what to offer on £285K house?

Tancred

kiwi99 wrote: »

Just after a bit of advice. I've seen a house and its on market for £285k (been on for few months)

Obviously this is over the 3% SDLT - does anyone think it is way too cheeky to put in an offer of say 249,999?

The 3% SDLT seems an awful lot of dosh to fork out, which will seriously dent my desposit.

I'm not in a chain, so in a good position.

Check the Zoopla valuation estimates and also recent sales for similar houses in the area. If £285k appears to be ridiculously high then go for the SDLT threshold, otherwise try £270k.

Tancred

mikeandrach wrote: »

offer to do it on paper at 249k, but give them 30k in cash, luvvly jubbly

Fraud and likely to land you in prison. Not recommended.

Tancred

kiwi99 wrote: »

Thanks for comments. Hse is located in a small town, not city location. I've noticed prices dropping by 10k on property bee. I'm really just trying to justify to myself paying the 3% extra.

(SDLT reform needed I think)

You don't need to justify anything to yourself. If you really like the house and you think it's perfect for you then that's all the justification you need. 3% of the price is peanuts when you look at the grand scheme of things.

Tancred

cattie wrote: »

Depends on area & seller. If I was offered £250k for a house up at £285k I'd laugh at you & tell the ea not to bother me with any more such silly offers.

But I live in an area where the market is very bouyant & the only properties priced at around the £250k or under mark are ex council. Mind even those all now seem to be going up at at least £275k with the ea's I've noticed.

I sold my house in June for £250k + £3k for some internal odds and ends. I listed my house in February for £267k and all the offers were for £250k so in the end I just accepted the best one, from a landlord who allowed us to rent back from him until we found a suitable property. Maybe had I waited until now I could have got more for it, but what the heck. I've now seen a house like mine in my street on the market for £270k so it will be interesting to see what it goes for. My feeling is that until next year houses around the SDLT level won't start to move up significantly, but who knows?

Lavendyr

I second those who have said it's a bit high for the SD threshold to be realistic - unless of course the seller realises this and is marketing it artificially high to try and discourage sub-£250 offers. Other recent 'sold' prices might inform you on that.

If it is a reasonable price for the house, think about the amount of SDLT that you would pay on a £285k house - £8,550 - then knock that off the asking price, then make that your maximum. When you offer, knock it down a bit further for negotiation purposes and see where you get to.

curlywurly82

it really depends on the house and how it is priced - if it is already priced at a good price then they will probably be less willing. if there are several other properties in the area, of sinmilar size and condition that are lower in price then that will give you more bargaining power.

I would maybe go in at £245k, argue your plus points, lack of chain, funds in place and see where you go from there. They will most likely decline the first offer, I wouldn't go straight back to them with a counter offer but leave it at least a day.

If however it is your ideal house then I would be prepared to go higher.

NewtoDIY

Of course you should offer what you like. Property is only worth what someone is prepared to pay. There's no science in estate agents' valuations. Look at what other people have paid on the same street within the last 12 months and decide whether it is value for money. As the other posters have said, a lot depends on the area you're looking in.
A previous poster mentioned property-bee - use it to your advantage. EAs hate it and frequently relist all of their properties to try an erase listing history.
Many sellers believe the BS that EAs tell them and then sit on their properties for 2+ years wondering why no one is interested. It all depends on the local area but don't feel embarrassed in the slightest to go in lower than what you are thinking of offering... and don't offer whole numbers. Go in at say 239,500 - it looks like you have considered it more carefully than offering 240,000.

Tancred

If the house is a decent semi or even detached then it's very unlikely that £250k will even be considered, however if it's a battered terraced house in a street where similar houses haven't sold for above £250k then a £250k offer might be possible.

ging84

mikeandrach wrote: »

offer to do it on paper at 249k, but give them 30k in cash, luvvly jubbly

Would you like to sell me a house? I would be very happy to buy a house where £30k never shows up on the paperwork, although might find it never shows up on your bank statement either

moneyshoe

We had an offer of 250K accepted on a place that was on for offers over £280K earlier this year................however it had been on the market for 8 months and when we got it surveyed it was only worth £230K anyway:rotfl:The sellers then agreed to £230 (although the sale fell through further down the line).

However when we sold our flat in 2011 we put it on the market at £275K and we would not have considered an offer of £250K - it sold straight away. Some properties are very easy to value and if houses all around this one are selling for £280K then I doubt they will entertain an offer of below stamp duty threshold.

All you can do is make a low offer and see how desperate the seller is. If the property has been for sale for a while it seems unlikely that you will lose out by having a protracted negotiation period.