I have had one or two offers, both rejected, which I (and the agent) considered to be derisory. Another very similar property nearby had an acceptable offer put in, which was accepted it, but then the would-be buyer turned up with a builder friend and reduced their offer!
What's considered cheeky and what acceptable? For instance, if I had seen a property advertised for, say, £200k and it appeared to be about the right price as far as I could tell, right location, desirable property etc etc, then I might make an offer of £195, i.e. five grand below the asking price, but anything less than that andI'd feel I was cheating them. I know everyone says that a property is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it, however, but I do still have what passes for a conscience!
If they offered it the first time, then they could afford to pay it. Unless you are desperate to sell in a short time-scale, play hard-ball. What they offer is less relevant than what you are prepared to accept, given your circumstances.
Also, think about how much you're going to want to deal with this person when you're all in a chain and time is getting tight before it falls through - they sound like exactly the sort who would threaten to pull out unless you reduce your price.
Myself, I would happily offer up to 10% less than the sale price. If I thought that the building was so over- valued that even 10% less than the asking price was too much, I'd begin to wonder whether the seller was just hoping to get lucky. I know of a person who offered 85k on a 110k house and had the offer accepted, so I guess some people just put houses on the market for way more than they're worth!
I fear you are way too sensitive to be in the housing market. There's no such thing as a "cheeky" offer, only one that will be rejected out of hand (as you have). I don't see where conscience comes in if you are the purchaser - you make an offer and the seller can reject or accept. "Cheeky" as you use it, in my book, is where (as happened to me), you offer the asking price, the buyers accept (verbally) and some time later you find someone has made a higher offer and you aren't buying the house after all. I would regard the seller's behaviour in this instance a matter of conscience (I was the mug who made the first offer).
I made the offer on my present house "subject to survey". Having discovered from the survey that the roof was about to come off, I estimated what it would cost and dropped my offer by that amount, sending them a copy of the survey. They could have told me to sod off and I would have accepted that decision. As it was they accepted my new offer.
I'm afraid it's not "everone says a property is worth what someone's willing to pay for it", it's actually the case, and that is true whether or not you believe the market to be completely free or not (whether it's a Good Thing is a different matter).
A large difference between the offer and asking price can be justified by costed building works that the vendor was not aware of. A property I know of is on the market at 180k but is getting offers 20k less than that due to justifiable building works that the vendor has ignored in the 4 years they have lived there in favour of tarting up the inside..
I'd say that it depends on the house in question. On on an estate, surrounded by similar properties, it will be easy to value and so is unlikely to be sold for less than say 90% of the asking price.
Whereas a really individual property may get valuations that vary by as much as 50% (this happened to a friend of mine recently) and in this case it would not be cheeky to put in an offer WAY below the asking price.
In my experience if people get wildly differing valuations they try it at the highest one for a few weeks and drop the price until it sells
I have just sold my estate agency business after 17 years as a partner and/or sole proprietor, so am now free to tell it like it is - not that I didn't before
firstly, it may not necessarily be true that the agent considers the offers derisory. Many agents will tend to agree with their perception of the clients feelings, usually for fear of upsetting and losing them to another agent.
It is also typical for buyers, who have offers accepted, to renegotiate after various surveys and inspections.
In order to put offers into perspective - I recall when I started in the business, and many of our houses were asking around £20K to £30K, offers of £2,000 to £5,000 less than the asking price were not considered derisory, (possibly not acceptable, but not necessarily too cheeky). If you pro rata that to today's prices, offers of £20k to £30k less than asking should not be too cheeky either.
The fact is that, as far as a buyer is concerned, the worst thing that a vendor can say to an offer at any level is "No" - so nothing is lost.
If your property has been reasonably well marketed, for a reasonable period, then the offers which you have received probably represent its' value at the moment. If time is on your side, you can always wait for better offers - either new people looking may feel it is worth more, people already looking may realise that is worth more, or the market rises to make it worth more, (the latter is generally the case in the current market).
Do not forget that, if you wait for a higher price in a rising market, the properties you may want to buy will also have risen correspondingly.
Not sure if the above helps, just thoughts off the top of my head.
