Offering 525k on a 649k house?

[Blibbleflibble]

So would this be massively cheeky? I think the house has potential but it's in need of a full renovation, wallpaper peeling off walls a knackered 1980s kitchen with wood panel ceiling and peeling lino floor, useable but dated bathroom and a green coloured loo in cloakroom, houses on the same side of the road 2 doors up went for £425k in 2018 same amount of beds but you could move straight in condition with modern kitchen another house 3 doors the other way went for £589k 2019 but it is larger with a wider plot and had 5 beds not 3.

I feel the price they're asking is what it would be worth if it was properly renovated to a high standard, with new roof, boiler etc.

Its been on since end of June.

The asking price should not have been 58k to begin with, properties in the area were not achieving any thing close to that. It was an estate sale, the beneficiaries were hoping for a great deal to be shared between them, unrealistic, but the house was empty, a complete renovation, new kitchen, new bathroom and central heating system required, no-one was moving out and they were biding their time for a better offer, if they had priced it realistically to begin with it would have attracted far more attention leading to a bidding war.

The cost and limited availability of trades has sky rocketed, so if you have already had a viewing, are you able to price up what modernisation would cost to an essential, like for like, basic standard? Not including decorating, proper nuts and bolts stuff thats causing issues now.

I would then go to the agent, see where the seller is at, show you are not a time-wasting checky fucker and politely ask if there is room for negotiation.

A bald offer of a £124k drop is highly unlikely to work, and will likely mark your card if they do decide to drop later.

OP we have done this previously.

We saw a property, similar to you - been on the market quite a while, nothing done to the house since it was built in The 70’s. Most of it still useable, but it definitely wasn’t a £650k house in its current state, especially as it was probably going to take another £150k minimum to modernise it and then it still wouldn’t have been worth £800k. This was all in 2021.

We offered £530k (which we felt was still over priced by around £35k) and our offer was accepted. Some vendors will chance their luck and push for a higher price, but a house is only worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it (and what the lender values it at!)

Actually what agents want most of all is a sale. They'd far rather sell a house for £525 than not sell it for £649. (there's a whole section in Freakonomics on this and how the interests of agents and sellers are misaligned, some of which is here https://forum.nachi.org/t/exerpt-from-freakonomics-book-regarding-real-estate-agents/56492)

Getting pally means building a relationship of trust so that an agent knows you're a serious buyer and not a time waster. It's absolutely worth doing.

Perfectly reasonable if that’s what you’re willing to pay and can back it up with local analysis. Offering at 525 would probably result in a negotiation up to the 550 / 560 mark, which is 15% under asking. In today’s market, for a house that isn’t shifting and hasn’t been subject to price reductions, then that’s not an unrealistic price to end up at.

Why? It's business and those who expect others to pay over the odds just because it was their home are the ones with the problem. Why should someone pay top whack for a house that has been so neglected it needs a full renovation? If the current owners couldn't be arsed to maintain the property to a reasonable standard why be insulted when potential buyers won't offer the unrealistic price for it?

I don’t think it’s cheeky to offer unless you’re also massively wasting the vendors time with multiple viewings/ a lot of back and forth between you/the EA/them for questions.

Make the offer, I wouldn’t accept it but I certainly wouldn’t be offended/insulted by essentially a business transaction.

Could you call the EA and find out if they’ve got a rock bottom line? It may mean you don’t become “those CFs” whom the EA’s may remember while you’re still looking long after the house has sold.

So many clueless people on this thread who seem to think OP has a chance of getting a 645k property for 525k before the Seller has even given it 3 months or tried reducing it first to 600k to attract new interest.

Please make your 525k offer @Blibbleflibble I would love to know the outcome (though really, it's obvious)

To the person who said they would be insulted- why? It's just business and no one wants to but it at the price asked. Unless it's an a hugely in demand area with little else on the market or a cheapish area with a lot of potential buyers - at the moment it's a buyers market

I bought my house in July 2019 for £260,000. Today it is valued at £350,000 and I wouldn’t sell it for very much less.

House prices have risen dramatically since 2019. Offering £100,000 less than the asking price is insulting.

Agreed - there's a lack of comprehension about why EAs tend to value on the high side. It's to win the business not for the slightly higher commission which isn't worth potentially losing a sale over.

And by valuing on the high side, I don't mean overvaluing a 525k house by over 100k!

It’s insulting because if I’ve let someone view my house, making myself scarce for the occasion, cleaning up really thoroughly in advance, waiting on a response, then they’ve wasted my time.

@Twiglets1 - they can always say no . Depends how much they want a sale- if it's a probate and the recipients aren't well off they may fancy the money quickly. Same with a divorce or bad debt

THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS CHEEKY!

Or if there is, why is the potential buyer cheeky for valuing the house too low (by the vendor's standard) but the vendor somehow isn't cheeky for valuing it too high (by the buyer's standard)?

Offering very low might of course be tactically unwise, as PP have given examples of, but I'm constantly amazed by the multiple PP on this and other posts who see it as something personal.

When it comes down to it, you're never going to pay the full price for something you deem worth so much less - so just make the offer. "They'll laugh at you." Who cares?

@Redlarge
I'd be really insulted
Then you're an idiot.

It's not insulting, it's just futile.

You are wrong to compare the price to what other houses sold literally years and years ago for.

We made a cheeky offer on our house 10 years ago, however it had been on for a lot longer than 3 months, reduced a couple of times, market was a bit slow in this particular area and it wasn't being lived in. I think it was originally on for 375, then down to 350, then 325. We offered 280 and agreed on 285, which was definitely a bargain.

So while I'm not opposed to a low offer I think in this situation that's a bit too low, even as a starting point.

Either wait until it gets reduced or come up a bit.

Read the Op's description of the property, it has been badly maintained needs a new roof, boiler, wallpaper is peeling off, the lino is peeling off the floor - sound like it has been thoroughly cleaned and presented to a high standard to you?

The ones wasting time are the sellers by being greedy.

Don't people just use cheeky as code for "do I have a chance of getting away with this?", rather than meaning "Will they think I'm a cheeky ratbag?"
Nobody cares about insulting the vendor, they're trying to work out what might be taken seriously.

Yes there really is such a thing as cheeky!

Don’t use Zoopla valuations. They’re worthless.

I think you might have misunderstood the situation by about a hundred grand @Aguinnessplease !

Edit: no you haven't, it's I who've misread your post! Apologies.

My point is they will say No.

It's pointless and if they want money quickly for the house they will reduce it soon to 600k. They would be incredibly stupid to list a house at 645k then accept an offer for 525k less than 3 months later. Who knows? If they reduce it to 600k they might generate lots of new interest.

To imply they might even consider accepting such a low offer before reducing the price for the market to see and react to is the bit that could put their backs up.

You need to present eveidence from survey, quotes for work to be done, sold prices etc to back up this low offer

Yes exactly @HarrietJet - no one really cares about being "cheeky" it's a code word I agree.