Search Q&A
Property prices
I'm looking at buying my first Belgian property (an apartment in Ixelles or St Gilles).
To me it seems that asking prices for some of the places I see advertised are too high so I am trying to get a better picture of valuations in these areas.
I was wondering if there are anywhere that final sale prices are available?
I know Le Soir publish auction prices in their property supplement on Thursdays - is there anywhere else I can find these? Online maybe? Anywhere to find similar info for private sales?
Offer what you think it is worth. People often get the asking price wrong.
Some years ago when I was searching for a house to buy (not in Brussels) but without any great urgency, I discovered during regular sweeps of immoweb that some agents price high and some low, with perhaps a 20% spread. Unsurprisingly, property placed with the low-pricing agents moved from "à vendre" to "option" to "vendu" much faster than property placed with the high-pricing ones, indeed the next move for the latter was often to reappear, lower-priced, with one of the low-pricing agents.
Subsequently dealing with one of the low-pricing agents I discovered that he expected an offer that pretty much matched the advertised price.
The moral of this being that if you can spot the lower-pricing agents, then their advertised prices are probably a good indication of where the market is.
Back when I got a property, I had a good rapport with my notaire and he gave me a rundown of prices in the area where i was interested. That really gave me a good idea of realistic prices in the areas where I was looking. However, same notaire was not as helpful with a friend I referred, but doesn't hurt to ask a notaire, since eventually, you'll need one anyway.
So- realistically, if I see an apt. for 275k, I could offer them 250k and see if it floats?
So- realistically, if I see an apt. for 275k, I could offer them 250k and see if it floats?
No-one prices things at a level which they expect to get; there is always room for negotiation.
If you see an apt. for 275k and offer them 250k and they accept gleefully you will spend the rest of your life wondering whether you could have got it for 230k.
You can always go up but never down so offer as low as you dare and watch for the response.
