A cheeky but reasonable first offer

Mallotum_X

If the last similar one sold at £135k then I'd be offering less than that as a start point. A nice paint finish doesnt mean a lot, once they move their stuff out it will need doing again anyway, certainly just because its a bit nicer probably doesnt justify an extra £15k unless they have done work to add value - extend or updated things that really needed doing.

Good luck.

nearlyrich

Don't worry about offending vendors if they like the offer they will accept it if not they will wait for a better offer. I think some vendors are living in the past especially if they bought high, round here 2 years ago a first time buyer was looking at £100k for a 2 bed terrace I was looking last night and there are loads in the £60-£80k range some of them quite nicely updated some in need of a facelift. I helped my DD negotiate on her first house recently it had been on for 3 years needed completely renovating and was on at £99k (next door sold for £125k in 2010 in a similar state. They dropped it to £79k and with a bit of negotiaion we got down to £61 so with the £12k renovation cost (kitchen bathroom CH and plastering & painting etc) £73k spent in total.

Lurker1972

we went on the market last autumn, our second viewers were like you, FTB, mortgage agreed.

They started at £12k under the asking price which we had to say no to. They came straight back with revise offer which was £2k under what we were hoping to achieve (& had based our own figures on)

Cue much panic from our side, as we hadnt expected anything so soon....we offered £10k less than the OIEO figure (place had already be reduced by £25k), but that was rejected....but were told if we could up by £2k, they would accept.....that then all hinged on our nice FTB increasing to our hoped for figure.

we had to keep our buyers hanging on not knowing if we could accept the offer as we needed to find somewhere for us, & i felt really guilty about it

anyway, what i am trying to say is dont worry if an offer isnt accepted immediatly, it may be that sums are having to be redone etc. We were told by a number of people to accept offer 2 because FTB are hard to come by...I'm glad we didnt as it would have meant we couldnt have bought the house we are in....which is proving to be a money pit, but also a really nice place to be!

If this is the house for you it will all work out.

Good luck!

misslrc

Thank you to all. Some really interesting feedback there (although the rising/falling house price prediction talk was a little less helpful - when IS it a 100% safe time to buy).
I found the post from the seller's perspective particularly insightful, so thank you.
Well, on Monday we offered 135k which was rejected within minutes as they are looking for "something closer to the asking price" so an hour or two later we decided to offer 140k, and stressed that this was a very sensible offer considering our position etc.
It is now Tuesday (the day after) and so far we have had no response - which I personally think is a good thing (no news is good news, right?). I appreciate that perhaps if we were prepared to do some hard graft we could really snap up a bargain but we both are so very busy working +15 hours a day, it's just not possible at this moment in time.
We are reluctant to go over 140 although may go up 1 or 2k if we can negotiate fixtures, fittings, white goods etc...
So watch this space...

Mallotum_X

misslrc wrote: »

Thank you to all. Some really interesting feedback there (although the rising/falling house price prediction talk was a little less helpful - when IS it a 100% safe time to buy).
I found the post from the seller's perspective particularly insightful, so thank you.
Well, on Monday we offered 135k which was rejected within minutes as they are looking for "something closer to the asking price" so an hour or two later we decided to offer 140k, and stressed that this was a very sensible offer considering our position etc.
It is now Tuesday (the day after) and so far we have had no response - which I personally think is a good thing (no news is good news, right?). I appreciate that perhaps if we were prepared to do some hard graft we could really snap up a bargain but we both are so very busy working +15 hours a day, it's just not possible at this moment in time.
We are reluctant to go over 140 although may go up 1 or 2k if we can negotiate fixtures, fittings, white goods etc...
So watch this space...

Good luck.

If they come back asking for more, then even if you are happy to go up a little I would leave it 24 hours at least, then go back and say something like "we have looked at our finanaces, and can just about go to £141 (or whatever you choose) but thats the final offer." If they agree then you must insist they stop marketing the property, make it as sold on right move and not advertise it inthe paper/shop window. Check this by asking a friend to ring up a few days later about the place.

Unless property is selling fast in your area (i guess it could be possible somewhere ) then you wont need to move fast to secure the sale.

misslrc

Thank you for your advice. In fact they just called after I posted and said " we were looking for something around 146000 ". So what I am planning is to now wait until Wednesday (and take my mind off it somehow) and we need to go in with our final offer (am thinking 144000) but establish what they will be leaving - carpets, curtains, white goods etc...
Now how to take my mind off it..?

oasisfeverish

Don't always use whole figures as in 135, 140, 144. Personally I would go back and come in with 142,250 and mention that that is your maximum. If they reject it, advise the EA that the offer is thee for 7 days only, if not accepted you will start viewing other properties not with that EA. As a buyer there are lots of choices out there at the moment, don't end up in a bidding war.

ray123

I would advise that you do not overpay for the house because prices in Hull have dropped by around 8% since April 2006 (according to Land Registry HPI) and the housing market is struggling at the moment.

http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/house-prices/house-price-index-custom-reports

The vendors paid 148k for the house and therefore require a certain amount so that they can move up the ladder. Based on the info provided, I doubt that they would accept less than 145k. However, you are in a strong position as a FTB so you should negotiate hard and be prepared to walk away from the property.

Offering 141k or 142k including fixtures and fittings would be a prudent strategy. Good luck.