Those who've thrown in low-ball offers

Gurgle

Report back please.

Theres been any number of threads on here along the lines of 'house has been advertised for €400k, reduced to €350k - should I offer €200k', but nobody ever comes back to report on their low offers.

Are these 50-70% offers ever accepted?

EyesOnly

I havent posted on here, but i went to see a €200k house offered €110k EA wouldnt even try to negotiate, after afew weeks put in another of €130k, Still havent heard anything from them (that was a week ago).

irlrobins

I've wondered about this myself. Lots of "experts" here telling people to offer 50% less than asking etc without asking about the type of property, location, etc. Be interesting to see how many of these low low offers are accepted or how many aren't even considered.

kmick

From talking to people who are selling property its all about location. The consensus is that correctly priced property in good locations are selling. His example a 3 bed semi, refurbished, 1100 square feet in harolds cross went on the market at 495. Had an offer of 475 next day and 485 the day after. Sold at 485.

He said anyone who does not price the property correctly will immediately get lowball offers but if it is priced correctly they will not get these. Also he said that people pricing incorrectly i.e. too high, are so far up the own bottoms it is impossible to convince them to reduce the price to a realistic level. Therefore lowball offers dont work in that scenario.

EKRIUQ

EyesOnly wrote: »

I havent posted on here, but i went to see a €200k house offered €110k EA wouldnt even try to negotiate, after afew weeks put in another of €130k, Still havent heard anything from them (that was a week ago).

Before anyone comes on here and tells you that the same house will be worth €50,000 next year, maybe the person selling the house doesn't want to sell at €130,000, and with those offers the seller of the house might just think your messing and usually if the Estate Agent thought their was any possibility of a sale they would be trying to negotiate with you. Fair enough if that's all you think the house is worth there's plenty more houses out there.


There definitely are substantial discounts on houses out there but a lot depends on the circumstances of the seller

Freddie59

EyesOnly wrote: »

I havent posted on here, but i went to see a €200k house offered €110k EA wouldnt even try to negotiate, after afew weeks put in another of €130k, Still havent heard anything from them (that was a week ago).

Same here. If a house is, say, €230k, we'd usually throw in €170k - just to see. The house we're renting was on at €265k when we moved into it last November. Offered €200k. No joy. Came back and would settle for €230k. We said no thanks.

Similar houses in the estate now on at €215k, and slightly larger houses in adjacent estates (which were coming on around €280k) now coming on at region on €230k. So the slide is happening.

I would say these will go sub-€200k by November 09 (and possibly €20k-€30k lower than that).

heebusjeebus

I threw in what I thought was a low ball offer of 20% below asking.
EA said it probably would not be accepted but went to client with it.
At the end of the business day the EA came back and said no.

I waited 2 weeks, offered 15% below asking and 2 days later that got accepted.

I did have mortgage approved and was a FTB so that helped my case as the sellers were looking for a quick sale.

EyesOnly

The house i was looking at is in a cul de sac and theirs 9 for sale the other 20+ houses in it are all rented, only 1 house is owner occupied. the EA told me you'll get no house for that sort of money around here (lol). only 500 yards down the road their were selling 3bed new build for 137k....
ah forgot to say other house is a 4bed semi......
anyway still looking for one and finally got provisional approval for a mortgage

stepbar

There's a lot of houses out there that have been on the market for more than a year with no immediate sign of them shifting anytime soon. As said above the circumstances of the buyer is key to making a deal or vice versa.

Gurgle

irlrobins wrote: »

I've wondered about this myself. Lots of "experts" here telling people to offer 50% less than asking etc without asking about the type of property, location, etc. Be interesting to see how many of these low low offers are accepted or how many aren't even considered.

From the deluge of replies here, its sounding a lot like.... none.

lolliepops

I put in an offer of 350k on an apartment with an asking of 450k and it was accepted the next day.

Again a FTB and they were looking for a quick sale!

