Buying property in the current market

The thing is that when you have decided to purchase abroad – you immediately become an absolute sponge as to all things related to property sales.  In a lot of ways this is a good thing, as it means that you are able to know what it is that you can expect.  As we get ready to travel on you viewing trip – I have been reading about every thing I can to do with the property market in our chosen region.  The advice from the estate agents is that the market is still booming encouraging all to purchase immediately at or above the asking price.  To be fair that is there job, and anyone who has purchased or rented a house should know this.  If you are selling you house the market is dire and the response from the agent is the exact opposite. 
The truth is that property is still selling in almost all markets property is selling, but the prices are reduced.  It seems that the current market is full of people with advise.  How should one judge all of this – in order to get the best deal?  The simple thing is that the best advice is if you find a house you like do not be afraid to make a cheeky offer.  I have seen recommendations that you should be afraid to make offers of up to 50% off the asking price, but be looking to agree about 30% down on the asking price.  The problem is all this sort of advice washing around the internet has lead to a problem with owners either refusing to drop prices to realistic levels – or even raising them on the expectation that they will be expected to drop 50% on the offer.  All this conspires together to mean that the prices in the agents windows are nothing more that a wish list.  
The question is therefore what advise (if any) should I add to this mix of questions.  Well the only advice I can give is that if you are looking for property then the best advice is to work out what you can afford, then look for properties that are priced above this, but which cover what you need.  At the same time use caution.  Some owners who have dropped the asking price to realistic levels – and will not have much room or willingness to drop further, others have still got properties priced way over the top.  This means that if you decide to look at properties that have a very good price, expecting the owners to drop another 30% you may be disappointed when the owner says no, but at the same time you may well find properties that are priced way above you price range, sitting with an owner willing to drop 50% of the price.
Our advice – do not be afraid now more than ever to go in with a very low offer, in the hope it might be accepted, but also understand that if a property looks realistically priced then it probably is.  The only other ting to say, is that the market generally is still falling, and as such buyers are in a better position than sellers to push there own agenda.  As always you can drop me a line at andrew@andrics.com