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.

Who's paying for the survey?

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

If that's true then it suggests that £649k is 'ambitious' and they're hoping for someone with more money than sense to come along.

Without seeing the house and local comparators, no-one can say whether your suggestion of £525k is reasonable.

But it depends on how motivated the seller is.

The OP's description of the property suggests it simply needs some minor redecoration. Nowhere does she suggest it needs a new roof or a new boiler, you've simply made that up. Besides which, a new boiler is pretty standard house maintenance. Some people wouldn't know what a full renovation was if it came up and smacked them in the face!

I think your 2018 comparison is pointless - it's an entirely different market now.

However, if you believe the house is worth that much less, go ahead and offer. They might have it on a high price as an optimistic hope for the best. Having said that, it would be a pretty stupid seller who was THIS far off. I mean, we have friends who admitted they were overpricing their house a bit as it was sort of an experimental "if we sell, great, if not, no big deal" - and even then it was only by about 10%.

@DontMakeMeShushYou did you read the OP's description? If you have then you will know I did not make anything up:

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.

I will accept your apology when you make it.

Wow. Alright then.

Why does it matter if it is "cheeky" or not? Agents usually ring everyone back for feedback and you'd be just giving your honest feedback. They can just say no. If it is massively overpriced as you say, it will probably still be on the market in a year's time.

nothing is cheeky in these situations.

I think it very much depends on if they want to sell quickly and if they will still have a good pot of money for another house they want. I don’t want to sell my house (which also needs work but is co-owned with ex). When it does eventually go up for sale it definitely won’t be with a quick sale in mind so I’ll be pretty stubborn on the price.

I just remembered that when we were buying our house, we saw a house that was on at £310k. Our budget at the time was MAX £300k. We really liked the house BUT it was a bit far away from a station and frankly, it needed quite a lot of modernisation - in particular, the bathrooms had to be done asap and there wasn't a single cupboard in the house - including in the kitchen! I told the Estate agent we liked it but we'd have to spend quite a bit right up front and there was no way we could afford that and did she think there was any flex on price. She said no and we didn't make an offer. As far as I know, the house did subsequently sell for about 290k so she was right, and the vendors got much closer to their asking price than DH and I would have been willing to pay.

We declined an offer of over £100,000 below our asking price last year. The potential buyers had totalled up the work they wanted to do - cosmetic, not essential - and knocked it off the price. As well as declining the offer we instructed our EA not to accept any more offers from these people. With an awareness of how fraught the buying process could be further down the line, we didn't consider them reliable or sensible.

I think it's offensive.

Yeah, that's pretty much what happens with "cheeky" offers.

Who cares if it's cheeky? They're very unlikely to accept that offer so it's a bit of a waste of time but go ahead if that's what you want to do.

@Twiglets1 I don't disagree- but if the OP can't go above £525 I this condition then there's no harm in asking and being told - no. You just need to be honest with agent and say the score- if it's that you could go to £625 if it was in 'mint Nick' and needed no work- I would tell them that too

The idea that you won't get to look at anything else if you lay your cards on the table is rubbish. Agents need buyers- what they don't want however are time wasters who get a £525 offer accepted as an example and then 2 months down the line change their mind

Mils was on at 550 and she has just accepted an offer of 475. Bexley.

Your offer is insultingly low. We had someone with similar tactic on my late mother's home. The person assumed incorrectly that we would accept anything for a quick sale. My sister told the EA exactly what she thought of the offer and that we would not even consider a higher offer from the person in question. So depends if you are really interested or not. If you are then at least make your opening offer one that is somewhere in the ball park.

You can ask but they don't have to take it up and if you then wanted to offer a higher amount, they may tag you as a trier and not want to go with you at all.

House prices in 2018 is not relevant to todays prices. The one they sold in 2018, what does Zoopla say about its prices today

It's just a house for sale... No need for feeling insulted or chewing the agent's ear off with your displeasure at an offer that's lower than you liked.
Just say No, and move on.

Tbh Crikey I think that if the OP can't go above 525k then they really shouldn't be looking on Rightmove beyond the 600k price band.

It's just disappointing to see places so far out of your budget. If this place IS massively overpriced, it will be reduced down to 600k eventually and that would be the time to make the (still optimistic) offer of 525k.

I don't think the word cheeky really applies at all when making any offer - I think it you think the that price is a good negotiating price to start at then yes. A vender can merely say no and you can make a new offer. The same applies to those you put houses on the market - sometimes these are over priced. I do find it quite insulting when people say they have been made an insulting offer as in the housing market it is often just the start of negotiations. In addition a house is only worth what a person will pay for it.

A friend of mine is selling a house and keeps says we were made a silly offer the people just didn't want to do any work on the house - well that is there choice, there house is still on the market four months later. So my view is make any offer you want.

I don't see how there is enough information in the post for people to say the offer is insultingly low or otherwise. It might well be but how can you tell unless you know the going rate per square footage for the area in recent years, the location (whether main road etc), plot size, condition etc... There are some proper chancers in my area, with people often over pricing by 100k (or in some instances overpricing by over 1m), usually against EA's advice. So I think OP, you'll prob be the best judge of whether the potential offer is likely to be seen as ridiculous or likely to make the sellers think twice. They're probably no going to sell to you but it might make them reflect. Don't need to make it confrontational with the EA, just outline your concerns and what the property is worth in your opinion, and acknowledge that it is below asking but you have reasons etc...

My sister was very polite in her refusal. She previously worked as an EA so knows the procedures better than most. There were a number of people interested in the property and this particular chancer stood out because their offer was so much lower than everyone else. You get people who will try their luck in any situation in life, in this particular case he stood out. (My sister subsequently heard on grapevine that he had ended up paying a lot more for a property in not such a desirable location) .

@Twiglets1 Yep being honest my parameters would have been set at £575 - so it wouldn't have been on my radar.

Mind you we have got a really nice rented 5 bed semi here in Bath in a lovely bit of town for £2750 - it let quickly and 2 months later I noticed was back on and reduced to £2500 - walked past the agents yesterday and it was £1750!! Goodness knows what is going on there as something like it normally let really quick at the £2500 to £3k level.

Does it really matter if its 'cheeky'?

Its an offer not a ransom.

You are offering to buy their house and saying 'I would be happy to pay x amount' they then get to say 'yes' or 'no' as the balls in their court... no point anyone being 'offended' over it.

If they say no they have literally lost NOTHING except the potential to sell their house to you.