I've been watching some NZ property shows just now, Hot property & Property resuce, and 2 things have struck me. Firstly, that Petra Bagust who presents them is very good looking. Secondly and more importantly I guess is a query about how offers are made on houses.

For those that haven't seen the shows, they take a house in NZ that's on the market and not selling, and then tidy it up, paint it etc. In the second half of the show they sell off the property at a auction.

What I was wondering was if a house is on the market for say $250k, what are they really looking for ?

Where we live at present in Scotland, it operates on a offers over system, here at that price, you'd expect to sell for close to $300K whereas in England people seem to make offers below the price.

In one show that I've seen, a house was on the market at $340K, and it sold at auction for $298K and everyone was very happy.

We're looking at houses online just now, and figure we can spend, maybe $450k on a house. Is the price on the advertisement what you would expect to pay, or it higher or lower.

Sorry if this is a bit of a rambling post.

Alan