House on for 400k- budget 350k. Worth viewing?

[CoffeeandaBagel]

Hi,

I normally wouldn't, as 50k is obviously a lot, but given the current climate and the fact that we've reduced by 30k on a cheaper house, I didn't know whether it might be worth a shot.

Of course it completely depends on the vendors circumstances, but just wanted to see if anyone else had got a bargain to this sort if extent. Don't want to waste anyones time.

Might be able to push to 360k, but that would be a real push.

Thoughts?....

go for it.they can always reject your offer.

Ask the vendors agent what sort of offers they’d accept , I’d be pretty pissed off showing my house to people who are nowhere near the asking price .

Well this is very true @stripeypillowcase. Is it a crazy reduction though?

@Floralnomad, yes and so would I.

Last year, when we were first on, if someone told me we'd be accepting 30k under asking price, I'd have told them to jog on, but things can obviously change.

It's only been on a couple of months though.

Is the house very overpriced and only really worth around the 350k or is it a 400k house but you’re hoping the vendor is an idiot?

@JoJoSM2, I would say it is over priced, but not necessarily by 50k, but then our house has sold for well under market value.

We are certainly not idiots

It's no harm to have a try..Worst situation is they say "No"

In current market, many vendors are still greedy & hope to sell more expensive than 2018 or 2017. If the house is already on the market for quite while like more than 6 months and sold price in the neighbour for last year is around £360000 range. It's more likely to negotiate.

The thing is, people selling houses need to be willing to show it to a range of people without being sure exactly if they will offer and how much.
Some people are total time wasters in that they say they are wanting to buy and don’t need to sell anything, or they have a buyer etc etc when they really have no intention of buying anything but like looking. You just can’t know for sure.
Op is looking to move, has a buyer and is actually serious about making an offer - it’s a lot better than a lot of viewers might be. And houses do sell for £350k sometimes when on for £400k - it’s not totally ludicrous. The seller might be glad to get a first offer if they haven’t had any yet, even if they say ‘no’. They might say yes and they might negotiate up to £360k. We don’t know, but no-one gets anywhere without allowing and doing viewings.
So being ‘really pissed off’ seems an extreme reaction to receiving a bit of a cheeky offer, because cheeky offers sometimes do get accepted and even if a seller doesn’t like it now, in a few months if prices drop and they don’t get better offers they might be pretty glad to go back to Op.

I think that if you’re a seller you can never expect to (or know for sure) only show to dead keen people who are serious or who can or will offer close to asking price. You just can’t. You have to expect to show a number of people round before you get offers and expect there might be offers you don’t like and turn down. It’s just part of it. Estate agents ask potential viewers a few questions to try to avoid total time wasters but even they can’t always be avoided and it’s not always simple or clear in buyers’ minds about what their plans might be or the max they might pay until AFTER viewing, so they need to come and look.

My reaction to a very low offer - slight laugh and a ‘no’ possibly followed by a suggestion of a kind of price o might accept in hope of a higher offer. And if it isn’t forthcoming, speedy moving on and not giving it another thought.

With house buying and selling you have to just have a go within the realms of what works for you. You win some and lose some. Everyone knows it’s how it works and that we have to let some people view or view some houses that won’t be liked or where buyer and seller aren’t in tune about price.....but actually looking at more/letting more view and receiving more offers helps buyers and sellers get a better sense of the market and eventually find a match.

Op, go for it. It might be a bit of a long shot but you can only try. Don’t be too definite about your max price with agent and be prepared for a ‘no’or to go a bit higher if you can, but you have to start somewhere.

@rabbitcarrot, this is very true. They're actually on with the same EA we are, so they'll be aware what our budget is.

@WombChocolate, wise words. Thank you.

Worth a try OP, go for it. Good luck.

Personally I wouldn't, house prices are such a contentious issue. Only have to read previous threads about how offended people can get. You might love it and are not able to afford it if they say no.

People in this country are funny about agreeing a price for a house sale/purchase.....all this stuff about being offended or pissed off abiut offers. It is business and quite simply a price has to be agreed via negotiation. People have to set an asking price, which is quite simply a figure - some deliberately set it high, others low and some at a level they hope to achieve and others know they will never get that....there are all kinds of reasoning behind the asking prices which are set and only the seller usually knows those and cannot expect any potential buyers to magically know if they expect to accept lower or go to a judging war. So there is no point being offended by offers which aren't at the asking price, nor being afraid to make an offer of whatever level you make.

People strike me as rather timid and wimpy about making offers. It is a business deal again and you can offer what you like and the estate agent needs to put it forward. It might not be accepted but if you dont ask you don't know. The only time in my mind to not go with a low offer you think might have a chance, is if you think you will lose the property to someone else and you are prepared to pay more.

Being offended or worrying about offending others by an offer is all to do with people being emotionally attached to their houses (especially when they've done work to them) and also about sellers having a sense of entitlement about the price they perceive to be right for their house. It's also due to having a failure of understanding that houses are only ever worth what people are prepared to pay for them and that this varies according to time and all kinds of factors.

When you decide to move you have to become a but more thick-skimmed, less prissy, less easily offended, less emotional about your own home, less entitled about price and more willing to respond to the market. If you aren't able to do that, although you might sell quickly, you equally might well be in for a lomg old wait. Those who are rigid about asking price especially in the face of advice from state agents, can find they remain on the market for months or years. The very stubborn will always believe they proved their property right and all the buyers are wrong abut it. That's fine if you don't need to sell and can just wait years for the market to rise if need be.

Remember too, we negotiate through estate agents, so we don't have to deal directly with vendors or buyers. Estate agents are there to get both as high a price as possible (to maximise commission) but also to get a sale (to get any commission). They sometimes have more information about prices a seller would accept or the max a buyer might go to, but not always. Buyers and sellers shouldn't be scared of estate agents and buyers should feel free to make the offer they want to. Estate agents might laugh a little or suck their teeth and shake their heads at low offers, hoping you will up your offer, but if that's the offer you want to make, just go ahead. And remember information is the key to success. Really knowing your local market and what properties of the type you want are actually selling for (not asking prices) and how quickly is vital. You can get yourself in a strong position with that knowledge. You can gain some knowledge about the seller from an estate agent, but you never totally know their individual position or motivations which drive their asking price or the price they will actually accept. Two owners of 2 identical houses next door to each other might accept wildly different prices in the end and often there's not a lot you can do about it. That's why you just have to make the offer you want to - not be scared of offending or being turned down. Offer and see what happens. It might be a 'yes' or it might be a 'go a bit higher and we will say yes' or it might be a 'no' and you walk away. A 'no' is not a disaster and if the person who said 'no' dwells on your offer being low and is offended by it and thinks about if for more than a very short while, well more fool them, and ultimately what do you really care anyway...you may have never met them and if they said 'no' probably won't see them again and if you do it will be becaue they are more amenable to your offer. It's simply a business transaction and people need to be a little but more business like about it.