Advice needed on next stage of house purchase (hopefully)

rgvkid

hi all,
i am a first time buyer,mortage is almost in place and there is one house i have seen (out of loads) which i really like.
i had a second viewing and spoke to the owner,who was basically saying if he was offered 105K he would jump at it (the house is 3 bedroom,the one next door recently sold for 105K but was in better condition and had a 4th bedroom conversion done,which would cost approx. 3-5K on this house).
my budget is 100K,but i would be willing to go slightly over for this one.
my question is.......... what should i do next ??
i can get a survey done for £105 all in,which i am tempted to do,then i can make an offer accordingly.i would hate to make an offer above a valuation (then i would have to find extra money,as the mortage covers 75% of valued price).
so......valuation ?? or low offer ?? (its on at offers over £89,950)
i am thinking valuation first is way to go.
any advice much appreciated.
thanks

marksimonpowell

go in low! you can always come up if you need to. if you start high and they take it you will be gutted. selling to a first time buyer is worth £thousands - you are in the driving seat

Tassotti

offers over 89950. not surprised he said he would jump at 105,000!!! Thats 16% higher.

Offer 85K and see what happens.

Doozergirl

The crunch valuation will be done by your mortgage company after you've had your offer accepted, so you just have to be confident that your offer isn't too high.

How long has this house been on the market? If next door is worth £105,000 in better condition, and considering your budget to convert the fourth bedroom (what kind of room is it now and are you sure on budget?) then there is no way you should be paying over £100,000 and (even without having seen the property), I can tell you that your offer should be much much closer to the asking price.

How does the asking price compare to other houses that you've viewed?

Heth_2

Are you in Scotland?
In any case I would go in with an offer you can afford, so not the 105K the vendor says he wants. Of course the vendor wants lots of money for his property, who wouldn't, but that doesn't mean he definitely wouldn't accept less than what he ideally wants, especially if you are chain free. We went to see a house last year where we chatted to the vendors. The asking price (we're in England btw) was 126k and they said they wouldn't accept less than 123k. We offered 120k anyway and they accepted it straight away.
If he accepts an offer and the valuation is lower then you could try to renegotiate?

rgvkid

hi,
sorry,should have said i'm in scotland.

next door sold a month ago at 105K,in better condition (freshly decorated and tidy garden) with the fourth bedroom (which the owner has apparently been quoted 3-5K to get done).

my main thinking behind getting a valuation done now is that it will give me a better idea what to offer(and how high to go) for £105 all in.
obviously,he wants as much money as possible and i want to pay as little as possible,hopefully we can find a middle ground(he is apparently buying his mothers house at a bargain price).
i gave the seller my card on the second viewing on saturday,i was hoping he might have phoned by now.
i spoke to the estate agents earlier and they said there have been no notes of interest other than mine,property has been on market for only a few weeks.

other properties i was looking at were offers over 75-90,none were fully detached like this one though.
thanks for all the replies thus far

andycarmi

marksimonpowell wrote:

go in low! you can always come up if you need to. if you start high and they take it you will be gutted. selling to a first time buyer is worth £thousands - you are in the driving seat

Def agree with this.

rgvkid

yep thanks,deffo dont want to spend more than i have to.
since i can get a survey for £105 (i feel the info will be worth more than £105),do people feel it is wise to get one,and then offer accordingly ??
thanks