Advice for FTB putting in an offer on a house

zchas42

Hi there - any advice gratefully received!

My wife and I are FTB's with our deposit ready and a mortgage agreed in principle on a house.

We have found one we'd like to buy and made two viewings already, with a third coming up this weekend.

The asking price has already dropped from £195,000 to £189,000. The vendors purchased it in 2006 for £193,500.

Basically, the vendors have had an offer accepted on a house but are keen to get things moving as they are worried they are going to lose it if they can't find a buyer soon.

All this should play into our hands I feel!

The agents phoned us today to say that the vendor will drop their asking price to £182,000 if we can get on with it, but this may be withdrawn if the house the vendor is trying to buy falls through.

Now, I can't actually stretch to this. Our budget is really £175,000 as we can't quite find the money for a deposit and stamp duty at the same time.

What would you other MSEs offer? I don't want to get into protracted wrangling and then have the vendor miss their house and increase the price again. Equally I obviously want to pay as little as possible...

I was thinking £170,000, but maybe £165,000 would be a better opener?

Many thanks for your thoughts.

zchas42

patch3228

zchas42 wrote: »

any advice gratefully received!

What would you other MSEs offer?

Based on your budget, I would offer £165 with a view to agreeing on £173K ... but my gut feeling is that this is a no-go

I think a price-drop from £195K --> to £182K is OK, but how much does the vendor's target house cost (is it viable/ possible for them to drop further from £182K to £175K)...just my gut feeling thou

Georgie4

patch3228 wrote: »

Based on your budget, I would offer £165 with a view to agreeing on £173K ... but my gut feeling is that this is a no-go

I think a price-drop from £195K --> to £182K is OK, but how much does the vendor's target house cost (is it viable/ possible for them to drop further from £182K to £175K)...just my gut feeling thou

I agree with the gut feeling comment - if they are looking for £182k they are extremely unlikely to accept £173k and would dismiss £165k out of hand. Why don't you offer what your limit is and ask if they will pay the stamp duty - that would look more like a serious offer. I think people are mistaking how desperate people are to sell their houses - most people will not simply sell at any price , they have another house to fund as well

Just my opinion

pawpurrs

It looks to me like £182 is their bottom line, I think 165k will not be accepted its allready a lot less than they paid for it, have they done much work to the property?

Xinpei

Hi, if they bought in 2006 - that is very near the peak so just assuming a 10% drop in prices, it will take it down to 174K. Do you know the average drop in prices in the area this house is? I think your ceiling price of 175K is right..

Goodluck with it!

pawpurrs

Prices went up a lot between 2006 and 2007.

hethmar

If you cant meet the price, Im not sure why you are visiting for a third time?

It all sounds a bit iffy to me whilst you could have a go at a low price it may mean they cant buy the house they have offered on so it will be a no go anyway.

pinkshoes

As the vendors are selling to buy something else, then they've probably got a minimum they can accept.

They've only owned it for a couple of years, and are already asking less than they paid for it. If they drop any lower, then potentially that would leave them with negative equity, and not enough to pay the deposit on the new place they're buying...

You really should be honest with them about your budget, as if they've priced it at £189k to sell, then they're going to be a bit p*ssed off when they find out your max budget is £175k!!

zchas42

Thanks guys!

Really appreciate the advice. I guess £165,000 is overambitious. I'll probably just be honest with them, and if they refuse £175,000 ask if they can pay our stamp duty - if they do that I could probably find the extra deposit to stretch to a compromise at £180,000 to £182,000.

All this business is a weird mixture of excitement and terror!

zchas42

pinkshoes

zchas42 wrote: »

Thanks guys!

Really appreciate the advice. I guess £165,000 is overambitious. I'll probably just be honest with them, and if they refuse £175,000 ask if they can pay our stamp duty - if they do that I could probably find the extra deposit to stretch to a compromise at £180,000 to £182,000.

All this business is a weird mixture of excitement and terror!

zchas42

Are you sure you want to be stretching yourself that much? Don't forget you'll need money for solicitor fees, moving costs etc... then you'll need back up money for emergencies (boilers dying, leaking pipes etc...) and it's always advisable to have money in your account to pay your mortgage for several months should you lose your job!

(not being pessimistic - just realistic!)

sharpe106

I would not bother to stretch yourself to the limit, carry on looking elsewhere for a house that is more in your price range, a lot people get into financial difficulty because they maximise what they can borrow to get the best house they can and when any problams arise they can not cope.