It's all dependant on so many factors - if the house is in a desirable area and is in demand, offering low could mean not being taken seriously and someone else coming in at nearer the asking price could find themselves entering effective negotiations to secure the house.
I note the advice above not to get hung up re the odd thousand. Ours was up for £172k and we started at £165k and it got knocked back immediately. When the next offer of around £168k got declined I was all ready to dig my heels in, but it was in one of the best areas of town and was unusual in having parking too which was a must have for us.
Houses around here don't hang around for long and we learned after that it had had a lot of viewings.
How much to spend on it is a 'how long is a piece of string' question. We did a lot of work which was to return the house to it's former self plus extension with reclaimed bricks at around £1 each 😳. This could have been done so much cheaper had we wanted to do it on the cheap. We could also have spent 10's of thousands on a kitchen had we so desired. But obviously you don't necessarily get all that back if you sell on.
Obviously damp and rot are 'must do' expenditure, but bathrooms and kitchens are dependant on taste and budget.
Those who think they know it all are very annoying to those of us who actually do.
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