Are people offering under asking price at the moment?

[Roastedcherries]

Just that really. We are chain free, have deposit ready to go so in a good buying position and the next place we buy will be our forever home so negative equity is not really a factor in my thinking. However I've noticed my local market very much slowing down (it was crazy a year ago, places going at 90 grand over asking) and places which I think are overpriced are hanging around for weeks if not months - this time last year places were marked as SSTC within 24 hours of going on rightmove. So I don't particularly want to offer at full asking in what I believe to be a falling market and just wondered what others experiences were as I don't want to piss off vendors unnecessarily. Say for instance something was priced at 675k and we went in at 650k, is that considered cheeky?

''I think prices have definitely come down, but EAs and sellers don’t want to admit to it so they’re marketing places like they were a year ago''

Agreed. Frankly you would think that as so many of these properties are hanging around for months that they would take the hint...

Yes we are worried. Since we made the offer (just a few weeks ago) our forecasted sale prices have gone down and although we don’t need the sales in order to purchase, the thought of having too reduce the price of the properties we have whilst purchasing a third house at a value it just doesn’t have anymore does not make sense. If we can’t sell our existing properties, we’d need to rent them out for 2 - 3 years just to recoup the loss in stamp duty. We also don’t want to be landlords. We are hoping our sellers see that the market has changed and take the opportunity to renegotiate their next purchase.

It's a very difficult time with all the uncertainty, I get the impression that for many landlords the numbers don't add up now that the time of very low interest rates appears to be at an end.
I see landlords complaining that they are not allowed to to offset interest payments against tax but did they not realise that being a landlord is considered an investment activity and this is just the way that things work when it comes to taxing the profits from investments 🤷

We own the two existing properties mortgage free, can afford to purchase the third outright without selling, but don’t want to pay an overinflated price for the third house whilst having to take a hit on our own. We hope the vendor understands the market has changed but are prepared to walk away if they don’t. We would consider renting out one of the houses but really don’t want to be landlords with all the responsibility that entails, regardless of the investment opportunity.

I wouldn't want to be a landlord either, too many tenants angry and stressed about the unaffordability of housing and taking it out on the landlords☹️
In my view this is all down to the government's failure to properly regulate the housing market instead they make the rules to benefit themselves and stuff their pockets with the profits 🤬

Depends on the situation. We just gave an offer at the asking price which was accepted because we were looking for detached house which is rare in this specific area, and there were another viewing on the next day, so we wouldn't ask for discount.

No harm in asking.

We've just sold and accepted 10k under asking for ours (2.5% under asking). We sold to a chain free cash buyer, which was additional incentive.
The house we are buying is on at offers over. We were hoping to get it at less than we did but unfortunately there was another buyer interested so we ended up going to best and final. It's going to be our forever house and very few on the market that size, in our budget, so we chose to go slightly over what we originally wanted to pay rather than risk losing it.

Depends entirely on the neighbourhood and location. Some places will always be oversubscribed where everyone wants to live.

An update - we offered 30k under and were accepted :)

Congratulations !!!
We had an offer today of 15k under current asking price and accepted. That’s about 25k under what we were originally told by agent last spring but 55k under first offer. As split amongst so many of us it reduces the impact though and I am very happy with it.

Congratulations!

We have just accepted an offer of 5% under the asking price.

I thought the original asking price was too high, so it's a good outcome as far as we're concerned.

Has anyone got a view of West London price reductions. I know London has always been different. Ealing/Chiswick areas

Congratulations @Roastedcherries

Great news.

Hopefully you can get the process done ASAP

My offer of 5% under asking was rejected today and I was invited to make a higher one.

I am walking away without even bothering. The agent was pushing the vendors to accept but they want ''closer to asking price'' for something that needs work, is out of sync with recent sale prices on that street and has not had any offers for almost two months.

I think some sellers need a serious reality check....

It is good to see on this thread that quite a few people are getting more realistic offer accepted.

Literally in the exact same scenario. Not even a counter offer, and the house has been on sale for over 3 months in a village where they usually (even in this current market) sell in days.

The estate agent should be pushing the vendors to make a counter offer. That is the difficult but essential part of these job to help both sides meet in the middle at a price they both can accept, even if not delighted by.

Their job!

Honestly the estate agent we're dealing with seems shockingly bad. We're chain-free buyers, ready to go, and it's like banging our head against a brick wall.

Agree with @Greenfairydust that some sellers don't understand the reality that the market has fallen and continues to fall. If the original house price was already out of sync with other comparable you would be crazy to pay more in the current market.
Ditto @Watermelonsugar1's potential sellers. Clearly over priced if houses usually fly off the shelves in your village and this property has been sitting for 3 months. They are mad especially as you are chain free buyers. They may well come back to you in another month by which time the house will be worth even less in all likelihood!

It’s definitely my experience at the moment. I have a house on the market and have had several offers between 30 and 50k under the asking price.

You’re very good buyers. I would just leave your offer on the table at this stage. Maybe they will come back to you in a week or two when it’s obvious you’re not going to offer more.

Yes I think it's slowed where I am. Mine has been on the market for ten days. The last time I sold for myself was in 2003 and I was on the market for about 72 hours, plus sold my mum's flat during the stamp duty holiday in 2021 which was like handling hot coals. The agent said stick mine on at 475, the same price they valued it at last September which was probably a mistake. I'd accept 450 without much of a qualm if they were a decent buyer, though would try for 460. Hoping not to have to accept 425.

My friend just paid 30K under asking. There were multiple higher offers but she wrote a good covering letter and the sellers chose her.