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Original poster

What would you do - house offer?

28 replies

10ten · 26/03/2021 18:04

We sold our house and have been renting for 2 months.

The type of house we would like and in the area we would like, don’t come up for sale very often and when they do are often sold before they hit Rightmove.

A house has come on the market but needs lots of work doing, we put in an offer factoring in the costs so it was quite a low offer. Offer was rejected as they said it had just gone on Rightmove also gave us an idea of the minimum they would accept. The house is still for sale so it must be overpriced or it would have sold.

Would you go back and see if they had changed their mind seeing as it’s still for sale or try and forget about it? Forgetting about it is really difficult as nothing has come on the market in the location we want since.

We can’t pay what they want as we wouldn’t be able to do the work needed.

OP posts:
korawick12345 · 26/03/2021 18:28

It isn't necessarily overpriced, it may be that the right buyer hasn't come along yet. How long has it been on the market?

lastqueenofscotland · 26/03/2021 18:43

If it was with a decent agent and was now an offer the vendor would accept they would probably have called you.
No harm in letting them know the offers still on the table but most proactive agents would have let you know

Original poster
10ten · 26/03/2021 18:44

Not long, just over three weeks.

OP posts:
2021mumma · 26/03/2021 18:46

3 weeks isn’t long enough for someone to start panicking and accept a low offer. Keep your eye on it and see what situation is like in the next few months but also let the estate agent know you are still interested and offer still stands.

korawick12345 · 26/03/2021 18:49

So you have said that these houses don't come up often and are often sold before they hit rightmove i.e they are a desirable commodity? Why do you think they would consider your low offer? Sounds like you can't afford the price but have convinced yourself that it is overpriced. It has probably been priced factoring the work already, if a house is in a desirable location then the condition doesn't necessarily impact that much on price

StephenBelafonte · 26/03/2021 18:53

I would go back And increase my offer slightly

Original poster
10ten · 26/03/2021 19:00

Thanks, I think I am panicking as I don’t want to be in rental accommodation for too long as I am worried prices will rise and we won’t be able to buy.

I thought it was overpriced because otherwise it would have been snapped up by now. Also houses that have sold in that price bracket have been immaculate and haven’t needed anything doing to them whereas this one needs about 50k spending on it. It definitely hasn’t had that cost factored into the asking price.

I will just have to wait and hopefully something will come along but it’s so stressful.

OP posts:
senua · 26/03/2021 19:09

Show them your workings, explain your offer. Remind them that you are in rental so can act quicker than others.

The price of houses will go down when the Stamp Duty holiday ends. The price of house+SD may go up, but what the vendor will get in his pocket will not. Remind them of this. too. Make the offer conditional on completing within SD holiday window.

Bythemillpond · 26/03/2021 19:11

I can understand where you are coming from. I have been looking and have seen plenty of places that need ripping apart and starting again on at the same price as the ones that were sold in recent months that were immaculate
3 weeks is quite early on but you could go back to the EA and say your offer is on the table and you can move as quick or as slow as they like as you have nothing to sell.
Then leave it for another few weeks.

You don’t know that other viewers have said it is over priced and are now could consider your offer

BackforGood · 26/03/2021 19:18

Looking at the mindset of people selling though. You've been told you can achiever £X for your house.
Why on earth would you accept £X minus a lot when it is barely 3 weeks sine it has gone on the market ? Confused

Of course you'll leave it there to see what response you'll get. 2, or 3 months down the line, if you've had 4 offers of £X minus a lot and nothing anywhere near your asking price, then you'd reconsider, but you aren't going to be desperate when you've just listed it.

glassbrightly · 26/03/2021 20:16

Having moved a number of times and actively looked for a house to do up, I've realised at least in the SE, such houses are always overpriced when you factor in the cost of work. Put another way there seems to be a premium for the opportunity to do up which doesn't factor in the risk and hassle as far as we could work out. Don't get me wrong - it is a great opportunity as you get something to your exact needs and tests, but the only way you seem to end up on top is if you're in a rising market anyway or generally a buyers market.

StephenBelafonte · 26/03/2021 20:31

Does it definately need £50k worth of work. Thats an awful lot - a roof, new central heating system, new windows and new re-wiring wouldn't even cost £50k! Do all those things really need doing?

Theres a difference between wanting to spend £50k on a house to make it what you want and needing to spend £50k on a house to make it habitable.

Finally, as another poster said, houses that need doing up seem to go for almost as much as the immaculate ones, oddly.

HeddaGarbled · 26/03/2021 20:37

The type of house we would like and in the area we would like, don’t come up for sale very often and when they do are often sold before they hit Rightmove

This is the most important fact here. If you want this house, quibbling about money isn’t going to get it for you.

