Seller accepted low offer - a cause for concern?

mpdimitrova

Hello! We are first time buyers and just had an offer accepted on a flat in London. The offer was c.11% lower than the asking price, and the exact amount the seller bought it for 4 years ago, before renovating it and buying the freehold. This seems too good to be true - shall we be concerned? And is there anything we can do to reassure ourselves there isn't anything very wrong with the place that is making the vendor want to get rid of it at all costs?

Some more background that may be helpful-
- We had an offer accepted on a place right next door, which fell through after a few months (we uncovered a number of irregularities, which the vendor was not willing to negotiate on);
- The asking price for the current flat was way above our budget, but the estate agent encouraged us to see it (it's lovely!) & put in our maximum bid. The agent thought the seller may be willing to consider our offer as they are looking to upsize and had already found a place they wanted to buy, whilst we have no chain and are very flexible.
- The seller bought the property 4 years ago at the same price we just offered them. Since then, they have bought a share of the freehold (it's in a building with 3 other flats), done a full rewire with consumer unit, a new central heating system with an A rated boiler, a mains fire alarm and acoustic insulation.
- They say the neighbours are quiet and friendly too
- We are working with a conveyancing firm which assigned our solicitor. We have a good deal for the first two properties the solicitor deals with, after which their prices become extortionate. This would be the second place, so we want as much reassurance before we engage the solicitor.

Thank you very much for your help!

Margarita

Pixie5740

mpdimitrova wrote: »

Hello! We are first time buyers and just had an offer accepted on a flat in London. The offer was c.11% lower than the asking price, and the exact amount the seller bought it for 4 years ago, before renovating it and buying the freehold. This seems too good to be true - shall we be concerned? And is there anything we can do to reassure ourselves there isn't anything very wrong with the place that is making the vendor want to get rid of it at all costs?

Some more background that may be helpful-
- We had an offer accepted on a place right next door, which fell through after a few months (we uncovered a number of irregularities, which the vendor was not willing to negotiate on);
- The asking price for the current flat was way above our budget, but the estate agent encouraged us to see it (it's lovely!) & put in our maximum bid. The agent thought the seller may be willing to consider our offer as they are looking to upsize and had already found a place they wanted to buy, whilst we have no chain and are very flexible.
- The seller bought the property 4 years ago at the same price we just offered them. Since then, they have bought a share of the freehold (it's in a building with 3 other flats), done a full rewire with consumer unit, a new central heating system with an A rated boiler, a mains fire alarm and acoustic insulation.
- They say the neighbours are quiet and friendly too
- We are working with a conveyancing firm which assigned our solicitor. We have a good deal for the first two properties the solicitor deals with, after which their prices become extortionate. This would be the second place, so we want as much reassurance before we engage the solicitor.

Thank you very much for your help!

Margarita

Yes but you'll need some monkey knuckles and dice.

There are legitimate reasons why the vendor might have accepted your offer such as relocating to another part of the country or they've seen their dream home and need to move quickly so rather than holding out they've accepted that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

sevenhills

mpdimitrova wrote: »

Some more background that may be helpful-
- We had an offer accepted on a place right next door, which fell through after a few months (we uncovered a number of irregularities, which the vendor was not willing to negotiate on);

The seller of that property thought his flat was worth all the money, and its next door.

jennhg88

We accepted a low offer as the market was really stale and we didn't want to miss out on a particular new build plot.
Plenty of legitimate reasons IMO.

sal_III

Is the property off the market after you offer was accepted? If not, your main cause for concern is someone making a better offer. And when I say better i don't only mean higher. Your offer might be low, but since you are FTB and have no chain the vendor might prefer you if they are after their "dream home" and their vendor is lookign for quick sale. In such cases it's perfectly reasonable for them to accept taking a hit.

mpdimitrova

Thanks all for the reassurance. First purchase and being extra cautious.

@sal_III - the estate agent reassured us they would not hold any further viewing for the property, and they are the sole agent on it.

Thanks again!

Cakeguts

The only thing that stands out for me is the acoustic insulation. They wouldn't have bothered to spend all the money required to do this if there hadn't been a noise problem. I am also not sure how they would have been able to do this for the floor if they hadn't done something to the ceiling of the flat below.



That acoustic thing would put me off completely.

martindow

mpdimitrova wrote: »

- We had an offer accepted on a place right next door, which fell through after a few months (we uncovered a number of irregularities, which the vendor was not willing to negotiate on)QUOTE]
Were these 'irregularities' specific to that flat or could they apply to this one as well?



If there are problems that relate to the whole block your offer could reflect this flat's true value.

Hoploz

How long had this one been on the market?

What sort of money are we talking about? £150k or £500k?

What was the asking price/accepted offer/condition of the one next door?

Generally speaking it seems to me that the market is wobbling a bit at the moment. 4 years is a reasonable time to spend in a flat ... Young people want to move on to a family size home after a few years, so no cause for concern I'd say. It's not like they've been there 6 months and are desperate to leave.

I wonder whether acoustic insulation could simply be acoustic underlay under new flooring? Esp if under wooden or laminate flooring which would not be ideal for neighbours underneath so the additional underlay would help.

mpdimitrova

Hoploz wrote: »

How long had this one been on the market?

What sort of money are we talking about? £150k or £500k?

What was the asking price/accepted offer/condition of the one next door?

Generally speaking it seems to me that the market is wobbling a bit at the moment. 4 years is a reasonable time to spend in a flat ... Young people want to move on to a family size home after a few years, so no cause for concern I'd say. It's not like they've been there 6 months and are desperate to leave.

I wonder whether acoustic insulation could simply be acoustic underlay under new flooring? Esp if under wooden or laminate flooring which would not be ideal for neighbours underneath so the additional underlay would help.

It's been on the market for just over a month; it came on for c£460,000 and dropped to c£450,000 a week ago. We offered £400,000.. The other one had been on the market for nearly two years, and the accepted offer was £372,500 - but it was leasehold with 86 yrs left on the lease + we wouldn't have had access to loft vs. this is share of freehold + loft + more modern.

As for the insulation, not sure - but the flooring is wooden, and the flat is on the top floor indeed!

martindow wrote: »

mpdimitrova wrote: »

- We had an offer accepted on a place right next door, which fell through after a few months (we uncovered a number of irregularities, which the vendor was not willing to negotiate on)QUOTE]
Were these 'irregularities' specific to that flat or could they apply to this one as well?



If there are problems that relate to the whole block your offer could reflect this flat's true value.

To the flat only! And sorry as I wasn't clear - it was "right next door" in the next building, not right next door in the same building.

Thank you!

hazyjo

There will still be a lease with share of freehold. How many years on it?