Paid more for less hassle, anyone else done the same?

Chilli6

Just interested to know if this is unusual or if others did similar.
It took 7 months from putting my house on the market (May 2019) to completing and moving in with family (was no chain sale on 9 year old house but so many checks took ages!)
I was viewing houses during that time but found none quite right or offer rejected on one. 
Finally found a house in January and put offer of £5,000 below asking. It was rejected as the house had only been on 6 days. I went straight back with the asking price of £210,000 which was accepted. I knew it probably wouldn't get many other quick offers as similar houses are hanging around here and it has a very small kitchen for a family size home. However I was so eager to end the hunt for a house, avoid that potential (however unlikely) bloody person who could just appear and like the house as much as me and generally have less hassle.
Glad I did as 3 weeks later they've found a chain free house and we're working towards exchange, which is just what I hoped.
The mortgage valuation is £10,000 less than my offer but my loan to value is very low so I'm not bothering doing anything about this.
I'm happy with all this as paying for an easier life is worth it for me at this time. 
Any others done the same?? 

MovingForwards

I made an offer, it was rejected and their price named, I confirmed the new price was my offer and it was accepted. Took 30 minutes maximum with the various phone calls - me and the EA, the EA and the seller, the EA and me, the EA and the seller, the EA and me.

Job done, I liked the place, I couldn't be bothered to try and knock a few quid off what they wanted, the property is worth the price they wanted and what I will be paying.

The lender valuation came in at the agreed price, which is £2k under the valuation by the sellers valuer (Scotland).

I'm happy, the seller is happy, we are both just waiting on the solicitors to do their bit and I'm counting down the weeks until completion; thankfully my seller is waiting for me to complete as normally it's 6-8weeks from offer to completion up here, mine will be 5 months from offer to completion, but it's a guaranteed sale for the seller. 

comeandgo

Yup, if it's what I want I will pay the extra for no hassle. It's going to be a home for me and the extra few thousand will be forgotten and absorbed in a few years time.  

Davesnave

There is no magic mathematical formula for pricing property. To achieve a sale, a buyer and a seller agree on a price they're happy with.

We paid the asking price for our property because we considered it reasonable. Sometimes, very well motivated sellers price to sell fast. Ours was like that, so I suppose she was the one who wanted 'less hassle,' but pricing low doesn't guarantee that. Nothing does.  We ran into problems with the paperwork, and it was thanks to our excellent solicitor, not hers, that we completed on the day she wanted. Legal complications scupper many a sale.

Also, if you have decided this house fits the bill, who is to say someone else won't come along and think likewise? We were glad we had a good relationship with our vendor, because someone else came along and offered her substantially more for the property. Gazumping is less likely when you're paying over the odds, but it's never impossible.

scottishblondie

Our last purchase went to a closing date.  We submitted our best offer which was well over the HR value.  We secured the property, happy days.  We're not concerned that we paid over the valuation.  As it turns out we weren't even the highest offer - we later learned that my IL's neighbours offered 20k over us - but we were the best placed and so won out.

Davesnave

scottishblondie said:

Our last purchase went to a closing date.  We submitted our best offer which was well over the HR value.  We secured the property, happy days. 

You've reminded me, my very first house went to sealed bids and I paid £251 over asking. That was in 1977.

It last sold in 2014 for £340k!

Doozergirl

With a bit of time distance between you and the purchase date, it melts away. 

The only question hindsight leaves you with is whether you should have bought the house at all.   A few £k here or there isn't relevant at all.

  

ReadingTim

The problem with taking money saving to the extreme is that it can lead to a situation where someone knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing.  Arguably, this is one of those cases.  

pinkteapot

At our last house, the EA claimed there was someone else offering and we ended up going about £10k over what we'd planned to be our max as we wanted the house. Never regretted it, and we sold the house five years later for £140k more than we paid, so all good!

Current house: bought a new-build because we've always had houses that need work, and we've relocated to an area we love where we want to be out having fun every weekend, not spending it in B&Q. Definitely paid a new-build premium, but as well as meaning no work to do, we're in an area where hardly anything comes on the market and we'd been in our rental for a year and were keen to put down roots. This time we're in an area that's very unlikely to see any price rises so I doubt we'll get whatever we've overpaid back, but we're happy.

We're at the point in life where LTV is low, so we've no worries about being in negative money. House equity is all paper money that you'll never see in your bank account unless you decide to sell and rent for the rest of your life. So I'm pretty relaxed about it (within reason). 

Skiddaw1

comeandgo said:

Yup, if it's what I want I will pay the extra for no hassle. It's going to be a home for me and the extra few thousand will be forgotten and absorbed in a few years time.  

Quite agree.

Also, I'd rather pay extra for a decent solicitor/conveyancer rather than a conveyancing factory and for a reputable high street EA rather than an on-line one like PB. Again, always worth reducing the potential for hassle in my book. 

oystercatcher

I got into a bidding war with my house and I probably paid well over the odds considering it needed loads of work doing. The location is excellent though and I have been here 20 years and may never move so it was well worth those few extra thousand! Had I bought one of the alternatives that were within my budget I know I would be desperate to move by now if I hadn't already gone...