CeibaTree · 26/03/2021 20:53

The thing is the price set by the estate agent/vendor will generally have the work needed taken into account, so they have no reason to accept your low offer based on what you can and can't afford renovation wise. My late parents' house is in a very desirable area but needed a fair amount done to it in terms of modernisation, so we priced it £75k under what a done up one on the same street sold for. But we still had a couple of really low offers who said they were offering what they did as x,y and z needed doing - for some reason they couldn't grasp that the price already reflected the work needed.

I think if the house you like had been on for 3 months then maybe try again with your offer, but 3 weeks is not long at all. Good luck with your house search I hope something suitable comes up soon.

folloyourarro · 26/03/2021 21:26

How far is it from your offer to what they might accept? That might help us gauge a time to reapproach.

Africa2go · 26/03/2021 21:48

You don't know that the work hasn't been factored in - you can't know (a) what the vendors value the house at, (b) what work they think is needed and (c) if they think work is required, how much that will cost. You just know that your opinion is different to the vendors'.

Three weeks is nothing in this market. They've rejected your offer. Keep watching it to see if anything happens, tell the agent your offer remains on the table. That's all you can do but think you need to move on & keep looking.

Original poster
10ten · 26/03/2021 22:18

Thanks for the replies and advice.

Very similar houses that are in immaculate condition have been selling for 350k and this is for sale at the same price.

It hasn’t been touched since it was built in the sixties/seventies so it needs a new boiler and central heating, new kitchen and bathroom, re-wiring, new windows, doors and fascia boards, there’s also a problem with the chimney and roof. A builder gave us a rough quote of 50k.

We offered 315k. They want £340k.

You’re right I need to move on or just keep watching. I think I will phone the estate agent on Monday to see if anything else is coming up and mention that if they change their mind to come back to us.

OP posts:
Roszie · 26/03/2021 22:40

I would keep looking.

StephenBelafonte · 26/03/2021 22:53

Have the kitchen and bathroom not been changed since the 70's?

greengrey · 26/03/2021 23:00

We just bought a house in a similar bracket to yours, needs £50k or so of work. This was already factored into the cost.

Although we have the £50k and could have bought a house 'done' it would not have been on the road we are on which houses only come up once in a blue moon and we had to grab it as it's our dream location.

Are you sure it's not priced factoring in the work and it's just the work putting people off?

Africa2go · 26/03/2021 23:03

It's subjective though isn't it? You obviously have your view. The sellers (incorrectly) might think their house is different and therefore more valuable than the houses you think are similar, or they may think the market has changed since recent sales. They may think those recent sales were lower than market value for some reason.

It's just different opinions. You can't force someone to see things in the same way you do.

Midlifephoenix · 27/03/2021 00:17

@StephenBelafonte don't know where you get your tradesmen and materials but I can tell you new windows alone can be £10k, (and I paid £900 per window for proper wooden double glazed sash), so I can easily believe £50k.
Three weeks is not long. Bide your time, tell the agent the offer is still on the table and keep looking.

Bythemillpond · 27/03/2021 00:29

I viewed a house last year that had been up for sale for 2 years.

The EA was quite rude about my offer He insisted terrace houses in the area went regularly for £340,000.

What he meant was the beautiful old Arts and Crafts terraced cottages in the centre of town with enormous back gardens and 4 bed rooms and original immaculate interiors flew off at £340,000

This was a terrace on a 1980s estate a bus ride from town that needed gutting.

The house wasup for £340,000
Similar houses in the street went for £275,00 when they were done. I offered £215,000.

Apparently a lot of people had offered a much lower price but the owners were holding out for £340,000

It is still up for sale.

It will still be up for sale next year I am sure,

mummabubs · 27/03/2021 07:06

All depends entirely on the seller. We went to see a house that had literally come on the market the day before and we were the first to view it, listed at £495k and very similar to what you've described OP, built in the 80s, boiler, bathroom and kitchen not been touched since (none of the house has!) so in need of a decent amount of investment. On that road even properties that are larger and fully modernised don't go for £495k at the moment. We viewed, voiced gently but honestly to the agent that we thought it was hugely overpriced, agent agreed and said it was the vendor that had asked them to list so highly. We offered £450k, agent had a word with the vendor to basically say they could hang on but any other offers werw likely to be similar so we settled at £457k. So that's £40k off the asking price agreed within 24 hours of being on the mark, turned out they just wanted it sold asap. Having said that we're about to enter further renegotiations as our two valuation surveys have both come back at £430k....

So your vendor may decide that they want to accept a lower offer but depends on how much they want a quick sale/ how close they need to get to asking to afford their next place etc. Good luck!

Original poster
10ten · 27/03/2021 10:20

The bathroom is avocado green with tiles to match!

My heart says contact them, my head says forget it and move onwards.

Today is a new day and I will be try to be more positive. Maybe this one isn’t meant to be and a better one will come along soon.

OP posts:
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