Buying and selling - acceptable offer?

ame123

We are currently trying to sell our home and buy another in a different location, weve been lucky(I think?) and our estate agent is confident he has a buyer for us who will give asking price, if we don't put our home on the open market, which we are just about to - he is buying our home for a development and therefore not waiting to sell his own so we he is not in a chain.(hopefully this is not too good to be true!) we have found a home we love - its on the market over a year - the estate agent of this house wants us to wait till we have gone sale agreed to make an offer on it - it had a full asking price offer a year ago when it first went on the market but it fell through with the buyers financing. we are prepared to offer full asking if need be but ideally we would get the house for less as it would help so much with moving costs and also some taxes etc, would 500- 520 seem an acceptable offer (presuming we go sale agreed on our own)- house is on market at 550? I'm trying to balance the fact that the house is on the market over a year with the fact that they did achieve a full asking price bid.
I should add we do not have to sell our own home - we love it, just thinking of moving to lessen a commute - so we are not very willing to sell for the sake of it and there are very few suitable houses -(except the house we are thinking of buying).

f@steddie

What's acceptable to one person will not be to another. Only one way to find out. Seems reasonable considering the house is on the market for a year.

April 73

If it hasn’t sold in a year at €550k in an era of housing shortages ask yourself why not? €550k must be above what is achievable for the house/area. I’d start at €500k with an expectation of maybe ending up at €520-530k.

ame123

Good advice thanks. Been thinking about it a lot, will prob give 500 a go. but at the request of the estate agent have to wait until we go sale agreed on our own place. ��Hopefully it all works out.

Interested Observer

Do not offer the full asking price. All the vendor can do is reject it, and if they do you can put up you're offer if you're willing then.

spaceHopper

Get the house checked out first, spend something up front to see if there are any problems, the sale fell through, it probably wasn't because of finance. It would also give you more bargaining power, at that point you have skin and knowledge in the game. But be prepared to walk. Also if you make an offer the EA will be on to every other person who viewed it to flush out an offer. Make it clear that if other bids come in you are out, they accept your offer and take it off the market.

CalRobert

You could offer 100 if you wanted.

I recently offered 205 on a house listed at 250 and we settled on 217. Unfortunately it fell through for other reasons but I don;t know what motivation you would have to start high except to knock out other potential bidders quickly, but it doesn't seem like that's a consideration here.