Unsure how to proceed with purchase

WombleBat

Brief background: Lifetime renters, early 30's had rent increased 19% in last 36 months, sick of this and now cheaper to buy.. 20,000 deposit and AIP up to 320,000

My wife and I have recently started looking for houses and within the first day found the "perfect" place.
On the market for 280,000 which we can afford but looking at the area and previous sold prices and proceeded to put in our cheeky (But not OTT) offer of £254,000 which was rejected in 24 hours.

The EA called and told me "The vendors want asking price". Later that evening I sent an email stating we did not feel the asking price was realistic but could they confirm the vendor would not accept offers below (Basically pushing to find out if agent was exaggerating on the phone) as if so we would not be putting in another offer.

The agent called back the following morning and said I could revise my offer (So yes they exagerated the previous day) and would I like to increase mine. I said would discuss with my wife and let them know.

The following day I sent an email offering 260,000 but since then a friend alerted me to the fact that there were previous offers on the place which uncovered some pretty expensive issues, which I don't really want to discuss as they are very specific and kind of identifies the property but they are essentially going to land us with a bill of 16,000 within the first year to get rectified.

I decided to call the EA and challenge them on this as I asked before my first offer if a sale had fallen through previously due to survey and they told me no. The EA got VERY snotty with me demanding to know where I had found out about this and I told him I had friends locally who had told me. They confirmed they had passed on my offer but overall was not a pleasant call, they also implied the offer would be rejected.

I expect it to be rejected TBH as unfortunately when we first started looking we registered with the EA and gave them our upper limit so they know we can afford the asking price.

My problem is now that both my wife and I do want this property and despite searching all over the UK it really is unique and ticks every single one of our boxes.

When the offer is rejected I am at the moment planning to say that I will not make another offer unless the vendor counters, not sure if this is the right approach to take but feel like I need to get them to be part of the negotiation.

Our major concern is that despite having an AIP it is based on 95% so any survey undervaluation is basically going to stop things in their tracks not to mention us being out of pocket by £1000+ as we want a structural survey done.

Appreciate this is a bit rambling but can anyone give me some guidance on what to do.

Additional info.
Vendor is estate of deceased mother of 3
Property has been on the market for 1+ year
Price reduced from £320k to £300k to £280k but not sure when each happened
Only had one other offer to the best of my knowledge but from a messy chain and 9 months have passed

jimbog

I would stick with £260K and perhaps go up to £265K (subject to survey). Then if it is accepted see what the survey comes up with and renegotiate from there.
I feel you are holding the best cards

WombleBat

Thanks jimbog. If this gets accepted I will be stoked, even with the work to do we can make it work.

Its where we go if we are rejected again I just don't know what to do.

The way I see it is I have several options.

1. Say "OK, let us know if they change their minds"
2. Say "OK we will offer 10k more but thats it"
3. Say "OK We withdraw all of our offers"
4. Say nothing and hope they get back to us

If we were on the fence any of these options would be fine, sadly we both love the place and had it not been for the work required we would have probably paid asking (Eventually after a few more decreasing offers)

I'm not one for lying and saying we have other properties as we don't and we are not maxed out in terms of what we can spend but I do not want to overspend here and I really don't feel that the house is worth more than I have offered.

Thrugelmir

WombleBat wrote: »

I expect it to be rejected TBH as unfortunately when we first started looking we registered with the EA and gave them our upper limit so they know we can afford the asking price.

Take your blindfold off. Then forget the EA and your AIP.

An EA gets paid when the sale completes not before. Therefore it's in their interest for buyers and sellers to compromise as quickly as possible. A couple extra £ does not equate to the cost of continuing to market the property to potential buyers.

An AIP is only an indication of a mortgage. Not an actual offer. Nor does it mean that you wish to spend that amount of money.

The vendor has a price in mind at which they'll sell. That's the figure that matters.

WombleBat

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Take your blindfold off. Then forget the EA and your AIP.

The vendor has a price in mind at which they'll sell. That's the figure that matters.

Agree completely but how do I get to a point that we can settle on?

Can't help but feel if I just keep increasing offer it will get rejected until I walk away or I hit asking (or above)
If I play hardball and stop negotiating the house then sells to the next person through the door for the vendors mind figure which sods law says will be £1000 above mine!

We have never been through this before, have no friends of family who can really advise (All brought new build or just rent) am I missing an option? am I doing the right thing?

frugalsmurf

Are you prepared to do the work? Have you got the cash to do it.

I say this as we were buying a house. It had previously sold a few times and the last buyer pulled out ten days before the sale. We trusted the estate agent and vendor when they gave us a plausible explanation...
....until we got to almost exchange and found out it had subsidence...ongoing so expensive to insure due to previous structural work etc. Never mind that fact the issues of subsidence.

We pulled out (losing the money we'd spent)

The EA spent about five phone called pushing us to buy,telling lies even bullying us to force our hand.

We walked away.

But as a result I'd never buy a house where the sale has fallen through as you can't trust anyone.

As long as you know what the situation is, then bid the amount you're comfortable with and don't be pushed by estate agents.

WombleBat

We can afford the works as long as its staged (It can be)

I do have a concern that there will be further faults uncovered upon Survey especially as we intend to go structural but I'm hoping these are minor things.

I suspect I am overthinking this but being FTB is terrible, you have no experience of the purchasing process and I just keep fearing the worst. Of all the houses we saw had we put offers in on them we could easily have walked away but this is almost too perfect (Excluding issues) to do so.

Luckily the issue discovered with the house are not structural in nature, had it been I definitely would have walked.

Dan-Dan

are you intending to get 260ish accepted then knock off 16k further down the line?

WombleBat

Dan-Dan wrote: »

are you intending to get 260ish accepted then knock off 16k further down the line?

Offer went in for £260,000 and then we discovered the issue.

At the moment going to wait and see what happens with this offer. IF its accepted then I think we will proceed and accept the costs and then see what the survey uncovers.

If its rejected and there is no counter then I will tell EA to contact me when the vendor is ready to negotiate.

Still not sure if this is the right approach or not.

Dan-Dan

you already know , in your words, the house needs at least 16k of work , do you really think the vendor is going to sell it to you at 244 ?

ThePants999

Are you sure your lender will offer you a 95% mortgage?

Having an AIP for £X doesn't mean you can borrow £X regardless of the property you're buying - the property still needs to provide adequate security for the loan, and these days that usually means you're borrowing no more than 90% of the value.