Fozzie Bear

My girlfriend's neighbours house has been on the market for the past 12 months. Asking price is 460,000 he was offered 310,000 before Christmas and accepted it. The buyer ended up pulling out as she had an even lower bid accepted on a house 5 minutes away.

Blackjack

Went to see a property currently on at 320k the other day.

The EA mentioned there was an offer in for 285, the offering couple were waiting for Mortgage approval (and by the sounds of it that was a done deal unless someone was willing to offer more or no Mortgage approval came).

The Same property had been on at 420 with a different estate agent up until recently. It's in need of some work, but you could easily live in it and do that gradually. Most of it was cosmetic, a lick of paint here and there, but the floors, walls, electrics etc were all in good nick from what I could see.

I know a guy who paid 495 for a similar house (but in better nick) on the same road in late 2007.

Had a chat with the EA - was a nice enought chap, was saying that he's hoping things level out whenever, but just that they level out, and he didn't really seem keen for things to stay crazy, but just wanted to see some level of activity come back. I'd say most EA's are thinking the same.

Told me of a story of a time he was selling a place (prior to the Stamp changes) that was on at 280 or 300 (can't remember exactly)- there was a queue of people outside and the girl at the front of the queue offered 317500 as soon as he opened the door. He told her "you haven't even seen it yet", and to that she stepped inside the door, took one look at the hallway and said "yeah, I'll take it for 317500".
Crazy times that should never return.

dollydrops

Myself and my partner are ftb and are looking to buy our first home.

We have been looking at one housing estate in the Dublin commuter belt since December and we have decided that is were we would like to live. We have been driving around the estate at the weekends and in the evenings and we have a far idea of how many houses are left. We reckoned that the builder hadn't sold a house since Christmas.

We eventually reached the 2/3's point in our savings so we decided to put in an offer of €250,000 for a 4 bed semi. They are advertised at €390,000 and the prices have not dropped since November. The builder came back to us and said that he couldn't even consider doing business at that price and that he was a bit insulted that we thought the houses where worth so little. We asked what offer could he consider and he said nothing less than €360,000.
Well he can go sing for it!

pupaxxx

We’ve (both FTB) put two bids on two houses @250K in west of Dublin. Both of them are on @310K with different EAs. One of the EAs said that they price the properties to reflect the market and that the offer of 250K would never be accepted. The second one was more reasonable and said that the vendor could not accept the offer as it was too low. There are about 5 houses in this area for sale and all of them are priced @310, however one of them dropped the price to 290K last Friday. Wonder if other vendors will follow the suit and when….

ntlbell

pupaxxx wrote: »

We’ve (both FTB) put two bids on two houses @250K in west of Dublin. Both of them are on @310K with different EAs. One of the EAs said that they price the properties to reflect the market and that the offer of 250K would never be accepted. The second one was more reasonable and said that the vendor could not accept the offer as it was too low. There are about 5 houses in this area for sale and all of them are priced @310, however one of them dropped the price to 290K last Friday. Wonder if other vendors will follow the suit and when….

advise the EA you will be passing the offers on to the owners via a written letter and will bypass the EA if he does not pass the offer on.

Jawgap

We recntly placed an offer on a house that started off on sale at 615 - then it was rented out for 6 months and came back on at 500.

We had a good look at it considered our options and decided to put an offer in.

Meanwhile the EA thought we were dithering and comes back with a revised asking price of 480. We said we'd consider and left it a few days before putting in a bid of 370!!

EA went nuts and dismissed us summarily.

A week later she was back on the phone saying the vendor's bottom line was 440 (40 k drop in a week!!!). We said we weren't budging off 370 and she went nuts again!!

Two weeks after that (last friday) and told us the vendor's final, absolute bottom line was 425 and she advised us to take it!!!

We declined - and she went nuts again!

We'll see what happens next.......

ntlbell

Jawgap wrote: »

We recntly placed an offer on a house that started off on sale at 615 - then it was rented out for 6 months and came back on at 500.

