[Closed] Making an offer on a house

round here, anything reasonable is gone in days at over asking. not quite as crazy as before but its still not a buyers market.

unless its something that has been on for a while, and therefore weird/overpriced/haunted then good luck...

We just told the seller this was all we had, we liked your house and we'd love to live there, and would understand if you said no. They said yes. It was 10% below the asking price at the time. We lived there 10 years. Being honest is no bad thing. Other houses are available. An asking price is just an invitation to negotiate.

Not sure where abouts in the country you are, but in most places, you're going to be needing to go well over asking price to buy a house currently.

You're certainly not going to get money off asking unless it's been on the market for ages and is obviously over priced.

Any nuance you think you manage to express will be lost completely when the agent passes the offer on to the seller anyway.
So just make sure they know the amount, and your position.

in most places, you’re going to be needing to go well over asking price

Sounds like a massive generalisation to me.

What's your local market like OP?

Have sellers all got greedy and started asking silly prices?

Houses were selling like hot cakes round here. I got mine £4k under asking price a few months ago.

Better speaking to the seller direct without the estate agent in between, as said as soon as you tell the agents, all nuance is gone.

Ive always spoke to the sellers direct. Made the deal, then told the agents/lawyers what weve done.

However, the market is red hot, so unless its been on the market ages as other have said, or they want a quick sale (death, divorce etc) a lower offer is unlikely to fly. But its always worth a shot.

My stepdaughter moved into a new build in Bude last August. They’d gone earlier in the year & kind of stumbled across the site. Looked at the house plan & plot & offered some silly price less than it should’ve been, the money was in their bank, the builder accepted the offer on the spot.
There’s loads of new build empty houses around Harrogate at the moment, I imagine because the prices are stupid cos it’s Harrogate.
Offer whatever you fancy & see what happens, they can only say no.

in most places, you’re going to be needing to go well over asking price

Sounds like a massive generalisation to me.

This is exactly how it was when I was buying a few years ago, offers over the asking price or you don't get a look in.

How do you do it without cringing? Do you lay out your reasons for wanting money off with the estate agent, or just start off offensively low and keep going up until you reach the asking price or the seller says yes?

Personally I go in with an insultingly low offer and don't explain, only the guilty explain and I don't tell them it's all I've got (whether true or not). People talk too much and give too much away unnecessarily, they aren't your friends, they're there to get as much money out of you as they possibly can.
It helped that the last house I bought the sellers estate agent was terrible, within the first ten minutes we knew that it had been on the market for 6 months, the seller had reduced the price significantly and the agent told us what the original price had been, there'd been very few viewings and no offers, we'd not actually asked any questions by this point 😀

The "most places" is the generalisation.

Plus, as I said, sellers have got greedy and a lot of places are overpriced.

Fairly priced houses will go quickly, yes, but a lot are starting high and slowly dropping the price to test the market now.

That's in my recent experience, near MCR.

Any nuance you think you manage to express will be lost completely when the agent passes the offer on to the seller anyway.
So just make sure they know the amount, and your position.

+1.

It helped that the last house I bought the sellers estate agent was terrible, within the first ten minutes we knew that it had been on the market for 6 months, the seller had reduced the price significantly and the agent told us what the original price had been, there’d been very few viewings and no offers, we’d not actually asked any questions by this point

Were they really that terrible if they got a quick sale from you and pocketed their commission after waiting six months?

Are you selling too?

If you are selling and haven't sold already then IME you won't get a look-in no matter what you offer.

Sellers want people who are ready to go.

As for what to offer - just offer what you think it's worth. You should get a feel for whats out there and how quickly things are snapped up in your area.

Were they really that terrible if they got a quick sale from you and pocketed their commission after waiting six months?

Oh they got a sale all right, but I wouldn't have gone in as low as I did without the information she'd given up, and if they'd been my estate agent I'd not have been happy .

Were they really that terrible if they got a quick sale from you and pocketed their commission after waiting six months?

Eh, do you want to read that again?

