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?

''@rainingsnoring · Today 21:05
@Greenfairydust any sensible seller who actually wants to sell would move as quickly as possible through the process in the current market imo. I expect some will come to regret holding out for another 10K when they find that their house is worth even less in 6 months.''

Exactly. I could not believe that after making me wait for 3 days to tell me that. they were rejecting my first offer, the sellers again want to spend another day thinking about my latest one. Each time I had to chase the agent for updates as well rather than him proactively contacting me. And again this is a house that has had zero offers for two months. I would say that at this point it is best for me to walk away because it is a sign of buyer that will be difficult and slow to deal with throughout (for example should the survey reveals some issues, they won't accept any negotiation). I really despair at how some people behave.

It sounds as if they either aren't very motivated to sell or they have an unrealistic idea of what the property is worth if they are dithering for days over offers close to asking price (rude to keep people waiting for ages without explanation too).
Either way, best to walk away.
I think there will be lots more properties coming onto the market in Spring so hopefully you will have a lot more choice and some more realistic sellers.

*Unexpectedly we are now viewing something that has just failed to sell at auction. It has been extended and they haven’t finished as I think sadly one of them died unexpectedly.

It’s offers in excess of 400k, great location. Weird layout that will suit us brilliantly but I think would put most off and I think the garden is small for size of house plus a fair bit of work to do but liveable. We would need small mortgage and have an agreement in principle. Allegedly someone viewing just before it. If we like it what would you all offer? My apologies to @Roastedcherries for asking on her thread.*

using the ‘your first offer should make you feel slightly embarrassed’ rule above🤣 I’d go in at 340/345,…. Then maybe up to 360, as you say yourself it appeals to you but may not suit families in general. Good luck and let us know!

Thank you. Seen it and it isn’t even water tight which wasn’t obvious from details and they have no idea of what has been done is done to building regs so not for us 😀

@rainingsnoring

Yes I am glad I walked away. Decent house, but not worth the price or the hassle.

I have already lined up new viewings so fingers crossed something else will work out and I am now also only viewing chain-free properties to cut down on some of the stress/time-wasting.

Weird day, we have now seen something we do like. DH is too stressed to talk about it after his day at work but it’s house viewing number 16 for us in 18 months and the first one where I had that I could be happy living there.

450k, probate. Been looked after but very dated and is going to take a lot of work. Total money pit and I think I may have lost the plot considering it.

We have just sold ours for 94% of asking price. Had it valued by 2 agents, one suggested asking price 25k lower than the one we went with so we’re quite pleased.

I think we may have been slightly optimistic with our onward purchase, agreed 98% of purchase price and slightly kicking ourselves a bit for not starting lower but it’s our forever home, we’ve got a healthy deposit and made a bit on our sale. Just want it tied up really!

Interestingly we had been going to view something this week and the open day was cancelled as someone put in an above asking price offer without seeing it.

Exciting you’ve got the feeling. Probate sale and people’s appetite for doing work right now is low due to costs. You could definitely go
in a bit low.

@Greenfairydust good luck with your further viewings. You will undoubtedly find something else even if it takes a bit of time. Better to take your time and make the right decision particularly as the market is falling.

Finally got an offer accepted today after a bidding war. About 5% above the guide price. A very popular village. Possibly zoned for a big chunk of development but not to worry. I'm hoping to live the rest of my independent life there.

We are accepting offer tomorrow as well 5% over asking. It's 2% over agents top valuation so not that crazy. Didn't expect that tbh but going by sold last year (in good condition) we are in a right ballpark. And the sold ones (7% over our asking) were leasholds apparently. We are not.

I think it's really VERY area dependent.

House has been on sale since October. We offered 95% of asking price a few weeks ago, which was rejected. Not sure where to go from here.

I agree that it is very area dependent. I know that generally speaking prices are stagnant or falling. But that’s never going to be the case everywhere because some areas will always be the most desirable & people will always pay a premium to live in the best areas/ best streets

I’ve been looking at my postcode on RM searching for the last 14 days. There’s 86 listed and 33 reductions.

12 of the 86 have gone under offer, only 2 of them were on properties over 345k. It’s a bit skewed by quite a few coming on the last few days I think.

