Sellers market

nomorekids

In our area, its a sellers market, having lost out on a property when I refused to enter a bidding war, I was then one of two who offered the full asking price (£200K) on another in our preferred area. The EA asked what the maximum we would go over the asking price and we said 5K, two days later the EA came back to us to say we had got the house.

I was delighted and asked at what price, £205K was the reply. Was there any negotiating at all? not sure if there even was another party now and feel used by the EA to push the price up as they knew we had lost out on the other (which was for sale at a higher price so they knew we had a higher budget). The highest price in the road to date is £193K in 2007.

We are thinking of getting a home buyers survey done as the valuation survey is only for the mortgage. If the surveyor values the property at the 200K asking price, will there be room to negotiate the price down again then? Also will the mortgage be based on the price we offered or the valuation price as a lower mortgage will obviously mean we have to find a higher deposit.

Your thoughts would be much appreciated, especially if you've had experience of this from either side of the fence

Doozergirl

I think that telling anyone what you're prepared to pay would be construed as an offer. Certainly from the way you've described what happened it does sound like they were asking for your best offer rather than expecting to negotiate on your behalf - it's definitely something you have to do yourself - believe me, that counts whether you are buying or selling. I will never tell an EA what I would be prepared to accept or offer as it's pretty natural that that will become the target price. I would not think though that another asking price offer would have been construed - if it's a price a vendor would be happy with, it's a price that the EA would be happy with. They will not jeopardise a sale to get you above the asking price - it's of little consequence to an EA in commission terms. 1% of £5000 is £50. Worth it?

Your survey will be based on the price you offered rather than the asking price and of course, it is in your interests to have as comprehensive survey as possible carried out. If it highlights issues that are a surprise to you then it would be acceptable to try and renegotiate based on those findings.

Whether there is 'room' for negotiating that price down is a question that only the vendor knows the answer to.

Fire_Fox

The estate agent doesn't work for you, why would he negotiate on your behalf when you have already told him what you were willing to pay? :huh: Are you in a strong position, are you ready to proceed? If so I'd have resubmitted my asking price offer in writing detailing this and proposed timescales, plus included the contact details of my conveyancing solicitor.

If you expect the survey to throw up anything worth negotiating over I'd question why you aren't having a full structural survey by someone you trust to give you multiple pages of detail, photographs etc. How old is the property?

diable

Where is this sellers market? If you walked into a car showroom and said that the most you wanted to pay was 12k then the salesman (estate agent) would try to sell the thing that earns him the most commission.

nomorekids

wow thanks for the quick replies, its a fairly modern mid terrace, no garage but big and nothing beyond minor colour of paint issues (vivid pink and black!) and the dirtiest extractor fan I have ever seen to worry about. I will have to proceed now at the higher offer and hope that the homebuyers survey will agree I have paid the correct price. I guess there is always a chance the agent has undervalued the property, just have to wait, I suppose but I do think I should be celebrating and not cross.

we live in an area of very good schools and commutable to london, I was one of 6 viewing a property at the week end, there was more buyers than there was rooms in the house. It was tatty, obviously over priced but under the magic £250K stamp duty, it is marked as under offer now and I expect the minimum it went for was the full asking price.

tabskitten

hope your right about the sellers market as i am just about to put 3 properties on the market and jump ship!!!

nomorekids

why? there is no decent interest rate to be had, do you think the current situation is a "bubble" and properties you have are about to go down in value?