Estate agent speak ...
 

As I've mentioned elsewhere we moved into a rental flat in Newcastle at the start of September in order to have a base from which to search for somewhere to buy.

We now want to make an offer on a property we've viewed twice.

Now the asking price is phrased as "offers over £xxx,000".

You see "offers in the range of", "guide price" and just plain £s.

Do these terms actually mean something or are they randomly selected by the agent?

Advice please.

Re: Estate agent speak ...
 

Offers over means just that, the rest all mean the same thing i.e. 'this is the price we would like but we're open to negotiations'. Hopefully you can negotiate a good price, depending on the market in Newcastle. I've no idea what it's like there but it will depend on that, plus the vendors situation as to what you can get off the price - we got £100k off our house due to various things, but that's pretty unusual! :lol:

I've moved your thread as you posted in the Back Home forum btw.

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But how long do you think it would take before someone seeking offers over e.g. £x60,000 would countenance accepting £x57500?

I know... piece of string question. Sorry.

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If it's offers over, then they'd be very unlikely to take anything less - usually that figure is set for whatever reason (i.e. they need that as a minimum to buy the house they're moving to) and you can't go under it, but you never know. Always worth a try!

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I think in this case the vendor is simply trying to recoup the price he paid for it in 2013. But thanks for the translation of the phrase(s). I'll probably offer £2500 over the asking. Which would be very good value IMHO.

Wish me luck. :thumbup:

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Given that contracts for sale of real property have to be in writing, anything the estate agent says is potentially meaningless, though given their duty to get the best price for the seller, anything they can say (that is accurate and truthful) that will generate higher offers is to be expected.

I think, looking at the thread so far, you have reached the right conclusion, but you should only bid what you think the property is worth, and if that is less than the "minimum" bid then so be it, bid lower or don't bid at all.

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I know. It's a bit ironic that I've bought or sold places in four different countries, but never before in the UK.

WRT the property in question, I actually think it's worth more than the asking price to us, but one has to play the game, what?

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You can always pay another agent to value the property.Then base your offer on a combination of the selling agents price - offers over £xxxxx - and your own valuation of £yyyyy. Go to UK's number one property website for properties for sale and to rent or Zoopla > Search Property to Buy, Rent, House Prices, Estate Agents and both these sites have a list of prices fetched recently. Alternatively you can go to the Land Registry site and find out the actual prices paid.

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This type of marketing is becoming a bit more common in England maybe because the housing to buy market is a bit "!all over the show" at the moment in some areas. In your case and you wanted to make an offer on the home It can all depend on a few things on what to actually offer, ie has the home been on the market long, are the vendors in a hurry to sell, this time of year is not a good time to sell so offers might be excepted. You can put an offer in of what you are comfortable with and what you think is a fair price for the property, really the Estate Agents should let the vendor know of any offers made but sometimes the Agents are just trying to also get more money anyway which to be fair is their job. Good luck I would put an offer in and see what happens.

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offers over is just a way to eek out jokers putting stupid offers in. Its the minimum amount the seller has told the agent they are willing to sell for, basically the agent has to present all offers over the stated amount even if its one pound over.
Also just a bit of advice, never tell the agent what your top offer is, if its anything like in NZ the agent has the responsibility to the seller to pass on any information they have.

Re: Estate agent speak ...
 

All good advice thanks. As I mentioned we've moved around a fair bit but never owned in the UK (I left when I was 27 :huh:). We've decided to put in the offer I mentioned earlier (a bit over threshold) on Monday, but it now occurs to me that I don't actually know how to do that in the UK. Edit: oops, in England.

Do I just tell the agent what our offer is over the phone/by email/ on some standard template or what?

Sorry to be a pest.

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This bit is true the world over I'm afraid. (Except, surprisingly, in France).

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You just phone the estate agent and say this is what we would like to offer, nothing more although you can outline why yours is going to be a better offer than someone else's ie no chain, cash buyer etc if that's the case ;). You should also expect the barter situation unless they're desperate to move. The agent will phone you back with their answer.

Anecdotally.. We considered a house once with offers over.. It totally put us off putting an offer in at all - slightly above what we wanted to pay, only to find out subsequently than it went for a lot less than their offers over price. Pulaski is right.. The property is only worth how much *you* are prepared to pay for it.

How long has it been on for?

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Put in an offer based on what your valuation less than their suggested price if you think that is the case. In most cases like this the seller knows exactly what the property is worth likewise the estate agents as they are just hoping someone will pay over the odds. Given the amount of property of sale in Newcastle if the estate agents can not value it find another one.

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Thanks V. Of course, no chain, cash buyer as you know. It's a funny one because the vendor is a rather well known choir master who has a standing offer to move to a job in Berlin.

