How to make a cheeky offer without alienating seller/EA?

[User7164]

Hello!

We are first time buyers and have been house searching for the last year or so. Recently found a house we love, good area for raising our little one schools nearby and a quiet cul de sac. The house is listed for £450K and has been on the market for >5 months.

The average selling price in the street is quite high with a few (bigger houses with bigger gardens) going for 450-500k, but we feel for the size and garden size of this one, and the money we’d need to invest in replacing all bathrooms and upgrading kitchen (and perhaps an extension) that it’s not worth 450. In all honestly, I think it’s around 100k overpriced.

We think our absolute max that we believe the house Is worth would be 400k. We want to go in with a low offer, but I’m cautious as the last time we offered 15% below on a house we liked the EA basically cut us off. I don’t want to offend the seller at all because they were so lovely!!

Any tips on how to go into this? Thanks!

Your comments about rise in prices not being justified is really going to set you up to fail , we did nothing to a house and price increased 40% between 1998 and 2020 and is still rising now. The house is probably priced realistically based on its current condition and the fact you want to improve doesn’t mean that it is worth less - it’s worth less to you only.

Always baffles me when people reduce price of a property by non essential cosmetic work they would like to do - if that work had been done the selling price would of course be higher

They will either say yes or no, if you have a strict budget then keep to that, there will be other houses. A survey may suggest a value price too. Your offer will be as seen and cosmetic updating isn't essential

They'll either say yes or no, and you'll have to take that risk.
A house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, but equally some sellers may not be in a rush to sell.

Your outlook seems to be wrong to me though as you're focusing on whether you think the owners have done enough renovations to justify the price increase. If it's priced lower than other similar properties, it's probably reflecting the modernising someone might do to suit their taste. Updating to suit tastes is not the same as a property requiring major renovations.

Because in general house prices rise, obviously there are occasions where this doesn't happen but generally they do. A lot happened in the past few years to accelerate this but it's just the market. Yes a price may rise more if you do significant work to your house but even if you do nothing the price will go up usually. You can't say well they only bought it for £100,000 so I'm not paying £150,000 as they've only painted some walls in 5 years, that's not how the market works. It's only recently that past sold prices have become so easily available and people (usually first time buyers) have become very hung up on this. A house is worth what someone is willing to pay, if houses locally have sold for a similar price then it is likely worth that - even if you don't want to pay it. Unfortunately my experience of buying and selling has completely put me off ever selling to first time buyers again, they are generally incredibly unrealistic about the whole process.

Dated decor and you fancying an extension have got nothing to do with it.

Just offer what you are willing to pay for it. That's all you can do. There's no need to give reasons.

@KievLoverTwo I wouldn’t say unrealistic, but just inexperienced! We haven’t sold or bought a house before and only just learning about the housing market so obviously we have some learning to do, hence why I made the post to gain some perspective from experienced sellers and buyers.

Can you link to the general area so we can have a look with PropertyLog?

Good advice, they have been trying to sell for 5 months and the OP has not even had it valued yet? I`m betting it will eventually sell for a lot less than the seller (or their EA) thinks it is worth.

We had this with first time buyers when we were selling a property. They came in with an offer 12% under asking price, we declined their offer and they offered a further 8 times, all declined. In the end we decided not to discuss any more offers from them, it was a waste of their time and ours messing around. The house sold for 14% over the asking price in the end and the EA said they wouldn’t deal with that particular buyer again. I wouldn’t be pissing off too many EAs tbh.

If you're getting a mortgage the lender will carry out a very basic valuation anyway before they agree a mortgage. Whereabouts is the house.

Someone offered me £100k less on my last house when we came to sell after only 5years in the house. They provided me with a detailed explanation and links to houses they thought comparable. We declined and eventually got £115k more than their offer. We hadn't done much work to it but it still sold well above the zoopla estimate.
I wasn't upset with them for the low offer but didn't spend more than a minute considering it.
Likelihood is they won't consider something starting with a 3 if they are still on the market at £450. Just offer what it's worth to you and move on.

Also it's somewhat irrelevant what it's actually worth- it's really what the sellers think it's worth that matters. There's a few houses here that have been on the market for years- they will have had reasonable offers in that time as it's a popular area- clearly they weren't acceptable to those selling.
The only way they'll accept a v low offer is if they are desperate to move - have you asked the estate agent what their position is? Or if you happen to give a low offer after many others and they accept it's not worth what they thought (that may take a long time).

Just Offer what you are happy to pay. If refused then look at what else is on the market. Of course if there is nothing else that you like as much then you have to make a choice whether to up your offer or walk away and hope something else comes up that you think is more realistically priced.

