Putting an offer on two properties?

piggy_bank

Hi all,
My OH and I are first time buyers, and have found two properties we really like.

Links for nosying:

Property A: The Starter House
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71946124.html

Property B: The Project House
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62549505.html

We were the first people to view the Starter House this morning, but there is another viewing booked in this week, and it only went on the market yesterday. I love it, OH likes it, and we could absolutely see ourselves living there for 5-10 years. Due to the height of the loft conversion, that couldn't be our bedroom (I'm fine at 5'3 but it's not fair to OH who's 6'2), and the staircase is very steep we couldn't stick a child up there if we ended up with more than one, so it's a 1 child only house. We'd like two, but not planning any for a few years! It's also decently under budget and doesn't need any work doing, so makes financial sense.

The Project House has an open viewing on Saturday, and then is going by "Modern Method of Auction". It needs work, but fully done up houses in the area go for 220-250k, and this could be our forever home (with a fair bit of work, which we would enjoy doing). I do expect it to go for quite a bit above the "offers above" price, but we figured it was worth throwing our offer in there.


Can we put an offer in on both houses? I don't want to lose the first house by waiting until the weekend, especially when I expect the Project House will go above our budget.

Any advice is gratefully appreciated! :beer:

quantumlobster

piggy_bank wrote: »

Hi all,
My OH and I are first time buyers, and have found two properties we really like.

Links for nosying:

Property A: The Starter House
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71946124.html

Property B: The Project House
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62549505.html

We were the first people to view the Starter House this morning, but there is another viewing booked in this week, and it only went on the market yesterday. I love it, OH likes it, and we could absolutely see ourselves living there for 5-10 years. Due to the height of the loft conversion, that couldn't be our bedroom (I'm fine at 5'3 but it's not fair to OH who's 6'2), and the staircase is very steep we couldn't stick a child up there if we ended up with more than one, so it's a 1 child only house. We'd like two, but not planning any for a few years! It's also decently under budget and doesn't need any work doing, so makes financial sense.

The Project House has an open viewing on Saturday, and then is going by sealed bids (not auction, as the property listing says). It needs work, but fully done up houses in the area go for 220-250k, and this could be our forever home (with a fair bit of work, which we would enjoy doing). I do expect it to go for quite a bit above the "offers above" price, but we figured it was worth throwing our offer in there.


Can we put an offer in on both houses? I don't want to lose the first house by waiting until the weekend, especially when I expect the Project House will go above our budget.

Any advice is gratefully appreciated! :beer:

You can offer what you like on as many properties as you like; an offer isn't a contractual agreement.

The risk comes when/if either or both vendors finds out; they may take a view that anyone chucking dung at a blanket to see what sticks isn't a serious buyer, and decline to do business with you.

It's a judgement call for you whether the risk (losing the ability to buy one or both properties) is worth the potential reward (having an offer accepted and thus being able to buy).

The risk of discovery reduces sharply if the properties don't share an estate agent. Are you sure that this is the case?

Dorothy60

Well I'm going to be no help at all - when I looked at the first one I LOVED it, the conservatory, the lovely modern fittings - then I saw the garden in the second one and that was it - I would buy this in a breath. I am much older than you are, so gardens are massively important to me, but honestly, the project house has such potential and you can make it your own - how on earth are you going to choose between them?

motherofstudents

I would be put off by the ‘modern method of auction’ on the second one.
Does it have to be a choice between these two ?

piggy_bank

motherofstudents wrote: »

I would be put off by the ‘modern method of auction’ on the second one.
Does it have to be a choice between these two ?

Properties in this area (in our budget) are few and far between and go very quickly. We only found the Starter House by re-searching for 2 beds. We've been looking for about 4 months, and really want to be in a place by September.

quantumlobster wrote: »

The risk of discovery reduces sharply if the properties don't share an estate agent. Are you sure that this is the case?

Yes, one is with an agent I rent with and they send me everything that's theirs. The other is an online estate agent.

piggy_bank

Dorothy60 wrote: »

Well I'm going to be no help at all - when I looked at the first one I LOVED it, the conservatory, the lovely modern fittings - then I saw the garden in the second one and that was it - I would buy this in a breath. I am much older than you are, so gardens are massively important to me, but honestly, the project house has such potential and you can make it your own - how on earth are you going to choose between them?

Gardens are hugely important to us too - we live in the garden in summer.
The smaller house does get the evening sun perfectly though, and it's a lovely neat and easy garden. We're better at barbequeing and entertaining in a garden than tending to plants if I'm honest, but I grew up with a sprawling cottage wildflower garden and it was wonderful.

The biggest thing is finance - I finish my degree in June and so expect my income to return to pre-university levels, if not significantly more, so we could move into the perfect house in years to come. The project house will be more expensive to start with, and need money for renovations. It's doable - if they accept an offer in budget!

oystercatcher

The project house is so much nicer, I would hold out for that or wait for something similar to come on the market. If you can afford a home for life it's much better than a starter home.

tealady

Wouldnt buy a house by the modern auction method tbh.

quantumlobster

As the Scots are wont to say, the Modern Method Of Auction can get tae fark.

Would it prevent me buying a property? Not if the property was sufficiently compelling, but by jingo, I'd bitterly resent every second and pound of the process, with every fibre of my being.

piggy_bank

quantumlobster wrote: »

As the Scots are wont to say, the Modern Method Of Auction can get tae fark.

Would it prevent me buying a property? Not if the property was sufficiently compelling, but by jingo, I'd bitterly resent every second and pound of the process, with every fibre of my being.

Thanks for the input! Can you explain why? I'm not at all clued up on Modern Method Of Auction, and thought it would be like when my parents went to a physical housing auction to try and get a run down farmhouse. It came with donkeys, and I'm still gutted they didn't get it. :rotfl:

sillyhilly

My immediate observation is that the 'project' house is 10k more expensive than the starter house... So what is your budget?

The reason I ask is, if this is the top of your budget, you need to factor in how much work is required in the project house, and whether you can afford to do it before/soon after you move in, and whether you can live with it if not.

Which leads me to the next, if you can afford it, why not go for a better starter house?

I've just gone through this entire process, and we opted for a better standard of house which wasn't a project... But it turns out, there's a lot of work that needed doing - painting, DIY, maintenance etc. I don't know how I would have coped with an overall project, personally! And don't get your hopes up with an open day / sealed bid property - as soon as you run into a cash buyer or someone with a little bit more money than you, the offers will start ramping up - expect that project house to go for nearer to £200,000 than the current £180,000.