First time buyers with some questions

babymoo

Hi all, i've been wanting to move to this area for quite a while and so excited now I finally can.

Me and my DP are ready to move in together and buy together. We have a mortgage in principle of £110k. £42k deposit and £68k mortgage.

We are looking at a house atm and the asking price is "Offers over £100k" We have spoken to the estate agents twice about this house and the biggest problem we can forsee with it is it doesnt have GCH. The house is empty, no one living there.

The house other than GCH doesn't need anythign else doing that we know of other than decorating to our tastes but that's not urgent. We haven't had any surveys etc done yet. We think this is our next step should we decide this is the house for us.

Our biggest question is what should our opening bid for this property be should we decide we want this property? Also how much would we be looking at to have GCH put in?

Thanks

Babymoo

irishcol

No-one can value the house for you just based on the estate agent's asking price. You eithe rneed to provide a link, or do the research yourself - basically you need to look at the recent sold prices for comparable houses in the same street / area (google land registry sold house prices).

People will come on and say "offer 10% below asking price", but that assumes the asking price isn't realistic. In some cases, it might be. How long has the property been on the market? has the price been changed in that time?

For central heating, it depends obviously on the number / size of rooms. You'd also have to factor in the type of floor etc, i.e. the difficulty of getting under the boards to isntall pipework, plus the potential remedial costs. Ball park figure, £5 - 10k. A local Gas-safe registered plumber should be willing and able to come round and give you a quote.

In theory, the lack of central heating should have been factored into the asking price of the property, so don't automatically assume you can reduce the offer by the amount of the quote.

babymoo

Thanks for that. I am trying to do my research at the moment. Here is a link to the property. I believe the property has been on the market for about 12 months and I don't think that the price has changed at all.

babymoo

After a little bit of digging I have found that it was up for sale in 2009 at £110k and then again on 27th Jan 2010 at same price it is at now.

AndyGuil

babymoo wrote: »

After a little bit of digging I have found that it was up for sale in 2009 at £110k and then again on 27th Jan 2010 at same price it is at now.

Find out what similar houses on that street sold for recently.

Here is one from July 2011: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=33777998&sale=45809873&country=england
Not that much help as that one was renovated.

babymoo

This is a link for the sold price for the same street.

irishcol

babymoo wrote: »

After a little bit of digging I have found that it was up for sale in 2009 at £110k and then again on 27th Jan 2010 at same price it is at now.

That information tells you a couple of useful things. Firstly, noone has considered it worth the full asking price, which hints at it being "worth" a bit less than £110k. Secondly/alternatively, it tells you that the owners aren't desperate to sell - they're prepared to wait until they get an acceptable offer.

If you do like the property, I would consider an opening offer to the Estate Agent of something arbitrary like £93,500.

Start off the phoen call by saying that you have given it a lot of thought, worked through the figures and you are dleighted to have an offer for them. Tell them that you have based the offer on the properties current condition, the state of the market in the local area, and recent selling prices of similar properties. Explain that you are in a greta position to move quickly (AIP, good deposit) and that you would appreciate it if they could pass on your offer of £93,500 to the vendor. After that, say nothing - let them speak - their answer will give you a really good idea of how the vendor will respond. If they say straight away "they have previously rejected offers higher than that", just ask them to pass your offer on (which they legally must do, unless formally isntructed not to be the vendor) as your assessment is that this is the correct price in the current market.

Thank them, and hang up.

When the EA phones back, listen to the answer. If it's yes, then great! If it's no, then say thank you for his time and ask to be kept informed of any developments. Try not to sound disapppointed, or as if you will be straight back with an improved offer!

If at all possible, you want the EA to call you next, rather than you calling him. At this stage, you can listen to what they say and promise to phoen back, "after talking to your other half". The key is to get the vendor (via the EA) to be the ones who initiate negotiations on price.

hoep that helps, and good luck!

geoffky

Its been on sale since at least 2009...i would not be paying anything near asking price for this..

26 November 2010

• Price changed: Guide Price £110,000 Offers Over £100,000

11 January 2010

• Price changed: Guide Price £115,000 £110,000

01 November 2009

• Price changed: Guide Price £120,000 £115,000

05 August 2009

• Initial entry found.

babymoo

Thank you both ever so much for the insight I will talk to my DP and give it some thought. We are viewing the property tomorrow afternoon. Are there any questions we need to go armed with? Youve both been brilliant, again thank you.

pioneer22

dp=double penetration?

babymoo

DP = Darling Partner.