Advice before I speak to my EA tomorrow afternoon

[Schwarzville]

Property is on the market at 570k. Viewers said a couple of weeks ago that their absolute max is 490k, would I accept that offer. I said no and assumed that was the end of it. . Call from EA this morning, they may be able to increase their offer, how much am I looking for? Now, If it was me making an offer I would make an offer, ie the amount I am willing to pay for the house, less a few thousand haggle room. But they havent suggested an amount... I would accept 535k. Do I put that amount on the table or higher?

I’d be wary. Way too low a first offer. If they bring their offer up to an acceptable (to you) level, it may be to drop it later. Was it or was it not their absolute max?

@NewFriendlyLadybird very good point. I think I will try to get some more details from EA, like how has the 'absolute max' suddenly grown!

They sound like time wasters to me and you’ll have no end of problems with the survey, haggling over every little flaw and wanting money off. I’d push it back to them and ask them what is their new offer (and make sure EA has seen proof of funds).

The EA works for you, tell them to get an offer it’s not for you to give a figure.

These people are going to mess you about.

Sounds like they are trying to get you invested before they drop their price.

I’d be absolutely brutal and say 550 lowest, you want to see proof of funds and the second there’s any nonsense it will go straight back on the market.

and yes how has the absolute max suddenly grown?!

The agent is paid by you and therefore needs to act on your behalf. At the moment they are acting on their OWN behalf as they want to conclude the deal and get their commission. As PP have said, tell the agents that you would like to hear what the potential buyers can offer. That is their job and they need to get on with it.

I would agree absolutely with all the other posters except that our sale took a similar trajectory. The house was advertised at 595 and a couple put in an offer of 557 which we thought was bonkers. They later increased it to 585 and we sold it to them. After having had FIVE previous sales collapse for various reasons - you really wouldn't have put money on this one going through at all. But..It was straightforward, they were lovely. We completed early. You just never know.

I feel differently to others and that it’s not that unusual for a buyer to increase their offer a couple of weeks after their last offer was rejected.

They have had time to reflect and realise that your property is still the best one they can find on the market at the moment. And they also can see that you were serious about 490k being too low so they will have to go higher to secure it.

I would have no qualms about going back with a counter offer, to hopefully reach a price you can both agree on. I would tell the EA you are looking for closer to the asking price but have some wriggle room. I would say 540k is the lowest offer you would accept

(It’s no mystery how they could suddenly find extra money. It’s common for buyers to say “this is my limit” when it actually isn’t. And for sellers to say exactly the same thing. It’s just a negotiation tool sometimes, though not always obviously).

Don't put any amount on the table.

Let them decide what they can afford to pay and make you an offer where you say yes or no. Its the EAs job to manage this, you just make the decision.

At a house marketed at £570k I wouldn't expect less than £550k unless is vastly over priced.

Is there anything that a survey might flag where they might try and negotiate after that?

But OP isn’t you @Ilovemyshed & they have stated that they would accept 535k.

It’s a buyers market at the moment and sellers who are too rigid will really struggle to sell. Assuming @Schwarzville is a committed seller, it’s better to communicate with potential buyers rather than trying to play it tough and maybe lose out on a potential sale.

There aren’t heaps of buyers around at the moment so it’s advisable to really consider any offer you do get & do what you can to find a price you can both agree on. There isn’t a queue of people willing to pay 575k or making offers close to that amount.

Why are people assuming these buyers will be difficult because they started with a low offer? Of course they did. That's how buying houses works and when it's a buyers market of course you are going to get low offers. I don't know why you're hand wringing about what to do. If you've been on for a while and nobody is interested in buying then tell the EA you'll accept 535 and see if the buyers will pay. If it's been on a short time and you think you'll get more then say you want more and the buyers can take or leave.

The OP will only be accepting a 6% discount. At an asking of 570k, 6% off may well be its true value, as the asking price is a guessing game anyway.
In this market, at that price, there may be no more offers this year.

There's low offers and there's 'taking the piss' offers. A potential buyer who does this is likely to take the piss further down the line. We were in a similar situation and instructed our EA not to take any more offers from that person (they'd decided what extensive alterations they'd do to the house and subtracted the cost).

We had a “taking the piss” offer on a flat a few years ago and then a couple of weeks later a higher offer (still taking the piss) & then later on finally an offer we could start negotiating on & reach agreement. I had reservations about the buyer but we did get to completion so low offers don’t always equate to flaky buyers. They just point to buyers who don’t mind negotiating hard as it’s very important to them to know that they didn’t overpay.

I think just tell them the price you are willing to accept - the property process in the UK is so ridiculous with people being coy and playing mind games. Or get your estate agent to change the price to offers over £535k.

The buyers of our flat came in with a low offer, we told them what we would accept, they matched it and it was a smooth transaction. I don't think there is any reason why offering low in the first place will make them bad buyers - honestly people are so paranoid.

I would ask for the 535k but stipulate that price is not subject to survey. This will shut down any chipping away later on.

£550, then you have haggle room

I’d not want to sell to them tbh. I wouldn’t trust them given what their first offer was. But I suppose it’s how desperate you are to move.

Yeah this. Just tell them what you'd be happy to accept and say that you won't go lower. Our sellers were on for £750k but said the lowest the could afford to move for was £725. We offered £725 and at no point have we haggled on the price. We knew there was no negotiation after survey or they wouldn't be able to sell. So you have a price and if anything comes up they accept it or walk away. Simple. The stupid games people seem to want to play are pointless

Tell them you need something much closer to the asking price and leave it at that.

This is just not true though. It's a very 2016 way of thinking about house buying.

Weirdly specific. Why 2016?

How long has your house been on the market, how many other offers have you had and how much interest in general? If you have only just started marketing it, I would be more inclined to 'play hard ball' with these potential buyers and perhaps suggest 550k. However, if it has been on the market for a while with no offers and not much interest currently, I would probably given them my bottom line and see what they come back with. I don't think a low initial offer necessarily means that they will mess around later on. We previously sold successfully to people who initially made a very low offer but were willing to negotiate. People have less money to spend at present and are more likely to try to negotiate.

@Schwarzville Do not put any amount on the table. Let the buyers make an offer and then negotiate from there.

If you reject any offer, a plain no will suffice you do not need to justify it. If the amount is close to what you will accept it is fine to say "we are not quite there yet". At some point both parties are likely to come to an amount which is their red line to not go aboove or below - hopefully you then reach the compromise amount.

No-one has any idea whether it's 'true'. We chose not to take the risk. What is a '2016' way of selling a house? Anyway the '2016' way worked for us ( 😆 ).