Is this offer an insult?

[Tigergrey]

Hi all,

I posted a week or so ago that our house has just gone on the market and was worried we'd get no viewers/offers. Well, we have so far only had 2 viewers, the first could only afford 10 grand under the asking price so didn't offer at all, the second viewer (who spent over an hour viewing the property!!) has just offered...

13 grand under the asking price.

This feels a bit like an insult - am I right to feel that way?! That's under what we paid for the property 5 years ago and we have made improvements since then.

Part of me is mad at our estate agents for not correctly vetting these guys in the first place, they told us that under Covid rules the only people allowed to view would be people who passed affordability checks.

I'm a bit flabbergasted, we've never sold a house before - is this usual potential buyer behaviour?

A house is worth what someone is prepared to pay. The offer is low, but not spectacularly so. They may be trying it on, not overly bothered, or factoring in replacing the kitchen etc. You don't have to accept it and can advise your EA you won't take offers under a certain figure.

I think this is pretty usual. It partly depends on your asking price (how much is 13 grand as a percentage?), but it's quite common for buyers to put in a cheeky first offer.

It depends how much of a percentage that is below asking price. I would expect offers of up to 10% under asking price, probably around 5% at first and then further reductions based on the survey. That is having been in the position of both a seller and a buyer.

I paid £50,000 under the asking price and initially offered £70,000 under. If the house is on for £75,000 it’s a bit cheeky but I wouldn’t be offended. There are sellers on my road who should have accepted a lower offer months ago but are still holding out while 5/6 houses have sold.

Don't be insulted, see it as a starting point. Counter offer :)

What percentage is 13k of the asking price?
In a slow moving market, 10% off the asking is usually a starting point of negotiations.
And it doesn’t really matter what price you had bought the property for, if the market shows signs of slowing, or prices start falling. Unfortunately some seller have to take a hit in a falling market, if they need to sell at that point in time.

Why were you worried you’d get no viewers / offers?

Doesn’t it depend? Is it £13k under an asking price of say £500k? Or £13k is under £120k?

Unless you are in an exceptionally desire area I really don't think that's an insult. Buyers market and all ..

It totally depends on the asking price and even then, it isn’t an “insult” it’s just a low offer.
You don’t have to accept it, it may be a starting point. I wouldn’t betray any annoyance.

Not unusual, though a bit price dependent.You have to stop thinking in personal terms when you are selling, it’s a business transaction

Utterly normal sadly

No it’s not an insult, don’t be taking it so personally, it’s a business transaction, you’re selling an asset. It is only worth what someone is willing to pay and they will only offer what it’s worth to them. You can decide your bottom line Ie the min you’ll accept and go back and say I’ll sell for x, but the fact they passed affordability checks doesn’t mean they think it’s worth what you think it’s worth, or even what the agent thinks it’s worth.

Honestly if you start getting insulted and a bit precious you’re going to struggle to get through this.

Not as insulting as one of the offers we received for my parents house.

We were listed at £450k and not in a massive rush to sell, albeit there was equity release to clear.

One potential buyer wanted £50k off, wanted us to obtain planning permission and allow him to pull out if PP not obtained.

Needless to say we said no.

Thanks all, I had no idea selling would be like this!

If we don't get within 5 grand of our asking price then we simply can't afford the asking price of houses in the spec we want (if that makes sense!)

For those asking, we are on the market for under £160,000.

Starting to think maybe the truth is we can't afford to move at all (or at least not to a detached, which is our only specification as we have had a really really bad experience with semi detached neighbours).

Thanks for all your replies!

What is the asking price? I don't think 13k is outrageously low at all. Although I'd avoid offering less than 10k below, but it entirely depends on the original price.

