what's a good offer to put in on a house?

[Chulita]

We're looking at a 150k house that we really, really like. It's been on the market for over 5 months (not sure how long but that's when I first spotted it) and I don't know if it's had any offers, I'll ask the estate agent tomorrow. Our max budget is 130k.
What would be a sensible offer to make on this house? Any ideas?
Any questions I should ask the estate agent when I ring tomorrow?
We're also buying cash and are not in a chain which should work to our advantage. We've never bought a house before so have absolutely no idea what we're doing!

[lalalonglegs]

You've got to research it a bit and decide whether £150k is a reasonable price or not - what are similar properties asking and what are they selling for (nethouseprices.com will give you an idea of sold prices for the area). The fact that it hasn't sold for five months could mean that it's overpriced or it could mean that there have been offers near asking that have fallen through. You will have to gauge how desperate the vendor is to sell - ask some canny questions to the estate agent (has the vendor got a house they want to buy etc).

£130k is less than 90% of asking price so, on paper seems a bit optimistic but it depends if the house is overpriced in the first place and how keen the vendor is to sell.

[BananaSundae]

This is fab. It allows you to see the history of any property in rightmove, etc including price changes, whether it has been under offer and description changes. You do need to use firefox as your internet browser though. It might help you decide whether it has been on the market for so long because it is overpriced or if other offers have fallen through.

[LeChatRouge]

One thing to remember is that the estate agent works for the vendor - their commision is generated on the purchase price, so it's in their interest that it sells for a good price.

If no luck with the website that BananaSundae suggested, you could also try this one.

[traceybath]

If you like the house then I'd be inclined to offer the £130k and make it clear its a first and final offer and that you're a cash-buyer.

Depends how much the vendors want to sell and how much they want to get from the sale.

And if the vendors say no - well there'll be other houses.

[Chulita]

Thanks for the responses, I know they need to sell for work and judging by the 'nethouseprices' site it is priced quite highly.
I know there'll be other houses but when you find one you really like it's disappointing when your offer doesn't get accepted!