It sounds as if you priced your property realistically (I think you mean the you priced 7% less than leasehold properties sold for in 2022) and so stimulated interest. That's really sensible and likely to be why you sold quickly at over asking.
Those who are clinging on to prices from a year ago plus some are not selling and needing to reduce and reduce, chasing the market down.

@Bananabread11 I think you look elsewhere. If they have had no other offers in 4 months the house is overpriced for the current market.

It really depends on the area, I have been looking for detached house in a specific postcode for 2 months, only a handful comes up, so for this one which is within my budget ( but still the Nov/dec price) with good school zone, ideal driveway, garden, great potential for extension etc I just gave the asking price right away. One month after when it's still STC, someone even offer 200K more for it. So it really depends.

Yes totally agree it is very area dependent.

''@Bananabread11 · Yesterday 21:43
House has been on sale since October. We offered 95% of asking price a few weeks ago, which was rejected. Not sure where to go from here.''

I would walk away as this is a sign of an unrealistic seller.

I also offered 95% on something that had had no interest for months which was rejected, then I upped it a bit and again they needed to ''think about it'' yet again and left me on hold so I withdrew the offer.

Most houses in my area are being reduced but some sellers still don't accept the change in the market. It is their prerogative but you also don't want to have your time wasted or overpay.

Yes, there was one sitting the like a plum which was 10k over my asking, no insulation, needed refurb, EPC D and it's a rental etc. It disappeared now but not under sold. Prices are all over the place here (it was always price confused area) and fast moving to under offer and sold.

There are areas nearby where houses go easily for 600-900k and they are mainly just sitting there.
I think these are caused by two things. Pricing as beginning of 2022 and secondly, rates. On my house going from 2% to 4% make under £100 difference. On the expensive ones it looks more like £700+. That's massive bite into monthly budget!

Yeah we have had similar - made an offer on a probate sale which the estate agent thought was reasonable, they made a counter offer, we then offered very very close to that as our best offer (they had another offer we think was lower than ours) and they decided to ' think about it' and we heard nothing over a week later. It was initially on very high given it needs updating and is a bit unusual so think they haven't accepted it won't sell for that. Even if they did come back to us now I'd be unsure as I'd worry they'd pull out if they got a hint of a better offer.

@curcurbita
''Even if they did come back to us now I'd be unsure as I'd worry they'd pull out if they got a hint of a better offer.''

Absolutely. This happened to me with the first house I offered on when I started my search. They took days to get back to me then accepted my offer. Only for the EA to call me as I was about to do the structural survey to say they had received another offer and asking me to up mine. I did not even bother and withdrew immediately. I though this 2 bed semi was overpriced anyway and funnily enough one month later the other semi came on the market at 25k less than the house I lost out on. By that point I was no longer interested in these properties as I had found out the house next door was an airbnb...so whoever gazumped me paid at least 15k too much for the house and ended up next to a holiday let. Karma.

The main point is that I learned my lesson, If I see any hint that a buyer is being unrealistic about the value of their house, takes forever to make up their mind and only reluctantly accept an offer that's a clear sign for me to walk away.

Speaking of reductions, today I saw that a house I had my eye on has just been reduced by 10K. Only last week the agent was boasting to me that they had had an offer very close to asking price for that house, but that the potential buyer was not proceedable yet, so he was almost certain that the owner would not consider an offer on it and would just wait for the other buyer to sell their home. I assume somehow the weekend brought a reality check or that the ''buyer who offered close to asking price" was a figment of the agent's imagination...

It is the story at the moment in the town where I am searching, houses being reduced on Righmove all over the place.

There really needs to be change to do contract about future contract. I believe it's contingent contract in here?
Once offer is accepted, it should be it, unless certain situations arise. Not that people can just bugger off. It's frustrating me so much

Since being on the market we have been inundated with calls and letters from other agents asking how it’s going and if they can do anything to progress the sale or send round an agent to value and appraise. Also had letters from investment companies saying they’d be interested in making a cash offer. Strange times.

For some real data on this one the RICS report released this morning suggests that below £500k 50% of offers are being accepted at below asking, over £500k its 70%. This is a reputable survey so it should add some useful context for this question. Report below

t.co/QBsJujXRLt

I have just had an offer accepted 10k under asking price (asking price was £285K).

I will potentially negotiate further down depending on what the structural survey reveal.

I could have, and maybe should have, pushed for 270K but as I was gazumped in my previous offer on another house I also did not want that to happen again...