House Buying - Moneysaving Tips

Lord_Dante

@dippywelshbird: My advice, decide what you want to pay for it factoring in how much you can afford and how much you want the house. Only you can decide that figure. Then all you can do is stick to it and walk away if they want more. The urge to keep rising is always there but you just need to know when to walk away. Hope that helps and good luck

Leah26

dippywelshbird wrote: »

Hi all,

Newbie here! in need of some advice. I've read all that is about on the website and just wanted to gauge a reaction from forum users.

I've recently accepted an offer on our own house. Before placing an offer on the property that we want I got info on how the sale is going. They have only had one other viewing since ours (a month ago), not other interest. The house has been on for nearly 4 months.

So I put in an offer below asking - which was an initial offer to start negotiations. A very good initial offer. EA came back shortly after saying too low. Asked if I wanted to increase, I asked if seller wanted to decrease. Apparently can't accept below asking - which we're not willing to pay. Left there. Call back from EA a few hours later - the people that viewed only last night have apparently put in an offer. It is higher than ours but not asking price. asked me if I wanted to increase. I said that we can't pay asking price and therefore I was not going to make another offer. EA then changed mind and started to say they could take less than asking, but that the other offer was higher than ours, so if we wanted to increase ours we should hurry. Left that there.

We are willing to increase our offer, but my worry is that I don't want to be bullied into paying more than we have to. We do really like the property and have a max that we can pay for it. I don't know whether the EA is playing a game with this coincidental 'other offer'. Is it worth risking losing the house? How long is it ok to sit on and wait before increasing? Then I was thinking we'd go in with best and final next and then walk away if it is not accepted. Is this wise?

Any advice/pearls of wisdom/experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Strange that there was another offer immediately despite there being no other interest! Is it against the law for an estate agent to make up offers? I imagine it is... Maybe a 'friend' of the vendor has put in a higher bid on the property at the vendors request. Maybe I'm being pessimistic!

I would sit tight and say that if the higher offer should fall through they can contact you and you may be willing to resubmit your offer depending on the state of the market. Guess it just depends if you are willing to walk away.

Fabavb

Hi this is all new me along with buying our next house. The house we currently own was easy to buy as it was our first one. We now need to move.
We have seen a house that was sold and is now back on the Market at a lower price 169950. I put an offer in of 160000 but it has been refused. I was thinking of putting in another offer of 164000, am I going to high too soon? I hate negotiating any advice would be gratefully received
Thanks :j

lenda

House buying can be stressful, The advertised price of a home is not necessarily what you will have to pay. It's normal to offer an amount some way below the asking price, you can pay the price which is suitable for you...

GLA-LHR

Hi folks - a first time buyer from Scotland here. I understand that the system here works slightly differently to that described by most posters. Does anybody have a link to a description of *how* it differs?

And a specific - how should one expect to deal with a 'fixed price' in Scotland at the moment? We've seen somewhere we like - it's on at a fixed price of £178k. To be honest, we'd pay that - but obviously want to get the best deal possible!

My understanding is that houses for sale at a fixed price are often already 'distressed stock' - is that true? And if so, is it possible to generalise about what that means about the vendor's position - clearly they can't actually expect to get the FP, can they? But I assume that by going FP, they are trying to signal that they are already very near their bottom price?

In this case, then - does an opening offer of £165k, with strategy to increase to £166.5; £167; £168, make sense? Or is that pitching too low? Is anything too low these days?

Thanks in advance

GerE

I too am looking to buy a new build, and was wondering if the price is negotiable or you have to pay the book price?

paddytt

Definitely negotiable. Ask for everything - carpets, lawn, discount.. Be friendly but very firm.

There are lots of "variables", look for the ones that are worth most to you but cost them the least. They have plenty of labour available, so I expect a free lawn or even landscaping would be easy for them to arrange. They are not a bank so a cheap mortgage woudl be difficult. Try to find out how much the first houses on the estate sold for - they are normally sold at a discount, but this might show the bottom line price.

Get a double glazing salesman around your current house if you want some practice. You should have 14 days cooling off in case you accidently order something!

Good luck!

frankking110

These could be a great tips. Just to make sure the money you spend in buying is worth for it. Thank you for these tips.:money:

CAMCS

I wonder if anyone can please offer me some advice. I want to buy a house. The sellers want me to buy it. They are family friends. The house is going through probate. I have had a RICS building survey and valuation done. The sellers dont agree with my valuation calling it 'ridiculous'. I have no idea how to negotiate and feel very vulnerable. I am a first time buyer. I have a good deposit, can get a mortgage and can move quickly. I assume they have had to get a probate valuation done. Do these valuations differ drastically?

Indispensable_Hobbes

I don't know anything about probate valuations but can you obtain comparable evidence of the sale price of 3 similar properties?