What to offer? Price already reduced.

CuteMole

Lol! Nope, didn't take the tape measure!

It was good to see it again and, in fact, it was quite encouraging that the upstairs rooms were bigger than I had remembered. We were there for about 40 mins and had a proper look at most things (it was absolutely bucketing down so didn't get a good look round the outside and garden) but managed to have a good chat withe the vendors.

Both vendors were there (we only met her last time) and they confirmed that they were only selling up as they were 'going their separate ways' - seemed fairly amicable...in front of us anyway!!

We have talked about what we might offer and decided that we would start with £168,000 and see what they say. They know we are renting and can move quickly and they confirmed they have no chain. Bearing that in mind, and the fact that it's been on the market for over a year, I think we're in a strong position.

If they reject, our next offer would probably be £171,000 and then ask for counter offer if that's rejected. Then we'll have to see if we go to our max offer (current asking price).

I'll keep you posted!!

ReadingTim

CuteMole wrote: »

Both vendors were there (we only met her last time) and they confirmed that they were only selling up as they were 'going their separate ways'.....

... They know we are renting and can move quickly and they confirmed they have no chain. Bearing that in mind, and the fact that it's been on the market for over a year, I think we're in a strong position.

Bearing in mind that it's been on the market for a year already, suggests they're in no real hurry to go their separate ways, so I'm not sure if you're in as strong a position as you think.

While you're free to start the negotiations at whatever price you like, you need to consider the final amount you want to pay - would you pay £175k, and if not, where would you stop?

makeitstop

ReadingTim wrote: »

Bearing in mind that it's been on the market for a year already, suggests they're in no real hurry to go their separate ways, so I'm not sure if you're in as strong a position as you think.

While you're free to start the negotiations at whatever price you like, you need to consider the final amount you want to pay - would you pay £175k, and if not, where would you stop?

Nice theory, but they may have had no offers at all in the year it's been marketed.

If that was the case, I'd say any offer somewhere near asking is a decent offer, and so £165K is very realistic. Personally, I'd go to £170K if that came back as a no, but then I'd sit tight for a fortnight and let them think on it.

CuteMole

Well, update as follows:

We had been told that they'd had NO offers at all in the time the house has been on the market so felt we were in a fairly strong position to start low.

This afternoon we offered £165,000 - reiterating to the EA that we were FTBs, currently renting and able to move quickly.

An hour later the call came back saying that the offer was 'too low'. We had kind of expected that this would be the case. The EA said that the vendor hadn't given any indication of what they would accept just that it was "currently too low and did we have any movement in our offer?" As we were expecting this, we had already decided that I would say "I need to speak to my husband and have a think about it and we may be in touch after the weekend".

So now we're thinking that we will call EA on Monday afternoon and offer £168,000 and see how that goes.

Whilst we can afford the full asking price, I don't feel it is worth it. We saw that a property of a very similar layout and garden, but with much better decoration and newer kitchen and with a conservatory, has just sold in the last couple of weeks for £175,000. So, comparatively, I wouldn't pay the same for this house.

I think if £168k is rejected we'll wait a few days and then say that £170k is as far as we want to go. Surely, if they've been waiting a year, they might see that this could be the best they get!!!

CuteMole

UPDATE:

I think we've just bought a house!!!! Arrrgggghhhh!:eek:

So, after Friday's £165,000 rejection we offered £168,000 on Monday afternoon.
EA got back to us yesterday morning saying, and I quote, "the vendors were hoping for closer to the asking price...around £170,000?". I said we'd think about it...

This afternoon we phoned and offered £169,500....which has been accepted!!!

Woohoo!!! Just need to now get everything sorted....what do I do next?!?! Getting an offer accepted seemed like a hurdle but I guess it's just the first of many.

Off to phone the mortgage broker, solicitor, my Mum