Making an Offer (hopefully) no one can refuse....

[Sarnia]

Hello there

I wonder if anyone can give me an answer to a question I have about making an offer on a house in Brittany (Plemet to be precise).  We know that houseprices in France are very cheap compared to other places and generally speaking the asking price is well within budget.  I have heard people say that we Brits don't haggle enough; what do people think a fair "offer" would be - so that no-one is offended and we all get what we want in the end.

There is a house on the market currently at Euros 194,000 - what would people offer on this?

Thanks for any suggestions and have a really good day.

 

[Val_2]

Depends what necessary remedial works need doing on it for a start. What about the state of the fosse septique - does it conform or not,is the roof sound,the windows in a good state - all expensive necessary immediate works. You don't state what sort of property it is and whether or not there is a lot of renovation work to do on it. If the family selling it are doing it through inheritance and there are a few of them, you have to be careful that you are not taking away their nest egg that they may be relying on for their old ages. Haggling isn't usually done when selling property here,not in the sense of getting many thousands of euros taken off the price. You could offer 190,000€ but I don't think they will accept that if it is to move to another property.

[epinay]

Hi

I'm not sure it's true anymore about low offers being accepted in the way you describe.  Our experience has been that we have received (and had to pay) the asking price or close to it when we have bought or sold in France.

I think it depends on the area and population.  If it's a sought after area with plenty of employment or tourism you might expect to pay the full price.  If it's out in the sticks and been on the market for a long time a low offer might be accepted.  We have sold twice and received the asking price both times - but we are in a very sought after area and the houses were lovely.  We have bought twice and likewise paid the full asking price -people were queuing up to view our new house (bought recently) so we didn't waste time haggling - we wanted the house so offered the full price to secure it.   If we were the only people interested we would probably have offered 10% below asking price to start with.  If it was in the sticks and been on the market for ages we might have offered 20% below asking price. 

In the end, I think it all depends how much you want the house and what it's worth to you.

I'm not an expert but hope this helps.

Diana

 

[Sarnia]

Thanks for the good advice.  I am interested in your views because they do seem to conflict with some I have also heard.  However, I don't want to get off on the wrong foot and insult someone through my ignorance.  The asking price, we think, is fair, and very cheap for the sort of property it is, therefore full asking price - no probs.

Thank you again.

 

[cary]

We knew our house had been on the market for a year and put in an offer 30 thousand euros under the asking price and it was accepted straight away.  How common is this? I have no idea maybe we were just lucky!