What does "Offers in Excess of" really mean?

[Momniscient]

Another RightMove question here... does anyone have experience in either 1) offering on a place with this sort of wording on the listing, or 2) selling a place and choosing this wording?

I've only previously seen it on houses that have been on for a while, then reduced in value and the OIEO seems to be to show that this really is as low as they're willing to go. I am seeing a couple of places go straight on the market with this on - how best to interpret?

I guess my main question is this - is it just discouragement, and in the same way as any listed price there's a chance that an offer below it would be accepted, or is it likely a really solid "don't even try"?

Obviously I would ask the EA if it came to it, and discuss properly, but from here I'm trying to gauge whether it's at all worth looking at places that are a little over our max budget, or whether we're just torturing ourselves.

Our EA said it's because a house is worth what people will pay for it.
House prices are changing so much at the moment that if they stick a price on a house, it will sell for less than if they just put a guideline price on it, such as "offers over".

"Offers over" means "we think this house is worth at least X, but if you want to secure it you'll need to offer more"

He said a house on the market for "offers over £400k" would probably sell for around £415k.
A house on for £400k would likely sell for £395k

We sold ours with this wording based on our EA's advice earlier this year -- we wanted a fast sale, and he said that putting it on at 'Offers Over X' meant it would show up on a larger number of searches on Rightmove and the like, and would get more viewings. We only had two days of showings, had nine or ten offers immediately, and it sold for £30k above the 'offers above' price.

So I suppose in our case it meant 'this house is almost certainly worth more, but we need to sell fast, and we want people to come through the door, and then see what they think it's worth.'

As EA advice goes, it seems to have been sound enough. A neighbour selling an identical house which had been far more glossily done up put theirs on the market at 50k above the price we'd put on as 'Offers above', had to reduce when it didn't sell and ended up selling for £10k less than ours. (I was really surprised by this, because objectively their house was internally very high-end, and ours was far simpler.)

Our EA offered it as an option when we’d found a house before ours was listed. Suggested if we want a quick sale he could put it at offers over and then a price about 5% less than his suggested standard list price. We didn’t do it in the end as our sellers were still looking for a place. But I would read it as wanting to sell quite fast and interested to see what people will offer above an absolute minimum they’d consider.

Here in Scotland, virtually all properties are "offers over", with sealed bids made via solicitors. In hot property areas like Edinburgh, you can still miss out by offering even £70,000 over the asking price, for a £200,000 poky little flat in a semi decent area. This happened to DD, who was eventually very lucky to land one for £50,000 over asking.

We had this on a clearance property from a "we buy house for cash" firm. They had accepted an offer but were still marketing the house. So "Offers Over" the bid they had already received. Sounds like the Scottish approach.

Ours was offers over because the agent expected multiple offers and best and final bids.

In my experience the EA puts it on lower end of value with OIEO so it comes up on more searches and generates lots of viewings then a bidding war with sealed ‘best and final’ offers. Seems to be standard practice where I live which is very much a hot area for property.

I only really see it when a house is overvalued but the sellers can't/won't accept less.

We just sold ours using offers over. I had an idea of how much someone would pay for our house and wanted a quick sale and a first time buyer.

We got an offer (not over, not under) which was exactly what I hoped for.

We didn't negotiate for an extra 5/10k because we wanted our buyers to stick with the process.

We did that in our last house sale too - it takes the pressure off worrying that they will pull out.

Interesting stuff, thank you. Next door (same footage, very similar style and level of "finish", same size and style of garden, Sam number of rooms and bathrooms upstairs, same gates/driveway even!) sold in May this year for 50k less than this particular house is listed at. Bizarre.

I’ve had an offer accepted at lower than the offers over price. They hadn’t been on particularly long either, but the market wasn’t that heated.

But then actually lost that house when the whole chain broke down, and they re-listed it and they got way more than the offers over price- this was 4 months later (May this year) when the market was going crazy.

If the other house sold (as in completed) in May for £50k less, it probably went under offer in say, Nov 2020, when the market was totally different. Family houses here are going £100 - 200k over what they would have done a year ago. You can't compare what's on the land registry at the moment. The market is bonkers.

The house that we bought in May was on the market as 'offers over'. We offered 5k below the offers over price and were immediately accepted. It hadn't been on the market long either.

We did offer in early January though.

That's a fair point @TheEconomista I hadn't twigged the sold price on Zoopla would be for when they completed, rather than offered. Thank you!

Family houses here are going £100 - 200k over what they would have done a year ago.

Where's that?

Recently put in an offer for a flat for my mum which was OIEO - it had just been reduced and we offered that price, not over, and it was accepted. Sometimes it's just the minimum that someone will take.

@Rollercoaster1920

We had this on a clearance property from a "we buy house for cash" firm. They had accepted an offer but were still marketing the house. So "Offers Over" the bid they had already received. Sounds like the Scottish approach.

The difference is that in Scotland a sealed bid is legally obligated. The house then taken off the market and gazumping should be impossible. In that sense it's a good system. The drawback for buyers is that you have no idea what others are bidding, so it's difficult to gage the level of your bid. And yes, Edinburgh properties especially go way over what is called the upset price.

Thank you all - this is extremely helpful.

When we had our place valued back in October the EA essentially said "it would be an easy sell at £X price, but honestly I would put it on the market £25k higher than that, because you might get that, and why not". So I figure... maybe knocking £25k off an asking price isn't too cheeky... maybe...

Bought my house in 2018. Was on for offers over £XK, I offered £10K under that figure and it was accepted.

From a buyers point of view the house we bought was offers over, we offered 5k over the price listed, ended up going 25k over. If it hadn't have been listed at offers over, but at the sale price, we wouldn't even had bothered viewing it, as it went we found with the help of a broker we actually could afford more than we thought our max was. I guess it will lure in more people, and lets face it if they love it, they'll do all they can get to get it!