Haggling on House prices

Mike and Connie · 07-03-2007, 03:02 PM

Hi all you Aussie home owners.(Victoria in particular)

A little bit of information if you please
How "fixed" are house prices in Australia?
I read recently in a book on buying and selling houses in OZ that you should never offer the full asking price even if you think it a bargain.It recommended starting your offer price at 10-15% below the asking price and work up.
Has anybody had any experience of "Haggling" and did it work?

Any info would be appreciated
Mike and Connie:wink:

ali · 07-03-2007, 06:54 PM

We worked out how much we were prepared to pay for the house and offerred $10,000 less which was $20,000 less than asking price, they came back with a figure $10,000 more (which is what we were happy to pay) so we both came away happy.

Gollywobbler · 07-03-2007, 07:10 PM

Hi Mike & Connie

When you say "Victoria", do you mean Melbourne? If you do, I commend this lady to you:

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/british-expats/17232-arrived-mid-august-loving-every-minute.html

Savta is an absolute darling and I love her to bits. She & keep in touch by PM and e-mail periodically.

A few months ago Savta mentioned that a lot of the houses in the suburbs of Melbourne are sold by auction.

I don't whether this is just Melbourne or whether it might apply in other parts of the State as well. You could try a PM to Savta if you want to try to discover more about this.

How is your application coming along? Have you had your meds yet? Did the CO ask you to organise the AoS at this stage or have you got one of the plodders who prefers doing the final stages one at a time?

Cheers

Gill

calNgary · 08-03-2007, 06:09 AM

Cant speak for Melbourne but around Brisbane suburbs people are putting houses up for auction because they get more money for them ,we managed to get $25,000 off the asking price of the house we have purchased ,i suppose it boils down to the market in that paticular area,,
Cal x

dwaldron · 08-03-2007, 07:45 AM

$25,000 is a considerable amount of money - what was the asking price?

calNgary · 08-03-2007, 08:58 AM

iT WAS UP FOR $350,000 but was filthy ,only 7 yr old but never cleaned ,also needed bits doing ,we originally offered $300,000 but they didnt go for that ,,still we did ok for this area,,
Cal x

Mike and Connie · 08-03-2007, 05:33 PM

Thanks again everyone for your offerings,play it by ear I guess,things might change anyway by the time we are ready to buy.

Yes Gill, it is the Melbourne area we are heading to(Bayside probably). Our CO has asked for everything in one communication.
We've got our meds planned for 30 March,earliest date available. Our police checks are done,only took about 3 weeks,and our son and daughter-in-law have an interview with Centrelink on 21 March.

Bye for now
Mike and Connie :) :)