first time buying, negotiating tips needed?

corum_uk67

Hi, i'm a first time buyer with a combined deposit and mortgage in principle total of £130k tops with which to buy a 2 or 3 bed house.
Given the current financial climate would it be reasonable to view houses on the market for £150k and be able to successfully knock them down to £130k?
Is now even a good time to buy, or should I wait for further significant drops in house prices over the next year or two?
Thanks.

tomstickland

Yes, I think you can offer £130K on £150K listed houses.
Waiting is best though.

My negotiation tip is to say "this is a shithole, I'll offer you £50K for it"

wymondham

corum_uk67 wrote: »

Is now even a good time to buy, or should I wait for further significant drops in house prices over the next year or two?
Thanks.

If you've missed the news recently, then be assured that now is NOT a good time to buy .... Never has it be clearer. Keep hold of your money and save until things calm down..

Procrastinator333

Hey there, I'm in much the same place as you, we have the deposit and mortgage in place and could buy when we wanted.

We went for some viewings over last few days. A few observations and my thoughts (for what it is worth!)...

Estate agents talk crap! I don't blame them (it's their job), but after the 10 ish viewings we had, I could have been forgiven for thinking it was 2004 with prices flying up.

• "We have another viewing tomorrow and a second viewing on saturday"

• "This house has a lot of potential and you could really add value"
• "The vendors have priced this to sell"
• "The vendor is only going to leave the property on the market for a few weeks before letting it out"
• "A sale has been agreed, but the vendor is struggling with a mortgage, so if you are quick, you could still get it"

Then you go look up on the land registry and find that the exact house for sale was purchased 12 months ago for less than it is currently for sale at

Buying a house is filled with emotion and impulse. I found it so hard to hold myself back. You walk round a nice house and start thinking you like it, all of a sudden you worry you will never find another like it - rubbish!

I only found property bee tonight and it is fantastic! It shows you how the person advert on rightmove has changed over time. Couple this with knowledge of other sale prices on the street and knowledge about the vendor and you are in a strong position. E.g. We saw a house yesterday and the son showed us around as the Dad was out. The bedrooms all had single beds, the EA referred to the seller solely as a he, not a they and the lad said they were desperate to sell. Makes me think it is a divorce in progress.

We have now found the area we like and the plan is to leave a standing offer with all the EA's. There are many very similar properties, we know they were going for between £260k and £320k pre crash because of land registry. Thanks to Property Bee we know over half of them have been on 6 months plus.

We will therefore say that we will be willing to make offers for that type of property in the range of £170-£210k depending on the prop. If any vendir would consider that range to let us know.

The worst that happens is we get no calls, so what, the majority of those properties will still be there in 2,3 and probably 6 months.

Bit of a ramble, but hey, would be interested to hear anyone elses strategy, tips or suggested improvements to the above.....

Procrastinator333

One other thing I plan on doing is making any offers on the day house price data is released... That way they wake up to news about house prices falling again, and then get my offer in the afternoon.....

zappahey

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

One other thing I plan on doing is making any offers on the day house price data is released... That way they wake up to news about house prices falling again, and then get my offer in the afternoon.....

Heh, I like that. I don't know if it would work but I do like your way of thinking.

Procrastinator333

Yeah, don't think it will make much of a difference, but you never know, it may just tip someone over the edge, but whatever happens, I got nothing to loose :j