What to offer?

youth_leader

Hello, I am seeing a bungalow in my popular village today, it's 3 bed for £235K but no garage.  I think I might be the first viewer and with the market as hot as it is, if I like it, should I offer full asking price? 

davilown

Difficult one - how does it compare to other bungalows in the village?  Is it detached? In our village (in the South Downs) there are quite a few semi-detached bungalows but very few detached ones so the price seems to be significantly higher for those.

tom9980

Assuming it is priced reasonably then yes, anything less and most sellers would stall for time to allow more viewings. 

youth_leader

It's semi detached and in a nice side road,  mixed housing, which appeals to me more than the nearby estate of bungalows. A bus passes to the next town with supermarkets, and it is within walking distance of the village.   My viewing isn't until 12, I'm wondering if it might already be under offer, can't check as estate agents have their answering machine on. My son said to offer lower and negotiate, but I'd be sorry to lose it, it has appeared just in time, my rental runs out on 7 February.  Thank you for the advice. 

youth_leader

Thank you all, it was a lovely property and I offered full asking price after my viewing.  Stupidly during the viewing I mentioned that my rental contract ran out in February and the vendor looked alarmed - I rushed to reassure her that I can go onto a rolling contract but it obviously put her off, when the EA rang me back the vendor wants to continue with the viewings she has booked in.  I'm such a twit.

ameliarate

Probably thinking she can now get more money as you have offered full price. She may even think that she could get a sale through sooner than February, which is actually unlikely. 

youth_leader

Thanks ameliarate, I am fed up with myself for gabbling, I should have kept quiet.  I would have been delighted to have avoided the 30 plus viewings I had on my house, especially the one where the viewer's elderly mother nearly went head first down the front steps! 

hazyjo

ameliarate said:

Probably thinking she can now get more money as you have offered full price. She may even think that she could get a sale through sooner than February, which is actually unlikely. 

I'd always offer under for that reason. Human nature to think you should have put it up for more if the first viewer offers asking price.

OP, I also doubt the Feb comment made them think that date was too soon. They'll prob be thinking it'll complete before that.

ameliarate

youth_leader said:

Thanks ameliarate, I am fed up with myself for gabbling, I should have kept quiet.  I would have been delighted to have avoided the 30 plus viewings I had on my house, especially the one where the viewer's elderly mother nearly went head first down the front steps! 

OMG Bet they didn’t buy it then? 

NameUnavailable

There's no 'right' answer, if you didn't offer then you might lose out if the next person to see it offered and they accepted. I expect as said above that they are now thinking it's underpriced and they can tell other viewers they already have an asking price offer so any other offers need to be higher. Whether anyone will offer more is another question.

They might have unrealistic expectations about how quickly they can move and might be thinking they'll be out by Xmas. Of course if they accepted your offer today it's unlikely you would be able to complete until Jan/Feb at the earliest (in fact a report in the paper the other week said average sales were taking 4 months presently).

Speak to the agent, ask them what the vedors position is, ask if they've had any other offers yet. Ask them what other properties they can offer you (they will tell the vendor you're still looking and they might lose you as a potential buyer). If the place hasn't had any other offers after these initial viewings I'd even be tempted to go back and say you think your offer was too high in hindsight and reduce it by £10K!

youth_leader

ha ha thank you NameUnavailable, I like your last sentence. It certainly has taken the shine off my feeling of perhaps finding my 'forever' home.