# Making an offer on a property



## jj8 (Nov 29, 2020)

Hi all, I'm planning to look for a property to buy soon, was wondering about people's experiences with making offers - how much below asking price (in percentage?) has been successful for you, or not? What is reasonable? I understand this would of course differ from one seller to another and depend on their circumstances, but just trying to get a feel for things from people's experiences. Also, any tips on what to assess/check in order to make an advantageous offer?

I saw there's a similar thread here from 2014, but figured the market has changed since then so.. Here we are.

Thanks in advance.


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## incatalunya (Nov 16, 2020)

If it were me I´d go in at least fifteen%, maybe 20% under to start with. Depends how lomg it has been on the market and its condition. You can only go upwards from there, not downwards.


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## Strontium (Sep 16, 2015)

You need to know a little about the seller/sellers. Here, simply put, if an owner dies the property is divided equally among their offspring, if one of these offspring dies/has died that portion is equally divided among their offspring, this leads to multiple owners so ALL have to agree before a place can be sold. An offer has to be acceptable to all the multiple owners so making it complicated and, sometimes, you'll not even get an answer. Try asking the agent about the seller's situation, generally, unlike the UK, there are no national agents so you'll need to deal with a local one in person and you'll probably find that not all the properties the agent lists are for sale but there are some unlisted ones for sale - also the paperwork will not necessary be up to date and this costs money so if it looks like a sale then they may have it updated, also there may have been a culture of under declaring (for tax reasons) so what you read is not always what you see. I spent a couple of days recently looking at a few places, one I liked and after a 3 way discussion with the owners present the acceptable price dropped by 36.5%. Specifically here in Central Portugal there is no "market" and different agents and sellers have different priorities so each sale is unique, maybe down the Algarve with blocks of similar accommodations there may be a "market". Just look at the prices on OXL for a selection of similar properties and you'll just find a lot of randomness. It's what make it so interesting here where you sensibly need to interact with the seller and agent to find out their views and what they think before you can decide what to do thus making everything take ten time longer then elsewhere. I just love it all.


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## incatalunya (Nov 16, 2020)

Good answer....


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## jj8 (Nov 29, 2020)

Interesting. Ok, good helpful info, thanks a lot. 



Strontium said:


> I spent a couple of days recently looking at a few places, one I liked and after a 3 way discussion with the owners present the acceptable price dropped by 36.5%.


That's impressive, I'm curious what went on during that discussion.. It came about that the property has been over-valued? Or..? What info/questions were you putting forward?
It's my first property purchase, I'm hoping to gain as much insight as to what to ask/gauge as much as possible... Thanks!


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