Putting an offer in?

flossy_h · 26 February 2006 at 8:04PM

I have seen a house for sale and the asking price is £99,950.

My circimstances are that im a FTB and have only been offered a maxmium of £91,000 that I can borrow- this is through a staff mortgage as I work for a high street bank.

Would it be acceptable to put an offer in so low?

Thanks in advance.

Claire_DC · 26 February 2006 at 8:11PM

I think it would be fine to offer lower. It said in my how to buy a house book (phil and kirsty one) 'Remember, the asking price is exactly that - an asking price. It will have started life as a valuation and then had the vendor's and agent's hopes and dreams added on. Sometimes asking prices aren't much more than what the agent or vendor feels they can realistically get away with whilst still looking you in the eye'

They also say that they prefer to have their first offer rejected, it's a shot across the bows and will help to see what the reaction is and also may make the vendor make a counter offer.

I would shy away from offering your full limit to start with as it leaves you no room for negotiating should you need to.. if you start a bit lower then you can always offer up to limit if needed.

Hopefully by doing this though, you may save a bit of cash.. and they can only say no!!

Dora_the_Explorer_5 · 26 February 2006 at 8:11PM

Your offer would be almost 10% less than the asking price, you could try but it doesn't look like a runner to me.

Claire_DC · 26 February 2006 at 8:13PM

By the way, we're also in a pretty similar situation with being FTBs - my other half works for a bank also and we're getting more than we should for our mortgage amount, but it still isn't enough with house prices these days - at the end of the day, you can only offer up to what you have available.

nmiah786 · 26 February 2006 at 8:18PM

If thats the maximum that you can afford and thats what the bank is willing to lend to you then why would you want to offer anything over that?

It depends on what you feel that the house is worth and how much you can afford to pay for it. Just go to the EA and explain that you are a FTB with an AIP and the absulote max you can afford is £91k. What is the worst that the vendor can say....NO.

Actualy put in a offer of £89k to get the vendors interest, if they except, well done. If not go back and give your absolute max of £91k.

Whatever you do make sure you compare similar sold prices of similar properties in the area, if there are any, to judge whether the house is actully worth paying the max. A house is only worth however much someone is willing to pay for it.

Good luck