offers on a house

charlie2012

Hiya guys, after some advice please :-)

My husband and I have viewed a house we really like. We were hoping to rent our current house out but that's not looking likely now. Therefore we've decided to put our house on the market after christmas.

My question is - do you think it's best to make an offer on the house we like as soon as ours is for sale? The estate agent said they will accept such offers but not take the house off the market until we have sold. Or do you think we should wait until our house has sold so we are in a position to make a better offer? Thanks in advance for any advice or experiences from people who have been in a similar position :-)

Nynaeve

Whereabouts in the country are you? Do properties tend to shift quickly in your area? Are you going to price realistically or hold out to "wait and see"?

Depending on a lot of factors it may take months to sell your house and your buyer is not going to be keen on waiting that long.

charlie2012

Im in South Wales. No,
properties are not selling very quickly unfortunately.we are expecting ours to take months to sell, but this could also be the case for the house we want. We're planning on pricing it realistically and are also considering offering a 5% gifted deposit if offer is close to full value as it's likely that first time buyers will primarily be interested. Thanks!

Yorkie1

A gifted deposit sounds like a bright idea, but if the person buying from you needs a mortgage, it's a non-starter as no mortgage companies accept this now (from private sellers rather than developers).

I think you will be getting your hopes up if you make an offer now on the place you're interested in.

As you said, the seller will keep the property on the market and will accept an offer in preference to yours if it comes from a proceedable buyer. Also, it may well be the case that you won't know what your top budget is until you've accepted an offer on yours.

I would contact the EA on the place you're interested in, once yours is on the market, and ask them to note your interest - and that if the property is still on the market when you've sold, that you'll be keen on making an offer.

charlie2012

Thanks Yorkie, that's very helpful. I had no idea that mortgage lenders no longer accept a gifted deposit. No wonder the market is slow! I did have my hopes on using that as an incentive:(

I think I will make a note of interest, as you suggested. It's a shame as I've foolishly got my hopes up already! On the upside we already know how much we can borrow when we move, regardless of what we sell this for. We've saved a seperste deposit as ee've got very little equity to take from this one, as like many people we bought when house prices were at their highest in 2007. Oh well, on wards and upwards - hopefully!

moneyistooshorttomention

Just to say "Wishing you luck with selling your house".

It must be a right problem when sellers have "outside factors" impacting on their house saleability (ie the current state of the housing market where you are) that are not under their control.

I'm sympathising because I am feeling frustrated currently that I am unable to put in an offer in the first place on a house I am very interested in purchasing. The reason in this case is because of something a selfish/stupid neighbour is doing that is impacting on this house. The neighbour could deal with this and solve the problem if they have the will to and I have had to say to my would-be vendor that I sympathise with their problem and do hope that they will find a way to deal with the problem the neighbour is creating for them and, if they do find a solution to this, then come back to me and I can look seriously at putting in an offer - but am unable to do so unless/until the neighbour-created problem is dealt with once and for all:mad:. As I have a selfish/stupid neighbour myself - I know exactly how frustrated my would-be vendor must be right now that I can't offer on their house as things stand currently.

hazyjo

You don't want to agree a price for it now - it it takes six months to sell yours and that's still on the market, the chances are, they'll have dropped the price and you'll be making an offer below that. They won't be dropping the price if they have an offer for more on the table! If they haven't dropped the price, in six months' time, I'm sure you'll be offering under what you'd offer for it today.

Also, it's human nature to want someone someone else wants! You don't want the EA telling other viewers that someone's desperate for it, has made an offer, and is in a rush to sell theirs. It can make a psychological difference, plus rushes people to slap an offer on something they might have ummed and ahhed over before.

Furthermore, you might be able to accept a lower offer on yours if the one you want will drop. If it's a few months' time and they've not sold and you say we can buy it at £X amount if we take this offer we've had for £X amount. They might well take a lower offer than they initially wanted. Your EA can help with negotiations in situations like that.

Jx