advice wanted on house buying

zonecrew

we are finally about to buy a house, does anyone know if there is info online about the best way to bid for a house, or haggle. also, the do's and dont's of house buying

any help would be welcome

cheers

trafalgar_2

See if this is any help HERE

theGrinch

just out of interest whats your preferred way of buying i.e. auction, estate agent or private sale? I only ask as there are different approaches to each.

zonecrew

we are looking via the estate agents

thanks

AndrewSmith

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=175653

This thread will have some pertinent information for you.

Andy

lush_walrus

My tips would be:

1. Make sure you are in the best position to proceed, have a mortgage in principal arranged. Being in a position to move fast will always help getting a lower offer accepted. BUT, only if the vendor is looking for a quick sale. Some will not have even looked for a property when you put your offer in, so in that case it will be a matter of re-itterating that you will wait. So, find out what position the vendors are in.

2. Be nice to the EA and stay in touch with them all. If you manage to get on a personal footing with them and get to a level where you are the first person they think of when a property in such and such price range comes on the market, then when a new property comes on they will think of you 1st and you will be in a better position than the hundreds of other applicants on the list.

3. Do not run around putting offers in willy nilly. EAs will not take this behavour seriously and will advise the vendor that you are potentially a messer and EAs do talk to each other, so even if it is with different agents all the time, word will and does go around. Think everything through, then put the offer forward with justifications. One thing I would say is definately do not state I am putting in x offer because the property needs new windows, gas central heating etc etc. That will do nothing to convince the EA or the vendor that the offer is acceptable. A lot of people make that mistake, but remember that EAs value a property on its current state, not on how much it will be worth if x was carried out.

4. Know what the market is doing and what properties in your price range are worth and selling for. IE: keep an eye out on not only the prices that things are going up for sale for, but also what sort of offers they are attracting. If you see something in the price range you are looking sell, just ask the EA most will tell you and this will aid you with a general view of how to offer. If the market is stagnant, then vendors will generally accept bigger offers. If everything is selling, then of course they won't so there really is no point putting forward an offer for £20000 less than the asking price for a terraced house, all that results from that is that EAs dont take you very seriously.

Basically, in property as most things, knowledge is power. Find out as much as you can about the situation of the vendor (agian if they require x to be able to move, then there is little value in putting in an offer £5000 below x as they wont be in a position to accept it even if they wanted to), what the market is doing and be nice to the EAs and you will have a better chance of getting an offer accepted.

When you get to the point of the EA saying that the vendor will not accept x but will accept y, then get close to y amount. If you are £1000 or £500 off then there is a good chance that if the property is slow on the market your offer will be accepted. EAs want offers to be accepted, and some to get the situation moving will offer to reduce their fees to the vendor in order to get an offer close to what the vendor wants accepted. But, again in order for them to even offer that, they need to beleive in you.

AndrewSmith

Once again LushWalrus I think you and I are from the same school

:beer: