Clueless about buying - advice please

expat_jo

Hi

My husband and I are ftb with a mortgage agreed in principle. I don't want to post too many personal details but ...

A house similar to one we rented about 5 years ago, and always wanted to buy, has come up for sale in a different village. However, this one, despite being identical, is listed Grade II. I have spoken to the conservation officer and we have discussed the modifications we would need/want to make (it is listed in the ea details as needing modernisation) which have all been done on neighbouring houses and he agreed the precedent has been set and they wouldn't be a problem.

However, it has occurred to me I have no idea how much I think this house is worth! We want to spend £250k or less to get the free stamp duty. The house is on for £275k but a few friends who have sold recently in the area have been told to price at £275/279k to get £250k, advice also given by our local mortgage broker based on his knowledge of the market.

I have looked on Zoopla and the prices have been greatly inflated as the houses have all been sold renovated (they sell for about £100k more). I looked in my old street and the last house sold, unmodified, went in June 2009 for £226,666 (we missed that one as we were just about to have a baby and had stopped looking!)

So, should I be thinking about offering them even less than £250k? Both villages are desirable with neither having any reason to be more expensive than the other (in fact, I would have thought my old village was "more desirable" - closer to towns etc.)

Would you expect to pay a premium on something that is Grade II listed or should it be cheaper as it will be more of a pain?

I know it's only worth what someone will pay and they will accept but ...

How would you go ahead with this if you were me?

Many thanks for any advice / views ...

the.ciscokid

You say it has come up... does that mean it has only been recently listed? If so, I would imagine you are not really in a position to play hard ball... yet.

People do pay a premium for character properties I guess, but I am not sure that the Grade II listing is what they are paying the premium for.

If you are keen to make an offer, I would offer the £250K as your only offer, stating that you are ready to rock with a mortgage in principle, and leave it on the table for 1 week.

Be prepared for it to be rejected though, and be prepared to walk away if necessary... That price bracket will always be harder to sell at because of the 3% stamp duty I guess, and I would hope that a decent estate agent would have primed the vendor for offers at the 250K mark. If they want a quick sale, I imagine they will go for it quickly.

That said, I would personally wait a while if I were you (unless you love it) and let it sit on the market a while. It may go, but there will surely be other properties.

GL

expat_jo

Thanks. Yes it has just come up ... and I think if we want it we will have to do as you say .. offer £250k as a first and final bid. As you say, they may be keen for a quick sale ...

Just didn't want to feel we had overpaid as the extra £25k would do a lot of renovating! But, I guess, if I look at it the other way, would I prefer to pay £25 and get the house I want. Hmmm....

Thanks again.

Doozergirl

Bear in mind that for a completion to take place in June 2009 then the deal would have been agreed before then and that was when we were in the depths of recession and the only house sales taking place were distressed ones - and they were going really quite cheaply in comparison to before (quite easily 15-20% less) and prices have recovered somewhat since then although we'e having a bit of a wobble, it's nowhere near the standoff that was happening in H1 2009.

If the average sort of price is £250k then I'd go with that - pricing at £275k will see them try for higher. You must be ready to go, give them as much detail as possible; mortgage in agreement, solicitor sorted etc.