agents so not over priced)

Personally, if I put OIEO then it's because I mean OIEO so would probably reject an offer under, especially 10 grand under and even more so if it's only been on the market a few weeks. I also would probably tell my estate agent stop taking any further offers from a buyer under the OIEO if I said OIEO on my property and they kept incrementally raising it as you've suggested but not actually getting the OIEO. I'd just feel like my time was being wasted.

If it had been on the market a while, I needed the sale and the market was slow then I wouldn't remove OIEO and would see what people did from there with some negotiation.

Then again I'm not terribly patient on these things and would only put OIEO if that's what I mean. Otherwise why put it over an asking price?

*then I WOULD remove the OIEO (typo)

I don’t know what “...but be prepared that the seller may bit a bit hmm” means! Who cares what the seller is like. They’ll just say yes or no. If Maisiepops thinks they will bear a grudge and not sell to you she’s either mad or a grudge bearer herself.

It’s business. They’ll say yes, no, come back with a counter offer or a “we really need over £200k”

I mean I'd be a bit hmm like "it's been on a couple of weeks, I've put OIEO not an asking price so that means offers in excess of". (Otherwise what's the point in a putting it?)) So I would reply "I need X to accept. That's why I put OEIO." If they came back at that then great. If they then said 'well have a little more, but still not what I've just said' then it would irritate me as it says OIEO and I've repeated that. I would get to the point of telling the estate agents that I don't want any offers from that person passing to me unless it hits the figure OIEO. Why spend days going back and forth making calls for someone who seems to think that being told the same thing multiple times means "oh I don't really mean it"?

If I'd out an asking price then none of what the OP has suggested would annoy me at all and I would expect that from a buying/selling process.

No one takes any notice of OIEO in a market like today’s. And no one cares if anyone puts it in an advert. Sellers can’t afford to get irritated if they want to sell. They are trying to get rid of something they dont want, not teach the buyers a lesson lol!

Depends on the estate agents and area I'd guess. I'd feel differently if OIEO was splattered on everything in an area but on properties near me when we were hunting OIEO was only on properties with substantial work needing doing, very dated properties etc (with a note in the spec about it already being lower priced to reflect X y z) or required for quick sale (again comment in spec about substantial reduction already). We only put it on having taken off a substantial chunk to more than cover the work needed doing to part of it. Based on that Id be irritated if a clear spec, OIEO and an offer rejected with an explanation was met with 'well maybe a grand more'.

All other properties (including the one we bought) were simple asking prices. Negotiate, offer low, do whatever because that's house buying.

Sellers are also buyers most of the time. I always wonder if the people claiming that sellers should be grateful anyone looks at their house, not be irritated by time wasters who can't afford the property a long shot etc are also equally happy with people wasting their time and would be grateful someone made an offer 30% lower than OIEO on their property.

I've previously been strongly against estate agents wanting to see a mortgage in principle etc before doing viewings (we got ours after viewing the house we wanted to buy) but having seen how many people think it's fine to view a property beyond what you can afford I am starting to feel some sympathy towards the idea.

People window shop all the time about cars, houses, boots...

In Scotland (where I am anyway) we also have open viewings so you might get a dozen couples looking around and you have no idea whether they have that much money, a little less, or are just bored on a Sunday afternoon. So there’s no sense of “you’re not allowed to view if you don’t have £x”

Window shopping a car from a dealer or a pair of boots in a shop doesn't require someone else to take time out of their day, use up their time outside of work, potentially rearranging plans, sorting the item out etc in the same way a house viewing does.
There was a thread on here not that long ago about people who seem to enjoy viewing properties they have no intention of buying because they enjoy perusing. Universal feeling was that made them rude and weird.