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Guide price - What does it mean?

dominoman
Posts: 973 Forumite

I saw a house I loved today. It is on at Guide price: "£500,000 - £550,000".
My limit is 500k or a little above, but I love this house. What is the best thing I can do to get a good chance of getting it. Should I offer 500k with a super-quick completion, or will that just make them hold off for an offer nearer the top end of the range?
Its the first house I have seen with a guide price rather than a firm one.
My limit is 500k or a little above, but I love this house. What is the best thing I can do to get a good chance of getting it. Should I offer 500k with a super-quick completion, or will that just make them hold off for an offer nearer the top end of the range?
Its the first house I have seen with a guide price rather than a firm one.
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Comments
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i wouldn't make promises of a quick completion unless you can guarantee that? are you a cash buyer? if relying on a mortgage there could be all sorts of time delays.
i would offer what you think its worth, not what you think will land you the deal. guide price is really just a rough estimate.
no harm in starting low and working your way up to your maximum of what you think its worth.An opinion is just that..... An opinion0 -
Guide price is no more meaningful than any other quoted price.
It will be sold for the maximum the sellers are able to persuade a buyer to pay.
Decide how much you think it is worth.
Ask yourself "if I only offered up to £X, and it was sold for £500 more to someone else, would I regret and wish I'd offered more?"
Ask yourself "If I pay £Y and buy it, will I regret & feel I've made a mistake and paid too much?"
That gives you an idea what YOU think it is worth to YOU.
Then start by offering somewhat less than that, and work up to that, and then stop!0 -
i think there is little you can do to influence your chances of getting it. you have a limited amount to spend or consider how much the house is worth to you. you just have to hope no one else comes along who thinks it is worth more that what you think it is worth. its a game of chance to an extent. but as said, remember your limit.
if youre chain free (nothing to sell) that will help your help your chances. how long the house has been on the market might also sway things..0 -
Bear in mind also that anything above the £500,000 mark is at the 4% level of stamp duty.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/stamp-duty0 -
The final price will always depend on what the lowest the vendors will accept and how much interest there is in the property. If no one is putting in offers and the sellers are keen to get rid of it they may go even lower than the guide price. Likewise if there is plenty of interest it might end up going for the top end of the guide price.
I've not kept an eye on the market that closely for that price range in my area but I've seen houses go for below, above, and slap bang in the middle of guide prices many times around the £300,000 mark.0 -
Ah, price guides, much loved by some Agents...... often depends on how the EA has pitched this all to the Vendor. Typically the vendor is told that they will achieve the upper end of the range, but the range is lowered enough to draw in prospective buyers at or below the bottom of the range - like yourself.
In practice, as outlined above, the stamp duty threshold is going to be a hurdle on this one unless there is enough interest to get people to disregard this.0 -
I'm glad you asked as I'm going to 2nd view a property today with a guide price £435 and was going to ask the same, what exactly does this mean. Thanks. I by chance checked zoopla and noticed the property as been for sale for one month and reduced by £15k after 3 weeks.0
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If there's likely to be interest, I see it as a way of getting over the asking price without people thinking they're paying over the valuation.
In this market, people are very reluctant to get into bidding wars or to pay over the asking price as they see it as a 'valuation'.
If an EA says £500k-550k, and more than one person's interested, they'll quite happily go up to the upper limit.
I find it can work in a market where it's hard to value property, or where things are selling quickly. Gives the EA/vendor a bit of movement on price without buyers thinking they're paying over the odds (I hate it though, as do most!).
If it's not sold for months, I think it's utterly pointless, and you do often start seeing large reductions with 'OIEO' instead (equally disliked).
Some people are just deluded as to what price they can achieve.
If there's not a lot of interest or it's been on a while, offer lower if you're interested. Do your own research as to sold prices of similar nearby properties.
I'm guessing these vendors are basically saying without the SD threshold, their house would be worth somewhere in that bracket and therefore they're not willing to take under £500k. If nobody else is offering, they have to realise that the price is determined by what someone will pay/offer, not what they want or think it's worth, or what it would be worth without the SD threshold so close.
Jx2024 wins: *must start comping again!*0
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