The 'what did you pay thread'.

acs_2

Ive been thinking of a way to help prospective home buyers, including first time buyers, get a feel for the market and to give them confidence in the negotiating process to ensure they get the best deal and to see that they save money where they can.

So, what I thought of is this - lets share the following; When you last bought a home, which part of the country, what did you pay, what did you use to negotiate your price down and any tips/things to look out for.

This is particularly interesting to me as I have a property and Im looking to move...so i'll start

Apartment, 700sq/ft, built 2005
Huddersfield
£70k
No negotiation as it was an repossession bought at auction.

Been here almost 5 years and had a bit of trouble with debt collectors in the early days who were chasing the previous owner but they soon went away with the odd sharp phone call.

monty-doggy

FTB Purchased June 2013

1950s 3 bed plus loft room semi, stockport

Asking price offers over £169k
Offer accepted at £167.500

Negotiated to £164k after survey valued at that.

Work needed: damp course, new felt roof on flat extension, demolish of existing conservatory and re build (we are building a proper extension next year)
Real slug problem! Had to seal every singe gap and put mesh over air bricks, lifted floor boards up and covered in slug pellets. Heavily treated garden with pellets and salt. Seems to have sorted it out.

Other than that purely cosmetic.

Building_Surveyor

Purchased March 2013, FTB

New build 2 bed end terrace, Birmingham.

Asking price £125k
Paid £125k due to demand, however property came with turf, shed, flooring to kitchen and bathroom. They were all thrown in so didn't need to negotiate for them.

No work needed as property was brand new.

LADYXXMACBETH

Kendal
2 Bed mid terraced
120k in 2006
on market for 115k looking for 105k now

Moomum

Bought London/ Kent border - March 2011
Victorian 4 bed detached
Asking £780,000 - paid £733,000

Completely renovated, took back to brick, rewire, replumb, new everything.

BookWorm

Purchased June 2010 FTB

3 bed semi - West Midlands
Asking price £117,500 (already reduced from £119,000)
Paid £115,000

My only tip is get on well with the vendor - makes things much easier to sort anything that comes up - especially when the EA invovled was useless!

alipops1986

Purchased June 2013

4 bedroom Detached house with separate double garage. Fairly new at 10 years old.
Asking price had been: £235,000
Reduced to: Offers over £219,500
We paid: £207,500

Have had very little to do since moving in, just redecoration but no major hassles or issues! Lovely cul-de-sac location.

urbanmyth

Bought in London 2008 (FTB). 1 bed flat in a new build
Purchase price: 210
Sold price: 230

Waiting to exchange on next house. A three bed in Essex, immaculate condition:
Asking: 380
Agreed: 370

Tiglath

2000, East London, 3-bed Edwardian terrace with big garden for £120k (negotiated a couple of grand off), currently worth around £250-260k according to Rightmove.

dgtazzman

New build - 1355 sq ft - 4 bed
FTB
Northampton
October 2013 - completion est. March 2014
Not yet completed/exchanged, but thought I'd add it as so many people seem to be asking about new builds atm
Asking price £199,995 - this was already a reduced price to get people interested in the development though as it's one of the first houses. Next house of this type will go up at an asking price of at least 10k more, depending how the local market evolves in the next few months.
Paying £199,995 - negotiated and received flooring throughout (carpet, vinyl or tiles wherever we wanted them), integrated white goods, turfing, 1 socket moved/one added, outside water tap. Garden shed was already included by the builder.

Getting a good vibe from the builder and they seem to want to get these right as they are a step up from what they usually build, plus this is a new area for them. Most of their previous activities seem to have been more towards Birmingham. The site is just down the road, so can keep an eye on progress and they don't seem to be cutting corners, so I'll live in hope. Also helps they seem to want to keep the first batch of buyers happy as they will have 3 more phases or so after this one to sell. The build progress also is significantly slower than some Persimmon properties down the road that were started at the same time, which I actually see as a good thing, they don't seem to be rushing the job.

YoungBusinessman

Dec 2012, FTB, 2 bed "2 up 2 down" ground floor with garage and off street parking. Paid the asking price of £112k due to demand and to get a quick sale. Similar property a bit more modern(which ours is now) sold in August for £117,500 and one recently on market for £119k.