House Price Cost

Joeread

Hi

I am looking to buy a house and have been told I can afford a £500,000 house. I am looking online at houses but some are up for round £510,00 - £525,000. I assume that sellers dont usually get the asking price, so what sort of asking price could I look for if I can afford £500,000?

Thank You

G_M

Who told you you can afford 500K?


You need to decide for yourself what you can afford!
Yes, houses often sell for less than the asking price so many people look at houses on at above their budget - in your case maybe up to 525- 530?


But make sure you've also budgeted for overheads. Does the 500K include SDLT, legal fees, surveys etc etc ?

datlex

Just because you can afford something doesn't mean you have to go to buy it. Buying a property below your affordability level could mean that you are able to over pay and become mortgage free much quicker.

mandySaver12

Depends on the seller how much they're willing to go down based on demand and supply ie number of buyers, how desperately they want to get rid of the house etc

I think 25k is a reasonable discount on 525k so I'd defo have a look and put in an offer if you like it. If they reject it there's no harm done and move onto the next house

bigstevex

Our experience with similar budget...


House at 575... offered 520... No, would only drop to 550
^We were being hopeful on that and forewarned the vendor we couldn't offer more than 520, she was happy for us to come and view knowing we couldn't get near her asking price.

House at 525... offered 505... No, wanted 520, offered 520 eventually, seller changed mind and wants 535 now... Told them to politely FO, house now back on market at 525 fixed price, weird.
House at 470, just before we viewed it dropped to 460... Offered 420, eventually met in middle at 440... Sale proceeding and we're much happier we went ~80K less than max budget in the end

JoJo1978

Depending on where it is a £500k house may be quite large. We moved into a much larger house than we sold: in addition to the costs of selling/moving we also researched council tax and utilities. We are paying double in council tax and 30% more in utilities now. That could vary quite a lot depending where you are moving from and to so I'd echo what others have said, you need to calculate affordability for yourself, and on a house by house basis unless you're looking at very similar properties in a narrow area. Your 'saving' by getting an offer accepted under asking is a one off gain but the ongoing running costs never go away.