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Original poster

Is this offer ridiculous

81 replies

Travelcrazy · 02/02/2025 07:09

We are looking at moving and there is beautiful house on the market in the village that we want to move to. It came onto the market in November at £375,000. Last month it was reduced to £350,000. The most we can afford is £310,000. Is it pointless viewing it. I don't want to bother if we have no hope of getting it.

OP posts:
DarlingSophieImHome · 02/02/2025 09:09

Talk to the estate agent, tell them your top budget and ask for a viewing. The vendors can decide whether to offer you a viewing based on that. A house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it and they clearly want to move hence the price drop in the first place.

Yours might be the only offer they ever get. Up to them if they want to take it or not. You have nothing to lose by contacting the estate agent.

rainingsnoring · 02/02/2025 09:12

TicklishRubyCritic · 02/02/2025 08:46

The op can do whatever she likes whenever she likes… no skin off my nose 😆

but obviously £350k homes are going to be nicer than homes £310k and below

so you’re just torturing yourself

if you can’t go a penny over £310k then best set your filter more modestly

Show quote history

If the market was rising, I would agree but it's not and many properties are over pricing initially and then reducing, as I said above. In these circumstances, it is worth researching the market really carefully and looking at properties being advertised above budget.

user1485851222 · 02/02/2025 09:14

Don't ask, don't get. View the house, if you love it, be honest with estate agent and tell them youvare making one offer at your maximum budget. If the buyer says no, move on. But the buyer may want/need to move, and they may say yes. I wanted to move, so accepted 40k under my valuation. Now moved in to the village I've always wanted to be in. I hope your dream comes true, good luck.

sometimesmovingforwards · 02/02/2025 09:17

Share with the EA your budget and ask if it’s worth viewing. They’ll guide you if the asking price is firm or flexible and whether a viewing could be arranged or not not.

user1471538283 · 02/02/2025 09:17

Go and see it! I went to see a couple of lovely houses that seemed perfect but ...

They both didn't have drives (somehow I missed this on Rightmove) and one had far more steps going up than it looked like in the photos. Both were too far from the shops. I offered on another one and once I'd gone there the next day I realised it was too far from anything.

Twiglets1 · 02/02/2025 09:49

Going against the grain of most people’s opinion on here but I think it would be a low offer rather than a ridiculously low one. It’s slightly over 10% off the current asking price.

If I’m honest I highly doubt they would accept this offer due to the very recent price reduction. But it’s worth a shot, I don’t think you are wasting anyone’s time.

LindaDawn · 02/02/2025 10:01

Have a chat with the estate agent 1st and be honest with them about your budget and be guided by them. I would definitely want to see it.

Bluevelvetsofa · 02/02/2025 10:24

If it went on the market in November and it’s already been reduced, they must be keen to sell, bearing in mind, viewings are few around Christmas.

I think £310k sounds low, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

MovingToPlan · 02/02/2025 11:53

Our vendors put the house on the market at 420k. Dropped the price to 400k a couple of months later, and wouldn't entertain a lower offer from us, so we left it. They got a buyer, then lost them, we saw it back on RM and we offered again (higher than our first offer) at 395k - it was accepted. By their POV, they 'dropped' the house price by 25k, and they did act like they were doing us a favour!

I took advice from here to offer 10% under at first, and I do think they were a bit insulted. Not enough to refuse our second offer, but by that point we realised how much we wanted the property and didn't want to risk it.

People like to say house buying is a business transaction, but there's too much emotion riding on it to say it's only about business. It's also about memories, hard work, plans for the future, and for most people, their biggest investment of their lives. A plan for retirement. The chance to move closer to family. A forced move due to divorce. etc etc.

Doris86 · 02/02/2025 12:21

CellophaneFlower · 02/02/2025 09:07

Not sure how you can tell it's an insultingly high asking price with no details of the property or area.

The vendor listed at a time when the market is slow. Perhaps they did list it high, or maybe it was a fair price but they're keen to move quickly hence the swift reduction.

Show quote history

Likewise with no details of the property or area, it’s impossible to say whether £310k is an insultingly low offer or a realistic one.

CheeseyOnionPie · 02/02/2025 12:30

Not pointless at all. I bought a house that had been reduced by £55k and I got it for £60k under the new price. The previous sale fell through and the offer that was competing with mine needed to sell their house and hadn’t got an offer yet. Seller look at more than just pricing.

Kneeboobs · 02/02/2025 12:35

ScarlettSunset · 02/02/2025 07:38

I think it's worth viewing it. Just because it's listed at a certain price doesn't mean it's worth that much, it might be the current owners being very unrealistic.
If, after having viewed it, you still like it then put in the offer you can afford. It might annoy the current owners but it also might be that they've had similar or even lower offers, or no offers at all so far, and may consider it.
Surely the worst that can happen is they say no.

It used to be the norm to offer 10% below asking price.

housethatbuiltme · 02/02/2025 12:35

People saying its 11% below, its in reality 17% below because its already been reduced 6%. That still counts in overall reduction.

