Which houses should we view?

amandajp_2

I guess noone will have the magic answer to this but here goes...

We have finally accepted an offer on our house 14 months after putting it on the market (and 22% less than where we started!). We are going to look at houses at the weekend but in this market and with limited experience of buying houses wondered if anyone has an opinion on what sort of price houses we should look at. Our max budget is 250k - no way we're paying 3% stamp duty, do you think it is worth looking at houses on at 300k and putting in a cheeky offer around 250 or should we look at the ones the EA keeps sending us, smaller but around 240K? I feel its worth looking at the 300k ones but not if I'll be setting my sights too high and then get disappointed when we can't afford to buy. Any thoughts would be welcome.

Thanks
Amanda

poppysarah

Have a look on rightmove. Look at all propertys and weigh up what sort of thing you're after - whether you'd want to live in the areas that are cheaper or whether you have strict location restrictions.

Find some postcodes of areas you like - or use globrix.com with it's map function

pinkshoes

If you're buying in the same area, then a £250k offer on a £300k house is only a 17% reduction!! Hardly cheeky if you've accepted a 22% drop on yours!

QTPie

Difficult...

Personally, I would look on rightmove to see which properties you like for £300k -ish and down, then try to work out what they should be worth today (look at what similar houses have sold for recently).

There is so much discrepancy in the housing market at the moment: certainly in this area, some houses on at £300k are "optimistically" priced (i.e. that is their "peak of the market value"), but others are actually "priced to sell" (so £300k isn't far off what they are worth). Only someone who knows the local area, the local house prices etc could have a good idea of that...

Alos look at how long the property has been on the market at that price:
- a house new to the market is more likely to be realistically priced (but not always!) and they are less likely to accept cheeky offers (although some do).
- a house that has been on the market for quite a while and seen some price drops ARE motivated to sell (but depends how big and how recently the most recent price drop and the size of the total price drop in all).
- a house that is "optimistically priced" amd hasn't seen one price drop in the 9 months it has been on the market (like one I have my eye on!) is probably going nowhere fast: they are probably holding out for that optimistic price, even if it takes them 7 years to achieve!

So firstly you want an idea of whether these houses are reasonably priced, then (regardless of if they are reasonably priced) how desperate the seller is to sell. A reasonably priced house with a non-desperate seller isn't going anywhere... An optimistically priced house with a non-desperate seller probably wont sell.... A reasonably priced house with a desperate seller MIGHT sell... An optimistically priced house with a desperate seller probably will sell.

That £250k stamp duty threshold is a .... Depending on what your true budget is (is it £250k?), then you might be able to try to negotiate around it (i.e. negotiate for the "seller to pay stamp duty" ).

There are lots of factors involved in the pricing of a house and you cannot determine what a house will actually sell for until you firstly know a bit more about the seller's situation and secondly start negotiating....

I agree with "not wanting to loose your heart to a property that you find out that you cannot actualy afford"... it is a risk that you take...

HOWEVER, if your top is £250k, then I would DEFINITELY be looking at properties in the region os £275/£280k (possibly a little higher). There should definitely be negotiation available at houses priced in that region (they will be very aware of the stamp duty threshold and you could probably pay for any "white goods & curtains" seperately, if that suited). I wouldn't just be looking at houses priced £240k with your budget: at the moment, if you move, it has to be a long term thing (you don't want to be moving again for 5/7/10 years...).

QT