first time buy

[CoraHarrison]

I am looking at a house from an estate agents, just wondering what sort of offer I should put in on a property, dont want to seem cheeky, just want to get the best price.

[KJN]

I would try discounting by ten per cent then settle on five per cent discount. If everything was exactly as I wanted,

[redcrx]

if cheeky then the seller says no and you can up your offer if you wish too. If the property has just gone on market then dont expect to be able to knock it down much and be taken seriously. If its been on a while you may get away with a lower offer.

[Old_Geezer]

I was always bad at this. I'd put in a close offer and astonishingly it'd be refused. If I knocked off a minor amount just to save face then I'd end up wondering if I'd been taken advantage of. I'm just glad I was born into a country where haggling isn't normally part of a buying process. It's a horrible experience.

[rowanwitch]

check out what prices similar properties have actually sold for in that area and go in 10% below that... it gives you an idea of what a fair price might be... the exception being if you really love a place...and would hate to lose out...then don't haggle go straight in at asking price on the proviso the house comes straight off the market and no further offers are considered

[The Builder]

I sympathise with OG, Cora. I'm hopeless at haggling too. To get around it, I always set myself a maximum I want to go to. If that's turned down, then walk away.
With such a poor selling market at the moment, don't worry about being cheeky. Plenty of "professionals" are currently trawling the market and submitting very low offers.
The way to be taken seriously, however low the offer is...... is to have finance arranged. With a mortgage arranged in principle, or cash, they will always take note of the offer. The ones they tend to dismiss are the offerers who have nothing arranged, or have yet to sell their own.
Good luck

[AlBags]

If you want to knock them down more .. you find a load of stuff that's bad or needs doing too.

[smurfchops]

Check out what needs to be done and work out how much it would cost you. A seller usually realises that he is going to knocked down, can we see it on the internet Cora ? That might give us some idea of its worth, if we live in the area. If it is £100,000 I would knock off £10,000, £200,000 try £20,000. Anything just over £250,000 won't sell because of the stamp duty. I have knocked £35,000 of a flat to get it down to £250,000. Worth a try !

[smurfchops]

It was in a stinky terrible state though, not worth £285.