Offering on a property - negotiation etiquette?

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sambantam82 said:
Looking for people who have more experience on this than me. We are desperate to sell and we have finally received an offer that is about 10% below asking price. Is that fairly normal? Would you assume that the offer is made with the assumption that we will pull them up to meet us in the middle, which would be acceptable or do people tend to not budge on their offering price? What are your experiences? Of course I know it depends on the property and the individual, I'm just looking to gauge opinions and experiences really.

Also, is it normal and in the estate agents interests to make sure you don't sell too cheaply. I presume they have commission targets too. I'm not sure if we have any estate agents on here but is the priority a quick sale or a sale at a decent sellers price? We will probably take the offer but the estate agents persuading us not to.
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Say ok but you are taking the oven dishwasher fancy light fittings etc

We did this in a house we sold in boldon about 20 years ago

On market for £230k
Offered £227.5
Accepted but said we were taking aga style oven dishwasher and all fancy light fittings unless they wanted to buy them

We were going to leave them anyway
They said ok and paid £3500 for the lot so we ended up getting more for house
 


sambantam82 said:
Looking for people who have more experience on this than me. We are desperate to sell and we have finally received an offer that is about 10% below asking price. Is that fairly normal? Would you assume that the offer is made with the assumption that we will pull them up to meet us in the middle, which would be acceptable or do people tend to not budge on their offering price? What are your experiences? Of course I know it depends on the property and the individual, I'm just looking to gauge opinions and experiences really.

Also, is it normal and in the estate agents interests to make sure you don't sell too cheaply. I presume they have commission targets too. I'm not sure if we have any estate agents on here but is the priority a quick sale or a sale at a decent sellers price? We will probably take the offer but the estate agents persuading us not to.
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If you've had a few viewings I'd definitely ask for for. If they won't budge you could always go back in a few weeks and day you've changed your mind.
 
Shandy drinker said:
Say ok but you are taking the oven dishwasher fancy light fittings etc

We did this in a house we sold in boldon about 20 years ago

On market for £230k
Offered £227.5
Accepted but said we were taking aga style oven dishwasher and all fancy light fittings unless they wanted to buy them

We were going to leave them anyway
They said ok and paid £3500 for the lot so we ended up getting more for house
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£230 grand for a house in Bolden in 2000?! Where did you live, Boldingham Palace?
 
Qwerty said:
If you've had a few viewings I'd definitely ask for for. If they won't budge you could always go back in a few weeks and day you've changed your mind.
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Its been on since June. We've had about 30 viewings and not a single offer. Can't help feeling like this is now or never. We'd drop the price but surely by now if we haven't even had any other derisory offers we have to concede we're not in a particularly strong position. Problem is its a very small property in a very desirable area. We were too hung up on location. My main worry is that it won't end up at the price the buyer is offering. As soon as we accept then the reduction train will be in full motion and we'll be asked to drop again after the survey. Going to meet the buyer half way and tell her to take it or leave it.
 
sambantam82 said:
Its been on since June. We've had about 30 viewings and not a single offer. Can't help feeling like this is now or never. We'd drop the price but surely by now if we haven't even had any other derisory offers we have to concede we're not in a particularly strong position. Problem is its a very small property in a very desirable area. We were too hung up on location. My main worry is that it won't end up at the price the buyer is offering. As soon as we accept then the reduction train will be in full motion and we'll be asked to drop again after the survey. Going to meet the buyer half way and tell her to take it or leave it.
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It's a toughie, moved twice in the last 15 years, never paid or received the asking price. Have you put an offer on another place?
What have similar houses in your area went for?
 
sambantam82 said:
Its been on since June. We've had about 30 viewings and not a single offer. Can't help feeling like this is now or never. We'd drop the price but surely by now if we haven't even had any other derisory offers we have to concede we're not in a particularly strong position. Problem is its a very small property in a very desirable area. We were too hung up on location. My main worry is that it won't end up at the price the buyer is offering. As soon as we accept then the reduction train will be in full motion and we'll be asked to drop again after the survey. Going to meet the buyer half way and tell her to take it or leave it.
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How much is 5% and how much per month is it costing you to keep the property? Are they a cash buyer?
My dad just offered 80% of asking price as a cash buyer and got accepted at 82%. The NE is a buyers market at the minute - particularly for cash buyers.
 
10% is usually a first offer from someone with real interest.

They would probably pay 5% less than your asking price.

Drop your price by 2.5% then accept anything better between 2.5% and 5%.

Don't however move too quickly or slowly.

Always allow at least a couple of hours between the new negotiated price.

Good Luck with it.
 
sambantam82 said:
Its been on since June. We've had about 30 viewings and not a single offer. Can't help feeling like this is now or never. We'd drop the price but surely by now if we haven't even had any other derisory offers we have to concede we're not in a particularly strong position. Problem is its a very small property in a very desirable area. We were too hung up on location. My main worry is that it won't end up at the price the buyer is offering. As soon as we accept then the reduction train will be in full motion and we'll be asked to drop again after the survey. Going to meet the buyer half way and tell her to take it or leave it.
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Lots of views and no offers would as you say suggest it's not particularly saleable at the price . I'd be tempted to get what I can while whittling that 10% down to 5
 
Have a look on zoopla or other estate agents sites to see what houses are selling for in your area.
30 viewings and only 1 offer says to me somethings amiss , no offence but
are you or your estate agent overpricing it ?

My thought on estate agents are that they dangle the carrot of we can get "X" for your property so you think great thats 10k more than the other estate agents have said so you go with them .
After 30 + viewings the estate agent says you may have to drop your price by 10k and you will get a sale , you agree ,house sells ,
(for the price every other estate agent quoted you !)
But they got your custom by saying "we'll get you more "then just waiting for you to get cheesed off .
Plus if you have got your next place for lower than what they wanted then it's sort of swings and roundabouts senario ,you got your next house for less and the buyers for your house got yours for less , if that makes sense ? .
 
I had my house on for offers above £175K. I was offered £165K! Fucked them off. About a month later they came back with an offer of £175K. I would have taken £172.5K. It had been on the market more or less a year. I did get other offers but they needed to sell first, a waste of time.

I'm buying a flat to rent out of the equity. It was on for offers above £80K. It had been on the market for over a year. I offered £74K as a cash buyer with no chain as I was putting the offer in a month after accepting the offer on mine (I don't need to exchange at the same time). We agreed on £76K.

Then my stupid buyer changed solicitors over a month after I accepted his offer (in mid October). I'm still not moved and have no date yet. Both properties are up in the air. Sick as a chip now.
 
Don't expect any help from the agents either. If they get 90% of their fee from taking this offer, they'll only have a couple of hundred quid to gain from pushing the price up. It's in their interest to get lots of quick sales rather than best price on every transaction.

I ended up selling my house in London directly, the agents were so bastard useless.
 
When I’ve bought I’ve put in 10% below asking each time. Both times they came back at 5% under. Settled at 7 and 6.

If you come back with anything under the asking price then they know you haven’t got anyone willing to pay the asking price. However if you’re desperate to sell then just do whatever is best for you.
 
Any have any experience of Japanese Knotweed? An extra f***ing complication 🙄
 
I always assume the asking price is high and would never expect to pay that so my first offer would be about 10% below and I’d hope to pay about 5% below. You should definitely negotiate to try and get more. The negotiation for the place were in now felt protracted but it actually only took a few days thinking back.
 

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