Even if they priced for reductions (which a reduction suggests) they are probably looking for a price no lower than £335,000 mark.

housethatbuiltme · 02/02/2025 12:40

They also can use your low offer to start bidding wars if theres anyone else interest, thats been happening a lot where I live.

What happens is someone might have offered £330k which is under what the seller wants, you then offer £310k and they then tell both of you theres another bidder and you need to up the price. You're stuck and cant go higher and the others maybe go up £5k higher to meet the sellers minimum and boom you just helped sell the house to someone else.

You can offer but I wouldn't get your hopes up or imagine living there.

kaos2 · 02/02/2025 12:45

I'm currently selling my mums house and would take that because I need it gone .. you don't know what those circumstances are and I always offer .. what's the worst can happen? They say no 🤷‍♀️

devastatedagain · 02/02/2025 12:48

Not pointless no. View the house, make a first and final offer and leave it on the table.

Then go ahead and look for other properties

BunnyMum2000 · 02/02/2025 12:50

This is a really interesting thread.

We've seen somewhere we like - Its been on since September, reduced in price once, no offers.
Still very much overpriced in my opinion as it needs loads of work and they seem to be wanting the price of a "done" house.

I think its worth at least £70k less than what they are asking - but I can't imagine them dropping that much.

Going to chat to the estate agent tomorrow and see what he thinks..

rainingsnoring · 02/02/2025 12:58

housethatbuiltme · 02/02/2025 12:35

People saying its 11% below, its in reality 17% below because its already been reduced 6%. That still counts in overall reduction.

Even if they priced for reductions (which a reduction suggests) they are probably looking for a price no lower than £335,000 mark.

What they may or may not be looking for, and no one knows in this particular situation, is not always the most relevant detail. If a seller actually needs to sell, as opposed to fancying a change if they get a certain figure, they will accept the best offer they get. They have reduced once because they made a mistake and over priced above what the market would pay. They may receive an offer of 350k tomorrow or the OP's offer of 310k may be the best offer they get in the next 3 months. It's worth trying a lower offer because, although unlikely, we may be looking at the latter situation.

@BunnyMum2000 worth chatting to the agent. It's definitely not a good idea to overpay at the moment, though, with prices falling slowly and the economy in obvious decline.

CellophaneFlower · 02/02/2025 13:11

Doris86 · 02/02/2025 12:21

Likewise with no details of the property or area, it’s impossible to say whether £310k is an insultingly low offer or a realistic one.

Show quote history

Not insulting, but it's probably realistic to say 310 will be rejected. Whether the vendor has over priced or not, they're unlikely to accept such a drop after they've recently reduced.

No harm in trying but definitely agree it should be discussed with the agent prior to viewing. It saves both parties wasting their time and avoids OP getting their hopes up if they do indeed fall in love with the house.

Fretfulmum · 02/02/2025 13:18

We don’t know if it’s ridiculously low or not as we don’t know the property. I would give it a shot though if I liked it, what have you got to lose? Our house was on for 850k and we got it for 770k as that’s what we thought it was worth, and it was accepted as I assume the sellers must have realised they have massively overvalued in the first place. This was in 2023. It is a buyers market, so you have a good chance if they are motivated sellers.

ARainyNightInSoho · 02/02/2025 13:27

SpringBunnyHopHop · 02/02/2025 08:21

I think it’s a big of an insult to offer so low.

Of course it’s not an insult. Insults are exchanges of emotions. A house sale is a business transaction. People make offers below the asking price every day on everything that can be bought or sold. The seller just decides whether it’s worth getting money now or more money later. They don’t burst into tears.

Twiglets1 · 02/02/2025 13:27

No it isn't 17% below because it isn't relevant what it was once priced at.

The current price is 350k.

Edited to tag @housethatbuiltme

Twiglets1 · 02/02/2025 13:30

BunnyMum2000 · 02/02/2025 12:50

This is a really interesting thread.

We've seen somewhere we like - Its been on since September, reduced in price once, no offers.
Still very much overpriced in my opinion as it needs loads of work and they seem to be wanting the price of a "done" house.

I think its worth at least £70k less than what they are asking - but I can't imagine them dropping that much.

Going to chat to the estate agent tomorrow and see what he thinks..

Whether 70k is a huge reduction or not depends purely on the current price as it's percentages that matter.

If it's on at 700k plus then a 70k reduction is not massive in my opinion.

If it's on at significantly less than 700k, then it is.

BunnyMum2000 · 02/02/2025 13:35

Twiglets1 · 02/02/2025 13:30

Whether 70k is a huge reduction or not depends purely on the current price as it's percentages that matter.

If it's on at 700k plus then a 70k reduction is not massive in my opinion.

If it's on at significantly less than 700k, then it is.

Show quote history

It’s on at £890k

Twiglets1 · 02/02/2025 13:39

BunnyMum2000 · 02/02/2025 13:35

It’s on at £890k

Show quote history

Then I imagine they will be quite pleased to receive an offer at 820k and the EA should be urging them to take it seriously.

Not saying they will definitely accept it, they may have a higher figure in mind as the minimum they will accept. But it's not a bad offer.

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