What would you do - house offer?

[10ten]

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.

If this is your dream home and you’re confident it needs £50,000 investment to make it mortgageable .... up your offer to closer to asking making it subject to survey. Get a full structural survey then come back with a lower offer factoring in the cost of remedying the defects. The sellers are more likely to compromise after a survey as other buyers are likely to get one with the same results.

If it's only been 3 weeks so they are unlikely to accept a much lower offer. Perhaps email the agent putting your reasons for the offer in writing but keeping it on the table for now. I would keep an eye on Rightmove and both this house and others that may be marketed over the next few weeks and months.
I don't know where you are in the country and obviously it's area dependent but prices may come down rather than increase once the stamp duty holiday ends.

There’s no harm in contacting the agent to let them know your offer still stands, or to increase it to a best and final if within your budget, explaining your reasoning.
If you cannot afford any more once you’ve factored in the works, then that’s all you can do. Outline your position and leave it open that they can come back to you later if you wish.
You can always contact them again if it’s still on in a few months.