It sounds like a lot of sellers in this comment section with most of these pissy replies 😂
A house is really only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
And for sure market conditions.

Some sellers /EA are genuinely deluded with their asking prices. A house I was previously interested in was on the market for over year and ended up selling at 26% less asking last year. The seller was “in no rush to sell” as they all say but settled for way less after they realised they had overpriced their property.

People are forgetting rates are still high and are nothing compared to rates from 2022 and even start of last year.
The seller in this case has had the property on the market for 5 months showing buyers obviously cannot afford the current price at its current condition.

I will offer 10% less asking to start with no reasons given and see what they say.
You might be lucky and get accepted or it gives you a chance to up your offer.

At the end of the day if it’s your dream location/size then go for it.
Otherwise I’ll just try for another house that is ready to move into and doesn’t require too much work
or a property that is much cheaper that leaves you enough cash to renovate to your liking.

I've used the calculator for my daughter's flat too, she wasn't very pleased to hear that her flat has apparently fallen 4.68% in 1.5 years of home ownership. Still, she did buy in 22 knowing that prices were forecast to fall in London ... think I should have kept my findings to myself though.

People can ask for whatever they like for their house. People can offer whatever they like. Reasonably, you’d use recent sales of comparable homes to figure out what it’s worth. Whether or not you want to do it up is irrelevant, the seller isn’t going to pay for that for you.

In your case, I’d study the details of the houses that have sold for $450-500 and see if the differences are substantial.

Honestly, if they’ve been on the market for over 5 months and haven’t reduced their price, they’re probably not going to consider a lowball offer.

I’d offer about £400k and hope for the best.

If I was a seller and had my house priced properly and someone came in with a ridiculous low offer, I wouldn’t even consider negotiating with them.

This interests me as I love following the market in my area. My DD is looking to buy her first home, so I keep an eye on stuff. We have a house came on this week at $535k. I thought it must be fabulous at that price, so I looked at the pics. Then I laughed and laughed. I’ve seen 8-9 houses almost exactly the same sell in the past year for approx $350k, so they are way overpriced.

It depends what position your sellers are in and how depesrate they are to sell. As the property has been on the market for 5 months - It may suggest they are waiting for the right offer. 100K under isn't probably the right offer.

It would pay to ask the EA what they think, before upsetting protential seller.

Honestly OP just try. A house is only worth what someone is willing to pay and sometimes estate agents over value to get business. Don’t get too emotionally attached and be prepared to walk away or them not to sell to you.
The market has changed dramatically with interest rate increases decreasing affordability and the amount people can borrow.

During the pandemic people were bidding over asking for houses the first week they were listed, now houses are sitting for a while. Good luck!

Try an offer. But remember any improvements come out of your budget and you can't expect the seller to take a massive financial hit just because you don't like the bathroom.

Sorry guys just to make clear - we wouldn’t be offering 100K under!! I just personally feel that that’s what it’s worth based on the prices of the other houses in the street and their sizes and plots.

The lowest we’d offer would be 390K (so 13% under). I’m just worried about pissing them off with a ‘cheeky’ offer, but it would be with the hopes of landing somewhere around 400-405 (10% under).

Nah... under 400k is a bit of a piss take. Stick with 400k and at least they should take the offer semi seriously.

It is a bit confusing though someone would pay 400 or even 390k on a house they feel personally is only worth 350k.

I think you know really it is worth more than that you just don't like having to pay so much to secure the sort of house you want.

When selling our house we had a couple of 'cheeky' low ball offers, one of which eventually offered asking price when they realised there were several offers over. Regardless of other offers I wouldn't have sold it to them anyway. There's cheeky and there's rude.

With all respect OP you sound inexperienced suggesting that increase in price is linked to new bathrooms/kitchens. That's not how it works.

You can ask of course but if you want the house you've got to look at what's going on the road price related.

Good luck!

@Twiglets1 in all honesty that was before I understood more how house values increase as I thought it was more based on improvements to the property! But now I know that’s not the case, it’s just hard to justify paying higher purely for the house sitting still for a few years! But I’m sure I’ll be saying the opposite when it comes to selling a house one day haha.

@crackfoxy would you consider 10-15% under asking rude? It’s confusing as most information online recommends always going in at 10% below as a starting offer. I just don’t want to offend them as I genuinely really liked the seller when we met them!

I think offers of around 10% under are not outrageous.

The 5 months may be in your favour if they have had no / low interest, or it may be that they are holding out for a particular sum.

You won’t know except by trying!