We had this same problem! A good friend who is a real estate agent said that for example when they give you a $30,000 price gap (like 400,000 to 430,000) they are really wanting as close to that 430,000 as they can get.
If you have a limit in mind then offer less than that so you have some leverage to play with. But not to offer too low as they may think you aren't serious.
We purchased a property that was listed at 250,000 to 265,000. Offered 255,000 and it went back and forth till we settled on 260,000. We really wanted it though!!
It can depend how long it has been on the market for too. Find out what their reasons for selling are, how long settlement would be as you can gage if they are wanting a quick sale or not! Ask the agent lots of questions as they have to give you answers.
Google how to make an offer on a house and there is some great tips on websites out there!! Good Luck!!
We've had nothing but grief. Final sales in in eastern Melbourne way above what were advised.
So hard to compete with the overseas syndicates buying up around us with $50,000 bid jumps.
Hard to compete too with sellers still continuing to want so so much above the real value of properties. Looks like if we ever buy it's paupersville for us.
I bought in July. Was quoted at $350,000+. I knew as I'd been looking in the area for 18 months, that the property would sell between $420K and $435K. So I made them an offer before the auction for $410K. That put the property on the market and everyone else who received the s32 was given 72hrs to put in their highest offer. I was given the right of reply, and got the property for near enough to the bottom end of that range. It's a 3br unit on a main road.
However, three months prior, I could have bought a 3br house, in the same suburb, on an entire block, for $425K at auction.
So yes, the prices are going crazy... an almost identical 3br unit on the same road sold for $450K at auction yesterday... so I've pretty much made $30K before I even blink...
We bought july last year and our palce was advertised as 315+ we didn't want to go over 300 though and our first offer was 285 and loads of "no we want minimum 310 / 305" junk we ended up buying it for 297k and were happy. like div said, we had done our research in the area and knew what similar houses were going for which was low to mid 3's, but also knew that ours was in a fantastic spot but cosmetically was not in great shape, we got a bargain!!
Do some research into the areas you are looking at!
Im feeling rather anxious about us 'getting in'. We know our top dollar, but seems many of the places in the area we want are listed as starting at that.
Strecthbearer - we are looking in the east! I hope we dont encounter what you have
I suppose we will look round some houses and get an idea. Its very fustrating not knowing an area and what its worth etc.
What do you all think about revealing budget to agents? Like is it advisable to not let them know what your top $ is? Just thinkig about if we were to make an offer on one of the many places listed as say $320,000+, and the most we can go to is $320,000.
I do feel that there will be a house for us, I just hope it wont take too long to find it and get it.
There's really no substitute for doing your research as the others have said. You can buy a report for the suburb you're interested in for about $9.95 from one of the usual real estate websites - that will give you six months of sales results then just google the addresses and the most recent sold ones will still have their photos/floorplans available.
I was looking at buying/selling until, oh, about last week, and my rule of thumb was to add $120K to the lowest quoted starting price and that SHOULD secure the property eg. if it was quoted at $680 - 730 then really it would go for about $800K. So that's about 20%.
My real estate agent said the way to get a bargain is to look for houses that are advertised with an agent who doesn't have many properties for offer in that area. It means that they won't have as good a feel for how much properties there are going for and, in my experience, usually means that the owner is trying to get an agent with lower fees. He said that makes it more likely they will take an offer before auction so go around with your cheque book and make an offer on the spot.
Good luck - it's nuts at the moment so don't lose heart. There's plenty of us who're just going to wait until it settles down again.
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