What should I offer

[MrsT1205]

Hello,

Viewed a house yesterday that’s on the market at £385,000. It was its first weekend on the market and It had at least 10 other viewers. If I put in an offer of £370,000 did you think we will just get rejected and possibly risk missing out on the property? It’s a lovely property but does need new carpets and a couple of other jobs that weren’t obvious on the photos.

If they get other offers at asking then they’d likely go to best and final so you’d get a chance to increase your bid anyway.

370k is definitely close enough to make you look like a serious buyer. As previous poster said you will get an chance to increase if someone goes higher.

You may not always get the chance to increase - as FTB we put in an offer on one house that was £50 higher (lol) than the winning offer (both were over asking price, it was 2021) and they chose the other couple on the basis they viewed the house first, with no opportunity to put forward another offer. Which was frustrating because we were going to go another £5k over if they’d gone to best and final!

That said, my experience is that most people don’t do that and do go to best and final…

You won't get money off for new carpets... houses are priced with visual and known defects accounted in the cost. Decorating fees are the responsibility of the buyer not the seller.

Arguments for money off is when you find unknown issues in surveys like a rewire or new roof or repointing etc...

A brand new house with lots of interest is NOT going to drop their price, your more likely to have an under offer accepted on a house thats sat on the market especially during a downturn for a long time with little interest.

A house posted yesterday with 10 viewings you will just look silly offering under for 'maintenance' jobs that are the buyers responsibility. While people say 'you can increase later' you also have to be aware you can be blacklisted for time wasting too meaning they wont accept you regardless.

That’s bizarre, unless the EA didn’t advise them very well about negotiating higher? But guess people can sell to who they want!
I know you’re supposed to play it cool when viewing, but I think when selling a home if someone seems to really love your property people can feel inclined to go with them feeling that they’ll move on with thoughts of someone enjoying their home as much as they did etc.

It was really bizarre! We called the agent just to check that we’d understood correctly that they weren’t inviting further offers and the agent didn’t really answer and just kept reassuring us it wasn’t personal and I was like, sorry, have I gone through a wormhole to a universe with a different house buying system?!

The other couple had offered the day before we viewed so I’ll never understand why they didn’t just accept and cancel viewings if they had an offer they were happy with and weren’t planning to do best and final, but guess everyone is different.

Carpets have nothing to do with the value of a property.

On the information you've given - newly on the market, lots of other viewings - my guess would be that your offer would be rejected immediately and there's a good chance that someone else who viewed over the weekend will make a higher offer.

You have to decide what the house is worth to you, and offer that with maybe a bit of room for negotiation higher if need be. Good luck!

Thanks, there were a few other jobs than just carpets but I appreciate most people would put new carpets in a house. It’s a 1930s semi so a few jobs that come with an older house. We put an offer in of 372 and haven’t heard back yet- so I guess no news means they’re at least considering it.

But the jobs linked to age are expected, age is not the sellers fault and these standard things are accounted for in the price. If you aren't willing to accept that you need to buy a new build.

It will be your job to fix and maintain issues relating to age.