This week we're exploring that critical preliminary step to buying any property: making an offer! Working out how much to offer is essential, but presenting your offer correctly makes a massive difference too. We explore: How to build a relationship before making any kind of offer Whether to offer in writing or over the phone If you should start with your maximum bid, or go in lower If it's a good idea to explain why your offer is lower than they'd like What to say and do to put your offer in the best light Resource of the week It's another interactive map! This one shows how affordability has changed across the UK since 2007. You can see the stats for any area you're interested in, but playing with the slider and looking at how the picture changes across the country over time is instructive too. News this week The volume of property transactions is falling for the first time since 2009, as reported by City AM. It seems to be driven by a general lack of supply, but a reduction in buy-to-let activity can't be helping. Could we see a tweak to Stamp Duty soon to get the market moving again? It's meetup time! We're a week away from the first Thursday of October – and as always, the first Thursday of the month means meetups! They're all across the UK and beyond, they're free and they're great fun, so why wouldn't you go along? Book your free place here. Join the conversation How do you approach the process of making an offer? Have you got any top tips that we didn't cover? We’d love to know, so join the discussion in The Property Hub! If you enjoyed The Property Podcast, please leave a review on iTunes Reviews are really important in helping other people to find the show, so by way of thanks we read out every single review we receive on air. If you’d like to hear your name on the show, leave us a review on iTunes here. Not sure how to leave a review? This video shows you how to review and subscribe on iTunes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.