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Original poster

House has been on the market 4 months - can I make a cheeky offer?

44 replies

buttery81 · 23/11/2020 15:32

I recently viewed a house that I really, really like. It's on for £380k, was first listed for sale 4 months ago and from what I can see, the price hasn't been reduced since it was listed.

It's out of my price range ATM - the absolute most I can afford is £345k.

Do you think there's any chance I could get it for that price (considering it has been on the market for 4 months) and is it worth making an offer, or should I not even bother?

OP posts:
StormcloakNord · 23/11/2020 15:33

It's worth putting in an offer. They'll likely tell you to poke it but you won't know if you don't try.

Original poster
buttery81 · 23/11/2020 15:35

They'll likely tell you to poke it

In that case maybe I won't bother and will wait to see if it's reduced. You'd have thought they would have reduced it by now, considering it's been on for 4 months? Confused

OP posts:
PrismSpectrum · 23/11/2020 15:37

Do it anyway. Shy bairns get nowt. Maybe they're to proud to publicly reduce but would take an offer. If you don't try, you'll regret it.

HotSince63 · 23/11/2020 15:37

So what if they tell you to poke it? You don't know these people, why would that bother you?

Buying and selling a house is a business transaction. Make the offer.

Original poster
buttery81 · 23/11/2020 15:38

I know... I just feel so embarrassed as it's such a ridiculously low offer!

Is 4 months quite a long time to be on the market would you say? It's in what seems to be a popular location!

OP posts:
Original poster
buttery81 · 23/11/2020 15:39

I'm just thinking that the fact it's been on 4 months might suggest that it may be overpriced?

OP posts:
SilkieRabbits · 23/11/2020 15:39

Yes I would make an offer but make it very clear its your absolute max.

Whathappenedtothelego · 23/11/2020 15:40

If they haven't reduced it in 4 months, they don't sound like they're in a hurry to sell, and probably are holding out for a high offer - they may well have rejected lots of lower offers already.

No harm in making a low offer though, it's a 5 minute phone call. But I wouldn't hold your breath.

ShanghaiDiva · 23/11/2020 15:41

I would make the offer, you have nothing to lose.

Trumplosttheelection · 23/11/2020 15:42

It's not a low offer. If you offer your max that is actually three grand more than a 10% reduction would be. Perfectly reasonable.

I suspect the vendor is not reasonable though, hence they haven't reduced.
Try and find out why it's on the market, could be a divorce where one party doesn't actually want to sell. In which case you need to make sure your offer is put to both parties.

HotSince63 · 23/11/2020 15:43

Yes, if it's been on that long it's overpriced.

People come on here all the time and say their properties have been on the market for months and haven't sold and insist they are not overpriced - but the fact of the matter is that in 4 months these vendors have not found anybody who is looking for a house that thinks theirs is worth what they are asking. And you don't think it's worth it either.

TokyoSushi · 23/11/2020 15:43

Just make the offer, the worst that'll happen is that they'll say no. Good luck!

Original poster
buttery81 · 23/11/2020 15:45

It's not a low offer. If you offer your max that is actually three grand more than a 10% reduction would be. Perfectly reasonable.

Thanks - is a 10% reduction considered reasonable in the current climate then?

And you don't think it's worth it either.

Well, I'm not really sure - to be honest if I had more money then I would probably offer more to secure it, but I don't have that option!

OP posts:
Someonesayroadtrip · 23/11/2020 15:46

The worse the say is no. If you don't do anything you may always wonder if they would have said yes.if they say no, then you move on and if it doesn't sell I'm a few more months they may be inclined to reduce.

IndecentFeminist · 23/11/2020 15:46

It's not that low an offer, anything within around 10% off is a fair opening gambit.

Burnthurst187 · 23/11/2020 15:46

I rang the EA about a house that had been for sale since early August. It had never been reduced. It was £35k more than our budget

EA said that the owner had had one offer but was prepared to wait for the asking price

It could have been inheritance so they weren't in any rush to sell. I'd ring the EA op and see if they think they'll be open to a low offer. They often have an idea what the seller is looking for. However, it doesn't look like they're in a rush to move

Carpetflowers · 23/11/2020 15:49

Make the offer, the worse they can do is say no.

iMatter · 23/11/2020 15:52

Put in the offer, tell them it's the very top of your budget and see what they say

Nothing ventured nothing gained. Imagine how gutted you'd be if you didn't go for it and then found out it sold for 345k

Do it and let us know how you get on

Original poster
buttery81 · 23/11/2020 16:01

Ok, well it's good to know other people would attempt this and it's not just me! I'm feeling slightly more confident and less of a total CF now.

OP posts:
BrieAndChilli · 23/11/2020 16:08

You never know, you might be offering just at the right time.

We’ve had an offer accepted on a house.
Was put on jan 2019!!!! For £290k, then quite quickly reduced to £280k
Then Feb this year was reduced to £270k

We considered going to see it but thought vendor wouldn’t accept a low offer so as was above our budget left it.

Having had a look around nothing else ticks as many boxes so while pondering wether to go and view (and wondering what was wrong with it having been on the market for 2 years nearly!) I noticed it was reduced to £250k so immediately rang, went to view.
Spoke to vendor, turns out they inherited a house, put theirs on for high while they sorted out house, turns out inherited house needed a lot more work than they thought so the couple of offers that had and turned down was because they weren’t ready to move.
They had moved into new house 3 weeks prior to our viewing so we’re ready to get rid of the house. We offered £245k and compromised for £248k as it had only just been reduced so already getting it cheaper really.

So there may be other reasons they haven’t sold yet and equally you could be offering at a time when they are starting to consider reducing the price.

NastyBlouse · 23/11/2020 16:12

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

I'd make the offer. It's not your responsibility to manage how the sellers view the offer emotionally.

I offered 400 on a house listed at 475 once, and although that offer was batted back, we agreed on 408.5 soon afterwards. So you never know.

PresentingPercy · 23/11/2020 16:16

People hanging on for higher prices might be deluding themselves. Look at what other sales have been in the vicinity. Is what you are offering in line with sold prices. You can but have a go. If they don’t want to sell to you, that’s their choice. Don’t worry about it.

Juno231 · 23/11/2020 16:40

I mean you have nothing to lose right? So no harm in trying. I would say though that in the current climate 4 months isn't all that long and you can't assume they haven't spent part of it with an offer that later fell through. When I was looking at houses at the beginning of the year there were a couple that were on the market for ages but that's cause they were stuck in a chain that then fell through and had to start over again, not because no one wanted their house.

VenusClapTrap · 23/11/2020 16:54

We put in a cheeky offer on our current house. The vendors huffed and rejected it, and the feedback from the agent was that they couldn’t possibly accept such a low offer.

We said fair enough - we didn’t have any more to offer.

They rang back 24 hrs later and accepted our offer.

hauntedvagina · 23/11/2020 17:30

Stop looking at it as asking for £35k off, look at it as offering 9% under asking.

If you don't ask, you don't get.

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