Offering on a property

[anon12345678901]

Hi all, I just hope to ask for some advice on making an offer. The property has been on the market for 7 months, its on for £370k, the kitchen would need replacing and things like internal doors as they're damaged. What would a good starting offer be? Is 10% below asking price rude? This is my first time buying so I'm not all savvy on this front 🤦🏻‍♀️

What do comparable properties in the area sell for? You can check sold prices online. They may or may not have taken the state of the kitchen into account in the price.

But no, 10% isn’t rude! Especially as it’s been on for so long. We offered around 10% below asking on our house (and got it after a tiny bit of negotiating)

Good luck!

Thank you so much for the reply! I've checked the properties down the road last sold prices, one sold for £368k a few months ago, but it had a brand new kitchen and bathroom suite and was beautiful decorated. Then last year one sold for £350k, again with new kitchen and bathroom. The one I'm looking at has an old bathroom (but still working so all good), however the kitchen needs to be ripped out and it's needs redecorating throughout. It was a buy to let property so they didn't really put much into it (if that makes sense). Now they're trying to sell as they need to free up cash.

I'll offer 10% less and see how it goes, worst they can say is no. They do want to sell I know that so maybe they'll accept (fingers crossed!)

Bear in mind things like the kitchen will most likely have been factored into the price, so when you out in your offer I'd stay away for pinning your rationale on the kitchen - you'll only get told it's been factored in. But if it's been on for seven months and hasn't sold... it's more than just a price issue. Either the vendor refuses to sell for anything less than that price (so they're being stubborn, and don't actually want to sell), or there something about to be built nearby that people don't want to be near

I’d have serious questions about why anything had been on the market seven months at the moment.

Not normal. Maybe dodgy vendors or problems at survey? Don’t accept anything they say at face value. Have any previous sales fallen through recently? Find our why for real.

Thank you both, very good points. I guess I can send an email to the estate agent and they should be able to answer those questions. It's definitely not in the best condition, there's loads that can be done with it but if it's got a serious issue I wouldn't bother. The price was dropped in September but it's still not shifted. At the moment, the market seems to be quite hot so maybe there is something I'm missing. I'll draft an email to the estate agent tonight and send it Monday

This property is clearly overpriced and was even more so at the beginning. I would maybe drop 30k off the asking price and try for 340k or even 335k. Explain that you have researched comparable properties and this one needs a new kitchen etc to bring it up to their standard

£345k I would be happy if accepted.

£350k only if I really wanted the location and prices have risen in the past year.

Work out how much it would cost you to do the work. There was a 1970s house on for £349 that needed EVERYTHING doing and one down the road on for £360 with everything done beautifully. Identical layout though the more expensive one had a south facing garden. It had been in the vendors family since it was built so they had fond memories and couldn’t get their head around the fact it wasn’t worth what it was on for. We worked out that we’d need to spend at least £50k to get it up to the same standard as the finished one and it just wasn’t work we were prepared to do in the end.

You have to factor not only the cost of the euro but the inconvenience of having that work done. Will you rent while it's bring renovated? Live in without a kitchen and all the dust etc?
It was overpriced to begin with. Maybe they were just chancing the heat of the market, but obviously there are limits to how high you can go. Definitely go in low but say you have done your research and know what comparable properties have sold for with the work already done.
Remember the estate agent works for the seller, not you, and will always try and get the highest price possible.

10% below is pretty much the expectation for all but the most desirable properties around our way.