It might be worth suggesting you can consider their offer in a few weeks time as there are other interested parties, and see what they say. Or suggest that you meet them part way for an immediate sale.
If there is not much else that meets their requirements then this is more likely to work. It might even be worth getting their number and following up anyway, even if they don't get back to you, to see if they are still looking or have bought something else, if so what and how much.
Also, be naturally positive and freindly to them at all times, don't burn your bridges.
You may have seen the same thing I saw, I think, on the BBC web site somewhere. This stated that the average price achieved had fallen in May from 96.4% to 96.2% of the asking price.
Just shows we need to change to the Scottish system, not this half-cocked thing with buyer's packs. If somebody wants to make an offer for your house that should be that, no renegotiations or anything way down the line when you be in a situation where you may be forced to accept.
No freeking way. All this bullshit about "offers over". Don't you watch "Relocation..."? They were in Edinburgh last week and the "over" bit meant 50% over. Then a 4 week wait to see of your offer's been successful, then starting all over again if it hasn't.
All we need is written offers and acceptances to be legally binding. Problem solved.
But I agree that all this s**te about buyers packs is pointless cack.
Most properties sold there just aren't like that. They were buying in a (the?) hot spot and the vendors were playing the system for all it was worth. Normally there is a closing date for bids which is binding on the vendor and the typically property gets one or two offers.
On a related note, I do find it strange that buying a house is one of the largest purchases most people make, but how many people are trained negotiators or seek professional advice when putting in an offer?
You'll presumably have plenty of time for catching up on all those DIY jobs you've been too busy to do for the last 17 years then! Crazy paving, decking, nice avacado bathroom suite, remove those nasty period features... ;-)
Look forward to reading more insights from the marketplace.
What's your take on the question as to whether to let the agent to show potential buyers round your house with/without the vendor's presence, or whether to show them round yourself?
There is an interesting situation developing in a street a few hundred yards away from our house. At the end of the road this house went up for sale three weeks or so ago:
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(For those who don't want to look, it's a 3-bed mid terrace, early C20 up for £99,950)
At the other end of the same street, on the other side of the road (about 100 yards away) another similar house is up for sale. It doesn't have the downstairs bay, but is otherwise very similar externally. I can't give a direct web reference because the agent's website relies on Javascript for tracking. If you want to look, look for houses under £150,000 in Abertridwr on
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house went on the market last week for £123,950 (IIRC - the board is still up but I couldn't find it on the website just now).
Why the difference?
About 50 yards from this latter house, in a different but adjoining street, there is a new-build 4-bed also just on the market (being sold by the owner). It has gone up for £210,000. This one's also up with Brinsons (link as above). It is one of two identical houses built by (we assume) the same person, and is otherwise surrounded by terraces.
I'd say that a "cheeky" offer would be one which was substantially below the price that the potential buyer truly believed the property was worth.
I don't know that it could be considered morally wrong, though, the vendor can always reject the offer.
If it happens time and again, then as a vendor you'd have to seriously reconsider the asking price in relation to local market conditions or even consider removing the house from the market until conditions were more favourable to a sale. Always assuming that you have made the correct choice of agent of course, and that they are marketing the property effectively and in accordance with your contract with them. (for instance, Hamptons International or Knight Frank might not be the most effective people for bringing buyers to the vendor of a 1 bed low rise ex-LA flat in a depressed area of town, and likewise the other way round).
I don't agree with the Scottish system. If I buy anything other than at auction, I want to know what the price is up front. The Scottish "offers over" malarkey is ridiculous. The other night, Location Location showed it yet again: Houses in Scotland nominally at around £400k going for £600k through the sealed bids system. How can anyone plan proper financing with this kind of scam? For it is indeed a scam, in my view, if the price obtained bears absolutely no relation to the asking price. At least at auction one hears all the other bids!
What should happen, however, is that the English system be retained (at least in England and Wales) but that buyers pay 10% of the agreed price into escrow when their offer has been accepted by the vendor. This way, the vendor could obtain an offer, decide whether to accept it, and then, if accepted, both sides should honour the agreement. Having to stump up 10% would sort out a lot of the time-wasters.
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