Viewing a house at an open day

Itsrelfy

Hi all

I really need some advice about a house we are viewing on Saturday 16th Jan. It's a 3 bed semi detached house in Eccles near Maidstone and it's on the market for 250000.

There is an open day on it on Saturday that we are going to. The property is in need of modernisation in terms of redecoration and probably it would need a new bathroom as it only has a walk in shower currently. Having said that it is habitable as it is.

There are 2 Similar properties in the road that were sold last year one for 258000 in September and 1 at 265000 in July but these are both beautiful inside. Very modern where as the property we are looking is not modern at all.

We are trying to buy a home we will stay in for life and not just do up to sell on. We really get a good feeling about it. Although obviously have not seen inside yet.

I'm worried if we offer low wether we would lose our chance to own it but we don't want to offer too much.

Really don't want to go any higher than 255000 but we were thinking of offering 240-245000.

I know we should only offer what we are able to afford and what we think it's worth. But our current property is sold and we need to find somewhere.

Do you have any advice please.

Thanks
Adrian.

Browntoa

Nothing to stop you bidding low , if you are the only bidder then you win . If need be the agents tell you that you have been outbid and you revise your offer

buglawton

Get all your ducks in a row regarding your mortgage offer, then make a firm confident offer. Sounds like you'll have to offer very close to asking price but it's not all about price, seller is looking for a simple predictable transaction where possible.

Itsrelfy

we have an offer on our current property for the full asking price and we have a mortgage in principle for more than we need to buy this place, we also have solicitors arranged, so we are kind of good to go, just got to find somewhere and get some luck i suppose.

its just hard to know wether to go low and lose it or go high and feel maybe we could have got it for less. But i guess that just comes down to how much we want the place.

Gordon_Hose

If you really want it why not just offer the asking price? Just pay what it's worth TO YOU!

Itsrelfy

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

If you really want it why not just offer the asking price? Just pay what it's worth TO YOU!

Its a very good point you make. We've never done anything like this before so its all new to us. We have friends and family saying "make a cheeky bid" but i don't want to offer so low we just get discounted. However i feel it is worth asking for a few thousand off just so we can spend that money on re decorating.

Ultimately id be happy to offer the full asking price, having said that the EA reckons it'll go for more than that due to the level of interest, guess only time will tell.

swindiff

Conversely the EA is not likely to say no-one is interested and you will be able to grab yourself a bargain here. If it were me, I would make an offer that I would have been likely to make if it was not an open house viewing. If you are outbid you should get another bite of the cherry. You can always increase your offer, but not really decrease it.

Gordon_Hose

You can bid low by all means, there's no reason you can't increase your bid if the EA says there is a higher offer. Nothing wrong with a cheeky bid.

My M-I-L just bought a flat on the market for £145k, she offered asking price but so did someone else. The negotiations then went to sealed bids... she offered £147600 and won it, but that was her absolute maximum and she really wanted the place.

Only you can decide what you are willing to pay for it. If you must have it as your forever home then bid the maximum you can afford.

agrinnall

How long has it been on the market? If it's a short time then the open day is probably because there are a lot of people interested so you may well face competition. But if it's been on for a while then it could just be another marketing ploy and you could be the only viewer, in which case a low bid is more likely to be considered.

caprikid1

"My M-I-L just bought a flat on the market for £145k, she offered asking price but SHE WAS TOLD so did someone else. The negotiations then went to sealed bids... she offered £147600 and won it, but that was her absolute maximum and she really wanted the place.


Corrected that for you, sounds like the estate agent managed another £2600 for the seller.

Gordon_Hose

caprikid1 wrote: »

"My M-I-L just bought a flat on the market for £145k, she offered asking price but SHE WAS TOLD so did someone else. The negotiations then went to sealed bids... she offered £147600 and won it, but that was her absolute maximum and she really wanted the place.


Corrected that for you, sounds like the estate agent managed another £2600 for the seller.

If you say so.