Should I accept an offer on my house?

Jack0212_2

Hi,
Just looking to you guys for some help.

I today received an offer for my property. The asking price is £130K. The first offer I received was for £119K which I quickly turned down. The EA phoned me back within 5 minutes and said that the buyer had offered £123K as their final offer. I do know that they are interested in another property which is up for £125K but my property has a drive and garage which the other doesn't.

I have said to the EA that I still think the offer is low but will get back to them in the morning. My situation is this:

*I am pregnant and finishing work in 8 weeks time
*I am moving in with my boyfriend and with the proceeds from my house will pay off his mortgage. (We have been together for 5 years so this is not an issue)
*I was hoping for some money from the sale to buy a bigger reliable car for the pushchair etc
* If i accept at £123K, it means that the car will have to wait and my current one has high miles and I am waiting for it to conk out.

What should I do? Should I accept the offer or try and push for a little extra or will I loose the sale?:rolleyes:

grownup1

I guess it's hard for anyone to offer advice on this important decision but my house is on the market and the agent called yesterday to explain that buyers for all houses in our area have disappeared off the radar in the last week or two, probably because of Northern Rock and interest rate insecurity. So....maybe a bird in the hand?

happinessfactory

Ordinarily I'd say "take the money and run" but clearly your pregnancy means you really need that extra money.

Accept the offer, but instruct the estate agent to continue marketing your property, and make sure the would-be buyer is kept informed of your intentions.

Either the buyer will come up with the extra money PDQ to avoid losing the house, or you will get someone prepared to pay the asking price (don't count on that, though), or you'll end up selling to this buyer for this price once you can't wait any longer.

Good luck, and congratulations on the baby:j

Running_Horse

How confident are you that you will get a better offer before prices (possibly) begin to fall?

Not knowing your area, it sounds fair in the current uncertain market. But only you can decide.

roosterbean

Our house was on the market for the same asking price but we ended up dropping it to £125 after 8 weeks. We then had an offer for £120 which we turned down, they then upped it to £123,500.

We accepted this but asked them if they would like to make an offer for the items we were willing to leave - they offered an extra £1500 which we accepted and are happy with.

I think it is unrealistic to expect to achieve the figure EA puts it on the market for, but perhaps you can use it as a good basis to build upon...

Good luck with bambino!!

codger

It's all about percentage plays, too -- £5,000, say, off a £350,000 property is a significantly lighter slice than £5,000 off a property valued at £175,000.

My maths have always been hopeless but if your buyer has come up with an offer of £123k against £130k then that's, um, around 5% they're seeking by way of discount?

I don't actually think 5% off is too unrealistic an offer -- but the fact that there's a similar property to yours at £125k without the drive and garage you have then it would seem your original asking price might have been too low.

Problem with all these scenarios though is that it's dangerous to generalise, because what suits a seller who is in a rush to sell isn't going to suit a seller who's in less of a hurry. Factor in all the other elements -- a first time buyer with a guaranteed mortgage / buyer not in a chain is always worth grabbing in preference to a slightly higher bidder who is part of a chain, etc etc -- and complexities multiply almost exponentially.

Me, I'd have a punt at securing £125k on the basis that at that price, your buyer's getting up to £15,000sworth of added value when compared to the £125k being asked for the other property. But then, only you know how much stress you're risking yourself over an extra two grand. . .

I guess there's no really valid advice anyone can offer, sadly. The thought that's foremost in my mind is that house prices are plateauing now, and whereas 5% below asking price offers will have been a commonplace in recent years (apart from in excessively high demand areas of the UK), the danger now is that 10% below asking price offers may soon become the norm.

Tread carefully, but whatever you decide, lots of luck!

Doozergirl

How long has your property been on the market?

I think you could come in with a "£125,000 and it's yours" and see what they say.

Length of time on the market and number of viewings will be a good indication of whether you could acheive more. £130,000 is a little difficult where Stamp Duty kicks in but you only need to knock a little over £1000 off to make people feel better.

I've rejected nearer offers to the asking price on more expensive houses!

dolce_vita

Sort of on topic -

If you had put the house up for sale for 140k, say, 12-18 months ago you probably would had many offers at asking price.

What has changed?

Well, amongst other things, sentiment.
Rampant HPI has disappeared and the market is "correcting".

Who said prices can't go down?

Jack0212_2

Doozergirl wrote: »

How long has your property been on the market?

I think you could come in with a "£125,000 and it's yours" and see what they say.

Thanks very much for all of your thoughts and comments.

The more I think about it the more I think I would be happy with £125,000. My house is actually in an area which is stamp duty exempt. It has been on the market for around 6 weeks and I have had 4 viewings although my EA have suggested that they have started to get busier now we are entering September although this thing with Northern Rock and also interest rates, seems to have put the public very much in fear.

I am thinking of saying to the estate agents that I will accept 123K but still would like to accept viewers until contracts are exchanged. If they or anybody else offers 125K or above, I will consider it sold. All of the EA I have had round to value etc.. said that it is in an excellent location and is well presented so shouldn't take long to go!

The buyer has sold their house to a first time buyer and I have no chain so I am in a better position than some. It would just be nice to get rid of the mortgage payments sooner rather than later.

Libra1975

Jack0212 wrote: »

Doozergirl wrote: »

How long has your property been on the market?

I think you could come in with a "£125,000 and it's yours" and see what they say.

Thanks very much for all of your thoughts and comments.

The more I think about it the more I think I would be happy with £125,000. My house is actually in an area which is stamp duty exempt. It has been on the market for around 6 weeks and I have had 4 viewings although my EA have suggested that they have started to get busier now we are entering September although this thing with Northern Rock and also interest rates, seems to have put the public very much in fear.

I am thinking of saying to the estate agents that I will accept 123K but still would like to accept viewers until contracts are exchanged. If they or anybody else offers 125K or above, I will consider it sold. All of the EA I have had round to value etc.. said that it is in an excellent location and is well presented so shouldn't take long to go!

The buyer has sold their house to a first time buyer and I have no chain so I am in a better position than some. It would just be nice to get rid of the mortgage payments sooner rather than later.

I have to be honest, if you are exempt from stamp duty you are not in an excellent area.

Good Luck whatever you decide to do!

atrebor

Two months ago my chain fell through. thought we had lost out on the hous of my dreams - oh well remarketed our house and got a new offer (original offer price 180 from old chain - new offer from new buyer post NR 168. I said no. came back with 173 I said no. best and final was 175 - first time buyer could move in 28 days. Thought about it and finally said no, choosing to wait out the next few weeks. Today - a week later a call from EA. "they love the house so much have borrowed from dear granny and can go up to 177" Do i believe the story? not sure but I've accepted the offer. Its a bit less than before but if we wait two more months we'll spend that on the house. Its a buyers market and its a slow market. To our delight our dream property we thought we had lost is still on the market its a charachter property in a delightful village and its well priced. needs a bit of internal but all cosmetic. It should have been snapped up but it hasn't (partyly because they're really akward about viewings) but partly because the market is slow. fingers crossed we might still get it.

there are few buyers yes - but there are few houses coming on to the market. If they really want your house they will meet you half way. and there is nothing to stop you in a week or so if you haven't heard asking them if their offer still stands and accepting it then. You've not been on the market long, and you've only had a few viewings

Do you have to pay all yoru bf mortgage off? could you pay off all but what you need for the car and then have a minimal mortgage for a few years??


also the chain thing......its a nice selling point for them but our last chain consisted of us and a cash buyer and that fell through on exchange day so I'm a bit off the "chain" reason EA uses at me for good buyers