Pre-viewing Conversations

SeaVixen

Hi all,

My SO and I are looking at houses to buy at the moment. We keep thinking about one in particular that we haven't viewed yet, however it's listed as Offers Over £289k, and our budget is circa £250k.
This house has been on the market for 4 months in an area where houses generally sell within one month. We are first time no chain buyers with a mortgage agreed in principle and no rental contract to see out.

Due to the travel costs involved in going to view the house, we'd really only want to waste our time/money viewing it if there is a chance they'd accept a lower offer.
There is a chance we could arrange multiple viewings in one day to combat the travel costs issue, but we've not had much luck with that so far.

Firstly, if I asked the estate agent if it was worth us looking based on the above, would they give me a straight answer?
(I'm assuming not, or they would just say no regardless)

Secondly, do you lovely people think we've got a shot, or should we just give up?

Ta!

HWG

Hmm, a 14% discount is pretty ambitious, although:

1. It sounds like the house may be overpriced
2. It sounds like your budget may allow for some flex over £250k

I don't think it's unfeasible that you and the seller may be able to agree a price.

I'd view first to show that you're serious. I think the estate agent would be likely to brush off a phone inquiry about that much of a discount; but you'll appear more credible (and it's more likely the seller will have a proper think about your offer) after you've viewed.

G_M

No point offering, or worse making a hypothetical offer, without first viewing. The agent won't take you seriously and will just say no.

RubyHouse

Its hard to say whether they would consider your offer or not but it does seem very steep !!!8211; have they had any other offers in that time? If so it might indicate they are not willing to negotiate on the price too much.
Also, has it been reduced since it went up for sale? I would expect after 4 month that a reduction would be made, otherwise they might just be holding out for the right buyer at that price.

I would consider these before you make the long journey.

Hoploz

If you're doing this long distance, I'd say do as much research as possible on the house before viewing. There's so much you can find out online! at the least it could tell you previous asking prices or previous listings, old sold prices for comparisons, street view to see the road and outside, aerial maps to see the garden/plot and anything untoward nearby such as a caravan site next door, pylons or whatever. Local council planning records can give info about layout and how recently it's been refurbed, whether applications have been denied in the past. Local area info for possible developments nearby .... You may well have done all these things already but just wanted to make some suggestions that might be useful when it's hard to keep going long distance to view properties that have flaws you can see without actually visiting.

hazyjo

I did it before. I'm pretty sure it was around a £25k drop (£375k on a £400k house) or something like that.


I knew the houses generally (an estate of nice town houses which I'd always loved in Epping), I'd been in three over the years which friends had lived in, and we had viewed at least two or three when searching but hadn't got a buyer in time to offer.


So I spoke with the EA and said no messing about, we know the houses well (they were all similar, not exactly the same), but this one is pricey and £X is our absolute max budget - please can you speak with the vendors and ask if it's worth us viewing. They apparently said yes.


We viewed, loved it, offered - and then they tried to get more from us. OMG I really went mad at the EA and said we wouldn't have bloody viewed it, I wasn't playing silly !!!!!!s and had offered our max. No more in the pot. They eventually came back (well, I had to chase and they claimed to have taken my number down wrong) and they agreed the price.


(Then the fun and games started as their chain collapsed at the top, then ours at the bottom, then we were all hanging on in limbo, until eventually when I rang the EA to give him an update (we had a buyer again), he said he'd heard through the grapevine on a golf course that they were no longer selling.)


Good luck! Just try not to get too attached as EAs often lie to get you in thinking you don't really mean what you say about max budget!

JoJo1978

Are you looking to move to a specific area, or is that less of a concern but you've just been taken by this house? Reason for asking is that you mention it's a mission to get to. We were in the same boat last year, searching 115-120 miles from where we lived at the time.

We arranged two hunting weekends and lined up multiple viewings for each day in each town. Our experience taught us the value of getting on the books of all the local agents, it helped with our credibility as serious buyers. They also revealed so much useful info about the sellers situations, without realising it I think. That helped us negotiate.

We also then always had options rather than just one hope, which worked good in the end because our first dream house we were gazumped on. The one we ended up buying was not even on the market when we viewed it...it was a chance conversation with one of the EAs that got us a viewing.

On the topic of offers, if the seller needs a sale and you are serious buyers there's no harm in going in low. They can only say no...just don't go above your comfortable max though.

It's hard but try to stay detached until an offer is accepted. Even then, it can be a rollercoaster until you complete, so try to run it like a business project until it looks more like a done deal, then permission to get excited!. Best wishes.

SeaVixen

Thanks for all your help! Very much allr

SeaVixen

** very much appreciated!

Sorry, wouldn't let me edit my typo!