What should be our initial offer in these circumstances?

kurt-sam

We have found a house we like for 134995. However, the seller has a two week deadline to buy the house they desperately want or the short chain will collapse and their sale will fall through. We are first time buyers and would hopefully be in a position to move in within two months - job starts in the area at the end of Jan. The market in the area is very quiet - only one agent in each office! What would be your initial offer in these circumstances?

sleepy

You could always try a really cheeky £119,000 for "stamp duty avoidance". We are in a similar situation, first time buyers with person above us desperate to move. Their house is priced at £139,500 so I think we're going to try putting in an offer of £125,000 (they've already said they'll pay the stamp duty) and negotiating upwards from there.

Ian_W

It's a buyers market, you're both in strong positions being "proceedable" with no prop to sell yourselves, hopefully a mortgage in principle agreed, solicitor standing by etc, etc. So the world's your lobster!

Just one word of caution - the person you're buying off may need a certain level of offer for their figures, for buying the property they want, to stack up. If you get the knock back from a lowish first offer just bear that in mind. It might not just be "greedy seller" syndrome [though it might be!], it may be that your offer doesn't allow them their move, so no point in accepting it.

Just a point to bear in mind - both offers should be taken seriously, but if the vendors have priced keenly for a quick sale they may not be able, let alone willing, to accept too low an offer. BoL, does no harm to start low, you can always increase if you really want the property and you feel it's worth more.

sleepy

Ian_W wrote:

Just a point to bear in mind - both offers should be taken seriously, but if the vendors have priced keenly for a quick sale they may not be able, let alone willing, to accept too low an offer. BoL, does no harm to start low, you can always increase if you really want the property and you feel it's worth more.

Quite right, I actually expect the first offer to be refused. After all, if they accept the first offer you'll kick yourself because they might have accepted a lower offer. I would imagine that hopefully we'll meet in the middle of the the asking price and offer. We can't force vendors to accept offers that don't give them enough money for where they want to go, but equally they can't force us to pay more than we're willing to, if those figures don't overlap we'll just have to find another property.
Don't forget to emphasise that you are a first time buyer which means you can seal the chain at the end, which will ultimately mean they can proceed quicker.

Ian_W

We can't force vendors to accept offers that don't give them enough money for where they want to go, but equally they can't force us to pay more than we're willing to, if those figures don't overlap we'll just have to find another property.

Spot on sleepy. Was just trying to make the point you did, but wasn't as clear as you've put it. Too often advice along the lines:
Buyers market, your [sic] in charge. Offer em 93% max, tell em to stick where the light don't shine if they say no. Greedy seller, blah, blah!!
is forthcoming when someone asks for advice on what to offer. Negotiations have to be win/win for both parties or one walks away. Some people, whose inexperience burns bright, like a beacon, don't understand that. You clearly do.
Good luck to both of you [and hope they don't accept your first offer!! :rotfl: ].

jockettuk

we were in a similar position abt 15 months ago first time buyers cash waiting thought we would be cheeky and offer silly prices then what we thought were resonable prices.. to cut a long story short by messing around we lost out on both houses we tried this on with as there were other people looking as well. might be a buyers market but theres more out there buying than just you and on one occasion the house the vendors wanted fell through so they pulled theres off the market.. so if you really want the house and its reasonably priced think twice abt messing abt.. mabey offer 5k under but if they refuse that chances are they want the asking price...

sleepy

Well we offered £125,000 today, was very quickly told no. We're currently negotiating in the low £130,000's. Essentially we genuinely cannot go above £132,000 and they need £133,000 and at that price they won't pay the stamp duty. I really don't want to miss out on the property for the sake of £2,000 (the extra £1,000 they need and the stamp duty) but we really can't find it anywhere so it looks like I might miss out. It's a shame because my partner and I really did love it. He suggested getting a loan for the 2 grand but as much as I love the house I don't think anything is worth taking a loan out for (I have a very healthy fear of loans - one of the reasons I don't have a car).

zag2me

Hold firm, give them your final offer of 132,500 or something. Make it known you will be walking away if they ask for more. Any resonable seller would accept that, they are probably thinking "is it worth 2k to loose the sale" too.

mummytofour

Hmm I dont think I could allow a sale to not happen for 2k, but then I think it depends on how badly you want a house.

A friend of mine is currently in the middle of purchasing a house, the house had 10k in the end knocked off the price, she was saying to me that she wonders if she is still over paying, but as its the ONLY house within the area that fits everything she need, she has to see it as thats the price the seller would take and she wanted it, I guess thats how it goes sometimes.

Good luck, I hope you can work something out.

sleepy

zag2me wrote:

Hold firm, give them your final offer of 132,500 or something. Make it known you will be walking away if they ask for more. Any resonable seller would accept that, they are probably thinking "is it worth 2k to loose the sale" too.

We can't even afford £132,500, the £132,00o will stretch our finanaces as far as they can possibly go. We really want the house and don't want to miss out on it, but as much as £2,000 is a comparitively small amount,we just cannot afford it.

sleepy

Update - They accepted the £132,000. Am so relieved and excited. Relieved because we really couldn't afford to increase it any more and excited because now we have our very first house and we love it!!!!!!