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Original poster

Anyone who has bought a house > £1mil...

28 replies

tabctrlnoanykey · 27/05/2021 12:57

May I ask - what was the asking price and what did you get it for in the end? Did you offer under and by how much? Just wondering about how offers e.g 10% under asking etc amount to a large amount as the price tag gers higher!

Feel free to elaborate with more details! Smile

OP posts:
Mildura · 27/05/2021 13:42

I've not personally bought a house at that level, but I do sell a lot of them.

It would be unwise to pay too much attention to the % reduction from asking price. Pricing strategy will not be uniform and each individual property will be different in its own way.

As such, in some instances achieving a reduction of 20% from the guide might still not be enough. In other cases paying 10% over asking might still be a good deal.

The best house I bought was one where I ended up paying 5% over the asking price.

As with properties under £1m, pay attention to what other similar properties are going for and make your judgement on what you're prpeared to pay accordingly.

Lampzade · 27/05/2021 14:31

Cousin has just bought a house for £1,2 million
The guide price was 50k less.
There was a lot interest in the property and so my cousin offered 50k over the guide price.Other potential buyers offered less.

lazyakita · 27/05/2021 15:46

We offered 10% under, it's a specialist property that was perfect for us but not a lot of others. We agreed on 5% under.

Original poster
tabctrlnoanykey · 27/05/2021 15:59

Thanks for the answers and yes I suppose whatever the price of the house - it’s worth what someone is willing to pay for it!

I feel nervous as a likely dream house for us has come up. We will view it this weekend! It’s out of our budget though, but we are local to the area and have been keeping our eye on the market for 4 years so have a good idea of the market.

We think it’s overvalued - as a poster says above - it’s perfect for us but we know it doesn’t have things that a lot of other houses at that value do have - lots of acres, paddocks etc, quick access to major places.

Don’t want to be the first in and then offer and offend them. But equally think it’ll sit on the market for a year until they drop the price by 100k etc! I suppose I’m just anxious over something that hasn’t even happened yet! They’ve gone with a non-local estate agent and this agent seem to have a pattern of overpricing around here and the properties sit for a while until reduced!

Thing is I want it now not next year. I guess we will know more this weekend! I’m just ruminating now aren’t I, Confused

Thanks again!

OP posts:
Original poster
tabctrlnoanykey · 27/05/2021 16:01

It’s also on as a ‘guide price’, so no idea what that means!

OP posts:
Bluntness100 · 27/05/2021 16:04

Op it doesn’t matter what others bought for, it only matters what they will accept. For info we paid asking price.

I’d say though, it’s an odd coincidence that people convince themselves a house is over priced when they can’t afford it, and it’s such a co incidence that the real price is their budget.

If it’s relatively new to the market it’s unlikely they will sell for substantially less at this stage,

Original poster
tabctrlnoanykey · 27/05/2021 16:12

Yes I do see your point bluntness. My husband who is very logical and practically minded, has simply said - let’s see it, let’s offer (if we can) what we think it’s worth and that’s that! We don’t have to move ASAP so could wait around to see if it doesn’t sell immediately.

OP posts:
Katinthedoghouse · 27/05/2021 16:14

Depends...they might sell at substantially lower our sellers did.

The thing is you never really know the circumstances of somebodies move, it might not be entirely price driven.

We bought our home from a footballer who was moving to another club in a different part of the country. We had relocated too, had sold up and were in rented. We were dream buyers so when offered about 15% off they accepted.

BreakfastOfWaffles · 27/05/2021 16:14

Don't worry about offending the vendor - offer what you are prepared to pay. Also, some vendors might accept slightly less from a better buyer, ie not in a chain, or a cash buyer.

Mildura · 27/05/2021 16:23

Don't worry about offending the vendor

Not always wise advice, it may harm later negotiations if the vendor has taken offence to an opening offer.

Peridot1 · 27/05/2021 16:27

Guide price means nothing! I had a thread about it last year as we were in at Guide Price and I was worried from comments on other threads here that it was off putting. It means nothing. Every price on Rightmove or wherever is a guide as you can offer above or below or asking. Guide price tends to be used by certain agents. That’s about it. And usually for more expensive houses.

Daisydoesnt · 27/05/2021 16:53

We’ve bought two houses in this bracket; one six years and one right now! The first we offered the asking price which was £1.25m and that was accepted. It was an exceptionally lovely house in a beautiful location. We sold it 5.5 years later; asking was £1.55m and we accepted £1.65m from the first and only people to view (I did say it was an exceptional house!)

The house we’re currently buying was on for offers over £1.15m and we offered £1.2 which I am very happy to say was accepted. We knew they had a number of other offers but we that they liked us for various reasons (partly because we’re cash buyers but other reasons too based on convenience to the vendors).

