would you go for full asking price if...

Feanor

The place needed carpets throughout and a good 5k spending on it to get it how you wanted? BUT its in a great area where everything decent is selling like hot cakes!

Its a tough one..we cant decide what to do!

benood

I would go full asking price if I thought it was a good deal and I wanted to secure the property. The question is has it been priced with the defects in mind or has it been priced as if the defects don't exist?

If the latter then I would be inclined to haggle, try not to let the estate agents talk you into hysteria about house prices rising like cakes, can be difficult I know, but act in haste and repent at leisure.

Feanor

Hi,

Its such a toughie. We really really had our hearts set on one which is around the corner from this one we saw tonight. It was in immaculate condition and priced at £212,000. It sold for over £220,000 with about 5 offers over asking price including ours.

Now this exact same property comes on which is round the corner. Its with the same agent as the one that sold last week, but priced at £215,000 with these defects. So they know this type of property ois wanted but the other one was so imamculate im sure thats why it went so quick.

Prices in this area (Chessington) rose by 5% from February to March this year. How crazy is that !

cattie

Carpets are very much a personal thing & you could find a house with new carpets but not to your taste or style of decor.

I wouldn't expect a buyer to drop the price for something like carpets, which are nothing to do with the fabric of the building, nor would I consider a buying trying to knock me down because they would want new carpets & curtains, so they don't come into the real equation of what the house is worth.

If houses are shifting like hot cakes & you don't want to lose it & it's a nice area, then go for it & offer full asking price. Incidentally I offered full asking price for my current house as I really wanted it. Ended up being gazumped though, so reluctantly had to up my offer or lose it.

Melissa177

Asking price is just that - an asking price. You have to ask yourself what you think the flat is worth.

PS. I put in full asking price on a flat I recently bought within 20 mins of seeing it. It was structurally sound, but the carpet was horrible, and it needed painting, plus a new kitchen. I did this because I *knew* it was undervalued compared to all the other properties I'd seen.

I was right to - nicely painted next doors flat, identical size, has just gone for 20K more than mine

Tiger_greeneyes

Feanor - if I was as fed up as you, my dear, then I'd consider it well worth the asking price just to have the peace of mind - you can stipulate that the property comes off the market If you love it, then go for it.

You can worry about carpets another time - the best bit about it is that you get to choose the carpet you want, you don't get stuck with someone else's taste. You never know what's under the carpets either, you may find something like parquet flooring lurking beneath! Anyway, as the prices are increasing so fast, can you afford not to?

Feanor

This house buying is the hardest thing ive done so far i swear! Its so hard to know if your making a good decision. I am so scared we will lose money if we buy now aswell, but then a 5% rise last month alone makes me think if we dont do it now we'll never be able to!

Arggggh my head is going to explode.

Tiger_greeneyes

Whatever happens with the market, once you're on the first rung then you're on it! Don't forget, also that everyone else with their own home will be in the same situation as you - whether the prices rise, fall or plateau.

I'm like you, I think too much sometimes!

Melissa177

I don't know if this will help you Feanor, but the way I kept a cool head when doing this was through military planning. I did this:

I bought a very large fold out map of London, and a large map of the London train and tube network (like you see at stations).

I used TFL and National Rail online to work out the train times from all stations I was interested in to my work. You could do this for Euston and Kingston. It's a good evening's work, but it's very useful.

Then you can shortlist. You might find Collier's Wood on the Northern Line is ideal for a trek to Euston, and your OH can drive to Kingston easily. Or you might find Bracknell is an easy trek to Paddington (and Euston).

Once you have a list of stations, use Findaproperty or Rightmove to find those areas which have places in your budget. For example, SE1 would have been great for me, but no way can I afford there!

Line up 4/5 appointments in a row with different estate agents for places you've seen in a particular postcode you like. Try to stick with one postcode at a time. Consider travel time to the local station as well.

I ended up with an entire wall blu-tacked with maps and train times, and put a pin in every place I saw, but it worked in the end!

CB1979_2

if you like it put the offer in or just under and state the "defects".

however, what if someone else offers on it but falls thorugh in 2 months time, comes back on the market but up for £230k!

as you've said though there could be a chance it will go OVER asking price anyway, so you may be worrying about nothing.

olly300

Feanor, if the property is structurally sound then carpets and other unfitted internal decoration makes little difference on the price. Kitchens, bathrooms and central heating will affect the price. If the agent sold the last house they know this house may also go for more than asked.

Melissa177 I did something similar but I also included where the friends and relations lived who I visited frequently lived.