What to offer?

sobexy

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping to purchase my first house soon.
It is a 3 bed semi-detached without parking or garage and the asking price is £119,950. I have been informed by reliable sources that a property of its kind in that area would be more likely to be actually worth £105,000 and as such made an offer to that effect this morning. which was duly turned down. The vendors gave no indication of the figure they would be hoping for (other then the asking price, of course).
I have been offered a mortgage for the full £120,000 but I would not like to pay more than £110,000 for this house so would like some advice as to how to proceed from here. Should I keep upping the offer gradually by, say, £2000 until I reach my limit, or go straight in with a final offer of £110,000 and hope that I don't have to walk away? Or indeed proceed with a different course of action entirely?

Please excuse my ignorance in the matter - any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Guest101

I would avoid increments of 2k, as they will just keep pushing. Offer what you would be happy to pay -1k, so if 110k is your top price, offer 109, be prepared to walk away

OR

Offer 115k and be secure in the knowledge it's unlikely to be beaten.

Really it's what the house is worth to you and to them, its about compromise. Point in case: My house sold for 120k just this month. My neighbour, a smaller property, is on the market for 140k.

monty-doggy

The thing with keeping increasing is that they won't take an offer seriously because they can push a bit more. I'd personally check what houses in the very close area are selling for, and set my budget for what I'm happy to pay, and go in with a second and final offer.

If it gets turned down it wasn't meant to be and you don't want to pay more than its worth.

Good luck

monty-doggy

Just as an example, I'm buying a house that was at 169950

I offered 164, turned down.
Increased to 165 but EA told me they want v near asking price and I knew there was lots of viewings as a few were there when I was.

I set my final offer at 167500 and said I can't squeeze a penny more. They accepted.

Then on survey there was a few issues and they reduced to the original 164 offer

Dan-Dan

sobexy wrote: »

I have been informed by reliable sources that a property of its kind in that area would be more likely to be actually worth £105,000 and as such made an offer to that effect this morning. which was duly turned down. The vendors gave no indication of the figure they would be hoping for (other then the asking price, of course)

Do your own research is my suggestion, the fact they didn`t come back to you with a counter offer does suggest they are happy to keep on the market as is , and /or your offer was not deemed as worth negotiating on

Has it been on the market long ?

sobexy

Thanks for your responses. We've been sitting tight whilst we come up with a strategy, which I don't think can be a bad thing as long as we don't make them wait for too long. The fact that they gave us nothing to go on has left us scratching our heads a bit.
It's been on the market since the beginning of March and ours has been the only offer they've received, according to the EA.

sobexy

Also the house is in a small village and there aren't really any comparable properties with which to compare it as the market is particularly slow in that area.

highguyuk

I'd offer 109k final offer. Then, in a week or twos time, you can "push" it to £110.

sobexy

Thanks very much for the advice everyone - I offered 108,750 which was initially rejected but accepted the following day and the house was off the market almost immediately. Very excited and nervous now!

mummyroysof3

That's great. Good luck with the purchase

highguyuk

sobexy wrote: »

Thanks very much for the advice everyone - I offered 108,750 which was initially rejected but accepted the following day and the house was off the market almost immediately. Very excited and nervous now!

Nice to know the ending of the story...