Offering £285k on a flat listed 'from £300k'

[wouldbeFTB]

Do I have no hope in hell?

Apparently, the seller is keen for a quick sale, and wants to buy another property. The flat is in London (zone 3). I'm going to be the first viewer this weekend.

However, EA says it's listed below value to drum up more interest.

Is £285k beyond cheeky or a decent offer?

Realistically if you’re the first viewing they probably won’t accept immediately just because they’ll want to have a few more before they fold but not many people looking right now so you might be lucky and they’ll come back to you, especially if you’re a FTB/ nothing to sell. In my life I’ve offered 5-10% under 4 times. Twice I got it, twice I didn’t. Once I got it 5% under with all the furniture. I’m not still sad about the two I didn’t even though I was at the time. There’s always another house. So I’m firmly in the “those that don’t ask don’t get” camp- maybe EA’s think I’m a CF. I have no idea. However I’m also an exemplary buyer- I have a good solicitor and I get it done quick/ don’t start quibbling on little things.

Also, always remember the EA works exclusively for the seller. They are not your friend. Play your cards close- don’t squeal with delight and say “ oh my god I love it” 🤣.

Offer it ,what do you have to lose? They might say no and then you can offer more or they may accept if you're in a good position to buy.

Maybe they are listing it under value, maybe they aren't.
Not enough details to really say. Post the listing for more comments.
If not, what kind of flat is it? What have other ones in the block being selling for recently?

Without more detail you're just gonna get a load of peoples opinions and prior experiences which are gonna be largely useless to you, unless they were in a similar situation at a similar time.

5% under asking is a decent offer — not cheeky and worth taking seriously.

As others have said, though, don’t be surprised if they fail to bite your hand off immediately.

And ignore what the EA says.

Thanks everyone! I'm avoiding posting the listing as I don't want to make it even more popular. Will go in at the cheeky offer and see what they say.

Not cheaply at all.

Our house was up for OIEO £400k
We put in £385k and got it!

@Sparehair 😂

I'll try my best not to show how much I like it!

Cheeky rather ☺️ or cheaply!

We offered similar. They turned their nose up and we were miles apart on price. We did another viewing and realised there were more problems then we'd noticed and it was a money pit. 3 months later they reduced the house to what we had offered and it was still stuck on the market. Dodged a bullet. So agree with it depends on how long its been on the market but its down to the vendors and what they really meant by offers over

It's perfectly fine! Offer it, keep looking at other places, see what they say.

If yours is likely to be the only offer - sound out how many other viewings there are - see if you can find another similar place on with the same agent that is around £270k to £290k and ask to go and see that as well. It gives the impression you are not fully on the hook for the flat you really want if there are others slightly cheaper that will fit the bill.

I did that after my first offer was rejected and they were very keen to accept my second offer despite it being £25k under the asking price. I would have paid the full asking price if I had to.

In London I would say not. Phil and Kirsty did a London flat search the other day, people were offering tens of thousands OVER.

@Choux thank you for the tip, I'll see what else they have on the books!

@KnittedCardi This worries me. My last offer (on a different property) was £10k over asking price, but there were other bidders with offers over £20k.

And when was this filmed? London flats are stagnant since 2016ish, it doesn’t mean that some sellers won’t try to price low to creating a bidding situation but let’s not generalise that London flat market is hot. It’s not especially with many landlords running for the exit.

London (and probably a lot of the country) is becoming more of a buyers market this autumn.

www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/buying-mortgages/london-housing-market-rics-survey-b1112952.html

OP make sure you don't bid beyond what you can comfortably afford. And I saw on the news tonight that interest rates are not likely to come down for a while so consider carefully how long to fix for.

Literally in the same boat.

House listed at £325k in may, they recently reduced it to 300k - one fell in love and my husband and I are planning to view it on Thursday. Spoke to the EA today, and she said that they only put the price down to gain more interest and are expecting offers of £325k. I still will put in an offer for 300k - I feel like this is cheeky but still going to do it 🥴🤣

A long time ago we put on an offer of £240k on a £265k property and got it - though it had been on the market for months. You could put in £285k but I suspect they won’t agree at this stage. I’d hold out for full price for a few months.

As you’re the first viewer it’s probably unlikely they will immediately accept 285k if listed at offers over 300k.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t hurt to ask if that’s all you can afford or think the flat is worth. If they say No then you can leave the offer on the table & they may accept it in a few weeks if the flat doesn’t sell.

Not cheeky at all. It’s been on since May so they would be daft not to accept it.

I have offered on a flat offers over 300k and offered 305k as it’s got a lot of interest and already had one offer by the time I submitted mine. I knew a low offer would be fruitless as nothing else on the market like it (2 beds, 2 bathrooms, 2 train lines within 5 mins walk and catchment for an outstanding primary). This is Zone 6. I’m waiting to hear but don’t think I’ll get it.

You can start at 285k as the market is meant to be slow right now and prices have dropped. But I doubt they will accept if you’re the first to view.

It's worth a try. Our house was up for offers over 900k and the agent said they'd take 950k.

We offered 810k initially and got it for 815k.

You never know. We didn't know they were desperate to sell due to divorce and having already defaulted on the mortgage.

This is epic bollocks from the estate agent FYI. If they were going to get offers of £325, they'd have got them when that was the asking price. Why on earth would someone bid over asking now??

Good luck @Zanatdy - my fingers are crossed for you!

Rather 'cheap' for a flat in London/zone 3.

You can offer whatever you want but I doubt they will take it unless the flat needs a complete renovation, issues with lease length or cladding.

I sold my one bed in zone 3 for £310K recently...

Yeah but zone 3 isn’t one place. Balham’s is Zone 3 and so’s Turnpike Lane.

similarly in zone 2 - Hampstead vs Kilburn. Not the same price point.