Should I Put in an Offer?

JenFloss

I'm hoping to get some advice on whether or not I should put in an offer on a flat. The property's on the market for offers in the region of £129,950. I can really only afford £125,000 max (and to avoid stamp duty). Do you think it would be viable for me offer £125,000 but explain that I will not have access to funds until the end of August and therefore am happy to proceed to exchange but will not be able to complete until the beginning of September? As they're not in a chain they may not necessarily be desperate for the money but would be happy to get a reasonable price for their flat. Do vendors ever go for this kind of arrangement? Thanks in advance.

bmar71n

i would first look at a home that qualifies for the NewBuy scheme, if you qualify you only require 5% deposit

more details on: guardian.co.uk/money/2012/mar/12/newbuy-scheme-how-does-it-work

Ivana_Tinkle

Why not offer, say, £120,000, or whatever you could afford right now? If they say no, you can always offer more with the proviso that you wouldn't be able to complete for a few months.

cattie

Unless you are offering full asking price, I can't see them wanting to hold off until September to complete the sale. I know I certainly wouldn't as I'd prefer to stay on the market in the hope that a buyer in a position to proceed would come along. Somebody with such tight finances offering on my property, without the full deposit safely in the bank, would worry me.

JenFloss

Thanks Ivana Tinkle. I would prefer to go in with a lower offer as you suggest, but I don't have 10% of £120,000 ready to give the solicitor in 4-6 weeks or however long it takes to get to completion. I was thinking that offering a slightly higher price of £125,000 would give me some bargaining power (I have to do this kind of thing for my work - but unfortunately have no experience of buying property!).

Gonzo33

cattie wrote: »

Unless you are offering full asking price, I can't see them wanting to hold off until September to complete the sale. I know I certainly wouldn't as I'd prefer to stay on the market in the hope that a buyer in a position to proceed would come along. Somebody with such tight finances offering on my property, without the full deposit safely in the bank, would worry me.

I am with Cattie on this one. Especially as the vendor is pregnant, they might need to move faster than you can. I have been in the same situation as the vendor and couldn't get out from in-laws feet fast enough.

Wantahouse_2

Just to point out in case you are over looking.... you have to pay the 10% deposit at exchange.... so if you don't have the deposit together until August, you won't be able to exchange until then. I think you are getting ahead of yourself with viewing already. We are only going to start viewing when we are at the most 8 weeks away from having all the money we need - we figure it will take a few weeks at least of viewing before we'd put an offer in - even if we found somewhere straight away we'd view it a few times before putting in an offer - and then on average its 8 weeks from offer accepted to exchange/completion, giving us the necessary time to get all the money together.

If you're not going to be in a financial position to proceed until August, you should wait - if I was a vendor I'm not sure I'd be happy waiting 5/6 months for a sale to go through

JenFloss

Thanks for all of this advice everyone. Being a FTB I have no idea what's acceptable, so hearing your views is really helpful. I only started looking at properties to get an idea - I wasn't expecting to find something I like quite so much so early on. I will bear all of this in mind. Thanks.

hazyjo

You'll probably need to show your deposit's in place before you can get a formal mortgage offer.

If the flat is up for 'offers in the region of £129,950' they will not be expecting to get anything over £125k (unless they're absolutely deluded).

If they paid £115k in 2008, it's probably worth even less now (unless we're talking about London or somewhere highly desirable). Generally, prices have dropped. You shouldn't be concerned with what they've 'made' on the flat. In a recession, people generally lose rather than make! That's the gamble with property. They'll probably be buying something bigger now that they might not have afforded before, so it's all swings and roundabouts.

I would be going in far lower than £125k!

See what similar nearby properties have sold for.

It will probably take around three months to complete - only a month off the four you need. I'd be inclined to wait a month before putting in an offer (presuming you can get the mortgage agreed). Obviously you risk losing it though...

Jx

J_i_m

Personally I'll be waiting until I have my full target deposit ready.. And some money set aside for fees before I even consider viewing a property.

I don't want to get myself in a situation of a bidding war or buying process when my funds are not in place.

Until the 2 or more years I envisage of saving towards my deposit are up it's the odd flick through rightmove but no actual viewing or offers.

The_Palmist

Offer low..£120,000 or even lower.
Do not fall in love with property and be practical. I know negotiating isn't easy but its your money.
Do not worry too much about your impression to the EA, if you come across as a Stooge...so be it.
Offer low, you get the place your gain...if not you haven't really lost anything as you never had the money to buy it anyway. Vendors will only wait till a better offer comes along and so would anyone.
So go really low, what have you got to lose ?