Oh they got a sale all right, but I wouldn’t have gone in as low as I did without the information she’d given up, and if they’d been my estate agent I’d not have been happy .

You do realise what crafty little buggers estate agents are don't you! 🙂

Oh they got a sale all right, but I wouldn’t have gone in as low as I did without the information she’d given up, and if they’d been my estate agent I’d not have been happy .

I was suggesting that they possibly just wanted shot of it - and it served their purpose for you to have all the info.

Eh, do you want to read that again?

No mate, do you want to think about it a bit more?

Start low then negotiate up if needed unless it’s an amazing house in a very desirable location

When making an offer you want to try reinforce the number with data if possible - i.e. the sale price of other similar houses.

You can usually get a rough idea of what similar houses sold for here https://houseprices.io/
https://www.mouseprice.com/

And then calculate the £ per sq ft, how near to amenities, private outdoor space, schools and train stations etc.

Make a pros and cons list - what is 'bad' about the property that you can negotiate over?

Definitely lay out your reasoning, yes. Try not make it emotional at all - it's not emotional for the estate agent - just another potential sale for them.

Always best to start your initial offer a bit low - the price can only go up from there.

When making an offer you want to try reinforce the number with data if possible – i.e. the sale price of other similar houses.

You can usually get a rough idea of what similar houses sold for here https://houseprices.io/

And then calculate the £ per sq ft, how near to amenities, private outdoor space, schools and train stations etc. would increase the price.

Definitely lay out your reasoning, yes. Try not make it emotional at all – it’s not emotional for the estate agent – just another potential sale for them.

If only things worked in real-life like they do on a spreadsheet! 🙂

It is a barter on price. Emotion has nothing to do with it.

Place offer you think reasonable, plus any benefits on top such as "we are in rented and have mortgage set up, we can move quickly".

Await response from the nutter* who currently owns the property.

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.

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*may or may not be the case, best to assume it is to be on the safe side.

They don't. But it's the best way to work out a starting point.

We've had it work differently every time we have offered. While looking this house we had seen a dream house that we really loved but it was out of budget, we looked around for a few months all the time the dream house was coming down in price, it finally reached a price we could afford so we offered the asking price and the owner turned us down and said they wanted the original price.

When we purchased our current house we offered 5% below asking as it was at the top of our budget and they accepted.

Offer what feel is comfortable and they will either accept or not. I think its about understanding what the other side want, highest £££ possible, short or no chain to move quickly, nice easy to deal with buyer???

For the people saying to barter, we made an offer on a house for the asking price, which we thought was a lil steep, but seemed to tie in with what similar houses were going for, they accepted another offer, and we didn't even get a chance to up ours.

My advice, is offer what you can if you are in an area where there is high demand. Also offer 1,111 ie 501,111 as it is a random amount that should just put you ahead of others.

I do wish my GF's job allowed us to move somewhere, cheaper, and where there was time, and the actual ability to negotiate.

When making an offer you want to try reinforce the number with data if possible – i.e. the sale price of other similar houses.

I don't think it works like that. People aren't really swayed by analytical arguments - they've an idea in their head about how much it's worth, and they're pretty emotionally tied to it. Picking holes in their home has a chance of alienating them.
Putting together a full blown price analysis also makes it feel like you're trying to get one over on them.

I'm on the side of just put in the offer. No justification required.

Oh they got a sale all right, but I wouldn’t have gone in as low as I did without the information she’d given up, and if they’d been my estate agent I’d not have been happy .

Yeah, but the estate agent's job isn't to get the best price, it's to get a sale.

You do realise what crafty little buggers estate agents are don’t you! 🙂

😀
They'll be the first up against the wall come the revolution.

But like I said, we wouldn't have gone in anywhere near as low had it not been for the estate agent, we'd have paid the asking price if pushed as the house had everything we wanted but knew there were no other offers or interested parties so that cost the sellers dearly.
We've always wondered why there'd been no other interest and were worried we missed something but we've been in 3 years now and it hasn't fallen down yet 😀

Put an offer in that you can go through with if they say yes, too many people go over the top and then back out.

