Looking for bidding advice

I'm viewing a house tomorrow. I like what I see so far from the brochure and may wish to put in a bid after i see it. What is the best way to proceed in these changing times in the property market - asking minus 20k?
Asking price is reasonable in my view but why pay more than I have to. Only problem is I would be buying subject to survey and selling my own property. If I was to offer the sale of my existing hose to the estate agent who is showing me the house tomorrow whould that complicate or simplify matters?

If the house is asking 2million, getting 20K off doesn't mean much.
If the house is asking 200K, getting 20K off is 10%.
What I'm saying is that you need to be talking in terms of percentages, not actual figures.
Offer what you think the house is worth.

Sorry forgot to include asking price. Asking price is 360k. On the market about a month and estate agent was very keen to arrange the viewing.

camel said:

If the house is asking 2million, getting 20K off doesn't mean much.
If the house is asking 200K, getting 20K off is 10%.
What I'm saying is that you need to be talking in terms of percentages, not actual figures.
Offer what you think the house is worth.

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Excellent point camel - what would you think is a reasonable percentage below to offer?

"Only problem is I would be buying subject to survey and selling my own property."

Can we assume that you cannot buy the new house until you sell your own? If that is the case, I suspect the vendor will not entertain you at all. You would be in a much better negotiating position if you had already completed the sale of your own house. I appreciate that you take a risk on falling out of the property market this way but if you can't sell your own, you can't complete the purchase and potentially the whole chain could last indefinitely.

mf

I would anticipate that they won't accept any sort of offer with your own house not even on the market yet. When I was looking to buy I was selling an apartment in Dublin 15 and as soon as the estate agent heard this they really lost any interest in taking me seriously as a potential buyer, and that was a year ago.

You could be right. Anyway will go to the viewing and see what happens

You could be right. Anyway will go to the viewing and see what happens

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If your serious about buying you will need to get your own on the market asap.

On the market about a month and estate agent was very keen to arrange the viewing.

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I'm not being smart, but the estate agent should be keen to arrange a viewing so don't see this as a sign that you are in for a deal. 20k below €360k wouldn't be a bad starting price but that all depends on location, positio of vendor (do they need to sell). If you go with €340k and its only on a month then you would be in with a good shout, but your problem is no matter what you offer you don't actually have the money to back it up.

First sell your house as they will most probably not accept your bid as you have to sell your house. In the present climate your house will take longer to sell.

will take longer to sell

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could take longer

truthseeker said:

what would you think is a reasonable percentage below to offer?

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Very subjective. It depends on your perspective on the medium term outlook for the property market, i.e. if you intend to stay in the house for 5 years, it depends on how much you think someone else will pay for it in 5 years time. And whether you are looking for capital gains, etc.

Of course no-one wants to be caught out with negative equity so bearing in mind that if house prices remain level year on year then they are effectively going down at the rate of inflation (say 5%). Personally I'd probably go 15% below, but like previous posters have said it depends on various things like location, etc.

When underbidding don't pin your hopes on 1 house. Your idea of what the house is worth might be totally different to the vendors idea of what the house is worth.