Disclosing maximum budget to EA - Help!

scottishgirl87

I've had a discussion with an EA in regards to viewing a property with them that is on at Offers Over. They have told me that before I can arrange a viewing they need some information such as what our maximum budget is. I said I would call them back but what do I say? For obvious reasons I would rather not tell them what our maximum budget is, so do I have to? Will they just take no as an answer?

Have viewed a few places and this is the first time this has came up so I was a bit taken aback.

maninthestreet

You don't have to tell them the truth.....

mrginge

Tell them it's £3.4m

scottishgirl87

maninthestreet wrote: »

You don't have to tell them the truth.....

See, I thought this but if I go too high and we end up wanting to make an offer they may try and push us up to that limit. Alternatively, if we go too low they may say there's no point viewing. At a push our budget really only stretches to £10k over the Offers Over price but we'd really rather buy something less so we're not stretched to the limit.

Should I tell them up to £10k over the asking price?

googler

Tell them you're quite flexible in what you can afford, but you're looking to buy at £X or between £A and £B (regardless of what you can afford)

If they won't let you view it after outlining this, ask for a printed schedule, ask for the Home Report. Once you have these, phone them back and ask something - anything - about the property. Once they answer this, ask for a viewing again. If you get the same treatment, repeat the script above. Phone them back 2 hours later with another question. Ask for a viewing again. Repeat the script. Keep doing this until you get your viewing arranged.

You need to know the valuation in the Home Report before you discuss anything further with the selling agent. As I'm sure you know, this report will be supplied to your lender and will be the true measure of what you can afford in terms of mortgage lending since the lender won't lend above this figure (although the amount of ready cash/deposit you have will influence your final offer)

mrginge

Is the house occupied? If so just go knock on the door and explain you would like to view but the ea wont let you.

richardw

googler is spot on in post nr 5 above.

googler

scottishgirl87 wrote: »

Should I tell them up to £10k over the asking price?

No, not unless you know the HR valuation and how that relates to the asking price, for the reasons I stated in the previous post.

ruggedtoast

This is always an area of concern as you don't want to show all your cards, but then imagine you have the most honest and helpful estate agent ever, how are they supposed to help you if they don't know what you have to spend? They can't waste their clients time either.

The amount you are willing to pay isnt the same as the amount you have to spend. I would say that you're willing to pay x amount for such and such type of property and ask them to look for those within budget.

buppy

Our budget is £185k So we normally say we are looking at houses between £170-£200k but no higher and our budget is flexible depending on price. x

scottishgirl87

googler wrote: »

Tell them you're quite flexible in what you can afford, but you're looking to buy at £X or between £A and £B (regardless of what you can afford)

If they won't let you view it after outlining this, ask for a printed schedule, ask for the Home Report. Once you have these, phone them back and ask something - anything - about the property. Once they answer this, ask for a viewing again. If you get the same treatment, repeat the script above. Phone them back 2 hours later with another question. Ask for a viewing again. Repeat the script. Keep doing this until you get your viewing arranged.

You need to know the valuation in the Home Report before you discuss anything further with the selling agent. As I'm sure you know, this report will be supplied to your lender and will be the true measure of what you can afford in terms of mortgage lending since the lender won't lend above this figure (although the amount of ready cash/deposit you have will influence your final offer)

Thank you!! I went with your first line and have a viewing tomorrow so don't have to go any further than that Still need to get the Home Report but I've found EAs prefer to send this after the viewing so we'll see.