Have I paid too much?

dreamalive

I've recently bought a house with my partner. The asking price was £135,000 and we bought it for £130,000.

I know we've saved £5,000 but in this current climate could we have saved more?

We originally went in at £120,000 and was told the vendor wanted something "substantially closer to the asking price". We then went in at £128,000 and eventually agreed at £130,000.

We only had a basic valuation/survey done it said that houses of this type are valued between £120,000 - £140,000.

It also said that maintenance, repair, and upgrade would be required. Plus the electrics were a cause for concern as they were old. The house also needs replastering in most rooms.

Do you think we should try and knock the price down a bit before we get to the contracts stage or should we settle for what we have paid? I'm not trying to be greedy but I hate paying over the odds, and I've been told it's a buyers market and maybe we could have got the house for a little less?

What are peoples thoughts? We are first time buyers too so the cost of the maintenance is a lot considering we have needed most of our savings for the deposit and the rest to buy all the furniture etc.

Would it hurt to try and reason with her - after all, she can only say no? Or have I got it at a reasonable price already?:doh::question:

Thanks for any help or advice given

Colincbayley

You've paid £130K for a house valued between £120-£140K, Seems bang on the money to me!
:beer:

Nosht

Do you like it?
If you had offered less you might have missed it.
It's pointless to worry about an imponderable.

N.

firstaspect

I'd be pretty annoyed if my buyer started trying to renegotiate the price while the process is going on (apart from problems in survey which require remedial action).

CloudCuckooLand

£125k is the original 1% Stamp Duty threshold...you could have said some dim and distant purchase made you non-FTB for SDLT, but FTB for new mortgage purposes - it would have been a useful bargaining tool...

Too late now.

Going up £8k and another £2k, when they only came down £5k overall, doesn't sound like the strongest bargaining in the world.

Plans_all_plans

Did you research the prices of recently sold houses on the street? When were the last sales on the street and what prices were paid? This will give you an idea of whether you've paid over the odds or not.

My gut feeling is that you could have got the house for less, whether that be by a few thousand or by a good deal more. I would say you made a mistake jumping from 120k to 128k in one offer and should have moved up in smaller increments.

Did you give a list to the agent of all the things that you felt needed attention in the house e.g. electrics redoing etc to 'justify' your first offer? Did you emphasise your position as a first time buyer able to move quickly?

If I was selling and not desperate to sell, I wouldn't look to kindly on someone revising their offer unless the survey threw up issues.

JimmyTheWig

firstaspect wrote: »

apart from problems in survey which require remedial action

Yes, I think this is key.
If something's come up on the survey that is going to cost you money that you didn't know about then fair enough ask for money off. Ask for the whole amount off and be prepared to settle happily at 50/50.
But otherwise all you risk doing is aggrevating the vendors. You don't really want to be doing that.

iamana1ias

dreamalive wrote: »

I've recently bought a house with my partner. The asking price was £135,000 and we bought it for £130,000.

Have you handed over the money yet? No? Then you haven't bought it!

dreamalive wrote: »

We only had a basic valuation/survey done it said that houses of this type are valued between £120,000 - £140,000.

:doh: Very rarely a good idea.

lilac_lady

If you really love the house then you've not paid to much for it. If you don't, then you have.

westlondonbuyer

You've got buyer's remorse before you've even bought, that's not a good sign!

As Lilac_Lady says, if you really love the house you won't have paid too much. I'm thinking you're regretting not getting a buildings survey carried out and are worried you've underestimated the costs of works. You can still get this carried out if you wish, there's nothing stopping you, apart from the fear of spending more money. You can even get a builder to go round and quote.

You can always walk away at this stage, of course, if you think you've made an expensive mistake. It just depends whether you think you'll regret that decision, too.

satchmeister

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Yes, I think this is key.
If something's come up on the survey that is going to cost you money that you didn't know about then fair enough ask for money off. Ask for the whole amount off and be prepared to settle happily at 50/50.
But otherwise all you risk doing is aggrevating the vendors. You don't really want to be doing that.

With the basic survey you no idea what the work will cost, get a builder in to assess it then look at the entire cost, compare this with what else is on the market and what others have sold for so that you can make an informed decision.