We had a good look at it considered our options and decided to put an offer in.

Meanwhile the EA thought we were dithering and comes back with a revised asking price of 480. We said we'd consider and left it a few days before putting in a bid of 370!!

EA went nuts and dismissed us summarily.

A week later she was back on the phone saying the vendor's bottom line was 440 (40 k drop in a week!!!). We said we weren't budging off 370 and she went nuts again!!

Two weeks after that (last friday) and told us the vendor's final, absolute bottom line was 425 and she advised us to take it!!!

We declined - and she went nuts again!

We'll see what happens next.......

what do you mean they went nuts?

what did they say exactly?

pupaxxx

I was actually very tempted to do this after the phone call, Ntlbell. But now, I’m not that bothered. I am sure they will come back to us as we went to view a different house with different EA in that area. That house was up for sale @315K since Jan 09 and he said there were no offers on the property. All of the EAs said that vendors are realistic .......................and would be prepared to drop the price by 5-10K .

Jawgap

ntlbell wrote: »

what do you mean they went nuts?

what did they say exactly?

She provided a lengthy lecture on the property market, then followed that up with how we were wasting her time by putting in such a low offer and asking us if we were "just out to mess people around."

I told her we weren't, that we had approval and pointed her in the direction of IAVI's own research on the market (sourced from a relative who is an EA).

To be honest, she struck me as someone who did well during the boom when monkeys could've sold houses, but who is struggling now to be an effective sales person.

Tones69

Jawgap wrote: »

We recntly placed an offer on a house that started off on sale at 615 - then it was rented out for 6 months and came back on at 500.

We had a good look at it considered our options and decided to put an offer in.

Meanwhile the EA thought we were dithering and comes back with a revised asking price of 480. We said we'd consider and left it a few days before putting in a bid of 370!!

EA went nuts and dismissed us summarily.

A week later she was back on the phone saying the vendor's bottom line was 440 (40 k drop in a week!!!). We said we weren't budging off 370 and she went nuts again!!

Two weeks after that (last friday) and told us the vendor's final, absolute bottom line was 425 and she advised us to take it!!!

We declined - and she went nuts again!

We'll see what happens next.......

So this house originally started at 615k, eventually they came down to 425k and you're still saying no? Hmmmmmmmm

ntlbell

Jawgap wrote: »

She provided a lengthy lecture on the property market, then followed that up with how we were wasting her time by putting in such a low offer and asking us if we were "just out to mess people around."

I told her we weren't, that we had approval and pointed her in the direction of IAVI's own research on the market (sourced from a relative who is an EA).

To be honest, she struck me as someone who did well during the boom when monkeys could've sold houses, but who is struggling now to be an effective sales person.

They really get up my nose.

You should have charged her for trying to waste YOUR time with her ridiculously overprice evaluations.

They're still not learning 3 years into the bust and they haven't done any training in basic selling technique's

ntlbell

Tones69 wrote: »

So this house originally started at 615k, eventually they came down to 425k and you're still saying no? Hmmmmmmmm

what difference does it matter what it started at?

the starting prices were overvalued based on Disney land evaluations..

today's price vs starting price != value

Jawgap

Tones69 wrote: »

So this house originally started at 615k, eventually they came down to 425k and you're still saying no? Hmmmmmmmm

It's not where the markets been or where it's at that's important, it's where it will be.

We've a large deposit, approval, we're in absolutely no rush and we're happy to wait while the "correction" continues. The house is vacant as the vendor has been moved with their job

Today we could probably get it for 420 and save 5 grand on the price, but we're paying 1000 per month in rent - if we wait 6 months and even get it for 410 we might have spent 6 grand in rent, but we'll have saved 15 on the price, never mind what we'll save in stamp duty and mortgage payments.

If the market is going to correct to the extent that economists predict (to the tune of about 30%) that means the eventual price should be much closer to 405k.

