How low is too low to offer?

[heidihigh]

We fell in love with a house we viewed over the weekend, it's a lovely detached family home with a spacious garden and large living space.

It's advertised at OIEO £200k. However, when we viewed, the sellers said they were open to offers as they know the house needs a new kitchen and that "it's them (estate agents) who have set the price, not me".

We can't really afford to stretch ourselves to £200k, especially given we need a 15% deposit to secure a mortgage at the minute. I just wondered what people's thoughts were on how much to offer, especially given what the seller said whilst we were viewing. How low is too low and does it sound like they are not expecting to achieve £200k with their house sale?

Anything between 0 and 10% discount

Try £185 and work your way up.

How does it compare to other houses you have viewed? What do you think is a fair price?

We had an offer accepted on a similar house which fell through about a month ago, the previous house probably had smaller living space downstairs, but larger bedrooms and an en suite. The accepted offer was £190k

This house has more work to do, cosmetically. The kitchen will need replacing and downstairs probably wants new flooring, usual lick of paint etc. We were thinking of going in at £190k as this house is slightly larger and the garden is bigger, with the hope of coming in under £195k

Sounds like you could offer 185-190k.

Look at what comparable houses on the street / surrounding streets have sold for and offer accordingly.

Although tbh when they said that about the price, I would have just asked what they were looking for!

I would try £180k.

See what transacted around this house and work out the price per square meter. You can always apply a premium/discount if certain part of the house are not typical (loft with lower heights, lower basement, outdated kitchen, etc). This is basically how an other country in Europe is operating to value their house but it seems that the UK prefers to count the number of bedroom for unknown reasons.

I would say they are keen to get offers and would consider below £200k. I would go in at £180k and be polite about the house. If pressed on price make it clear you can't afford £200k. Then assuming that offer is rejected, offer to meet half way at £190k and say its a final offer.

Definitely aim at 185K, could start at offering 180 as others sugested. If 185 is not enough they will let you know but pretty sure they'd be happy as they even questioned the valuation!

@Raifa

See what transacted around this house and work out the price per square meter. You can always apply a premium/discount if certain part of the house are not typical (loft with lower heights, lower basement, outdated kitchen, etc). This is basically how an other country in Europe is operating to value their house but it seems that the UK prefers to count the number of bedroom for unknown reasons.

@Raifa Sorry to hijack the thread, but what is the best way of finding out what similar properties have sold for on a price per sq meter calculation?

I am in a similar situation regarding a property that my mum is keen to buy. It is definitely overpriced and I've been trying to help her by doing this sort of comparison but I have only been able to do the calculations based on properties currently for sale, as I haven't been able to find information as to the square meter sizes on Zoopla.

@Thistledew unfortunately, there is no publications like in Paris for example of the price per area per sqm. What you can do if monitoring a specific area is searching for expired ads of sold property on google where the floor plan is still accessible. For more current data, just keep on eye on current listings, add then to your watchlist, work out the current asking price per sqm to start building an understanding on the going rate. If you want to be thorough, make an excel list of properties and see on land registers how much they transacted for.

JoJo do you work in the property/housing market. Your advice is always sound.

Work out roughly how much work needs to be done and the cost, then knock it off what the house would be worth. You can then put an informed offer in rather than plucking a figure from thin air. Tell the agents that you've spoken to the sellers and that you've calculated the costs. If the sellers know the work needs doing and can see you've made a reasonable reduction then they're more likely to accept.

@Misstic Thank you. I’m a SAHM.

I never go with a random % off the asking price because it assumes the asking price is correct. People round me are listing their houses for £100k more than they are really worth at the moment. Better to look at local sold prices.

Thanks everyone for your advice. We went in at 190, which was rejected as I expected and upped to 195. Unfortunately someone else has also put in an offer so we have now gone to best and final. We have put in 197 and are now just waiting for a phone call to say if we've been successful but I'm not holding my breath

Best of luck, OP. Best and final is never fun.

Btw, re pricing - I’m also from the continent but tbh don’t find it makes much difference whether you start with price per sq m or number of bedrooms. There are always a lot of variables and adjustments anyway, eg size of garden, off-street parking, garage, architectural style, desirability of the specific road, volume of traffic, and things inside the property like finish or downstairs space, en suites etc 2 houses could be 4-beds on neighbouring roads but one could be double the price of the other.