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Property/DIY

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Original poster

How much of an offer would you expect someone to take on a new to market house?

27 replies

myredcardigan · 07/06/2008 20:21

We have seen a house we really like but it's only been on 2weeks. Asking price is 735k, we offered 705k but she turned us down. She had said she wants 730 which we think is too much. We are chain free as we sold our house and are currently living in a small 2bed which we own but usually rent out. It's nowhere near big enough and I'm desperate to find something.

Would you say it's reasonable for her to hold out as it's new to the market? DH thinks that even 705 was too much but I really like the house, want to be moved and am still feeling nervous as our previous purchase fell through the day before exchange as the vendor decided he was selling too cheaply and wanted more, DH said no and they withdrew the house from the market.

I could do with some objective opinions please.

OP posts:

Tinker · 07/06/2008 20:25

Wait. Definitely. Bet she calls you back in a few weeks. And agree that if it was on at 735k I'd have offered a lot less.

Original poster

myredcardigan · 07/06/2008 20:35

Thanks, Tinker!
I'm just so stressed about the whole thing and unsure how much my desperation is clouding my judgement. I just want a house.

OP posts:

hf128219 · 07/06/2008 20:38

I recently viewed a house at 650K - the seller would have accepted 550K. 10% off minimum in the current market is what you want!

mummyjaguar · 07/06/2008 20:39

We're in a very similar position. Loved a house that was on for 750 and wanted it so much we offered on it the week it went on the market. We offered 675 which she rejected and went up to 690 and finally settled on 710. She wouldn't take any less with it being new to the market even though we're good buyers who have exchanged contracts on our house.

However - we are now thinking twice (a month down the line) since the market is falling rapidly and we really didn't want to pay more than 10 per cent below asking price. And to add to the problems the house needs more work than we thought. Unfortunately we might be the dreaded chain breakers!

Hold out. Its hard but the market is so tought for sellers. Yours is bouyed with confidence (like ours was) because of your early interest.

LuckyStrike · 07/06/2008 20:45

The house will be optimistically priced and all sellers will have a hope that the current market conditions won't affect them too badly, so I don't think anyone will accept a low offer until they have had their property on the market for 6 weeks or so. But when that time has passed they will start getting nervous. Don't be tempted to pay over the odds just to secure the house - it only makes sense to do so in a rising market, which this is definitely not.

I do feel sympathy for your situation, and I can understand your desire to secure your new property but have patience if youc an so that you get a deal that makes sense in the current climate.

ButterflyMcQueen · 07/06/2008 20:49

if you are renting i would accept maybe 710

i may even accept 705 tbh as rented means a lot to me as a seller

Original poster

myredcardigan · 07/06/2008 20:55

Butterfly, thats just 4% off which DH thinks is too high. Trouble is the location is very good and we'd probably have paid that last year when we also had something to sell. I don't know!

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WideWebWitch · 07/06/2008 21:02

IMF are saying market is over heated by 30-40%. Hold your nerve, esp as you're chain free. I bet you get it for much less. Going by 40% it's £292k overpriced, which would take it down to £450k odd. She will be VERY lucky if she gets £705k I reckon. Even at 10% overvalued it's £73k off which equates to an offer of £662k!

Really, the market is going down.

anonymama · 07/06/2008 21:02

I think you've made a good offer, considering the current economic climate - depending on the area, possibly too much of a good offer.

We were advised by an estate agent (not the one selling our house!) to stay quiet for a week following our first rejected offer - then to up it by a very small increment. Basically he reckoned the slower you increase your offer, the more likely the vendor is to panic and accept. At the moment, if the market is slack in your neck of the woods, I'd hold firm.

This website might help you decide how nervous your vendor could be...

propertysnake.co.uk/

Good luck!

ButterflyMcQueen · 07/06/2008 21:04

that propertysnake site is pants imo

ony quotes long term lingerers on market

hf128219 · 07/06/2008 21:04

You should have gone in at 661K (10%) off and then raised it very slowly by 10K, 5K, 2.5K increases until you got to about 690K.

House sales in UK at the moment only achieve about 93.5% of the asking price in general.

