House prices - what to offer

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We're currently looking for a house to buy and we viewed one yesterday we are seriously considering. It's not perfect but with some extra work it could be for us.

My concern is that after having a look at similar properties that have sold on the road and ones nearby I think they are asking maybe £20k more than what its worth.

I worry that if we offer the asking price or very close to it we will have paid over the odds.

Has anyone got any advice on how to find out true pricing and how to offer?

Thanks

I'm not sure there is true pricing really. In your shoes I'd consider what it's worth to you and if it is overpriced could you sit out a recession /downturn in house prices?
I've been helping an estate agent friend and prices are quite eye watering at the moment. We can't predict the future so it comes down to personal circumstances and wealth

House prices have gone up hugely. What a house is worth is partly determined by what someone will pay. If you really want somewhere pay what it is worth to you. My friend kept offering under the asking price until she realised that she wasn’t going to get anywhere.

What's the market doing where you are? Where we are, Devon, it's slowing fast and people are getting under asking again. Some parts of the country are still roaring along. People are getting wary at the moment. If you can wait even a few weeks, I think the market will look quite different.

The 'true price' is what a buyer will agree to offer and a vendor agree to sell at. There is no magic formula.

You have to look at market forces - where I am there are very few houses available and those that come on the market are sold within days. If it is different where you are then the response might be different.

It will also depend how long it has been on the market; how much the vendors need for their next move; how keen they are to sell; how proceedable you are; and of course what other offers they receive.

It also depends how much this house is "the one" for you and how much it is "a house you would be okay with", and how many other similar properties are coming on to the market.

I am in Edinburgh and my friend is currently house hunting - everything she has put an offer on has gone for at least 17% over asking so far

It really depends on the market where you are and when these other houses sold. We've just sold ours and every house sold on our street in the past 6 months has exceeded the ceiling price for road.

Offer what you think it's worth but I would imagine it's priced accurately to reflect the current market. If you love it don't let it get away house prices might still be rising and you'll only regret it if it goes for what you would have offered.

It’s worth what someone will pay for it.

Best thing to find out is supply / demand in the bracket you’re looking in. If demand is high and supply is low someone will pay more than you. If it’s not, they don’t. Most places have very little available right now hence rising prices.

Tbh, I don’t know your price range but 20k isn’t very much when it comes to property. If it’s the right home and you’re there for a long time you’ll look back and it will mean nothing.

I’ve written this on threads before as we’ve bought and sold a lot. Don’t be a dick. Offer what you think it’s worth in the context of the current market, not pre-covid, not 2022, current. So in answer to your question, you need to know supply v demand to get a true price.

No one can possibly say without knowing where in the country are you? What is the price? What do similar properties sell for in the local area? How much work is needed? How long has it been on the market?

@rumred

I'm not sure there is true pricing really. In your shoes I'd consider what it's worth to you and if it is overpriced could you sit out a recession /downturn in house prices? I've been helping an estate agent friend and prices are quite eye watering at the moment. We can't predict the future so it comes down to personal circumstances and wealth

So we've been looking for a while had found a few places but then to either not having a buyer for ours or our original buyer dropping out we lost them.

Our buyer now is very easy going but we dont want to loose them so am afraid of waiting. There isn't an awful lot coming on the market that we like and nothing has ticked all the boxes since the 2 we lost but this one does tick a lot but we need to try and save some money so we can do the extra bits.

For reference I am in London but looking to move out to the 'burbs so we can get more for our money.

@Beees this is what I am afraid of. If we don't get something we will be stuck here forever.

Thank you to everyone. I am just nervous about all of this as its a big move for us and I'm terrified of making the wrong decision.

You need to look at the sale prices in your road. Then the like for like sale prices in your town - same size house different Street. Then factor in the rising prices.....so if the last sold house in the road was 250k and the one you like is offered at 320k....you need to look at the time it was sold and what has happened to the prices since then. Finally work out what the house is worth to you. How quickly do you want to move, how many other properties have you seen, how suitable they were and their prices.....
Our next door neighbour put their house on last weekend, had an open house and is now under offer. I thought it was marketed quite a high price, houses of their size can sit on the market a while. But obviously it was more desirable than I realised and prices have risen more than I thought.....

We sold our house 6 months ago and houses coming on the market on our old road are now going on for 10-15% more than we sold ours for (which we thought was a good price at the time, it sold fast and for over our valuation). That was in London zone 4. So unless the sale prices you are looking at are very, very recent (unlikely given the Land Registry backlog), the extra £20k might be consistent with the market.

It might well be a realistic price, given current market conditions in a lot of places. It will also have been priced already according to what needs doing to it, so don't think of it as £x price minus what I need to spend on it, that's already factored into the price.
Where we're looking houses are either selling at above asking price within days (we've had our offer accepted at 1% over asking 4 days after it came on market) or sitting for absolutely ages and not selling. The ones that aren't selling are either in terrible location, don't have a garden or have strangely configured insides/need a LOT of work.

Following the new information at 08:11, then I'd offer what you can afford.
If you like the house and it suits your needs, then don't mess about, or you will once again lose your buyer, and there comes a time when people won't want to offer on yours as it presents to them as if you aren't being serious.

We offered what we could but lost the house to a bidder who offered more and was chain free.

We didn't up our offer as we don't want to over stretch ourselves so its back to looking again.

We have some very unique requirements due to looking for a property where we can build an annexe for DM.

Property came on, listed for £250k - needs a bit of work but that’s fine as we are planning on moving stuff around and building annexe anyway.

Several offers, it went to best and final - and we had our offer accepted at £267,500.

It’s probably more than the current house is worth but the demand pushed up the price. And also, it’s what it’s worth to us. This property will change our lives so much and when the building work is done it will be stunning.

For what it represents, and the fact there were very few other properties that offered the same space or potential, paying £17k over the asking price was worth it for us.