Decide three numbers before you speak to the agent: where you'll open, where you expect to agree and where you'll walk away. Give each one a reason the agent can repeat to the seller. Below are seven word-for-word scripts, one for each moment of the negotiation, with your numbers in them.
The price of a house is settled in a few phone calls with the estate agent, and most buyers go into the first one with a number and no plan for the second. That's how offers creep up: the agent says the seller wants more, and the buyer raises their figure to fill the silence.
The seven scripts below give you a line for every moment of the negotiation, from the first offer to the survey, with your own figures in each. The sections after them explain how to set those figures, what the agent's replies usually mean, and what to do if the price is reopened after you agree.
The seven scripts, with your numbers in them
Each script has the same shape: what the agent has just said, what you say back, and why it works. Your own figures run through all seven, so your opening, your counter and your best and final can't contradict each other. Where a line needs evidence about the house, such as a sold price or a defect, it's left as a blank for you to fill in.
How to set your three numbers
Negotiating is easier when the hard decisions are made before the first call. Write down three figures:
- Your opening offer. Where you start: low enough to leave room for one move, and backed by evidence you can say out loud.
- Your target. Where you expect to agree, at the price the recent sales of similar homes support.
- Your walk-away. The most the house is worth to you. When the negotiation reaches it, you stop.
The gap between your opening and your walk-away is your room to move, and it should be spent in shrinking steps. Go most of the way with your first move and a little with your last. Smaller moves tell the agent you're close to your limit; a last move as big as your first tells them there's more to come.
Every figure needs a reason. The strongest are the sold prices of similar homes nearby, how long the house has been on the market, any price cuts, work the house needs, and your own position as a buyer. Our guide to how much to offer on a house turns those into a fair-value range.
What the agent's lines usually mean
Agents use a small set of lines, and most of them are about moving your number rather than describing the market. None of them is, on its own, a reason to raise your offer.
| The agent says | What it usually means | Your move |
|---|---|---|
| “We've had a lot of interest.” | Viewings. Interest isn't an offer. | Hold your number and ask whether any other offers are on the table (script 2). |
| “The seller won't accept that.” | Your offer went to the seller and came back. Often it's their opening position. | Ask what the seller would accept. If they name a figure, move once, to your target, with a reason and something asked in return (script 4). |
| “There's another offer.” | It may be higher, or from a buyer who can't proceed yet. | Ask whether that buyer is chain-free with a mortgage in principle. Don't match a figure you haven't seen. |
| “Best and final by Friday.” | Sealed bids: one round, no second chance. | Send your walk-away figure once, in writing (script 5). |
| “What's the most you could go to?” | A request for your walk-away. | Don't answer it. Restate your offer and the reason for it. |
| “The seller has already reduced the price.” | An invitation to treat the cut as your discount. | Price against what similar homes sold for, not against the old asking price. |
Three of these lines have guides of their own: what to do when the seller won't accept your offer, whether the other offer is real, and how to set a best and final offer.
Six rules that hold under pressure
- Pair every number with a reason. A bare figure invites a reflex no; a figure with a reason invites a counter.
- Make each move smaller than the last, and never move twice without a reply in between.
- Ask for something with every move: the appliances, a completion date that suits you, or work done before exchange.
- Keep your walk-away to yourself. Don't say what you could stretch to, or what your mortgage offer is for.
- Put every offer in writing. Confirm each call by email the same day, with the figure, the reasons and your position. Estate agents must pass every offer to the seller promptly and in writing, unless the seller has told them in writing not to pass on offers of that kind, and your email is the record of what you offered and why.
- Don't negotiate at the viewing. Save your enthusiasm for the people you came with, and make the offer later, by phone, once you've checked the evidence.
Been to a viewing?
Put in the address and see what the data says you should offer — sold prices, time on market, seller signals.
After you agree: the survey and the lender's valuation
In England and Wales an accepted offer isn't legally binding until contracts are exchanged, so two things can reopen the price: the survey and the mortgage valuation.
