Sort of a 'what to offer' thread, kind of

skinnyman9000

Howdy.

We're FTB's, we've looked at 8 houses so far and we've found one that we're willing to put an offer in for.

It's up for £129,500 (which seems very silly to me given the stamp duty cut off). We've been to view twice, the second viewing we were there for a good 1.5hrs, had a proper chat with them and we're now wanting to put an offer in. They've told us in person that they 'need' £127k to afford their next house (again daft with the cut off). Now to me, the house isn't worth the asking price. It's very close to perfect for us, but I'm not willing to pay over the odds. It's only been on for a week but from what I can gather it's attracted alot of attention so far. We're trying to strike the delicate balance between not overpaying whilst not losing out on it either.

We'd be willing to go up to £124k, if they leave behind the nice big range cooker and american style fridge freezer. Now, do we ring with an offer of £120k with these items included, wait for the inevitable decline, wait 7-10 days, and then increase the offer? Or do I just ring, and tell it straight? £124k, no messing, first and final offer?

The missus wants me to go straight in at £124k, and I know that if we lost out on the house because I tried to go in at £120k she'd be pretty upset with me.

This house is 99% exactly what we're looking for, so please no replies along the lines of "offer £100k"

Any useful help appreciated though

ptkloon

I would offer £120k to start with and see what they say. When they say no, you can then wait 24 hours and offer £124k and tell them thats your maximum.
They will maybe initialy turn you down and come back in a few days if they don't have a better offer by then.

loobylou232

I would start at 120k then increase to 122k quickly. If that is rejected I would try and sit it out for a few days before going higher, up to 123,500. I'd keep the last 500 for an extra push at the end having 'borrowed from family' to achieve this level.

However, I don't want to buy this house and you do so emotions may not stretch to the above tactics! I think if you go in at 124k though it will be rejected as a first offer anyway, especially as it has only been on the market for a week.

motherofstudents

Agree with the above. You can ask for the appliances to be 'thrown in' but they may not agree. Don't make it a deal breaker. You hear so many times people have negotiated a price in the hundreds of thousands only to sqabble over a couple of appliances. Use them in your negotiations but don't let it cloud the issue of how much you want to pay for the house.

cattie

The only time I've ever agreed to leave my appliances behind is when I've had a full asking price offer.

I think you need to be careful here, you say the house is 99% perfect, which is pretty amazing as I've never yet found a house that I could say reached quite that percentage! Also, you say the house has already attracted a lot of attention, so obviously it must be priced right or quite keenly to have achieved this in just a week.

If you really want this house I'd be inclined to go in at a price I hoped would secure it for me & blow the competition out of the water. You may feel it not worth the asking price to you, but it may well be worth it to somebody who is going to view over this holiday weekend & how would you feel to lose out on the house? If you wouldn't be gutted, then fair enough, another house will come along that suits you at some point. If you would be gutted then consider whether to you it might just be worth it to pay that little bit extra than the price have fixed in your head.

BTW, most FTB's think property prices are over inflated, but if a house is attracting interest, then it clearly is priced competitively

skinnyman9000

Just to update people on this, we got the house yesterday morning!!!

We started with an offer of £120k, they stated they ‘needed’ £127k plus cash payment to leave the £1500 rangestyle cooker behind. After a bit of backwards and forwards we secured the property for £125k including the cooker.

Happy days all round!!!
Just want to say thankyou to everyone on here that has help us out so far, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty more questions to ask as the purchasing process really kicks off.

inmypocketnottheirs

skinnyman9000 wrote: »

Just to update people on this, we got the house yesterday morning!!!

We started with an offer of £120k, they stated they ‘needed’ £127k plus cash payment to leave the £1500 rangestyle cooker behind. After a bit of backwards and forwards we secured the property for £125k including the cooker.

Happy days all round!!!
Just want to say thankyou to everyone on here that has help us out so far, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty more questions to ask as the purchasing process really kicks off.

Good result!!