Had an offer....what is this a joke?!!

patch3228

Don't be too rash in rejecting the FTB - it sounds very reasonable and personally I would be aiming a seriously lower blow at you...althow I would personally never buy a 1 bed flat in the first place (no offence).

Keep your options wide open and good luck.

besonders1

"its just like a magic penny, hold it tight and you don't have any"

silvercar

Spending 40k doing up a flat at the moment seems overkill, you won't see a return on your money. You may have top notch gadgets, but people won't pay top notch money for them. What your investment will do is get you quicker offers than those similar properties that don't have such fancy gizmos.

System

To be honest, if I was in your position I would be happy that I'd received an offer at all. Buyers don't care how much you invested into the property.

QTPie

suckers2008 wrote: »

I was promoted a few times at work and went from a sales role to a Director role...I am now redudnat...and pregnant....at a push we could live here with 2 cats and a baby but I would like a house really
We are selling and then looking to rent rather than buy

Similar here (well not redundent, not pregnant yet - but trying...), want to upsize before we have a baby. We would happily rent for a while (and be chain free). So we are not desperate to move either, but most buyers expect you to place yourself over a barrel and grit your teeth...

You need to have a REALLY good think about it - what you are realistically willing to accept for your house, how desperate are you to move etc (could you make do?)?

There is nothing that says that you HAVE to take the offer made seriously, but I don't think that it is a bad offer (i.e. it is probably the sort of offer you can expect). You could be very very lucky and find a genuine buyer who falls in love with the place and will offer within about 5% of the asking price, but these are VERY VERY rare at the moment - so is it realistic to hope for one of these to come along?

If your house doesn't sell, then what will happen? The prices will most probably continue to drop for a while. If they do (and you never get a similar offer again), what will you do? Wait it out? Possibly rent your flat out for a while (rental market isn't great at the moment and it might be more risky renting out a "high finish" flat)?

Good luck

QT

GDB2222

If you're redundant, can you actually afford to turn down this offer? Bit tough, but aren't you a forced seller?

puddy

silvercar wrote: »

Spending 40k doing up a flat at the moment seems overkill, you won't see a return on your money. You may have top notch gadgets, but people won't pay top notch money for them. What your investment will do is get you quicker offers than those similar properties that don't have such fancy gizmos.

very true, with my flat, it was on for 7 months, first offer i had, i took. i had already taken off 60k, she offered me 10 below that. i cant get rid of the feeling that i have 'lost' 70k, whereas i know in my head that the money never exisited.
i think my flat took longer to sell that the OPs is because although it was all recently done up nicely, its not showey or 'wow' it doesnt have flashy white goods, it doesnt have a power shower or spa bath or anything like that, its just a home. now im having to negotiate with the property i want to buy and finding that these sellars dont think the property market has dropped. they have had theirs on for a year, they havent dropped it at all. they havent had any offers apart from mine, which they have rejected.

QTPie

glen8 wrote: »

How do you work that out?

If house prices drop 10% a house worth £200,000 sells for £180,000 where as a house worth £400,000 sells for £360,000

so the more expensive the house is, the bigger the discounts

sellers always fall into the trap of lowering their house for a sale but then not negotiating hard enough for the one they want to buy

I am working it our from places like houseprices.co.uk.

If we say that the markets are at "2004 prices", then in 2004 the houses that I am looking at were priced £475/£525k. HOWEVER their optimistic sellers are asking "late 2007 and then some prices" for them (i.e. drop in housing market? What drop in housing market?).

The houses that I am looking at are at the top end of the housing ladder (larger 4/5/6 bedroom houses) and these owners are generally being "less realistic" than others lower in the house ladder. At the top end, there is less housing stock (to show any decrease) and people are less in a rush to sell (often down-sizing, so happy to wait it out).

I can negotiate as hard as I like, if a seller isn't motivated to sell (most of those at the top aren't) then it isn't going to help... The value of a house is decided by BOTH the buyer and the seller: it just depends who is more willing to bend OR the house will just stay unsold...

QT

glen8

That's the thing though, a house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay

If the sellers of these 700k houses refuse to lower their price then they won't sell (unless someone generally think the property is worth it)

swings and roundabouts

besonders1

I would never spend £40K on doing up a house/flat unless I intended to live there. The advantages are that if you sell now, I suppose that you will get the most interest and the "best" (in this market) offers but the only people who will benefit is your buyer as they'll get all these "fancy" gadgets thrown in with the price or alternatively if you do decide to wait until the market picks up again, your flat will be out of date and require complete refurbishment again!