We'll wait.......

silverside

Hmm if you follow David McWilliam's line of reasoning (which I agree with) 1000 rent would give a price of well under 200k !

I wouldnt be in any rush either..

Jawgap

ntlbell wrote: »

They really get up my nose.

You should have charged her for trying to waste YOUR time with her ridiculously overprice evaluations.

They're still not learning 3 years into the bust and they haven't done any training in basic selling technique's

She made two fairly fatal errors:-

(1) She talked almost exclusively to me and ignored my gf completely - so that got right up her nose!!!

(2) She was was brazenly trying to flirt with me - not that I objected to that, but with my girl friend there I'm hardly likely to reciprocate!!!

ntlbell

silverside wrote: »

Hmm if you follow David McWilliam's line of reasoning (which I agree with) 1000 rent would give a price of well under 200k !

I wouldnt be in any rush either..

that's based on renting the same your going to buy which is probably not the case for the OP

silverside

doh - blonde moment

still, i'd guess the rental on what you're thinking of buying wouldnt be more than 1500...

murphym7

My buddy put an offer in of 275,000 on a 330,000 house about 4 weeks ago, was laughed at.
A week later put in offer for a house around the corner of the same estate 270,000 on 330,000 and was accepted within a few days. His limit was 300, thats a handy 60k he has saved there.

Eglinton

Jawgap wrote: »

We recntly placed an offer on a house that started off on sale at 615 - then it was rented out for 6 months and came back on at 500.

Hi there. What size of house and where abouts is it (roughly)? Congrats on holding out and negotiating really well. Even if you don't buy it in the end, you're doing a great service to the buyers of this country in bringing EAs to their senses (if they indeed have any)

Will your budget of 370 be a stretch for you? If it is, maybe you could offer even less. If not, it sounds like you're in a good position. I wouldn't even pay them 405 if it came to that. Stick to your guns.

pisslips

Man, it really pisses me off when people get emotional about something that is a completely impersonal simple concept.

I'm equally annoyed at EA's who would get angry because of a low offer as I am at people who say someone is stuck up their own ass because they won't drop their asking price.

The have their idea of market value and you have yours, just because they don't meet, are you going to cry about it?That goes for both sides. It doesn't waste much time to reject an offer!
I don't know why people get upset.

dollydrops

The builder that refused our offer actually said that he was insulted that we thought the houses he built where worth so little. Obv other people do as well though if he hasn't sold one since Christmas. He confirmed this to us as well.

jmayo

pisslips wrote: »

Man, it really pisses me off when people get emotional about something that is a completely impersonal simple concept.

I'm equally annoyed at EA's who would get angry because of a low offer as I am at people who say someone is stuck up their own ass because they won't drop their asking price.

The have their idea of market value and you have yours, just because they don't meet, are you going to cry about it?That goes for both sides. It doesn't waste much time to reject an offer!
I don't know why people get upset.

Some sellers have an idea of market value based on either what they paid a few years back or what some guy down the raod got in 2007.
I think buyers get peeved with them because they feel the sellers need to get realistic, just because their property was worth Y 3 years ago doesn't mean their prorpety is still worth Y or only a few percent down.

It is their own tough luck if they continue to live in cloud cuckoo land.
It is a buyers market and prices are decreasing all the time.
The rate of decrease can vary but it is still happening.
Also some sellers can afford to hang on, but the desperate ones have to drop the prices to get a sale.

Someone mentioned that their EA wasn't good at sellingl.
Funny it is not alone EAs that are suffering with that, as recent survey done by business radio show found out in survey of Dundrum town centre.
A lot of sales staff are simply not upto selling in tougher times.

Jawgap

Eglinton wrote: »

Hi there. What size of house and where abouts is it (roughly)? Congrats on holding out and negotiating really well. Even if you don't buy it in the end, you're doing a great service to the buyers of this country in bringing EAs to their senses (if they indeed have any)

Will your budget of 370 be a stretch for you? If it is, maybe you could offer even less. If not, it sounds like you're in a good position. I wouldn't even pay them 405 if it came to that. Stick to your guns.

