First Time Buyer in London Asking vs Selling Price

chewmylegoff

Turnbull2000 wrote: »

You should generally expect to bid 10-15% above asking price.

You may begrudge this, but the property will rise in value enough over the next 12 months to make that money back, as London and surrounding regions are currently in the midst of a positive feedback price loop.

complete rot. you should work out what to bid on a property by property basis as asking prices are not set on a consistent basis.

ging84

i think anyone who can talking about there being a positive feed back loop in house price inflation but deny the risk of a bubble could be equally deluded as any HPC crazy

ZA1980

We recently bought a house in SE London and bid 15k over the asking price in order to secure it. The vendors had seven offers in total after one day of viewing - we loved the place and having been out bid previously didn't want it to happen again. I have no idea if we gave the highest offer, we did submit a letter saying how much we liked the house and could see ourselves raising a family there. The vendor said that this was why they chose us - it was a family home and they wanted to keep it that way. Vendors are humans too - No harm in pulling at their heart strings!

Kynthia

I'm offering in NE London now, but possibly a little further out than you. Yes it has definitely gone crazy the last three months with demand massively outstripping supply and the first fortnight a house comes on the market it is inundated with viewings. I wouldn't say they are going above the asking price here but houses that would have accepted an offer of £20k-£30k below after a month or two on the market are now going for near asking price within a two weeks.

theEnd

I had an offer accepted in SW London in September at 10% under asking.
The asking wasn't that high (relative to others around), but still crazy in the whole scheme of things.

bouicca21

I'm looking in south east London and houses were consistently going at or above asking price. Currently I'm not quite sure as I think EAs are pricing too aggressively. Several properties that I have watched on rightmove have been 'sold' and then come back on the market. Equally as others have pointed out there aren't many properties up for sale, so it is still a seller's market.

My advice for what it is worth is not to start low - start at or near asking price and the play it by ear. But have a really good look at basic structural features, you don't want to be panicked into buying a money pit.

Kynthia

bouicca21 wrote: »

Several properties that I have watched on rightmove have been 'sold' and then come back on the market.

An EA told me this is happening because people are panicking and offering amounts they either aren't happy to pay when they think about it or are reconsidering whether the house is right for them. What worries me is that if my offer is accepted, what does my seller do? Do they try to find something in this market with high demand and low supply, and if they can't do they pull out or expect me to wait and then raise the price because they could get more if they remarketed?

browneyedbazzi

If they aren't asking for 'best and final offers' or sealed bids at this point then there's little harm in making an asking price offer - they may accept, or come back and say they've had a lot of interest so are holding out for more. If they do that then ask the question - what offer would it take for you to take the property off the market today?

Houses are going for over asking in and around London - but how much really depends on how they set the asking price in the first place, the property and the area. We're paying over the asking price for the house we are buying, but I think it was intentionally marketed at a low price in order to get lots of people through the door quickly (the asking price was 20K less than another very similar house on the same road at the same time). It then went to best and final offers immediately. We didn't pay hugely over the asking though - and still less than the asking price on the house down the road. I think our sellers wanted a quick sale (and agents are always keen to be able to say things went over asking) so they went with this tactic.

mail2z

Just offer what you think it is worth, do not go about chasing prices or trying to beat competition, you will end up paying much more and importantly it will keep nagging you for a long time to come while you live in that place. If the market is moving too fast for you to chase up then hold off until the pent up demand for the last few years has been exhausted. I am not saying the house prices will crash but merely saying that crazy over asking prices culture will slow down. My 2p worth :-)

firsttimeforeverything_2

I am a first time buyer in north London, and I can see now exactly how bubbles happen. People panic, lose sight of how much money they're playing with, and offer whatever they think it takes to secure something- anything!

I would echo others' advice, do not pay more than you think the property is worth to you. Be clear on what you want, and be ready to move quickly with making offers and following up on them (get your mortgage offer in place, etc), but do not lose your head.

Good luck...