'Offers Over' will seller only consider offer over the price??

[splice1988xxxx]

Currently looking to move house and upsize

May sound like a stupid question, but will a seller 100% say no if I put in an offer at the price it says 'offers over' or if I up the price a little bit? Or do I have to offer way over the 'price'

I know technically I could offer what ever I like, but a bit of a waste of time if it's not going to be considered

the house I'm interested in has been on the market for over 5 months, so I'm assuming the house may be over priced, or seller just isn't accepting any offers??

You can offer under the "offers over" price if you like.

Not necessarily going to hear no if you make an offer less. Just really depends on the seller.
When you ring up the EA to arrange a viewing, ask if the seller is willing to negotiate on the asking price.

They will tell you there and then yes they might be willing or no the seller is simply interested in offers in excess of asking and some will tell you what offers the seller has previously received that have been rejected.

From there you can decide if you want to proceed with the viewing or not.

Thank you both for for advice @Tupster @Dandelion24

Ask the EA 'have their been any offers as the house has been on the market 5 months' and see what they say. Why shouldn't you want to know if there is a reason why it hasn't sold. :)

We were listed as ‘offers over’ on the EA say so. We would have accepted under it, but as it was, it put people off even viewing it. We didn’t get viewings until we asked for ‘offers over’ to be taken off. I would offer what you feel it is worth, the worst they can say is no. You have nothing to lose.

I'm currently in process of buying one that was on as offers over and price agreed is under that. Selling mine, estate agent put it on as OIRO - which god knows what that means really. I'd say just treat everything as though it were just a normal asking price and see what happens.

I offered the exact listed price and got it.

'Offers over' typically means thats the minimum the seller will accept (unless its been listed ages with no interest then they might be willing to accept a bit under).

'Offers in the region of' means the seller is willing to accept around that amount (possibly a smidge lower) but hoping for a bidding war.

Standard set price listings usually are usually set high with the expectation it might come down a little bit (say its listed at £139k they might be willing to accept down to £125k but want to squeeze any penny they can get, they are unlikely to drop down instantly though until the viewing peak is over).

Nobody can know. Some sellers will, some won't. You can only make an offer and see how it goes.

If there are multiple parties interested in a property, then the final price may well be higher than the list price, totally irrespective of whether the original listing was Offers Over, OIRO or just a regular asking price. Starting out with 'Offers Over' won't encourage a bidding war if the demand isn't there.

IMO this means 'Offers over' is total batshit and would instantly put me off. As if someone is just going to randomly offer x% above a arbitrary starting price if there if there are no other offers on the table? Does five quid above the asking price qualify? To me it smacks of greediness, and an attempt to emulate the Scottish system of sealed bids by a fixed date thinking this will drive up the price, which just doesn't make sense when the system in England and Wales just doesn't operate like that.

And insisting on 'Offers Over' when you've been on the market for five months just makes you look like a tit.

Definitely you can just offer what's it's worth to you.

I personally prefer it... it sets the expectation immediately of 'this is what we want and are unlikely to accept lower', it also is usually fairly priced because of this.

If anything the 'standard' of EA setting the price higher and 'expecting' people to guess and haggle down then telling them other people offered so they should up it is all bidding war games and is the utterly ridiculous way to do it.

Offers over don't expect a 'bidding war' its literally just means this is the lowest we are willing take for it. Yes that may change if they are on the market for ages or the market shifts like any other house but at the the time of posting thats their best and final for acceptance.

No idea! No one can know what the seller is thinking or even why they are selling.

They may have one property only in mind and if they don't sell for x they won't move. They may have overpriced their property and be so stubborn they won't change even though the house isn't worth it. Equally they may have priced sensibly to sell in which case it makes more sense that they will want full asking.

My suspicion is that few homes are actually selling at asking in this current climate but that's doesn't mean none are.

Offer what it's worth to you. You can go lower if that's what you want to offer. It may, or may not, be accepted

Thank you everyone for the advice and opinions 😊 feel a bit more comfortable making a potential offer at the current price!

Go for it OP. Out first house was offers over X amount. We got it 15k under the offers over price (which was a huge chunk off of it)

We dropped to offers over £x and the only offer was £x so we accepted that!

Sometimes it's tactical if the price is at the boundary of a RM price banding as it means it'll show up in more search results. Eg offers over £500k would appear in searches up to £500k as well as searches above whereas £520k wouldn't show up in a search for houses below £500k.

If you are in a stronger buying position make sure the agent tells the vendor

Like most things it depends. Desirable property with ten viewers in first week. Probably will go over.

how long has it been for sale, had it been under offer.? any issues.

worth calling agent and stating you want a viewing but wouldn’t offer over and is it worth viewing. Gauge the response.

@Shropshiregirl51 it's been on the market for a good few months (can't see when exactly) but can see it was reduced last in August . I have double checked to make sure it is 100% still on the market and it is, maybe its not worth as much as the sellers are thinking? As it is a popular and lovely area so I'm very surprised it's not gone!

That’s your answer. Do your research and start low. You never know. Try to get a viewing with the owners there and talk