FTB - not sure what price to offer

Nervousbuyer_2

I have seen a property that I like for £450k, but I have a maximum budget of £400k.

What is an appropriate offer in this market (property is central London and there doesnt seem to be that much coming on)? I was thinking about £380k but is that ridiculously low?

Any advice appreciated as I am doing this by myself!

poppysarah

Suck it and see.

How long has it been on the market?
Have a word with the EA about what they'd accept.

Nervousbuyer_2

It came on the market about 6 weeks ago and an offer was made on it very quickly (I think at about 430k) but the buyers couldn't get their mortgage sorted out and they have pulled out.

I am thinking of putting an offer of 390 on the table and seeing what happens as I know the seller wants to move quickly and I have a mortgage agreed already. I hope the offer isn't too insulting!

Do you think that's ok? Thanks for your response!!

Bufger

is the 400k your personal budget or the most the lenders will lend to you given the information they have?

Nervousbuyer_2

It is my personal budget - I could probably get a bit more but I am not sure I want to stretch myself.

What do you think?

DVardysShadow

Nervousbuyer wrote: »

It is my personal budget - I could probably get a bit more but I am not sure I want to stretch myself.

What do you think?

Set your top limit, but put your offer in below that to leave room for the Agent to make out he has squeezed you.

Bufger

dont stretch yourself at all. I only asked because i wanted you to avoid the overstretching scenario. I personally dont think you have a great chance of getting this place if someone has offered 130,000. The vendors will be expecting that or similar again so they will likely just hold out.

I would continue looking and throw in an offer of 390k. You'll see by how quickly its rejected (or by tone of voice) how insulting it was. If so you're not likely to get anywhere even with your limit of 400k.

DONT GO OVER YOUR LIMIT. no matter how much you 'love' the place.

TrickyDicky

We have just had an offer accepted. We used houseprices.co.uk to find out what all the other houses in the area went for to see how "fair" the asking price was and went a bit under.

Running_Horse

FTB with £450,000? Blimey.

parallax_20

I'm selling my property at the moment and will give you my take on it from the vendors point of view.

1. I don't understand buyers who go on to view properties that are outside their budget. Your budget should stretch to cover the full asking price as a minimum if you really like the property. If you are then able to negotiate the price down then thats an additional saving to you.

2. Most people assume the asking price has been marked up by at least 10%, this is not always the case. They are priced against similar properties in the same area. So if this priced at £450K, then there will be other properties floating around that figure. Do offer slightly lower, but a £60K drop is massive for the vendors point of view and considered excessive.

3. Always have a buffer in place to cover any additional work after purchase.

I had a similar situation but on a smaller scale. We were selling our house for £180K, which is very competitive in our area. FTB buyer offers £175K...we weigh the options and accepted because of stamp duty boundary. Buyer has their survey done and raises a few concerns...all of which were recommended work by the surveyor which did not affect the valuation or their mortgage app and did not required immediate attention. i.e. rewiring the house, bathroom sealants, etc....all considered home improvements in my mind. Anyway, he tries to get another £5K off the selling price and claims he would have no additional funds to cover the repairs. I told him where to go...simply because he's already got £5K knocked off the asking price, which would cover any necessary repairs and no one is that stupid to over stetch themselves to the point where they can not maintain the property they are buying, or cover extra payments such as mortgage, bills, services charges, etc. He pulled out in the end, so an expensive lesson he's learnt as he must have spent £500-600 on the homebuyers survey and solicitors fees.

So moral of the story, don't be cheeky and always make sure you budget correctly, otherwise the only person in debt will be you and you could possibly made homeless if it comes to the worst.

Good luck.

ess0two

Nervousbuyer wrote: »

It came on the market about 6 weeks ago and an offer was made on it very quickly (I think at about 430k) but the buyers couldn't get their mortgage sorted out and they have pulled out.

I am thinking of putting an offer of 390 on the table and seeing what happens as I know the seller wants to move quickly and I have a mortgage agreed already. I hope the offer isn't too insulting!

Do you think that's ok? Thanks for your response!!

The seller is gonna have the 430k mark in their mind,best of luck.