What to offer?

KathrynPenguin

We saw a house today that we think is perfect for us. :j It is however a bit on the pricey side given our available money. The vendors have already lost one purchaser at the 11th hour (2 weeks before exchange) and are anxious to sell as their are 2 families living there and both are leaving the country to start new lives abroad (it has a nice annexe!).

The property is listed at 550k, I am interested in purchasing my current house on a buy to let mortgage, Mum is able to raise about 400k by liquidating her assets and she can later sell her own house. This means that we are able to effectively make a "cash" offer for a quick sale with no chain. Bearing in mind the stamp duty goes up by 1% at 500,001 - adding a fair few thousand, does it seem reasonable to offer 500k and something for fixtures and fittings (there are nice curtains etc and they are emigrating)? Or does this seem a bit cheeky?

What would you offer 1. for the house and 2. for the F & F

p.s. If we move in you are all welcome to come round and join us in the spa!:rotfl:

lilyann1

If you are a cash buyer with no chain the offer no more than £500k as you are in a brilliant position.
People will know about the stamp duty going up another 1% at over 500k so at the moment I would offer 500k and nothing for the fixtures/fittings until the time comes that you have to?
We were told that that you can only allow about £5k for F&F as above that then you cannot go through the legal process as it is seen as a way of avoiding SD,which is it of course.

RHemmings

If you can find a cooperative friend, get someone else to put in a lowball bid on your behalf. You can probe their willingness to drop the price considerably. And if they don't, you can come in with your own more realistic bid later on, which will look better by comparison. If the vendors accept the lowball bid, then things become more difficult, but you could have them "fall through", and then bid slightly more yourself with more confidence that your bid will be acceptable.

Note that I am no lawyer, so you might want to check that this strategy is actually legal.

KathrynPenguin

Thanks for all your help. The link was great, unfortunately this is quite a rural area and the only house it turned up was this one - when the current vendors bought it and before they added the annexe. We have had an offer accepted, we found out about the F&F but there was some leeway there as they do include a very expensive spa in the garden (and yes some people do take them with them, my mate took hers to Scotland!).

Thanks for all your help - trying to complete in 28 days!