How wide is your price range for viewings?

girl_withno_name

This is a thread out of curiosity really...
When viewing houses, how wide is your price range for viewings?

Our budget was £180k, but we viewed houses slightly over (185k) hoping that we could negotiate a bit off and also those under our budget (150k) hoping we could find somewhere without blowing our whole budget!

Better_Days

For me the answer is
1. Know the local market well
2. Know the local EA's well

Knowing the market will give you a good idea of local property values. You will start to spot the 'you must be joking' properties, and also the potential bargains.

Knowing the local EA's well is also very important. Some tend to value high in order to get the business and to maximise fees (where fees are based on initial AP). Some value lower to achieve a quicker turnover. Check the 'most reduced' tab on your Zoopla search if EA's use Zoopla in your area. Home.co.uk http://www.home.co.uk/ has some useful stats on EA's including 'time on the market'.

I have viewed a two or three that were £20 - £25k over my max - one the property had been on the market for a long time and the EA told me that the vendor would accept an offer at my max . The second had been on the market for about 9 months, was poorly presented and was marketed by an EA who values high. Shortly after my viewing the vendor dropped the price by £25k to what I consider to be much more realistic and the property sold.

I think that you have to have a very good reason to view substantially over your budget though, otherwise you are wasting everyone's time. Time on the market is usually a good indicator, but of course there are a proportion of vendors who are unrealistic about the current housing market. Depending on the EA it can be worth giving them a call to find out what is going on, sometimes during a discussion about the property the EA can impart some very useful info. If a property has been on the market for ages, it is worth asking who set the AP, the EA or the vendor. They may not always tell you directly, but it is possible to read between the lines. One EA moaned to me that the vendor set the AP, (£10k over what vendor paid in 2007) there had been no offers in 8 months, and that it cost the EA to keep the property on RM.

Mickygg

I'm selling my house and I had a viewer come round offering £35k under asking price which was all they cold afford. Wasted everyone's time. You need to find out first whether your budget could be reasonable on higher priced properties. There was a place £50 k over my budget and rather than just look at it I asked the ea if they would accept an offer and I was told they at the time only wanted asking price and nothing less. By asking I avoided wasting everyone's time.

skinnyman9000

Our budget was £125k due to stamp duty thresholds. We viewed one for £130k but dismissed it as the owners were very keen on getting the £130k asking price.

That's now the house we're buying.

It's ok to look above your budget, as long as it's not stupidly higher. Although I know some people view houses that they can't afford, just to see what is out there for the money. Whether this is right or not is another matter.

girl_withno_name

skinnyman9000 wrote: »

Although I know some people view houses that they can't afford, just to see what is out there for the money. Whether this is right or not is another matter.

I didn't want to do this because I didn't want to fall in love with something which we simply couldn't afford, or which would stretch us (and hoping we could save the stretch before exchange/completion!)

One of the reasons I ask is because we viewed a house at £150k and the EA seemed to automatically assume that would be our maximum budget (it wasn't, but it's the house we're currently proceeding with)

theGrinch

I would tell the EA my absolute max and if they thought it was worth seeing something higher with a flexible vendor/circumstances then I would. On a 180k budget you may get some priced up to £200k as well as some stuck at £180k.

there are a lot of EAs and vendors out there and they price based on a variety of factors.

bluestarlight

We had a max budget of £220k and viewed up to £235/240. We ended up buying a £235k house for our budget as we were first time buyers and could move quickly, which was what the owner wanted.

BungayBound

We had no minimum and looked at properties up to 10% over our maximum limit.

somethingcorporate

We didn't want to go over £250k due to the stamp duty threshold and only viewed properties over £270k if we knew there was a "motivated" seller. We found one and got a house that was up for £285k (way over-priced anyway) for £248.5k.

If they are within 10% of a stamp duty threshold the EA has not done their job well if the seller does not know that offers will come in at (or below) the threshold since they make such a massive difference to upfront purchasing costs.

SG27

Our budget is £200k but I'd be happy to look at properties up to £250k. After losing out on two properties that sold for way lower than I would have imagined and actually slightly less than we would have paid we now use these as examples. But if it is around the £250k mark I do ask how flexible they are before viewing as no point wasting my time viewing!
But if you don't ask, you don't get.

cattie

For obvious reasons I didn't really want to pay over £250k, but looked at properties up to £300k just in case there was something very special that I'd have been willing to cough up the extra for.

However, I've recently offered on a flat at £195k which I feel is perfect for me. It needs a bit of work and money but £20k should see it all done to a very good standard and make a lovely home for me. So I feel I'm quite a few £'s in!