You won't mind if I'm light on specifics but it's a really nice house and whatever about losing it because we can't agree a price with the vendor, I wouldn't like to see it snatched from us by someone outbidding us!

It's on the coast of North Dublin beyond Donabate.

The asking price is well within our budget, but I don't see why we should pay more than is absolutely necessary. For the last 10 to 15 years the market has been very unkind to purchasers, now it's turned I'm not inclined to extend any quarter or sympathy to EAs or venors who 3 years ago would've dropped your offer at the sign of anything that suggested they'd get a cent more!

Anyway, the main problem the EA has (apart from her selling skills deficit) is that we are both from the area so we have a fair idea of exactly what it's like and what a house around there is worth.

Shambo

Initial asking price of the house we are after was €330,000 (Sept 2007)
Builder offerd it to us for 245,000 in Feb
Put in a bid of €190,000 month ago
He told me I was insulting him (Do they go to a special school where thet all learn the lines??) and not to call him back.

There is a big river in Egypt that sums up his attitude.

He has my number

spockety

Tones69 wrote: »

So this house originally started at 615k, eventually they came down to 425k and you're still saying no? Hmmmmmmmm

If I put a can of coke for sale on eBay asking 10 Euro, and then drop the price to 5 euro a few weeks later in an attempt to shift it, do you think people would be mad to turn down the chance of buying that can of coke for 5 euro?

Coke is, after all, quite a delicious drink.

ntlbell

spockety wrote: »

If I put a can of coke for sale on eBay asking 10 Euro, and then drop the price to 5 euro a few weeks later in an attempt to shift it, do you think people would be mad to turn down the chance of buying that can of coke for 5 euro?

Coke is, after all, quite a delicious drink.

I'll put a "cheeky" bid in of 4.65 for the can.

spockety

ntlbell wrote: »

I'll put a "cheeky" bid in of 4.65 for the can.

I'm insulted. This ain't no Pepsi or Dr Pepper. This is Coke.

blah

spockety wrote: »

I'm insulted. This ain't no Pepsi or Dr Pepper. This is Coke.

Try dropping it to €4.75 "for one week only" then raise it to €5.50.
That should bring in the buyers.

ntlbell

blah wrote: »

Try dropping it to €4.75 "for one week only" then raise it to €5.50.
That should bring in the buyers.

or a bit of the aul raise it 10 cent every week someone doesn't buy it.

they'll go crazy for it..

blah

ntlbell wrote: »

or a bit of the aul raise it 10 cent every week someone doesn't buy it.

they'll go crazy for it..

Oh sweet jesus, looks like the market hit the bottom and I missed it!

Oh well, better luck next time.

Heisenberg1

Tones69 wrote: »

So this house originally started at 615k, eventually they came down to 425k and you're still saying no? Hmmmmmmmm

mmmmmmmmmm you must be an EA there quite within there rights to offer
what they think is a good offer give them six months and they will take 350k!!!!

Blackjack

blah wrote: »

Oh sweet jesus, looks like the market hit the bottom and I missed it!

Oh well, better luck next time.

Can't go down anymore - there will never be a better time to buy Coke.

Electric Sheep

spockety wrote: »

If I put a can of coke for sale on eBay asking 10 Euro, and then drop the price to 5 euro a few weeks later in an attempt to shift it, do you think people would be mad to turn down the chance of buying that can of coke for 5 euro?

Coke is, after all, quite a delicious drink.

That would NEVER happen. Coke prices only ever go up, not down.

oceanclub

Electric Sheep wrote: »

That would NEVER happen. Coke prices only ever go up, not down.

Just don't ask about Coke prices on askaboutmoney.com or you'll get banned.

P.

confuzed

My hardluck I missed Phase I. Any chance of launching Phase II please . I promise I will be in que at 4 a.m. this time.