FTB question: Making offer after first viewing?

yorkshire_terrier_owner

monty-doggy wrote: »

I recently viewed a house and fell in love with it but asked for a second viewing. The morning of my second viewing someone else offered and insisted it was taken off the market and therefore I lost my chance.

I saw another house which I loved and I was the first viewer, there were 4 more people viewing it the same weekend.
Monday morning I was on the phone offering damn near asking price, subject to it being removed from the market!

After this was agreed I then viewed it a second time, before I had incurred any charges, this left me the option of pulling out without losing the chance to buy it. As it happens I still loved it and we complete in a few weeks. I am so glad I didn't wait!

I did this on the property I recently bought - vendor told me there was a second viewing booked for day after my first viewing and property had only been on the market a week. In my area the housing market is slow unless it is a very nice property in a very nice area in which case there seems to be a pile of people chasing after them. Having chased so many of these properties I put my offer in close to asking price and asked for second viewing to be cancelled, which it was.

In my case the house ticked all the boxes, and I went back a few days later for a second viewing, which just confirmed it. Over the years I have learnt to trust my gut instinct. For me, on all the properties I have bought over the years, a second viewing has never changed anything for me personally.

Davecambridge

The average number of monthly transactions in Cambridge city (cb1-cb5) is around 130. That is very low. Figures collated from the LR since Feb 2012. Has picked up slightly this year with 159 in Jan, 143 in Feb and 151 in March.

I don't have the figures for outside of the city.

The average price of property in Cambridge is around £337k using the latest LR figures. Many times the multiple of the average wage. However, if you strip out 'prime' sales above £1m+ this falls to around £313k. Due to the low number of completed sales this monthly average can vary fairly widely.

Take those factors into account and it is obvious why there is a low number of completed sales.

However, getting back to the OP - practice buyer beware with regard to this house purchase. Also consider whether you can afford repayments when interest rates rise back to (or above) historical averages of 3-4%. If you think that is fine then go ahead, good luck with your new house!

meadow408

it happened to me as well a few times that a property I liked and wanted to view a second time was snapped under my nose in no time.
So when I came across one that ticked all the boxes I got on the phone with the EA straight away after the first viewing offering the full asking price and property taken off the market: it didn't work out to my advantage at all as my offer signaled high interest and the EA used my offer to get other ppl to bid above asking price and the property was sold 20k above it! I refused to be dragged in a bidding war as 20k more was way too much for that house...

ognum

Davecambridge wrote: »

The average number of monthly transactions in Cambridge city (cb1-cb5) is around 130. That is very low. Figures collated from the LR since Feb 2012. Has picked up slightly this year with 159 in Jan, 143 in Feb and 151 in March.

I don't have the figures for outside of the city.

The average price of property in Cambridge is around £337k using the latest LR figures. Many times the multiple of the average wage. However, if you strip out 'prime' sales above £1m+ this falls to around £313k. Due to the low number of completed sales this monthly average can vary fairly widely.

Take those factors into account and it is obvious why there is a low number of completed sales.

However, getting back to the OP - practice buyer beware with regard to this house purchase. Also consider whether you can afford repayments when interest rates rise back to (or above) historical averages of 3-4%. If you think that is fine then go ahead, good luck with your new house!

I am afraid these figures mean little to me unless you can tell me what the number of sales were at the peak of the market! but thanks for them, they clearly suggest that sales are completing with an average over the winter months of 150 a month.

Cambridge does have a wide range of property prices, it also has a wide range of pay with many people earning well over the average wage.

Your advice to the Op is of course correct, the mortgage needs to be paid even if interests rates rise.

nakiwala123

You have to understand the market in area you want to buy in and particularly the type of house you are buying. We wanted a semi 3 bed under £250k in 2 postcodes. Not many came on the market in that price range and most of them were listed at about £320k. The local market seemed not have any listings between £235k - £300k, so even if people could afford mortgages up to £275k they could not quite afford the pricier ones so we were all competiting for the same houses. Oh and the primary school down the road had just scored outstanding by ofsted making the area even more competitive. We had seen a house on rightmove that we wanted but the viewing was cancelled while we were in the car on our way to view it.

We finally saw a new rightmove listing one late friday night and we instantly knew it was the one we wanted. We viewed it the next day afternoon and made an offer on the Monday! They had an open house planned for 1 week later therefore our offer had to be one that was attractive enough for them to take it off the market and cancel all future viewings. I know we paid a premium for it but we could not take the risk of a bidding war.