Newbie:Advice needed re offer on perfect home

san09

Hi all,

I would really appreciate your advice and opinions on what I should do.
I've found the (almost) perfect house for my family with an asking price of £149,950.00.
The estate agent told us it was taken as a part exhange for a new build, and is currently sitting empty.
We put in an offer at £132,500k which was immediately rejected, and we said the most we could possibly go to was £135k.
The estate agent said this was a very good offer and thought it may be accepted as there has been no other interest in the last 3 months. The offer was rejected after a day and the builder have said they want what they paid for it £142k, but we can have it for £140k.
We've made the mistake of falling in love with this house but that price would really sqeeze us.
Sorry for babbling, but question is do I wait now and hope they reconsider our offer? Do you think they'd be likely to accept less than they paid for it? or should we just walk away? Would they really lose a sale for the sake of £5k?

PS. We're in a really good position, FTB, large deposit and mortgage in principle.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

hazyjo

I'd leave the offer on the table for a week or so. Obviously you risk losing it, but if there's been no interest in all that time, it might be a risk worth taking.

Do you know what other similar properties have sold for? Is it a bargain, or do you feel it's overpriced? If it's a bargain, I'd probably bite their arm off for it. I'm guessing it's not as there's been no other interest.

At the end of the day, you have to pay what you think it's worth, not base it on what percentage you can get off the asking price. Obviously, if the higher figure will be a struggle for you, think very carefully before upping that offer. It sounds a fair one based on the asking price and the time it's been on the market, but I have no prices to compare it against, so that's down to you.

Jx

DVardysShadow

san09 wrote: »

.... Would they really lose a sale for the sake of £5k?

Meanwhile, in the builder's part exchange office:

"Would they really lose a purchase for £5k?"

Yorkie1

If it will stretch you financially now, make sure you do the maths on the affordability if / when interest rates go up ... you don't want it all to fall apart in 2 years' time when fuel prices have gone even further through the roof, inflation remains high and wages not following suit...

KateLiana27

Hazyjo gave great advice. It's all about what it's worth, not what you can get off the asking price. If it's worth £135K, leave the offer on the table and ask the estate agent to show you similar properties.

Try not to let the emotions get in the way. New properties come on the market and you will find something else as good (given that if it was so amazing, others would be trying to snap it up too, which is not the case here). These are huge sums of money we're talking about.

globetraveller

We lost our "perfect house" years ago and I'm so glad we did. We found an even more perfect house. Its amazing how many others will say they have gone through the same thing.
I think if you are already going to struggle- find your even more perfect house. The interest rates can only go up - and I have feeling that once it starts the rates were go up fairly regularly.
When you look for your next perfect house- why punish yourself by looking at houses way over the most you want to pay?
Honestly- stand back and take a reality check. It can be difficult to to do this when you are caught up in the excitement of finding your next house.

san09

Thanks all for your advice and opinions. Sometimes you're just too close to a situation to think objectively.
The house is competitively priced for the area and the schools are good.
I just feel we've shown how keen we are and they'll hold out for as much as possible, but the price they want is just too much of a stretch.
I think we'll wait a week or 2 and see how we feel. I'll do our worst case scenario sums and take it from there.
We've got to start applying for schools for our little one this September so it kinds of puts us in abit of a pickle. The schools by us are pretty awful and it just makes us abit more desperate to escape.
Just didn't think it would be good business for Barretts to lose a sale for the sake of £5k. It's nothing to them is it? but it's alot of money to a family like us.

KateLiana27

san09 wrote: »

Just didn't think it would be good business for Barretts to lose a sale for the sake of £5k. It's nothing to them is it? but it's alot of money to a family like us.

Unfortunately that gives them the ability to play hardball even more than a private seller. They don't care if the property sits on the market for a few more months - they aren't using the sale to fund buying a new house, to be able to move on with their life, etc. A little like buying a repo - the human element is taken out.

Keep looking actively and keep your options open. You're in a great position as a buyer so make the most of this.

TeamLowe

just as an aside, the deadline for submitting your application for school places won't be until januaryish time, (although obviously check and check again on the actual form) and you don't get a higher priority for submitting it early, so don't let that make you feel rushed into a decision x x

san09

All great advice, thanks.
We're new to all this and it all seems such a minefield.
You're right we need to step back and not get so emotionaly involved, but just finding it so difficult.
Thanks again for the good advice. Much appreciated
xx

flora48

Ther is always something around the corner. I lost my perfect property last year when I lost my buyer. Six weeks later we looked again and found a property of the same design only much bigger, yes literally around the corner!, which had been drastically reduced which meant we could to a refurb to our liking. So don't over extend yourselves in these uncertain times, there will alwys be something else.