Advice needed

Julie_mcewen

Hello
Me and my OH have seen a house we have fallen in love with and want to buy. His apartment is on the market but not sold.
The new mortgage on the house is just going to be his old one ported over(my name is not on the mortgage)as the redemption fees are expensive but we have spoken to the bank and they are happy with this even though he will still incur a small charge because the mortgage is 20k less. but the charge will be £600 its not a great deal in the long run.
This is where the difficulty comes in.
Can we make an offer on a house even though his apartment hasnt sold?
What will happen if he cant sell it?
Or do we just tell the vendors that we are in a chain?

Help!!!

This is the last house on this street thats for sale and we really have fallen in love with it and one has already been snatched away from us!!

thanks

Julie

Doozergirl

It's not really appropriate to make offers if you aren't sold however I am aware that some agents are now encouraging this more as if they can establish the upper end of a chain with people accepting price drops, the people at the bottom with what should be the FTB property can drop their asking price accordingly. It might be worth asking their EA if the vendors have found somewhere they want to move to themselves.

Ultimately though, it isn't even remotely yours until you have secured an offer on your partner's place. The vendor will still be encouraged to keep marketing with a view to finding a buyer who is ready to proceed immediately (which you are not, without a buyer).

If you can't sell, you have to stay put. Are you getting viewings on his apartment? This is the area you need to concentrate on, big time.

Julie_mcewen

Its been on the market 2 weeks and he has his first viewer at weekend!
Hes willing to take a massive drop on his apartment if necessary.
I know we are being a little impatient but with the state of the market at the moment and this being the ideal FTB property we are worried that its not going to sell at all and end up having to stay put.
I cant se the estate agent trying to market the apartment at any other buyer though even though ideally it would suit someone who wants to downsize as there are quite a few mature people in the block.
He is more than likely going to have to take a drop in price as there are other apartments up for sale in the building that are a little cheaper. and being a new build they were all built exactly the same.
Its not ideal as its fairly small for 2 of us. but with us having our heart set on this house its making the waiting game even worse.

geoffky

how can you fall in love with a pile of bricks?..you would do yourself a favour and get your business head on and forget love

Doozergirl

Well, if there are more for sale inthe bloack and he is more expensive then he must address that. If you were to choose one flat to view in a block (which is what I did with friends last week - if they liked the block then we would have looked at other apartments) then you would pick the cheapest first.

If he is prepared to take a drop then he needs to be marketing at least equal to the cheapest flat so that he attracts all potential viewers of any flat in the block. When I've been in the same position with a 2 bed terrace where the two immediate neigbours were on the market, I undercut them on asking price, got my asking price and they ended up accepting less (mine was immaculate anyway but making yourself look cheap against your neighbours is a fantastic weapon and sees you more likely to get your AP)

The First Time Buyer is always the best buyer to have. Downsizers cause headaches because the chain ends up longer than it might otherwise be.

dander

You can make an offer, but the buyer won't accept it. Or if they do, they might agree to the price in principle, but there's no way they'd take their house off the market and wait for you. Unless they were insane!

If you're really desperate to get this house and you are prepared to 'take a drop in price' then your best bet would be to just market the flat to sell. Put it on at a really low price that makes people sit up and notice. If people don't know you're prepared to do a good deal, they probably won't even bother to view in the first place.

The truth is that selling anywhere is going to be really really really hard at the moment. Add on to the falling market the fact that it's July and typically a time of year where people don't buy anyway - realistically you are probably at the start of a long process. Property just isn't selling in a matter of weeks these days.

Personally, I would stay well away from viewing places you want to buy at the moment - unless you are incredibly lucky, you probably won't be in a position to put offers in for months (and that could be months in double figures!). On the plus side - everyone's in the same boat, so the house you love may still be unsold a year from now.

Julie_mcewen

When viewing the 1st house it would have been a good investment as it was a repossesion so would have made money on it straight away.But thats been sold now. The second house that is up for sale is just a little bit dearer and Its not so much the house but the street it over looks the park and not many houses become available on that st thats why we feel stuck.
Even given the view the price is the same as any other terraced house in the area.
He is going to see how the viewing goes this weekend and then if they dont make an offer reconsider the price to at least level with the lowest one in his block even though he does have certain things they dont!such as hes selling it fully furnished and all appliances are built in so hes willing to put all this in on the price.
We were just wondering the procedure of wether we could put an offer in on the house regardless of wether we had sold his, and wether they would be constantly on the phone asking when we are starting proceedings.

Doozergirl

Julie_mcewen wrote: »

He is going to see how the viewing goes this weekend and then if they dont make an offer reconsider the price to at least level with the lowest one in his block even though he does have certain things they dont!such as hes selling it fully furnished and all appliances are built in so hes willing to put all this in on the price.

Built in appliances aren't going to make the flat worth more, I would not account for those in asking price.

Furniture is a great bartering point. Do not include it in the property details. It's possible someone might actually be put off by a fully furnished property - its' very unusual for places to be sold furnished. Also, furniture is a wonderful negotiating tool you can sell items separately on top of the agreed price - buyers are usually happy to pay for nice bits and pieces - I got £100 quid less than I paid for my lovely range and (not fitted) dishwasher from our last house. Or you can use it as bait when you are showing people around to encourage a potential purchaser to make a good offer.

You can ebay most of it and get extra cash that way - you get the buyers to collect it.

Julie_mcewen

OOH Never thought of selling anything that big on ebay!
To be honest he bought the place fully furnished so its not as though hes making a loss on it, but we can just as easily take it to the new place its no big deal either way.