What is a low offer?

[Oooiwanna]

How low is too low percentage wise? We’ve found lovely house on at 675,000 in an area where is won’t go quickly. We want to make a fair offer but not be rude! What would a low offer on this be (without being ridiculous). Would getting a low offer out you off a buyer?

Without knowing the area it would be hard to tell as everywhere is so different.

beat idea is to look at properties in same street / area selling prices recently and that should give you some idea of the realistic purchase price.

How long has the property been on the market? If it’s been less than a week then I can’t see the vendor taking much less for the property. If it’s been on for longer then I would consider a lower offer to start with. I think you could start at £650k respectably and work up that way… anything lower and I think it will be a no no.

Majority of houses are priced to sell so the price is usually factored in if work is required to the property.

Unless you are embarrassed to make the offer, it’s not low enough, so they say.
Find out as much information as possible about the vendors and their position before you decide and make your offer.
Justify the offer with some facts, like a rewire will cost 10k, a new drive 8k, bathroom 6k, roof 30k etc etc. The agent will no doubt reply will it’s all reflected in the price, it’s rarely the case.
With inflation and interest rates destroying spending power, there won’t be a queue of people lining up to pay that kind of money outside the hot and desirable areas.

Anything between 1-4% less is still a good offer, I'd say.

5-7% less is fine if there's something wrong/it's been on a while.

8-15%+ runs the risk of offending.

Have a look at properties that sold in 2019 before the covid pandemic and then add maybe 7 or 8% to that as a starting offer. Moving home with Charlie is well worth a watch on YouTube or Twitter. He's predicting 35% drops in physical cost, which depends on the area over the next 2-3 years. According to ons they are already down by 12% from the peak in 2020.

Totally depends on a lot of different factors. Our current house had been on the market for quite a while with a few reductions, needed some work but one of the biggest reasons I think they struggled was because the owners were living abroad and the estate agents were crap.

Our offer was really low and the estate agent was clearly annoyed, however the sellers came back and asked us to raise our offer by just 5k, which we did and we've been living here for almost 10 years.

We would not have offered so much under asking without all of the factors at play so I'd say it really depends. Also at that time the market in our area was quite slow, we were so lucky as within 6 months it was totally different and I would bet our house would have been snapped up regardless of condition.

I think if your offer on that particular property started with a 6 it wouldn't be offensive

Thanks everyone. It’s been on the market for two weeks but around here properties in that price range can stay on for months. I’ve looked a similar, if not better (land attached) house in the same postcode which sold last September for 499,000 so, as a previous poster mentioned, with a possible steep drop in value, I was thinking something lower than a 6. I think maybe I’ll wait it out a few weeks and see?

We offered 15% below and eventually got it for 10% below. But it had been on for ages.

I think they need to realise their price is too high then reduce themselves. Putting in an offer starting with a 5 might be a very fair and good offer but at the moment they will be expecting near what the agent has told them to market at.
Patience is needed, don't offer low as they will probably refuse to deal with you in the future

If you think the price is far too high relative to other similar houses in your area (it appears you do), I would wait.
You can always tell the agent that you like the property but feel it is very over priced relative to other properties or ask them to justify the current asking price and see what they say. The agent can pass your feedback that it is over priced back to the sellers.
If it as over priced as you say, it is unlikely to sell. If they are serious buyers, they will be forced to reduce the asking price. You can keep an eye on it or keep in touch with the agent but ensure that you don't over pay.

I thought around 10% under was standard if it had been on a few weeks! If it’s on at 675k and you want to offer 5 something do as above, register interest and re view in a few weeks before putting that offer in. They’re not going to drip
that much having only been on 2 weeks

It depends on whether the price is fair for the street, the house, what nick the house is in and how much needs spending on it, what you can afford now and what you think you may be able to afford in the future, as well as how much you want it, how many other people may also want it, and how unique it is compared to what you want. In other words, without lots of detail, that's a question that just can't be answered.

I offered £480 on a £575 house that had been on the market for 18 months.

They accepted £490.

As long as you are willing to negotiate, I doubt they'll be offended.