How long to wait before making a second offer on a property

[Elvira13]

Need property negotiation advice.

We’ve seen a house we like which is on at OIEO 850k.

It’s in an ideal location for us and is the size we want. It’s a one off new build, so the vendor is the builder.

We’ve made an offer of 780k. This is based on what others have sold for nearby as well as the fact there’s no garage.

This offer was declined.

The highest we want to to go to is 800k based on the points mentioned above, plus that is the most we can afford.

Should we make a second offer straight away or wait a bit?

The house has been on the market for 1 month and hasn’t been reduced yet. No other offers on the table, and it would appear there’s not been a huge amount of interest.

Please let me know your thoughts!

Wait.

He'll come back to you.

They listed for offers OVER £850k and you offered £70k UNDER?

You might as well offer the £50k under now and have that one laughed at too, get it over and done with in one go.

The list price takes into account things like no garage as well as the local housing market, rarely are houses actually comparable so those aren't really 'arguable' points.

A lot of what we’ve read says to offer between 5-10% under in initial offer. 10% less would have been 765,000 so we’ve offered more than that.

We have accepted 50k less than what we originally wanted on our house (450k instead of 500k) so it’s not that crazy.

Sorry if my post offended you

It hasn't been on that long for a property of that value and he is still hoping to get close to 850k. I would go straight back with 800k & explain honestly that it's the highest you can afford.

If that gets rejected also then tell him that you can't go any higher but will leave the offer on the table. He may come back to you later if he doesn't get any better offers.

I’d leave £800k on the table but don’t expect him to accept it straight away. OIEO would suggest to me he’s waiting out for £20-25k over £850k. The market may have changed but he might not be in a hurry to sell.

I so dislike OIEO!! Fair enough in Scotland, where it’s the system, but here I just think it’s wishful thinking on the part of the vendors and it always puts me off.

I’d leave it a week or so after the rejection and then go back with your honest maximum.

Agree to go back with £800k now, explain its your highest offer, and when he rejects leave it on the table.

The trouble with blanket online suggesting 5-10% off is 'normal' is it doesnt take into account different areas/markets, the type of property you're buying, the person who is selling it. A blanket rule like that can't possibly apply everywhere- it's a buyers market in a lot of places right now, but a sellers market in others with properties going over asking.

If he's just built the property he probably has a figure in mind to make back the money he's spent, so I would imagine he's holding out for that at least for a bit- a month isn't long at all.

Just go back and offer your maximum amount and tell the builder/EA that is your final offer, you will leave it on the table but for NN amount of time only. Then stick to that decision and walk away if the builder does not accept the offer by the deadline. If he does accept the offer, make it conditional the house is off the market and no other viewings take place.

Just because someone says offer 10% below doesn't mean you should, saying that OIEO just shows greed on behalf of the vendor and the EA.

Good luck

Thanks everyone for your input. We’ve looked at our finances and have been able to stretch to another 5k (805k total) we’ve submitted that offer just now.

We’ll see what happens.

Had the following response:

Taking into consideration the length of time on the market, along with the other interest they have in the property, they feel at this stage it is far too low. They have a degree of flexibility on the price for a purchaser who is able to proceed quickly, but from the conversation I have had with them just now, I expect them to immediately decline any offers below £825,000

Guess we’ll just leave 805 on the table and hope he changes his mind.

Thank you all for your feedback

I would take that as a positive - they have shown their hand. They are expecting you to come up to £825k, or most likely the figure they have in mind is about £812-815k. There is always a lot if interest and other buyers when an EA thinks they can get buyers to up their offer! In many cases there is not!

Reply with a nice email, saying £805k remains on the table.

So true, there's always lots of interest/buyers but they aren't quite able to proceed, but lots of interest....

I think £805 sounds fair & it's what you can afford. Good luck!

Update:

Today I received this:

‘I wanted to touch base with you regarding your property search. How are you getting on? Are you still house hunting, or have you found a place?

The property on Road is still available, and although there are interested parties, they need to sell their current homes first. However, as a couple of weeks have passed, there might now be a greater readiness to proceed with a deal.

If you're still searching, it would be great to catch up. I look forward to hearing from you’

How do I play it now? Our sale has almost completed now. We have one search outstanding.

I guess repeat that your offer is 805k as you really stretched yourselves to go that far?

@Elvira13 have you found somewhere else? Or do you mean the sale of your house is near completion but you have no onward house yet?

If you want the place ring up the EA and re-offer the £805 with the cherry on top that you are close to completion with your own sale

This 👆

Yes -this

No sorry, I mean our house is near completion. Due to a relocation, we’ve already left and are living with family.

Yes, don’t have an onward house yet. Still interested. But still can’t go higher than 805k.

I guess I’m just wondering if they are saying they’ll go to 805k now? Or if they’re still going to try and squeeze us for more.

Or if they are just testing the waters with us to try and increase somebody else’s bid, or to know we’re a back up.

I just don’t want them to think we’re an indefinite option

Could be any of those things. You’ve got a straightforward position though really: you can’t go higher but haven’t found anywhere else so tell the EA that? And maybe give a deadline on when you’ll take your offer off the table (a week-ten days?). And keep looking yourself obviously!!

The agent is trying to squeeze you for me because that's their job. However, they've indicated that the vendor is interested in an offer from a proceedable buyer, which you are. I'd respond as others have suggested above. Restate the £805k and emphasise that your sale will complete on [date] so you could complete on the purchase by then or as soon as possible afterwards.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

Squeeze you for MORE! Not for me. I don't want to squeeze you.

I would reiterate that this is the final offer and sell very hard the fact you are about to complete your sale and can be flexible with their timescales