Is offering £210k on a £260k house unreasonable?

[Crazycatladyh97]

Offered 210k on a 260k house
The houses in area didn't go for more than 200k
They bought it for 999k
It's been on the market since January

What's the chances of this being accepted or am I silly for even chancing it

Do you mean they bought it for 99k not 999k ? I doubt the market is THAT bad to lose that much money lol

You say houses in that area don’t go for more than £200k, so what makes them think this one is worth £260k, 30% above this? Is it the biggest house? Biggest garden? Best situation? The only detached house? Has nothing else on that street sold for a decade? Is there actually a reason beyond ‘we want more money and the estate agent said we could get it’? Some house sellers seem to have missed the whole memo about finances being a bit tight these days…

It’s a negotiation isn’t it, they might say no, they might say £250.
Good Luck

You can offer, they can say no.

I think it’s too much of a drop tbh, I wouldn’t counter at that price and would just say no.

So if the ceiling price of sold prices, of similar properties in that area is 200k. Then the property at £270 is a kite flying advert. Rightmove is actually littered with these at the moment. Its mostly sellers who's financial situation means they can't afford to sell at a realistic price that reflects the changes in the market. They have a go anyway in the hope of snagging in a fool.
It would be a good idea to offer your £210k. As this may help adjust the vendor toward realism. But its very unlikely you will get it. I would make the offer and then move on expecting it to be a flat no. Many properties like this for sale at the moment won't ever sell. The vendors will withdraw when they eventually realise they can't afford to sell because we have entered a property price downturn.
Another poster nailed it by saying that "some sellers have completely missed the memo about things being a bit tight at the moment".

More than reasonable if other similar houses sold for <200K. Is there any reason why this one is priced so much higher?
There are lots of sellers like this, pricing 20%, even 30%+ above market value and not selling. As @AllTheChaos says, they don't seem to have got the memo still.

You can offer what you think it’s worth and they can say yes or no.

However as the asking price is so high maybe they have unrealistic expectations. Perhaps they don’t need to sell and are just trying their luck hoping someone will pay over the odds.

When my last house was up for 250k, someone offered 200k. Even the EA laughed! It sold for 250k.

Of course you should offer, you never know.

It's worth a try, but to be honest I'd be surprised if they accept such a large drop in price. I'm not saying you're wrong about what it's worth, but they must have considered these factors and still chose to put it on at £260k, so they're unlikely to suddenly see sense.

Has the house been extended, totally renovated, bigger etc? You can offer, but they can refuse.

That was then, this is now. Are you confident it would sell at that price now, in this flat market?

OP you have nothing to lose by offering £210k. Three months isn’t long for a property to be in the market and I’m guessing they’ve renovated or the house is on a quiet road, off road parking, things like that?

"Perhaps they dont need cant afford to sell at market value and are just trying their luck hoping someone will pay over the odds."

Fixed that for you 😉

Any house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it… offering £50k less is potentially verging on CF, but if you’re right and they have over priced, less so. If they genuinely deem it’s worth more, aren’t in hurry to sell etc you’ll likely have no chance but worth a try and worst that can happen is you’ll give them a good laugh.

Ask the agents why it’s been valued higher than others in the road. Have they extended, new kitchen, bathroom etc, bigger plot?

You have nothing to lose by making your offer, if you wouldn't buy it for more than that anyway. Who knows, maybe three other people have offered in that region and your offer might be the one that convinces them it's overpriced 🤷‍♂️

it also doesn’t matter what they paid. We bought for £75k and sold for £175k 10 years later and our buyers were constantly whinging and trying to get money off for this reason alone. They didn’t seem to consider that we’d need to pay more for our next house. It seems like you’ve don’t some research so offer what you think it’s worth and what you want to pay. They can always decline.

I would ask the agent why it is listed at £260k given the selling prices of others nearby, and then consider that when deciding how much to offer.

What they paid for it may not be relevant, depending on when they bought it. If it was before 2020 I’d say completely irrelevant now. If since, then I’d take it into account but obviously there are other things that would influence the price as well.

I also think “on the market since January” isn’t particularly relevant. Most people know that sales pick up around Easter/spring and it’s possible that they listed in January thinking they would see if there was any interest, but not worried if there wasn’t.

Actually, the properties which tend to be v overpriced, in my observation, and not accept that the market is nowhere near their expectations, tend to be older sellers or probate properties, ie mainly the groups that can afford to reduce but choose not to.

Why does it have to be "reasonable"? If it's what you can afford/think the house is worth, offer it.

Yes we have that dimension too - in addition to the more recent entrants who want to move or upsize and paid top prices at low rates.

It’s irrelevant what they paid , assuming that was a long time ago as well. I sold my first flat for 6+ times what I paid for it but there was a 20 year difference.
my grandad used to say you can sell your house for £10 as long as you’re buying your next one for £15, it’s all relative .
But also has others have said can offer whatever you like , I’d be amazed if they dropped that much though

Did they really pay £999k for it?

When I was buying I went in very low. But I knew the market, and did lots of research to know no one else was looking at the house
And I waited.
Saw houses with the same estate agent, and he them saw the house was over priced.
I went up, vendor came down and we got middle way.

So ... Do your research, and let them know that. Good luck. I think with all the mad stuff going on you may be lucky