Offer on 400k house

[BigBabySmallMum]

I want to put an offer in on a house
It was up for 425k but was lowered to 400k recently
how much do I offer?

its the right size for us but needs gutting completely so it’s a lot of work, I don’t mind doing it but don’t want to pay more than I need to as need to keep money back for doing it up..
all thoughts and advice welcome, I don’t know what to do!

thanks 😊

Roof should last 50 plus years.

Plumbing etc should be fine - £50K sounds like a lot of money to spend in a fairly new build property,

You need to get some proper facts here in what needs doing and the cost of doing it -

Then decide what it’s worth.

You don’t know what the roof is constructed of

You don’t know location ie coastal needs more frequent maintenance and replacement

you don’t know how well been maintained

OP,

A house built in 2000 will not need gutting.

I can see now why the vendors may be less willing to see your offer as a relevant.

It may well not be decorated and have bathrooms and kitchen in the latest fashions, but it should be fully liveable and able to be changed over time.

It depends on what you think it is worth, and what the market in your area is like. And how much you want it.

Where I live few houses are coming on the market. When they do, they sell very quickly and for over the asking price.

We put an offer of £390k on a house for £425 last week. We agreed on £400k after the first offer was rejected.

Was a very stressful few hours! It had been almost sold 12 months ago for £460, so feeling like we got a good price in the end.

Hi all, thought I’d give you an update, offered 400 they said no, no negotiation nothing, so sadly it’s a no from us now.
Price isn’t worth it with all that needs doing.
when I say it’s in a bad way it’s like this- the cream carpets have black walk through marks, doors have holes in so need replacing, laminate on kitchen worktop worn away, laminated wood flooring chipped - there lots of damage. it’s not clean or hygienic to live that that, it was badly treated unfortunately. I can completely see how a house 20 yrs old that was loved would be still in good condition but they used cheap products and didn’t care for it so they’ve clearly fallen apart.
thanks so much for all your help.
wish me luck in the continuing search 😔

You offered full asking price but they rejected it? Did they say why?

Why did they reject your asking price offer?

They don’t appear to want to sell to you for some reason!

I have no idea why they didn’t accept, they didn’t want to negotiate, didn’t give an indication of what they wanted, they just said no. That’s all the info I have, sorry I know it doesn’t really tie things up nicely as an ending. It’s annoying for me too as I don’t think I did anything wrong except maybe go in too low the first offer and it insulted them? That’s all I can think of.
the seller just seems awkward, clearly wants more or thinks the house is worth more, who knows..
I’m quite disheartened by the whole experience tbh, and a bit surprised
I think the EA I was dealing was also a bit of an idiot (sorry but he was really hard to talk to, wouldn’t really let me speak, was quite condescending) so didn’t really help things, I dunno if he even said to them about our buying position etc although I did tell him to make it clear..
i don’t think I can go back to EA to ask for more info so that’s all I have
sorry

I expect they will live to regret their decision and you probably won't.

This sounded like a very big project

You sounded very inexperienced with house purchasing and certainly renovation projects

i suspect they thought that selling to you would be stressful and drawn out.

Hence rejecting your asking price offer

If it were me I'd call the EA and ask what their reasoning was. The next house you like the look of might well be marketed with them too, so you don't want to get it in your head that they are unpleasant to deal with. Plus, if you really like the house then it's worth exploring.

To help you costs things up in the future we live in a 15 year old property, with original cream carpets throughout. They end up absolutely filthy but a quick once over with a rug doctor they look like new. We didn’t like the worktops when we moved in. It’s a larger than average kitchen for a four bed. It costs £1000 to change them oak worktops

Sorry they didn't accept your offer @BigBabySmallMum - but due to your obvious inexperience I imagine they thought you would be a difficult buyer...sorry! Tbh, you probably dodged a bullet anyway.

I definitely think as you said you have a builder friend it might be helpful for you to see if they could accompany you when viewing any future properties.

I was expecting it to be a period property from your description of the condition too - 20+ years old isn't that long in the great scheme of things generally speaking, house-wise.....

But....our current house (a few hundred years old) was last 'renovated' between 2000 and 2007. The buyer in 2000 added a badly built extension whilst the next owners fitted a cheap kitchen and bathroom in 2007 (the dates were on both when we removed them). Since around 2012 the house had been let out and gradually the cheap fixtures and fittings degraded to the point they were in (barely usable) when we viewed the property in 2017....at which point the EA was describing it as 'recently renovated'! The external paintwork was in a terrible state - peeling to reveal multiple colours beneath 😆

So, it really does depend hugely on how the property was built/decorated/fitted out and how it's been cared for since. If no thought has been taken with regards to standards of decorating or price point of materials used, it doesn't necessarily follow that the fabric of the building and associated stuff such as wiring/heating will be poor, but it can be a good indication of bodging throughout. Ours certainly was!

Don't listen to posters telling you they are not selling due to your inexperience. That wouldn't turn any buyers I know off from an asking price offer. Afterall first time buyers are a bit of a catch normally due to lack of chain.

Some of my worst experiences have been other 'experienced' buyers and developers because frankly they normally care a lot less.

But the EA really does have a duty to explain why your offer has been refused. Did toy send your offer in writing to them? Did you then get a notification of offer in writing (i.e via email from the EA)? They normally follow that up with a written response to your offer.

The EA has a duty to put forward all offers to their vendor. If the seller is tricky, normally they let you know pretty quick. Can you stop by to see them on the guise that you're still looking for a house?

EVERYTHING is overpriced, stay away from the property bubble until interest rates stop going up and there is a clearer picture of the level rates will settle at. Don`t bail greedy sellers out of their debt mistakes or give them a retirement bonus, they have done absolutely zero to earn it, the less buyers there are the quicker sellers will awaken to the new reality.

Two things jump out at me as possible reasons. One is something I have warned people about here before- once this every evening- a significantly low offer can p*ss off vendors to the point where they won't accept a better offer later- the better offer you then make says clearly it wasn't that you loved the house but couldn't afford the price, and they may think you'll drop your offer again when you get a survey. This can be the case even if the vendor's idea of house prices is unrealistic.
The other thing is if you passed your opinions on the house's condition to them. The things you mention are totally trivial, and do not constitute good reasons for dropping an offer. If that info had been passed to me, I'd have assumed that you were either a time-waster, or that once you had a survey you'd be knocking off money for everything the surveyor even mentioned in passing. I just wouldn't want to take the risk of accepting your offer only to see it drop like a brick again when I had spent money on a survey for my ongoing purchase and was part of a chain.

this is exactly what the house was like, just really poorly kept cheapest materials

Hi ,
yes it was all done via email so seemed offical
I was told that they were going to rent it instead

Just want to say a big thank you for all your replies,
I don’t know why I didn’t get any notifications that there were replies to my update but I thought that was the last of it, so thanks for everyone’s further input

just as a final update - I was told they wanted to rent instead , but the house is still up for sale!

Hello,
We are exactly in the same position, £375k is our limit, and trying to see if we can get a £400k Property for our Budget.
We are in a strong position, nothing to sell ,no Chain etc.
Be interesting to see what happens in the New Year.