To offer 80% of the asking price on a house that needs a lot of work

[SonnyHoney]

I will give you the whole low down as I'll get "Why don't you just move somewhere else"

Due to new renters rights were being evicted from the house we've lived in (And love) for the past 8 years. My landlord is selling his portfolio and we've got to be out mid June.

We're really struggling to find a suitable rental . A 3 bedroom house in our area is 2.7k a month plus. There are cheaper properties about 25ish minutes away by car but dodgy areas you wouldnt want your teenagers walking around in .

Over the years we've been saving for a deposit, with the plan to buy in 2ish years from now.

My son is doing A-levels and my daughter is starting secondary school in September. My husband And I both have secure self employed jobs in this area, Our whole lives are here.

I've seen a house on Right move for 389k, It needs ALOT of work but fits the bill. My husband is a surveyor but used to be a builder. We can do it all ourselves over time. The issue is we can only get a mortgage for 340k, We have a 50k in savings though.

Obviously we need to pay stamp duty, then the cost of the project itself which we can do as we go along. This will leave us with no savings though.

Would it be reasonable to offer 80% of the asking price ?

If it is priced at £389k because it is in need of a lot of work, and when fully refurbished would be worth significantly more, then your 80% offer is likely to be laughed out the door. If equivalent fully refurbished houses are going for £389k and this one is grossly overpriced for its condition then sure, worth a try.

Just put in the offer.

You don’t need strangers on the internet saying do or don’t do it.

I guess the question is, what are other properties in the area selling for and are they in mint condition or a little TLC?
but ultimately they might be desperate to sell and want to accept the offer!

If it’s already priced to reflect the work needed then they’re unlikely to accept a low offer.

No harm in asking, though…

Have you considered asking the landlord if you could buy the house you rent. I did that and it saved me a lot of money.

Put the offer in why not. However, agents price with condition and work in mind.

Loads of agents overprice stuff planning to persuade the owner to reduce once it’s listed. They do it to try to win the business from other agents who are also valuing. So you need to do your homework on what’s sold that’s similar and for how much. It’s always worth putting an offer in anyway if that’s all you can afford. You never know how desperate sellers are.

You can but try

We had this idea,This is why we initially approached a mortgage advisor to run some numbers, and we are a good few hundred thousand out. X

This is a whole new world to me. I know nothing about this sort of stuff.

Many of my clientele are older and have been trying to sell their houses, some for years, and people just haven't bitten. Estate agents tell them to lower their price. A few of my clients have felt that they have really undersold their properties, and I am thinking maybe it could work for me.

True, but the fact that my husband has many friends and he himself is super handy, so much of it could just be done by us. It would cost us a few thousand less than the average buyer unless they were in a similar situation.

@SonnyHoney speak to your landlord - there are ways to become a tenant buyer but I’m not sure how it works. Ask chat gpt how it works as you sound like you’ve been great tenants and are in a good position so may be a chance you can find a to stay here and buy.

good luck!

What work does it need? There is a big difference between a new roof/ new windows and a new kitchen because the current one is 15 years old but functional.

It is highly likely the price reflects the work needing doing.

How long has it been on the market? 2 years, you might have a good chance. 2 months, much less likely.

You have nothing to lose asking. Be prepared that getting the house at the price you want is likely to be close to a miracle. Even if they don't tell you to get lost right away, the likelihood is they will offer a counter price with the view to settle somewhere in the middle.

@SonnyHoney you can offer what you like, and they will say yes or no.

Depends how long it has been up for sale for, how badly they need/want to move and whether it has been priced to reflect the work that needs doing.

We got ours for a bargain as we said they didn't have to empty it (couple moving to 1 bed retirement home) and we would move when they wanted to. 11 years later we are still working on it!

But the previous house we sold we priced to sell knowing it needed a lot of work. We turned down any silly low offers but had a lot of interest and it sold very quickly at the asking price.

Just offer what you can afford OP. It’s a funny market at the moment so some things are overpriced, others sell quickly.

You may as well try.

Houses get priced accordingly- needs a lot of work will already be cheaper than one that doesn’t. I’d be rejecting that offer.

It's unlikely a seller accepts a 20% reduction. But you won't know until you try.

You don't have a property to sell so that counts in your favour

Offer what you like but 20% under seems an unusually low amount and highly unlikely to get accepted - why on earth are you looking at things way beyond your budget ? Your ideal is clearly beyond your current budget and accepting that will make the process easier

Depends on the house. What’s the average selling price of the houses nearby? If it’s already £30+ lower than recent selling prices, then it’s unlikely to be reduced further.

Also, you say a lot of work needs doing? According to who? If the carpets are worn out, has damp, etc, fair enough, but if if just a case of modernising the decor, then that’s personal taste and cosmetic rather than ‘needing a lot of work’.

There is absolutely no harm in trying, they might just say yes if they have had no interest whatsoever.

i think it is very much a buyers market out there, at least where I am, not sure if it is country wide.

It’s a solid offer. The house will already have been priced based on its condition, but depending on how long it’s been on, what the situation of buyers is etc, they may accept or may not.
but you’ll only find out once the offer is in.

even if it is accepted you won’t be in by June though !

If your husband is a surveyor and ex-builder, then I guess he'd have a good idea of the answer. Worth a punt though. They can say yes or no. Shy bairns get nowt, and all that.

It’s just about within her budget with £340k mortgage and £50k savings. But obviously anything less that she bids can go on the works.

@SonnyHoney is it livable? You need to have an idea of what work would cost what.

Someone is unlikely to knock £75k off the purchase price just like that, but if the priority is a new roof and that would be £10k (or whatever) then offering £15k-£20k below asking gives you the money to do the key things and a couple of other things, then do
the rest over time as you save a bit more.