Which offer to accept?

Naetha

We put our house on the market 2 weeks ago at "offers in excess of" £90k. We've asked for best and final offers to be in by 12pm tomorrow, but currently we have 6 offers between 100k and 103k. We then have another offer that was originally at 105k, then was upped to 110k without prompting. This person has a 15% deposit and the rest will be financed by a BTL mortgage that has already been approved subject to survey.

Is it sensible to accept the offer of 110k even if it's considerably more than the others? The house needs a considerable amount of work (mainly cosmetic, but also has some damp issues, although not rising damp thankfully) and I'm worried that the mortgage company will turn around and say they won't finance 93.5k.

Any advice? Am I just looking a gift horse in the mouth?

Doozergirl

I'd always try to address survey issues before they arose.

If it's not rising damp, then it shouldn't cost £7k to fix it, so use some of this extra to address the issue and get the best price you can. Or, if the survey does downvalue you have at least some negotiating room.

Mortgage companies are not overly concerned with decor at least

village_life

in your shoes, my concern would be that the buyer is purchasing the house as a BTL, and so isnt looking for a "home" but rather an investment... if they get down the line and turns out they are paying over the odds @ £110k, they are more likely to pull out, and particularly if other properties come on the market in the same area at lower cost etc...

difficult game to play, but i'd err on the side of caution and go for the buyer that wants the house as a home, is aware of its limitations and is pitching at a value that is truly fair -that way they wont get any surprises and so wont be put off!

Naetha

As it's a large 4 bed victorian corner terrace in a student(ish) area of Leeds, there's small chance of it selling as a family home - all but one of the offers are from investors.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-14527276.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

peterg1965

I would take the £110K BTL Offer. Thet can clearly see potential to make money. If the survey reveals a few 'surprises' you have some negotiating room and will still achieve above the original valuation.

Woby_Tide

peterg1965 wrote:

I would take the £110K BTL Offer. Thet can clearly see potential to make money. If the survey reveals a few 'surprises' you have some negotiating room and will still achieve above the original valuation.

or they can clearly see the potential to make sure their offer is accepted by making it artificially high before negotiating down to the same level as the other offers once the wheels are firmly in motion. People buying for an investment should surely a) know the market b) not pay more than they need too.

nifferwilko

Naetha wrote:

As it's a large 4 bed victorian corner terrace in a student(ish) area of Leeds, there's small chance of it selling as a family home - all but one of the offers are from investors.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-14527276.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

A lot of investors seem to be buying in Armley as Headingley has got too expensive for them.

Just a random, but I go past your house on the way to work!! Good luck with selling it

Naetha

Well we've accepted an offer of 115k after last and final bids were submitted. I'm guessing this person will try woby_tide's strategy of negotiating us down, but even if they negotiate us down by 5k, that's still around the level of the other offers (most of which were increased to 110k).

Still - can't complain at all really