Offers over and home report valuations..

Chimpofdoom

So my GF and I are looking at a flat near Edinburgh, which has an asking price of "Offers over £125k", however the valuation in the home report says £125k.

Think the seller wants more than 125k, or if we go for it, put in a lower offer? Obviously would like to avoid stamp duty

googler

If the HR valuation is £125k, then, as long as your/buyer's lender accepts the seller's HR (some don't, as you can see from another thread here recently), the maximum you or any regular buyer will be able to borrow (incl deposit) is £125k.

Unless you're in competition with someone else who has a larger-than-normal deposit, and who can offer more, you shouldn't be considering offering more than £125k, both for Stamp reasons and for the reason I've outlined here

Houses and flats do sell at prices below their 'Offers Over' price.

Your solicitor should establish from the selling agent how long it's been on market and how many notes of interest there are (if any). If you want it, get your solicitor to send in a written offer of £124,500, £124,995 or whatever you want to offer.

If they accept, all good and well.

If they decline outright, walk away and find somewhere else.

If they declare a closing date, get your sol to establish how many notes of interest they have at that point, and also on almost a daily basis up to closing. If they have no others, there's no point in the closing date.

Chimpofdoom

googler wrote: »

If the HR valuation is £125k, then, as long as your/buyer's lender accepts the seller's HR (some don't, as you can see from another thread here recently), the maximum you or any regular buyer will be able to borrow (incl deposit) is £125k.

Unless you're in competition with someone else who has a larger-than-normal deposit, and who can offer more, you shouldn't be considering offering more than £125k, both for Stamp reasons and for the reason I've outlined here

Houses and flats do sell at prices below their 'Offers Over' price.

Your solicitor should establish from the selling agent how long it's been on market and how many notes of interest there are (if any). If you want it, get your solicitor to send in a written offer of £124,500, £124,995 or whatever you want to offer.

If they accept, all good and well.

If they decline outright, walk away and find somewhere else.

If they declare a closing date, get your sol to establish how many notes of interest they have at that point, and also on almost a daily basis up to closing. If they have no others, there's no point in the closing date.

Thanks googler!

Got a meeting with the bank this weekend to see about getting a mortgage promise, so will take the HR with me!

Defo won't be going over £125k as that's a comfortable value that myself and my partner can support should one of us lose our jobs.

No closing date as yet, the property has only been up for around a month (if that), but as far as I know, we're the first to see it and we've seen it twice in less than a week. Another couple went to view it after us last night!

quichelorraine

Ours was on at offers over £125 and we got it for £123

googler

Chimpofdoom wrote: »

Got a meeting with the bank this weekend to see about getting a mortgage promise, so will take the HR with me!

Another couple went to view it after us last night!

The questions to the bank should be "Is this surveyor (the one who did the HR) on your 'panel'", and "Would you accept this HR as our survey?"

Did you see the other couple at the property? Or did the agent tell you that someone else was viewing it?

Chimpofdoom

googler wrote: »

The questions to the bank should be "Is this surveyor (the one who did the HR) on your 'panel'", and "Would you accept this HR as our survey?"

Did you see the other couple at the property? Or did the agent tell you that someone else was viewing it?

We didnt see the other couple, but my partner was informed by his receptionist and he confirmed it when I asked if there was much interest.

But yeah, I'm dubious if it was a sales tactic or not, as it was a remax agent and I know how much they love their commission...

kingstreet

I can't see anyone offering more than the homereport value and putting themselves into stamp duty as a consequence.

googler

Chimpofdoom wrote: »

But yeah, I'm dubious if it was a sales tactic or not, as it was a remax agent and I know how much they love their commission...

You mean the other agents around there are operating on a charitable basis, and provide their services for free....(?)

Chimpofdoom

googler wrote: »

You mean the other agents around there are operating on a charitable basis, and provide their services for free....(?)

A recent trend in Edinburgh has been to send "sitters" (people paid by estate agents to receiver people viewing the property)

Estate agents rarely show anyone around a property up here anymore, first time I've met one!

Chimpofdoom

Well an update to the situation at hand...

Mortgage approved in principle at the weekend, so as of this morning..

Let the games begin! Offer has been made, 7k under asking price so far

Chimpofdoom

Offer #1 refused (which was expected), so time to go with offer #2..

Although my solicitor says, that they are looking for the full asking price, which she believes to be a tad crazy in this market.