If my offer for a house was refused I asked the seller what they would take to agree, most times this was done face to face not through the estate agent.

They are moving for a reason and want to sell, everybody has a price. Make the deal work for all parties then confirm it through estate agents.

Be quick about it though and know your numbers.

I don’t think it works like that. People aren’t really swayed by analytical arguments – they’ve an idea in their head about how much it’s worth, and they’re pretty emotionally tied to it. Picking holes in their home has a chance of alienating them.
Putting together a full blown price analysis also makes it feel like you’re trying to get one over on them.

Absolutely this. The last house we sold (4 years ago) there were 3 offers on the table in 24 hours. One of them had snag list. For a 130 years old house. Straight in the bin as awkward buyer.

I don’t think it works like that. People aren’t really swayed by analytical arguments – they’ve an idea in their head about how much it’s worth, and they’re pretty emotionally tied to it.

This.

You offer what you think it is worth. They take or leave it. But experience says  that most sellers are pretty a) greedy and b) unrealistic.

They get away with it because of rising house prices for so long.

The day prices dip, could be torrid time for some.

Yeah, but the estate agent’s job isn’t to get the best price, it’s to get a sale.

I hope that isn't the estate agents tag line 😀

It's also fairly common for EA's to over-value to get houses on their books, then advise sellers to lower the price after unsuccessfully testing the market for a bit.

Again, this is from very recent personal experience, not received wisdom.

"They get away with it because of rising house prices for so long."

Right now, this is why I think it's important to be more careful with prices. We're entering higher inflation, and perhaps interest rates, so constantly rising house price house might not continue.

Who knows for sure. Certainly interesting times ahead.

Were they really that terrible if they got a quick sale from you and pocketed their commission after waiting six months?

You're saying they weren't terrible estate agents because they got a quick sale after 6 months. 6 months is not a quick sale.

But experience says that most sellers are pretty a) greedy and b) unrealistic.

Tricky one isn't it. Most people I know have almost their entire wealth wrapped up in their property. And generally you also need to buy somewhere else. So you don't really have much choice but to get as much as possible for your major asset.

I had a neighbour who suggested I sell my house on the cheap to a family in need. This guy was a baby boomer landlord with multiple properties. Go too low and somebody will just flip it for a profit.

I did sell a house to a lower bidder than the highest once. They really loved the place, had tried and failed to buy the house next door, were in a slightly better position to move. But if the difference in offer had been much more it would have gone to the higher bidder.

It’s in the best interest of the agent to make a sale and keep a chain going so I’d say they should be in a good position to give you an insight to what the seller might or might not accept.

The price a seller will accept depends on tons of factors so it’s always worth a punt but I’d offer as much as you can afford and want to pay for the property right away rather than messing about with offer after offer.

Our friends sold recently under market value because they needed to sell in order to buy the house of their dreams. Just one scenario when you might get it for below asking.

Whatever the case, only offer what you can afford and would be happy paying for a particular property. If it’s not enough then move on and keep looking for another property.

Houses are going above asking price around here in the SE and you need to already have a buyer to make a competitive offer. As if house prices weren't ridiculous enough. Joke of a country.

For the people saying to barter

Its HAGGLE / NEGOTIATE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Barter
VERB
exchange (goods or services) for other goods or services without using money.

unless you are swapping your chickens for a new house stop using the incorrect term !
I bet you weigh those chickens in KayGees too don't you 😉

Don't discuss with the estate agent, their job is to sell the house and they will try to sway all buyers, just put your offer in, they are required to put all offfers to the vendors within 24 hours, without any queries or negative responses.

If the vendor rejects it, you may get further information, basically hearsay on how below estimates it is, i.e. you've offered 50k under, or maybe if you increase by 10k you get it.

You can offer as many times as you want i believe, as long as you're not being a nuisance, best bet as always, work out what your max is (including the suspected increases in interest rates!), then work out a realistic price for that house, and only go to max if it's the one you want, remember, it's a house at the end of a day, a place you will live for a while potentially, as others say, this isn't the market currently to be trying to eek out a couple of thousand over a couple of weeks with your bids.

