In a cooling housing market low-ball offers are expected, but one West Coast agent has seen some fairly ridiculous offers on the three-bedroom home she’s selling.
“I’ve had so many people try to exchange caravans, campervans, sports cars or make really low offers like 65 grand,” says Ray White agent Valerie Woods, whose listing has a price tag of $165,000.
“It’s quite embarrassing for me to present a cheeky offer to the vendors, but I have to.
“I had one buyer who said, ‘I’ve got a fifth wheel caravan - would the vendor take that?’ That was his offer.”
Start your property search
The weatherboard do-up at 9 Halcyon Road, in Seddonville, Buller, sits on a 918sqm section and although the property has an RV of $34,000, she says the land holds a lot of value.
“The fact of the matter is you can't buy a section on the West Coast in these good areas for less than $200,000.”
Buyers still think they’ll get homes in the region for a song, says Woods, but the post-Covid boom has pushed up West Coast prices.
Woods says the Halcyon property is close to several local attractions, including Oparara Arches, the Heaphy Track and Old Ghost Road, and is ripe for improvement or even redevelopment.
“Will they do it up or bowl it? It depends on what kind of person buys it. Most [viewers] have been builders.”
The sale includes a good chunk of the materials needed for renovating the home, with Woods explaining that the owner bought the materials, but never did the job.
The vendor is also selling a neighbouring property with a shed for $135,000, and some buyers have tried to get two for the price of one.
“Just yesterday one buyer asked if the vendor would take $165,000 for both properties. I said, ‘Sorry, that’s an insult’. I was in real estate in Queenstown. I am quite blunt with them.”
For sale for $360,000, a three-bedroom home at 78 Wakefield Street, in Westport, Buller. Photo / Supplied
The low-ballers are often shocked when their offer isn’t accepted. Another property that Woods has on the market at 78 Wakefield Street, in Westport, was first listed for $80,000 more than its current price of $360,000.
“I had somebody offer $210,000. I told him the vendor had already dropped his price by $80,000 and he came back at $300,000, subject to building report and selling his existing home.”
When the buyer discovered the property was going to multi-offer and he might not be successful with his offer, he became quite agitated, says Woods.
The owners have this week accepted an offer at the asking price from a young couple in Hokitika, subject to sale of their home, which is a much better offer, says Woods.
Most of the people offering ridiculous prices are from out of town, says Woods - either from the North Island or Christchurch. “They have it in their minds that the West Coast is still cheap. Gone are days when you could buy a section with a house on it for under 100 grand.”
Real estate agents in other parts of the country have reported an increase in low-ball offers from cheeky buyers.
At the time of writing, Harcourts agent Bruce Spurdle had just closed the sale on a former forestry home at 25 Georgetti Street, Benneydale, after months of low-ball offers from buyers.
The home, which had a price tag of $150,000, had great bones, but had seen better days.
A do-up on Georgetti Street, in Benneydale, Waitomo, had been priced at $150,000 and has just sold for $130,000. Photo / Supplied
The strapline for the property on the OneRoof listing was: “you won’t find cheaper” but some buyers thought that meant they could get it for much less. “You don’t get a home on a freehold section connected to services like water and sewerage for less than $130,000/$140,000,” says Spurdle.
However, agents need to present all offers to vendors. “We are always bound to present any offer, even if it’s a waste of time. Even if it was a $400,000 house and they offered $200,000 or $250,000, we have to present their offer. Normally we would talk long and hard to the buyer and say, ‘This isn’t going to fly’.
A local buyer ended up buying the Benneydale property for $130,000. “They will probably only need to spend $20,000 to $30,000 on it to tidy it up, then they can let it in the high $200s [per week],” says Spurdle.
The agent says he has seen cases where owners have accepted a low offer because they need the money. “They could be under pressure from the bank. Although less so these days. Sometimes they really do need to get the property sold.”
Another town with famously bargain house prices is Taihape. Low balling is common there as well, says PGG Wrightson agent Marie Frost. She recently brokered a $200,000 offer on a former church hall at 43 Huia Street in the town, but had fielded an offer of $65,000 from a local looking to pick up the property for a song. When Frost suggested that the offer might not be successful, he attempted to go behind her back.
On another property that Frost later sold for $350,000, one potential local buyer tried to by-pass the agent and deal directly with the owner. “Literally five seconds after he came off the phone to me he sent his wife around [to the owner] and said ‘we’ll give you $200,000 cash now’. The owner did not take the offer.”
