How much to offer

[Absa]

Following on from Ugly house / great location thread... we have decided to consider putting an offer in.

House is £359,999.

We honestly think it should be priced more at around £320K- 330K which we would then offer 300,000 - 310,000. This is based on other things in the same area with similar qualities.

Property has been on since mid July.
I live in an area where the market is still quite buoyant. Apparently very few viewings / no offers on the house.

Will need approx £30,000 to update the house - bathrooms / conservatory falling down etc.

Another house in the same street, same price, recently refurbished for the same price and has been on since March.

Issue is I think they've over-priced as vendors selling it are brother and sister who inherited from grandmother. So no one living in it, they don't need the money as in not in a chain.

We are not in a chain either.

I think we'd go up to £335K-340K for it but no more.

So where should we start with negotiations?

What has anything similar in the area actually sold for recently? I'd use that info plus the refurbished house on for the same price since March as the rationale for offering below asking. Why are you interested in this one rather than the refurbished one? That's the obvious thing address in any offer. Be sensitive in how you talk about any work you want to do on the place - you may choose not to mention it all. It doesn't matter that the sellers don't "need" the money. You probably don't know their circumstances other than they have inherited the house.

@wowfudge we prefer this one because of the situation / location on the street.
Obviously we would be sensitive re: improvement discussions etc. And based on what others have sold for is where we think the 310--320 mark.
So not sure why it's priced so high.

We know what we would say in terms of why we are making an offer and not just going in full price to start with. It's just I don't know what is reasonable to start - a friend suggested 10% less was a common thing to do?

Start with a non rounded figure, e.g. £307,650, because that sounds as though you have worked out what you can afford to offer rather than you're just trying to bag a bargain. Depending on what they come back with you can decide where to go from there.

10% less is £330k so quite a bit above what you think it's worth.

Thanks @wowfudge for suggestion about non-rounded number.
Yes I agree I think 10% less would be about our max what we'd pay for it before walking away so want to try and bag it for less than that ideally but would go up to it if needed.

Another Qs - how accurate are online estimates? Eg Zoopla?

Online estimates on zoopla are rubbish.
The best is rightmoveplus but you have to pay money to access this. No idea how much but expect it’s not cheap.