Negotiating tips - FTB

EagerLearner · 14 August 2009 at 1:29PM

Hi all,

Just needing some advice please - we are FTB with mortgage in place and have seen a place that would suit - not an ideal area, but we could manage and it ticks most other boxes.

Put in an offer £11k under asking, given the area and that we are 100% proceedable and have nothing to sell.

The EA knows we have offered on 2 of his other properties, and that we offered low-ish but within reason for proceedable FTB. He even told us the vendors were being unreasonable expecting much more and that few or no more offers were around for both properties.

So this is the third, and they have rejected our offer. which we sort of expected on our 1st offer. He is hinting to us that an offer in the 'early to mid' £170k would do it. I believe we were the first to view, and EA is saying there are lots of people interested.

Problem is we don't really know how to negotiate and worry that they may already want to bite our hands off with the current offer but are playing it cool.

I have e-mailed back saying that we feel that given the area and our position we feel the offer is good.

My feeling is that many people who wanted to buy this year already did so or are in process now, and that many other might now wait til Spring?

Also how have you handled negotiations, either as a seller, buyer or EA? Any tips much appreciated and I am sure many involve a swig of some Dutch courage to stay cool as a cucumber... :rotfl:

Dinah93 · 14 August 2009 at 1:34PM

If there are lots of people interested, then clearly they're not waiting until next spring and are still interested at the moment. If you really want the house you'll have to up the offer before other viewers go around and offer higher. If you don't think there will be other viewers/a higher offer, then don't fret, just leave your offer on the table.

princessamy86 · 14 August 2009 at 1:37PM

EA point of view: when both sides play it cool, it normally results in me wanting to tear my hair out...I know they will both negotiate and compromise at some point but sometimes it's hard to get to that point!

I would say have a figure in your mind of what the property is worth to you (do your homework), and start lower than that. If you aim to put 3 offers in, start low, have a mid range one and then offer your top price if you really want to the property and the vendors are still not playing ball. I would maybe up your offer very slightly today, then let the vendors sweat it out over the weekend. However, everyone has a different method for negotiating!

ognum · 14 August 2009 at 1:43PM

I would say if you dont like the area dont buy it. You can change a lot about a house but you cant change that.
IMO the area/location is the most important factor in a house purchase, whatever you do to a house in a poor location you will never change the value or like the house once you are living there

Cannon_Fodder · 14 August 2009 at 2:15PM

Have you run the property through Property Bee, to check how long its been on the market?

If its very new to the market, let them sweat it for a while. They won't yet have taken their "having a punt" money off the top of the asking price.

As its not in your favourite area, its no great loss if someone else pays more.

Sweetcaz_2 · 14 August 2009 at 2:20PM

If you are serious about the house and it is the one for you work out the maximum you want to pay and offer 2kish below and call again saying you do not want to loose the property as you know there is other interest but this is a serious offer and your final offer.

Emphasise you are first buyers with a mortgage in place,so no chain!

If they do not accept maybe leave it a few days before going back with the maximum offer and make out you are getting help from family and have raised your offer in the hope this will secure it.

Good luck!

EagerLearner · 14 August 2009 at 2:34PM

Hi everyone thanks for the advice. We know that property has only just come on the market so in a way don't want to go in at silly levels immediately. The EA is well aware we are 100% proceedable and have mortgage agreed.

Our initial offer was high as far as we are concerned, so that we could save time and show we were serious (ie the other offers we have made have resulted us in waiting 4-5 weeks and then seeing if the vendor wanted to reconsider but we did not like any of them enough to pay very much more).

I would expect any EA to say there is a 'lot of interest' anyway, but for the current one we are basing our feelings on the fact that the two other properties we had offered on with him are still on the market 6 weeks later with no better offers than ours, same-ish area.

We only e-mailed back yesterday at 16:30 stating our reasons why we felt the offer was ok, so perhaps we should let them think about it over the weekend (they may get more viewings but what can we do).

I suppose I feel dissapointed as we could have gone in lower, then upped it a bit etc, but we wanted to be taken seriously, I imagine any vendor that had a place to sell and got £10-£11k under asking price offer from a serious FTB wouldn't be that unhappy with it, especially in a non-central quite residential location. Besides, I wonder if we are not last on the boat as it were, because many FTB with decent deposits might have bought already that wanted to...

princessamy86 · 14 August 2009 at 4:17PM

If you only emailed back last night, then I would say let them think over the weekend. If there actually are lots of viewings, chances are they will be over this weekend and there's nothing like a bit of negative feedback to change somebody's mind about accepting an offer.

EagerLearner · 14 August 2009 at 4:26PM

Thanks princessamy86 - in a roundabout way here's hoping to negative feedback then!

How would you advise proceeding in round 2? nless I hear back from him this weekend I am envisioning on Monday calling him in the afternoon to ask if the vendor has had any 'further thoughts'...

Sweetcaz_2 · 14 August 2009 at 4:27PM

princessamy86 wrote: »

If you only emailed back last night, then I would say let them think over the weekend. If there actually are lots of viewings, chances are they will be over this weekend and there's nothing like a bit of negative feedback to change somebody's mind about accepting an offer.

That is true. I had a low offer on mine the day i put it on the market and rejected it thinking they would come back with a higher offer and were just making a cheeky initial offer. However a week later, and another six uninterested viewers later, I had heard nothing so I asked my EA to go back and ask if they were interested still as we had found a place and were keen to move. Luckily they came back with another slightly higher offer and job done

Good luck!

princessamy86 · 14 August 2009 at 4:44PM

I think phoning on Monday afternoon should be a good way of doing things, lets them know you are still keen but doesn't make you look like you are close to increasing the offer. The thing is just to keep your nerve and stick to your guns, be nice to the agent, and ask them to inform you if any other offers come in. They may or may not do this, and they may or may not fabricate another offer but that's something you can deal with as and when it crops up. At least you've asked the question for them to keep you informed, and it's another way of showing that you're interested. Got my fingers crossed for you!

Negotiating tips - FTB

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