Offers (on a house)

[justasmalltownmum]

how much lower are people offering considering the current climate?

The estate agent said “no offer is a bad offer”, but I think there is a point where the sellers would just not be interested.

For context - the house has been up for 2 weeks. Not many similar properties that have sold to compare too, (they are either a lot bigger or a lot smaller).

Just about to complete on a property (selling but not buying). The estate agent priced it fairly for the age and condition and said not to accept any offers which were more than £10k below asking. From going onto the market to completion will be 10 weeks. In the first week there were 11 viewings, a full asking price offer (waiting for a house to sell), 3 very low and the one we accepted which was £10k below asking to people who had nothing to sell. Don't know if that helps but it was the advice I was given by an estate agent who is independent and really knows the local market. Another house nearby was on the market for 2 years because the owner wanted the over inflated price shed been given by one agent so I guess it really depends on the seller.

I guess it depends on the situation of the people in the house you want to buy. Relatives of a person who has passed can afford to wait for a decent offer, people who are downsizing might be able to take 50k less and still get the property they need. People on good incomes looking to upsize or move to a more affluent area might be able to cover 10-20k less, people with lower incomes might really struggle to move on anything less than 5k below asking.

2 weeks isn't long on the market, I wouldn't accept a lowball offer (anything less than 10% of asking) after 2 weeks unless I was absolutely desperate to move.

Offer what you are willing to pay.
Personally I would ignore people who offer a very low price and then want to raise it by 1 or 5 thousand pound increments.

I haven't bought many properties but when I see a property I want - I want it!

An agent who says "no offer is a bad offer" knows full well the house isn't likley to sell for asking price imo.
He's hoping you will offer - to start the process of softening the sellers expectation.
How low to go on a house that's so recently come to market is a difficult one and really depends on the size of your balls and how much you will kick yourself if you cause offence and the seller who then wont entertain you. An offensive offer imo would be 15 to 20% less than asking AT THIS STAGE. However its quite possible that the price the property sells for will eventually be in that range if the seller hasnt yet been realistic about the changes in the market. I think 10% under is probably a good guide. The question is should you wait for the seller to reduce before you make that 10% under offer and risk loosing it if someone decides that to them its worth more ?
It also depends on the value band too. If your looking at property in the higher price brackets then you can afford to be more aggressive as the pool of other potential buyers is much smaller, and shrinking faster.

The right question is what is the property worth on the open market and what's it worth to you.

Stupid example. A nice detached house is on RM for £1000. Offers need to be ABOVE the asking price. Next door comes on for £5M. Offers need to be BELOW asking price. You need to answer the first two questions.

Use houseprice.io and area360 to get a handle on what property is really worth in the area.

Ask yourself the question at what price would I kick myself if the vendor sold to someone offering £100 more than me. That is your price so long as you can comfortably afford it.

Ignore what might be considered a reasonable offer or not. I bought some real estate in the US for 20% less than asked, largely because I didn't care if I got it or not. Luckily I caught the vendor at just the right moment where they just wanted shot of it.