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Original poster

Help! What to offer?

27 replies

Robs20 · 12/08/2019 18:03

Help please! We are house hunting and have found a house we like. We have accepted an offer on our house from FTBs and they are having a survey done on Friday (so a bit of pressure to find somewhere).
The place we like has been on the market since April and the vendors have moved out. Its on the market for 575k. It needs 3 new bathrooms and a kitchen extension so ideally I would like to pay 530k. Is that a cheeky offer? Last thing, I know they paid 550k for it in 2016 so perhaps they would be unwilling to accept less than that?
Thanks for any comments!

OP posts:
FeeFee832 · 13/08/2019 01:20

£530??????? ConfusedConfusedConfusedConfusedConfusedConfused

FeeFee832 · 13/08/2019 01:21

They probs won't deal with you at all if you offer that. If they wanted to consider lower prices they'd drop their price. £550 more realistic.

wowfudge · 13/08/2019 03:34

Does it need three new bathrooms and a kitchen extension or is that work you'd like to do to the house?

sall74 · 13/08/2019 06:43

I'd ignore Feefee, obviously sounds like one of these people who for their own particular reasons is desperate to see house prices remain high and rising.

£530k would be less than 8% below asking, so a perfectly reasonable offer to make under any circumstances imo.

If the house really does need 3 new bathrooms then I'd suspect the rest of the house is also in need of updating, both the obvious things you can see and the less obvious stuff such as electrics etc.

user1474894224 · 13/08/2019 06:46

What do similar houses in the area go for? Have you looked up sold prices nearby? That should guide your offer.

Original poster
Robs20 · 13/08/2019 07:32

Thanks for the comments. It really does need new bathrooms - it hasn't been updated since the 80s so for example the family bathroom has a bright yellow suite and all bathrooms have carpets in. The agent said both houses are not selling as for the prices the kitchens are too small and people would expect a kitchen/ diner - so the extension is work we would want to do but also to maintain the saleability if/ when we move.
Tricky to look at other sold prices, there are different size houses on the development and this is the smallest. Only one has sold in the last 5 years (the one we viewed) and the others that sold recently are huge 5 beds/ triple garages/ extra receptions and much bigger gardens.
I absolutely don’t want to offend then by going in too low. Will have another think today!

OP posts:
Nextphonewontbesamsung · 13/08/2019 07:37

Yes, I expect they would be very resistant to accepting less than they paid for it 3 years ago. Is there any evidence to show house prices have fallen in the area since 2016? Presumably all the bathrooms were rather dated then too.

wowfudge · 13/08/2019 09:21

Dated doesn't mean they need to be replaced though. Disrepair does. Sounds as though the sellers should go on Love it or List it.

Alexalee · 13/08/2019 09:31

So they have clearly done nothing and are trying to get back what they paid for the house.... it's not your problem to ensure their financial welfare, but unless desperate they will probably be very resistant to making a loss on the house.
If it is anywhere inside the m25 it could have lost around 10% or more. 2016 was the peak price for most of outer london

optimisticpessimist01 · 13/08/2019 11:37

Depends where in the UK it is, as PP said the M25 is rising, areas around Manchester (Chesire, Altrincham, Bowden etc) are rising. But in general prices have fell since 2016. Look at prices for the local area, what they sold for in 2016 and what they are selling for now

I know I wouldn't sell my house for less than I bought it under normal circumstances. If I was desperate to get rid I would consider it

Original poster
Robs20 · 13/08/2019 12:15

For those asking about location, it’s in Wiltshire.

OP posts:
Alexalee · 13/08/2019 12:44

The area seems to have risen since they bought it so I doubt they would take an offer. Zoopla values it at 620k based on what they paid

Original poster
Robs20 · 13/08/2019 15:18

So, for anyone interested...
530 was declined and they want our best and final offer tomorrow. No indication of what they might accept so think we will walk away...

OP posts:
Nextphonewontbesamsung · 13/08/2019 17:51

Yep, thinks that's a good idea. I think you and the vendors are too far apart in this case.

FeeFee832 · 13/08/2019 18:11

@sall74 excuse me? I'm just trying to help the OP. We had a property on at £575,000 and received 5 offers. One of them was for £535 and we refused completely to deal with the guy - turns out he was low balling and putting in low offers across the market till one stuck. I was actually really offended by the offer.

The rest were around £550k-560k. We would have accepted £550k.

I was trying to help the OP as I have been the seller and give some insight.

wowfudge · 13/08/2019 19:39

I agree with you FeeFee but you can't be offended by low offers - you just reject them. It's a business deal when all is said and done.

FeeFee832 · 13/08/2019 19:42

@wowfudge very true! I think it's because he viewed the property three times... and next to the other offers I thought it was a bit of Liberty! 😂

FeeFee832 · 13/08/2019 19:43

@Robs20 if you offer £550k they will most likely accept. Are you prepared to pay that much?

titchy · 13/08/2019 19:54

Except you don't know the position the vendor is in feefee, or the house, or anything really. Just that you wouldn't accept that offer.

For what it's worth the house I'm currently sat in was originally on at £750k, rescued to £699k. We offered £615 and agreed £625. So yes, people can and do sell for much less.

Anyway, £540 might swing it, £550 might.

FeeFee832 · 13/08/2019 20:27

@titchy absolutely. But they can't be that desperate to say no to £530 and say last and final offer tomorrow. Without even giving an indication.

They should have said £540 or 550 is our lowest. Can you match?

So they don't sound very desperate to me. Desperate sellers don't say no. Last and finals. They try to negotiate. IMO.

wowfudge · 13/08/2019 21:03

Best and final is surely what you do when you've multiple offers? If you are interested and prepared to pay more I'd speak to the EA and say you can't go to the asking price and don't want to waste anyone's time so instead of best and final can they give an indication of what would be acceptable and you will go to that/get as close as you can? If you get a non-committal answer, push for a figure.

Original poster
Robs20 · 13/08/2019 21:44

Yes I totally agree that best and final offers is normally used after multiple rounds of offers/ if there is more than one person offering. And yes, if they had said no to 530 but we would accept x I would be happy to increase. Tbh 550 would be fine - absolute max given the work we want to do, I don’t think we would recoop our costs if we paid more than that. Will talk to DH when I get home (long day at work!!)

OP posts:
FeeFee832 · 13/08/2019 22:32

Let us know how you get on. Good luck if you offer £550. I hope you get it! 😃

Original poster
Robs20 · 14/08/2019 18:29

Update...
Had a better conversation with the EA today to find out what offers the vendors might accept. As expected 550 was the magic number and they have accepted.
So bloody excited! We’ve had a very rough year with the death of dd1 in jan so I am over the moon at the thought of a fresh start in a lovely house/ new area :)
Thanks for all the comments and advice.

OP posts:
wowfudge · 14/08/2019 20:23

That's great news and I'm sorry for your loss Flowers