Just seen a house and we love it - Am going to offer tomorrow - Help needed

Amitoocautious

Hi all. We are FTB and after seeing quite a few houses we have seen one today we love. Its a 3 bed semi with a garage and driveway and is in immaculate condition. The asking price is 225k.

It only went on the market friday and we were the 4th people to see it today and they said they had already had 2 people interested in making an offer. We definietly want to make an offer but i wanted to ask what would put us in the best position.

We have seen a mortgage broker a few months ago who has our details and i have also done a acceptance in principal online to check we would be accepted and how much our monthly costs would be. The mortgage broker has our details and said he could get a mortgage in principle for us in 15 mins once we had seen a property we like. We earn just over 85 k a year so are not overly strectching ourselves.

Anyway should i phone the EA first thing and put an offer in and should i say we have an agreement in principle? What else can we do to show we are serious buyers. As for the offer price we would be willing to go to the asking price but we do we offer below and risk someone else getting it or go straight in?

Your advice would be greatly appreciated

hearts

Don't know about England but in Scotland an offer has to come from your solicitor. If its the same there then phone one in the morning and get him to put the offer in.

Amitoocautious

In England, it is with the estate agent.

I am extra worried as once before we loved a house and was willing to go to the asking price but when we called first thing the EA said they had accepted an offer from the other couple (who were in a chain) and it wasnt even asking price but wouldnt accept any more.

steadybagger

Ring the agent first thing and make your offer. Make sure you say that it's subject to the property being taken off the market if accepted, you don't want anyone else coming in with the same offer and it going to "best and final offer". As FTB you are already in a strong position with no chain.
Steady

Amitoocautious

Yeah was going to do that but i doubt they will take an offer of 218k if there are lots of pople interested and don't want to lose it in the mean time

randomtask_2

I reckon the fact you offered early (even if it's not asking price) means the agent will at least come back to you should other offers come in to see if you want to improve yours.

dealornodeal_3

Good luck to you.

Forgive me can I take you back 9 days ago, when you posted " What happens if one of you loses your job" " And you havent the back up to pay the mortgage" That was your post to another person, so forgive me asking you the same question, or if there is a property crash?

Amitoocautious

dealornodeal wrote: »

Good luck to you.

Forgive me can I take you back 9 days ago, when you posted " What happens if one of you loses your job" " And you havent the back up to pay the mortgage" That was your post to another person, so forgive me asking you the same question, or if there is a property crash?

No worries, pleased to answer the question. We have taken care to keep a budget tracker over the last 6 months so we know how much we spend and for all our essential expenditure we can afford this mortgage plus essential expenditure and a little bit of play money on one salary. Whilst both of us are working we can overpay and build up good savings too.

As for the property crash i still stongly believe this is a possibiltiy hence why we have gone for a 3 bed with extension possibilities which means we can stay there if our family gets bigger than we were expected. Also we are fixing for 5 years

lynzpower

Another thing that will show you are serious is to find a solicitor, ( maybe not instruct them) but say Ive been recommended a soicitor and can instruct today? Maybe you have one already, maybe a freind or relitave or someone on here can recommend someone decent? call your broker 1st thing & let them know you want to put in an offer, and find out from them how long it will take to book the survey. pass this info on with your offer to the EA

Certainly it shows you are serious.