He listed it with one agent in July, then got pissed off with them (I could explain why because we've had experience and they're useless). It was put on in September with the new agent.

If we get it, I'll post a pic of the stunning view.

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I've done the research on the property's transactions and on comparables in the area. His "over" price is perfectly reasonable and is simply what he paid for it himself 2 years ago,

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Sounds like you're in a great position then - he needs to move to avoid the hassle that comes along with an unsold property and you are anyone's dream buyers. It's been on the market a reasonable amount of time too which suggests that it's over priced unless he has had an offer which fell through..

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But did he overpay two years ago?? Just musing. I'm not someone who thinks it's good karma to be too rude with an offer if you think it's a fair valuation..

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I don't think so. Property values in Newcastle have been fairly flat over the last few years. Luckily for us.

If you lifted this property from it's location along the river Tyne and dropped it to an equivalent place on the Thames, you'd likely have to add a zero to the price.

Re: Estate agent speak ...
 

Make your offer verbally. Personally, I'd ignore the estate agent verbiage and start by offering the asking price rather than 'over', or I'd even offer a bit less. This is a negotiating process and you can always offer more if you are rejected. Be prepared to justify your low offer. In your case the fact that house prices in Newcastle are static begs the question why the vendor should expect to make any profit at all on his sale.

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We'll see. The place is well within our budget and I imagine he'd prefer not to make a loss (counting transaction fees).

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Fair enough, and my approach always reduces my OH to a gibbering wreck, clutching his head and moaning "We're going to lose the house! We're going to lose the house!"

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That's always the problem if you have your heart set on that one property, as opposed to just looking for "a" property. Those who get the best deals make their offer and are prepared to walk away - it is easy to forget that the seller goes through the same "we're going to lose the deal" anxiety. :lol:

Re: Estate agent speak ...
 

We moved into our new house in August.

The house was for sale early in the year and sold, but subsequently fell through. The house went back on the market on an 'offers over' basis but we offered the asking price. They accepted as they had already found a house they loved so were in a hurry and we were first time buyers. There was a small chain which also works well.
I guess sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't depending on the vendors and buyers situation. I love my house :thumbsup:

Good luck Novo hope you get it!

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Thank you.

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Poor man. ;) Luckily, both of us tend to be more sanguine about houses. My OH always rips them apart and starts again from scratch anyway.

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Ditto everybody else's comments. I would try offering the asking price (or slightly less?) and then move up from that until you get a mutually agreeable price.

The offer is verbal first, usually over the phone or in person to the estate agent. Sometimes they will ask you to fill in/sign a form after the offer is accepted.

As other people have said even 'offers over' doesn't necessarily exempt 'offers under' as the estate agent is bound to tell the seller of all offers.

As the house has been on for a while and it is Christmas (when everyone else is tied up with 'Christmassy things' the market goes quiet so strike now before the New Year and people start to think again of new beginnings and the market gets more active.

If the house is exactly what you want then ultimately you need to take that into account.

Re: Estate agent speak ...
 

Update: Over the weekend we decided to hold off on an offer until we'd viewed one more place which looked good. We visited this morning and didn't like it. ;)

So the offer went in at lunchtime and we'll hear back tomorrow. :fingerscrossed:

Re: Estate agent speak ...
 

Good Luck!

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Whatever thank you is in Welsh. :sneaky:

Re: Estate agent speak ...
 

.... or possibly the day after.

Offer accepted with no dickering about. :ohmy:

Thanks for all your help.

Novo.

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Yay! That's great news... Now of course we all want to know (or at least I do) asking price, below or above? ;)

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As said, 2500 quid above the "offers over" asking price.

I still think it's a steal at that.

I've now provided proof of funds for the cash purchase and we've swapped the names of our solicitors. I suspect this thread may not die because I haven't the foggiest about what the next steps are.

There will be further requests for advice from the collective.

Re: Estate agent speak ...
 

It should all be relatively straightforward without a mortgage company to deal with. You do need to get a survey arranged I'm going to use the word efficiently though...

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The next step is for you to commission a survey, or 'house buyers' report' as it is now known, if you want one. If you were getting a mortgage, the lender would commission a surveyor's valuation, and you'd get the option of paying extra for a fuller report. Because you are a cash buyer, you have to make up your own mind whether a report is necessary.

Let your solicitor know your decision, or s/he may hold off starting the legal process until the survey report is back.

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It's not necessary.

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Novo

You're gonna buy a place in Jesmond?

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Only that anything that is a semi or a detached there starts lowest price at £500,000. So paying £2500 over the asking price is a drop in the bucket.

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Seeing the property Novo is buying was last purchased by the current owner in 2013, if there is one, would a copy of the survey from then be good enough?

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No, it's down on the Quayside a bit east of the centre.