Offer advice (FTB)

girl_withno_name

DannyboyMidlands wrote: »

If you cannot bear the thought of not buying this place then offer more and risk overpaying. If you are prepared to let it go unless it's cheap enough, then offer circa £105 but risk missing out.

I guess that is the big choice - and a difficult one at that! It is the nicest property we've seen, although it's marketed at £5k over stamp duty (our budget).... we've looked at similar and they've seemed a little more rough around the edges. On the other hand, I still don't want to be lining someone else's pockets unecessarily and if this one doesn't work out then we'd wait two months before looking again anyway, so would be a whole host of new properties on sale to consider I guess!!

DannyboyMidlands

If it was me I'd be happy to risk missing out but the I can't possibly know just how perfect this place is for you.

What I do know is there will be more coming onto the market all year.....and then the year after that............and the next..........thousands of houses.

girl_withno_name

Part of that problem is that there might be thousands of houses, but only a small proportion we'd be happy to put offers on... and that equals thousands of pounds in rent in the meantime too!

girl_withno_name

Looks like we might not be able to make an appointment to drag the parents along on the weekend (apparently the vendor isn't available Saturday and I will need to reshuffle plans to be available on Sunday). If we can't then I think we're gonna look to make an offer tomorrow...

I assume that we don't specify at this point what exactly is / isn't included (i.e. blinds, curtains, etc.)?

Is it more usual for the vendor to flat refuse or counter-offer?

DannyboyMidlands

In my experience flat refusal. At that point, if they don't tell you, you need to ask the EA what amount they would be looking for.

Then keep your head down for a few days.

girl_withno_name

Just placed the offer and looking for some further advice, if someone wouldn't mind...?

Placed an offer at £105k to which the estate agent said that although she was legally obliged to pass on the offer, it would be rejected and did we realise the property was on for £130k?

Quite quickly received a phonecall back stating that the vendor was quite insulted by our offer and won't accept anything less than £120k.

What should our next move be? Would the situation be made worse if we only increased our offer a little? Should we take the "won't accept anything less" statement with a pinch of salt or does it genuinely represent inflexibility from the vendor below this level?

Soundgirlrocks

I would be polite but firm with the agents, and I say I am sorry I did not mean to offend, I offered what I thought was a fair price give the current state of the market. They may well have spent 5k on carpets doors and garden but that doesn't mean they have added 5k to the value of the house. The market hasn't moved much in the last year, and they have missed the rush of FTB trying to get in before the stamp duty relief ended so will never get over the stamp duty threshold £125k

I would hold firm for a few days then maybe go back and up the offer to £112.5k (I like to offer an slightly odd amount I think it focus the seller mind a bit on a figure they weren't expecting an makes it look like you are really stretching yourselves!) and say that is the very best you can do and you don't want to mess them around gradually increasing your offer this is the maximum, take it or leave it. Push the point you are a FTB so no chain and are in a position to move very quickly having a solicitor lined up ready to be instructed (even if you don't - it won't take long to sort one out) I suspect they will take it after a few days huffing and puffing

cattie

I think it depends on the vendor. Myself, I get irritated by really low offers & it tends to put me off any more negotiating with potential buyers, unless of course their next offer is the one I had in mind to be the lowest price I would accept.

However, I live in London, so an area where the property market doesn't face the problems that some places are having at the moment, with difficulty selling. Here it's very easy to achieve selling price if you have a good property that is in move in condition.

I see little point in only increasing your offer by a little if you want the house & don't want to alienate the vendors. Be up front with the estate agent & let them know finances won't allow you to go above the stamp duty threshold. Sometimes agents can talk a vendor round if they feel a reasonable offer has been made & there is no more money in the pot for an increased offer.

Good luck anyway.

girl_withno_name

Is it worth emailing the EA to ask how they arrived at the valuation, and what work the vendor has done? While at viewings, the vendor has mentioned a handful of jobs done around the property but I'm no longer sure how many of these have been carried out during their time there - since one piece of work they previously said they'd done turns out to have been done by the owners before them...

lizzyshep

It's a tricky one, although I think the vendor is being silly by being offended. Anyway, my advice would be: if you really want the house and are not planning on moving for a while (so you won't end up in negative equity if prices drop in the short term) you should offer what it is worth TO YOU (as long as you can afford it). We are in the process of buying somewhere (in Barking, Essex), it was easily the best house we saw and we went in at a price we knew would be accepted (5K under asking price and what she had accepted from another buyer but the sale fell through). Could we have got more off the price? Possibly. But we wanted the house, could afford it, and weren't prepared to risk losing it to another buyer in order to get a bargain. So you have to weigh everything up - it's not all about price. I'm sure others would disagree with me though :-)