If the survey finds a problem you couldn't have known about when you offered, get quotes and ask for the cost to come off the price, or for the seller to do the work before exchange. That's script 7. Keep it to genuine surprises: reopening the price over something you saw at the viewing costs you the trust the rest of your numbers depend on.
If the lender values the house below your offer, your mortgage is worked out on the lower figure and the difference has to come from your own money. You can ask the seller to meet the valuation:
The lender has valued the house at [£ valuation], which is [£ difference] below our offer. We can't make up the difference, so we'd like to proceed at the valuation.
The seller doesn't have to agree, but the next buyer's lender is likely to reach a similar figure, which gives them a reason to listen.
How Broc writes these lines for a specific house
The scripts above leave blanks for the evidence, because evidence belongs to one house. Some of it only you know, like the state of the kitchen. The rest is what Broc finds for a specific address: the sold prices of similar homes nearby and, where it can match the listing, how long the house has been on the market and any price cuts, along with the signals about the seller's position. With those and your answers about the house and your own position, the report sets your opening offer, target and walk-away, and writes the offer letter around the arguments.
Once the offer has gone in, the report keeps working. Log the agent's counter-offer in its deal room and get your next move, with a reply letter, never past your walk-away. If the agent knocks back one of your arguments, drop it, and the offer and the letter re-price around the rest.
When a price is agreed, offer accepted: what happens next covers the steps that keep the sale on track. If you're thinking of opening low, read what is a 'cheeky offer', and when does it work first, so the number you anchor to is one the evidence can carry.
Decide your three numbers, rehearse the lines, and let the agent carry them to the seller. The negotiation stops being a contest of nerve and becomes a conversation about evidence, which is one you can have calmly.
Frequently asked questions
What should I say when making an offer?
State the number, then the reason in one breath: "£X, based on [comparable sale] and [time on market]." Give the agent something concrete to repeat to the seller. A bare number invites a reflexive rejection; a number with a reason invites a counter.
Is it rude to offer below the asking price?
No. Offering below asking is normal in the UK: the asking price is where the seller starts, and the agent expects to negotiate. A low offer only lands badly when it arrives without a reason.
How do I respond to "best and final"?
Submit your evidence-based ceiling — the most the property is worth to you — not an emotional jump. Decide that figure before the deadline, in writing. If your ceiling loses, it was the right price to lose at, because going higher would have meant overpaying.
Should I negotiate by phone or by email?
Both. Make the offer by phone, where the agent can hear you're serious and ask questions, then confirm it by email the same day with the figure, your reasons and your position. The email puts your reasons in your own words and gives you a record of exactly what you offered.
Does the estate agent have to pass my offer to the seller?
Yes. Estate agents must pass every offer to the seller promptly and in writing, unless the seller has told them in writing not to pass on offers of that kind, which some sellers do below a set figure. If you're not sure your offer reached the seller, ask the agent to confirm in writing that it did.
How much can you knock off the asking price?
There's no standard percentage. It depends on how the asking price compares with what similar homes have sold for, how long the house has been on the market, and how strong your position is as a buyer. Our guide to how far below asking you can offer covers what makes a bigger discount realistic.
Can I negotiate after a survey?
Yes. A survey that finds real defects is a legitimate basis to renegotiate. Quote the remediation costs from the report or a builder's quote, and ask for a reduction or for the work to be done before exchange. This is renegotiation on evidence, not cold feet.
What if the seller won't negotiate at all?
Leave your offer on the table, tell the agent it stands if anything changes, and keep looking. A house that doesn't sell at its asking price can come back to you after a price cut, or when another buyer's sale falls through.
Broc
Broc is the badger behind trybroc.io — "broc" is Old English for badger. Where the estate agent speaks in superlatives, Broc speaks in evidence — sold comparables, days on the market, seller-pressure signals — and turns them into a number you can defend.