Its not just about affordability of the buyer. I recently viewed a house that has been reduced to 170k from 175k. After two years of obsessively looking on Rightmove locally I honestly think the house is worth 155k max. Two neighbouring houses sold just before for 160k or just under, both had additional features (driveway, utility room, downstairs toilet, bigger and sunnier garden). I offered 160k, seller wanted 165k we declined. Over a month later they said they'd take the 162 but we'd already viewed much better properties by then for less and still felt it was overpaying. Our budget was 200k. So yes we could have offered asking price but it wasn't worth that much to me.

It's irrelevant how much you paid for the house 5 years ago. It doesn't feel irrelevant to you, but it is irrelevant to the current market value.

As PP said, the house is worth what people will pay for it. There's no guarantee that the people making the offer can't afford the house - but they may be offering based on what they think the house is worth. And they might be right. Also nobody actually offers asking price apart from in certain extremely competitive markets - you put a house on the market at a certain level with a view to get offers approaching that. The house we just bought was on for £399k, we offered £387k and the vendor came back and asked for £392k, we went back with £390,500 as our last and final offer and he accepted. Pretty standard really.

Don't get in the habit of feeling offended and taking these things personally - yes it is your family home but the buying and selling of houses are essentially transactions. Don't make it emotional (and certainly don't reject an offer outright just because you feel 'offended;')

You could always go back and say you want offers over £150k and see what they come back with.

This feels a bit like an insult - am I right to feel that way?

No. Why would you be insulted that someone doesn't put the same price as you on a building?

That's under what we paid for the property 5 years ago and we have made improvements since then.

We've spent 60k on ours (bought 7 years ago), doubling the downstairs space and I'd be thrilled if we got 20k more than we paid. The economy is in free fall.

Part of me is mad at our estate agents for not correctly vetting these guys in the first place

They will check the viewer has an offer in principle for the ball park you want. The agent won't know exactly how much they can or will offer. 10k under is a perfectly normal offer on a house in your price range.

If we don't get within 5 grand of our asking price then we simply can't afford the asking price of houses in the spec we want

Give it 6 months, they will be worth a lot less(as will yours).

Having said that OP, I've also offered asking price twice on properties that I felt were a fair price (and lost out to cash buyers) I don't mess around trying to get a bargain for the sake of it, I just don't want to pay over the odds during a recession. You can't expect others to over pay because you are overstretching yourself. Is the price really fair? If you won't accept less than 5k asking price if really can't be overvalued. Is the price realistic? Have you been checking sold prices?

Not at all insulting. What you think it’s worth and what others are willing to pay aren’t the same thing.

As per previous posters’ comments; that’s not an insulting starting point to offer under 10% less.

Did you get a number of estate agents to value your home? Who did you proceed with? Highest, Mid, lowest valuation? Or did they all come out the same?

You also might want to look at your estate agent and what % of asking price they usually achieve. Currently you’re expecting 97% of asking, is they what they usually achieve?

It’s not an insult no. And you will do similar presumably? You always offer under unless you know there are other offers at asking price.

All you have to do is tell the agent no and that you can’t go below £X. Either they will up their offer or they won’t.

I know this isn't really what you're asking but if you are desperate to move but can't really afford it (which it sounds like to be honest, you will be lucky to get within 5k of an asking price unless you have multiple offers on the table where people end up in a bit of a bidding war) then I would reconsider the detached specification. You can get horrendous neighbours that cause problems regardless of whether you are attached or not. Yes it takes away the potential noise element to some extent, but it doesn't guarantee good neighbours (our worse experience of neighbours were people who lived across the back from us, our back garden fences backed onto each other, all sorts ended up in our garden and we had to get the police involved). It depends what sort of area you're moving to but chances are that neighbours in a semi-detached house will be perfectly fine.

This feels a bit like an insult - am I right to feel that way?! That's under what we paid for the property 5 years ago and we have made improvements since then.

Fine to say "no", bit ott to feel insulted. It's an offer on a house, not a value judgement on you as people.

Also it sounds like you are looking to buy a new build - they often accept offers lower than the asking price. But be aware that there is a huge price premium on new builds generally but especially detached houses. They don't hold their value well over time.