Remember last years prices are most definitely not this years.

WideWebWitch · 07/06/2008 21:05

Even if you don#t like propertysnake, the actual sold prices from land reg tell a tale of reduced prices compared to asking prices.

Original poster

myredcardigan · 07/06/2008 21:14

Ok, will try to hold my nerve. Think I'll be heartbroken if we lose it though.

OP posts:

lalalonglegs · 08/06/2008 08:35

Do hold your nerve. Even if she doesn't buckle, it's amazing how often people on this site - and in real life in general - think they have found their dream house, lose it and then find something better a couple of weeks down line.

noddyholder · 08/06/2008 08:48

That it way too high Wait even 3 months and you'll get it for 660.The market is in freefall atm lending is down 50% so apart from prices falling volumes which keep it all going are half what they were last year.Prices ALWAYS revert to affordability based on multiples of salary.Nothing else is sustainable and this boom was completely built on cheap credit loose lending and general bad banking practice.We are in rented looking for a house too but every time I think I see a good deal the goal posts move and we start again.Hold On!!!!!!!

zippitippitoes · 08/06/2008 08:53

but doesnt it depend on local conditionds

some people price their houses realisitically at the start

you cant assume it is overpirced surely?

especially if it has just come on the market

and also some people are just chancers who have no intention of selling they just like testing the market and wont really go the whole way

Original poster

myredcardigan · 08/06/2008 18:49

The weekend isn't even over and I'm already caving! That size/price house is sort of top of the middle market here IYKWIM. I just wish I had some clue as to how many other buyers there were in that price bracket at the minute. If I knew there weren't many at all I could probably hold my nerve better.
I need some friendly MN estate agents to come tell me what it's like in their area. There's about 9 houses for sale in that price bracket at the moment and only 2 in that range have sold since Christmas. This is soooo stressful!

OP posts:

ButterflyMcQueen · 08/06/2008 20:25

there is no way i would wait 3 months in my area slowdown or no....

a decently priced house of the type we needed was a rarity so we paid the asking price

twinsetandpearls · 08/06/2008 20:29

Zippi is right in one way as I think that people are starting to price our houses much more realistically. I know in our case as we have priced to sell we have started off lower than we had planned originally knowing we will still have to accept an offer but it will not be 10% less. I have noticed other similar houses in the area dropping to be in line with us.

But I still think you offer is realistic and I bet she may come back.

scaryteacher · 08/06/2008 20:55

If she needs to move, then she presumably will eventually drop; if she just wants to move, as opposed to needing to, she can hang out for what she wants. You can offer what you think it's worth, but that may not chime with her financial needs/plans; or with what she thinks it's worth.

Why do you say 'holding out'? I wouldn't take the first offer made, as something better might come along. If it's only just on the market she may have decided to give it a couple of weeks before she decides.

Original poster

myredcardigan · 11/06/2008 22:15

Update
She's now come back and said she'd take 720k
It's a good sign that she's come back to us, isn't it? Isn't it? Less than a week later? Should I hold out? Help before I ring up at 9am and take it!

OP posts:

noddyholder · 11/06/2008 22:23

That is too much!Have you seen the news this week?If it won't stretch you and it is a forever house then you may want to go for it but it will be worth closer to 600 2009

Original poster

myredcardigan · 11/06/2008 22:29

It is the 5bed 1/2 acre 15year house. Even so, it's at the top of our budget and the extra 30k saving will allow us to do the bits and pieces to make it 'home'.
Its also the fact that I'm pregnant and have 2 others under 5 and I just want a home.

OP posts:

QuintessentialShadows · 11/06/2008 22:36

A house in my neighbourhood (quite similar to my house, smaller as mine has a kitchen extension and conservatory but professionally redecorated to a high standard) was put on the market 6 weeks ago for £650,000. I checked yesterday, the price on this house has been lowered to £499,000

I think you would be wise to wait.

noddyholder · 11/06/2008 22:38

Listen to Qs this will be common soon Even the most hardened property investors are predicting 20% by the end of the year.That would make it 588 think what you could do with that

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