Advice needed - buying a house that's on hold at estate agents!

chickien_2

Just after a little advice about a house purchase. Basically me and my husband are first time buyers and have been looking for a house for a long time. We’ve finally found one we are really keen on but just wanted any advice on how to precede. I was listed this morning at offers over £150,000. I called the agent at lunch but they told me they’d been asked by the seller (English Heritage) to put the property on hold for 2 weeks (They weren’t sure why).

I called the English Hertiage location and they confirmed it was for sale, the lady I spoke to said she wasn’t sure why it had been put on hold either, but to keep in touch with the estate agent about it.

In your opinions, would the right thing to do be to get a mortgage in principle and let the agent know we are really keen on the property? Will we come across as too desperate? Also, what sort of offer should we make on the house (It’s in an unusual location with not many houses around to compare past sales etc to) is it standard practise to offer a couple of thousand pounds over this figure, or the exact figure??

Sorry for all the questions! Thanks for taking the time to read this, it’s very much appreciated!

princeofpounds

It's never a good idea to let them know you are really keen. Just keen enough to offer and keen enough to complete. Being keen won't win you any points.

There is no standard practice on offers. Try to work out what its value is to you and offer that, with a little room for negotiation if that is your style. The listing price can be any price on planet earth and you should try not to anchor on it.

Be a little bit cautious; if the agent is 'holding' the property for their own reasons things can be a bit more complex. Are you sure the request to hold came from EH itself?

(Note that in this instance I'm not accusing the agent of anything, just trying to clarify what the OP has been told).

chickien_2

Thanks for your advice princeofpounds, I'd never thought about them maybe having their own reasons for the hold (and I understand what you're saying, that may not be the case). It's really helpful to have these things pointed out as I feel I may be a little naive when it comes to the whole process.