How do you decide what to offer?

[ChimChimeny]

We've seen a house today that we love and want to make an offer. I want to get the balance between not overpaying and also not pissing them off with a low ball offer.

I do a lot of negotiating for my job but I know the price/value whereas with houses I don't!

What’s the market like with you, what’s your position, what the position of the house ?

Our local market is too hot to start anywhere below asking. Most people we’re up against start at asking and then it’s a game to see who can pay the most, which we’ve yet to succeed in (apart from one house where we subsequently decided it wasn’t right for us!). Having said that, we’ve lost to lower offer chain free buyers on two probate sales.

sadly the days of going in lower and agreeing somewhere around asking are over in our town, for now at least. I think most people try to do their bartering after surveys.

I second the above, your starting point is working out the market you’re in. Are you looking at offers over or is offering under realistic?

Speak to the agent, they will normally give you an indication of what the vendor will settle for and how bullish the guide price was.

Factor in your own circumstances. You can be less flash if you’re in a position to move fairly quickly, have a large deposit, stable jobs etc. Remember the agent will advise the vendor to accept the best offer and best is a combination of £££ and certainty.

The best advice I was given (for a hot market with offers over) was work out the price that you’d feel ok losing the house over. If you’d genuinely kick yourself for holding back a few grand and losing out, then just add it to your best and final.

Also stress and uncertainty has a value - literally if you run the risk of going into rented. It depends on your circumstances but for us we were content to not feel like we’d pushed for the biggest bollocks negotiation in town in order to just get something we liked locked down.