What offer to make on a £265,000 house??

evergreen

We have seen a house we like (have only seen it from the outside so far as no more veiwings till the 2nd Jan) which has been reduced from £275,000 to £265,000. If we like the house from the inside and decide to put in an offer what price would be a good Starting point? Obviously it is just about the 3% stamp duty mark which is slightly annoying!

Any advice would be greatly apprieciated.

Kel

silvercar

No-one would expect an offer over £249,999, if the seller did the estate agent certainly wouldn't.

roswell

10 000 is a big drop already if desperate to move they will take lower but see if its been sold recently ..... it may be they cant take less ...

alared

Must agree with Silvercar £250,000 tops.
There was one near me started at £285,000 but eventually sold for £250k

chuckles1066

evergreen wrote:

We have seen a house we like (have only seen it from the outside so far as no more veiwings till the 2nd Jan) which has been reduced from £275,000 to £265,000. If we like the house from the inside and decide to put in an offer what price would be a good Starting point? Obviously it is just about the 3% stamp duty mark which is slightly annoying!

Any advice would be greatly apprieciated.

Kel

If you truly are keen on this place, ask the owners if they'll accept whatever valuation an independent surveyor places upon the property.

Then ask a reputable surveyor to complete a RICS survey; this will give you an accurate market value of the property (i.e not an untrained estate agent's "valuation").

Obviously, if the sellers are not happy to do so, you should ask yourself why............the property is almost certainly overpriced.

jellyang

I have just sold my house for 265k.
On market for 275, first serious buyers offered 260 but wanted to 'officially offer 250 & do a deal on remainder to avoid the stamp duty.
Then along came a buyer who offered 265k & wants the house so much he doesn't give two hoots about stamp duty.

It is a difficult price area to sell/buy but as I have told many viewers its a tax that I cannot control, it doesn't go into my pocket.

Its always worth offering 250 , you won't know if you don't try!

jewel22_2

in process of buying a property for £262500, was up for £269950 and he had offers of £250000 but would not accept them, its difficult because of the stamp duty threshhold...

chuckles1066

jewel22 wrote:

in process of buying a property for £262500, was up for £269950 and he had offers of £250000 but would not accept them, its difficult because of the stamp duty threshhold...

Shouldn't be difficult?

A few grown ups should be able to negotiate a deal that minimises any more of their money ending up in the Government coffers.

Jeez, I'm showing my age now, when we bought our house in 1987, the stamp duty threshold was £30,000. The house we were buying was £32,500.

A simple matter to negotiate carpets, curtains etc as "accessories" and avoid the tax.

shelly

Agree with a couple of others. Pay 250,000 on paper but do a deal for cash for the remainder.

silvercar

its the buyer that is committing fraud by under the carpet cash not the seller.

Alan_M_2

I think you'll find it's not that black and white, it takes two parties to commit fraud in these cases, the solicitor will be very wary of this as many sales around the £250,000 mark will automatically be investigates for fraud.

People make the same mistake trying to avoid VAT, the person paying cash is as guilty as tax fraud as the person taking it.