Daughter has just accepted an offer on her house for 235 (was up for 240) and had an offer accepted at 305 (was for sale at 310).

They got another offer at 240 a couple of days latter but first offer is chain free and they had already said yes to so hoping sticking with the lower offer will give them good karma and a smooth process. Fingers crossed!

(this is midlands)

There’s loads of new build empty houses around Harrogate at the moment

TBF they are all selling very quickly where I live (Whinney Lane) - I'd say all of the recently completed houses are now occupied.

But OP - don't cringe because no matter how absurd you think your offer is, I am sure the estate agent will have heard much more absurd offers. FWIW, Our house was on the market at £435k, just reduced to £425k when we viewed it. The agent said 'I know that an offer of £410k will secure it'. I offered £390k and eventually agreed on £392k.

TBF they are all selling very quickly where I live (Whinney Lane) – I’d say all of the recently completed houses are now occupied

Quite a few still empty in Killinghall & those new builds off Skippy road.
You’d think they’d be snapped up seeing as we have a housing shortage.

Yeah, don't worry too much about offending estate agents with a lower offer

1) They've heard worse before
2) Tim Harford does a great rundown of why there's little economic benefit to estate agents to hold out for a higher price - have a read of his book, The undercover Economist
3) Estate agents like building chains - it's good for them, especially if they are involved in more than one sale. Market movement and sales, uh, velocity is also a good thing for them - sell more houses at a lower commission often = more dosh to them with greater reliability than a smaller number of big deals
4) They're estate agents. Why are you worried about causing them offence?

Quite a few still empty in Killinghall & those new builds off Skippy road.

Those ones on Skipton Road are absurdly designed - yes they look quite modern now but they are going to date so quickly. And who wants bedrooms with floor to ceiling windows when they face onto a main road? There is one right on the new roundabout that gave a perfect view straight into the principal bedroom until the owner fitted big curtains to give themselves some privacy - so what's the point of big windows if you have to close the curtains every time you are in the room?

Surely you know from Rightmove etc what the selling history of your target is, and how much quickly houses have gone for? Also different agents seem to have different strategies (also seen on Rightmove) e.g. one round here consistently prices houses low, gets big interest, bidding war ensues. I'm no negotiating expert but I have bought a fair few houses and I never saw the point of a silly low offer - it either gets ignored or else it just offends the seller.

I never saw the point of a silly low offer – it either gets ignored or else it just offends the seller

It depends entirely on the circumstances. Is the owner looking to move quickly (seen their dream house and don't want to miss out)? Are they desperate to sell (impending divorce/financial situation)? Do they not really care what they get for the house (repossession/equity release owned by a bank). There are loads of reasons why a low offer can (and does) work.

Some of the new build estates have shocking road access, back onto railway lines, squashed in and are marketed at premium prices. One buyer bought a whole row and converted it to student accommodation...nice for the neighbours...not.

I looked at house I liked last week, tired, nothing touched for 30 years, new roof needed, kitchen, bathroom, windows so 50k needed and a 1 year wait. Just sold after a week, premium price, hope they got a good price.

Q happy to wait, interest rates are on the rise, inflation at 5%, normality will resume. When everyone says prices can only keep rising is the time to sell.

There is one right on the new roundabout that gave a perfect view straight into the principal bedroom until the owner fitted big curtains to give themselves some privacy – so what’s the point of big windows if you have to close the curtains every time you are in the room?

Not to mention the heat loss - bigger windows in a dim room, fine, but floor to celing windows when there's no panoramic view of rolling hills seems a very strange design choice.

I've had two new builds. One was an average design but good build quality, and the other was a good design but poor quality rushed construction. The bigger problem was that they were all squished together, parking was a nightmare, the gardens were clay and turned to swamps in heavy rain, and the location sucked.

Current place had viewings today and several offers at the asking price but it is a unique house in a great area. I did wonder if it's slightly under-priced but three local agents all came up with pretty much the same figure. Now going to sealed bids. 😬