OP are you sure that the house is overvalued? In our area prices have gone up a lot in the last year. Houses in that price bracket (I’m excluding London) are in short supply and high demand. Certainly here prices have gone up between 8-20%.

SpeckledlyHen · 27/05/2021 16:55

I guess it is also up to the Vendor to accept an offer - our house is up for a guide price (oiro) of a million. Someone has offered us 980, but actually we are not ready to accept it yet as we have had a lot of viewings and it's only been on the market less than a week and we have a lot of second viewings to consider. With regards to its price, I guess it is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it and up to the Vendor to decide what they want to sell it for. I think when you are up at those values it doesn't necessarily boil down to haggling over a couple of thousand pounds, it is often more about the chain, the ability to move and for some (me included) who wants to buy it.

Bluntness100 · 27/05/2021 17:00

Op your husbands right, offer what you can afford. No one can guess their thoughts or needs in terms of the selling price and no one can guess if anyone else is offering snd if it’s more. Every situation is different.

Daisydoesnt · 27/05/2021 17:06

OP if you are £100k short (I’m just going by your post, perhaps I’ve for that wrong) are you in a really good position? Eg cash buyers, able to proceed at a timetable to suit the vendors? As PP has mentioned that can be just as important to vendors as the offer itself.

LittleOverWhelmed · 27/05/2021 19:07

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

Original poster
tabctrlnoanykey · 28/05/2021 15:45

@Katinthedoghouse - yes you’re right, who knows what the sellers situation is! I’m dying to find out! Hopefully not the kind who don’t really need to sell and just put it on to see what they could get Grin

I am hoping guide price means in this case ‘we have no idea so let’s just cheekily market it at this and see’ Wink

Daisy - wow your first house sounds like it was amazing, this house looks amazing - but I genuinely do have a feeling it is overpriced from rationale evaluation however I will know on the weekend if its overpriced for me, I’ll ask myself ‘if I had the full asking price, would I go for it?’ And if yes then we have our answer! I’m pretty sure it’s going to be charming and if I want it, others will!

Yes about 100k out, and we are in a good position! I don’t think there will be a huge initial rush of competition as there never is in this area but it only takes one other better buyer to ruin it all Grin

Hurry up weekend! Thanks everyone for advice, have a good bank holiday! Wine

OP posts:
PresentingPercy · 28/05/2021 16:43

The agent has an idea what price it should be and that is why it is a stated guide price. They think it might go for more. But you just do not know. If it is desirable, in a great location and is interesting you, why would it not interest others?

Bluntness100 · 28/05/2021 19:18

I’m sorry op. But to temper this, if you’re a hundred grand short you’re in a terrible position.

OwlTwitterings · 28/05/2021 19:22

£1.1 mill and it was on the market for just under that.

Such high demand in our village. People leaflet drop all the time asking about buying and it’s not unusual for a house to sell before the EA has had time to take pictures to market. Almost all of the properties are close to or over a million.

Onairjunkie · 29/05/2021 07:33

Sorry I’m late to this thread. I recently bought at 1.6 when the asking was 1.95. I laid my offer on the table and left it there. For six months. And the vendor came back to me and eventually accepted. It is a fantastic property, but it did need work and it had been overpriced.

CucumberandLemonade · 29/05/2021 07:52

Asking price was £1.25m. We offered 12pc under for our end terrace. EA had taken us to see a few others including one a few doors down which was terrace and on for 1.1m. After having a chat with EA on what offers all the vendors were looking for, we went for ours which had potential for side return. Our vendors were looking for a quick sale and all they wanted was 1.1m. The terrace a few doors down were looking for their asking price of 1.1m. So it didn't make sense for us to go for the other house (and I didn't really think the work they'd done was worth asking price). It's always worth having a chat with the EA. Also, ur offer really depends on whether ur in a strong position eg chain free and ready to move ASAP. Good luck.

gottakeeponmovin · 29/05/2021 07:56

I thought we'd get more off than we did 1.4m only got 40k off.

AlwaysLatte · 29/05/2021 08:13

We loved a house we almost bought, which was on at £1.3. Our offer of £1.2 was accepted and the vendors were very keen - took it off the market, etc. But we changed our minds before proceeding and did a lot of alterations/building on our own house instead and helped out my stepchildren with their properties. The house later did sell for £1.2.

Aozora13 · 29/05/2021 08:23

Not bought, but sold my late MIL’s house in that bracket. It was a classic London property bought for buttons in the 1960s when the area was really slummy then whooshed up in value over the decades. But needed a complete refurb. We put it on the market at the top of what we thought we could get and were happy to accept ~10% under that, which was still higher than the lowest estimate we had from the EA. So yeah, if you’re serious I’d make an offer, if they don’t accept, they don’t accept. And if they don’t accept now, they might accept in a few months time!