Buying Our First Home! Advice Needed.

UnderOffer

crispycornflake2018 said:

NatNat77 said:

If they are hoping to sell in order to buy somewhere else, and perhaps hope to meet the stamp duty deadline, they may prefer to sell to you even if another offer is higher. It probably wasn't necessary for them to raise the price as it will find its value if several people are interested anyway. I hope it works out for you OP! 

Thanks for your optimism. We've done everything we can as far as being potential buyers. I'm trying not to get too excited as the last time it sold within 6 hours of it being listed. Not sure if they're looking to buy somewhere else as the executor of the will wasn't related to the owner who is now deceased. But you could be right about the stamp duty.

So it is being sold by an Executor? Do you know if probate has been granted? Personally I don’t think a ‘love letter’ will sway them if it’s being sold as part of an estate, those Execs will just want the max price they can get and are not emotionally involved as they are not living there. 

gwynlas

You did not mention that it was a probate sale in which case the executor is duty bound to achieve the highest price and that is possibly why they have added 10K to see if the market will stand it?
They might never have sold a property previously or have any experience of being an executor and arre obviously trying to save money by using PB.
All you can do is wait to see if your offer is accepted, The end of the stamp duty hoiiday will add to the purchase price and probably cause a slump in sales and the estate could become liable for council tax. If you can contact them again you might remind them of these factors and that not many people are looking for a doer upper.

crispycornflake2018

UnderOffer said:

crispycornflake2018 said:

NatNat77 said:

If they are hoping to sell in order to buy somewhere else, and perhaps hope to meet the stamp duty deadline, they may prefer to sell to you even if another offer is higher. It probably wasn't necessary for them to raise the price as it will find its value if several people are interested anyway. I hope it works out for you OP! 

Thanks for your optimism. We've done everything we can as far as being potential buyers. I'm trying not to get too excited as the last time it sold within 6 hours of it being listed. Not sure if they're looking to buy somewhere else as the executor of the will wasn't related to the owner who is now deceased. But you could be right about the stamp duty.

So it is being sold by an Executor? Do you know if probate has been granted? Personally I don’t think a ‘love letter’ will sway them if it’s being sold as part of an estate, those Execs will just want the max price they can get and are not emotionally involved as they are not living there. 

It's been on and off the market for a couple of years as far as I know. We don't know much about the seller other than it's on behalf of the now deceased. The guy who died didn't have much - just the house, I think. We don't know more than that.

crispycornflake2018

gwynlas said:

You did not mention that it was a probate sale in which case the executor is duty bound to achieve the highest price and that is possibly why they have added 10K to see if the market will stand it?
They might never have sold a property previously or have any experience of being an executor and arre obviously trying to save money by using PB.
All you can do is wait to see if your offer is accepted, The end of the stamp duty hoiiday will add to the purchase price and probably cause a slump in sales and the estate could become liable for council tax. If you can contact them again you might remind them of these factors and that not many people are looking for a doer upper.

What we have been told is very vague. Just that the previous owner died a couple of years ago and there have been many buyers come and go but nothing permanent. You are quite right about the stamp duty holiday ending and I don't know anyone in our peer group who are willing to buy a fixer upper, let alone stay in it long term.

LittleNinja

crispycornflake2018 said:

gwynlas said:

You did not mention that it was a probate sale in which case the executor is duty bound to achieve the highest price and that is possibly why they have added 10K to see if the market will stand it?
They might never have sold a property previously or have any experience of being an executor and arre obviously trying to save money by using PB.
All you can do is wait to see if your offer is accepted, The end of the stamp duty hoiiday will add to the purchase price and probably cause a slump in sales and the estate could become liable for council tax. If you can contact them again you might remind them of these factors and that not many people are looking for a doer upper.

What we have been told is very vague. Just that the previous owner died a couple of years ago and there have been many buyers come and go but nothing permanent. You are quite right about the stamp duty holiday ending and I don't know anyone in our peer group who are willing to buy a fixer upper, let alone stay in it long term.

Being on and off the market is not a promising sign. Why do the sales keep falling through? Seems a bit risky

Davesnave

Doozergirl said:

MFWannabe said:

Bear in mind the EA / seller may be ‘playing’ you as you’ve said you’ve fallen in love with it, it’s your dream property etc
Remember the EA works for the seller 

Being in love with something does not provide an immediate link to being prepared to pay anything for it.  

Indeed, the most encouraging thing I saw in the OP's post was their awareness of this: "the seller has got a bit cocky and decided the house is worth more, which it isn't - it needs about 10-15k worth of work doing to make it liveable."

moneysavinghero

crispycornflake2018 said:

moneysavinghero said:

The previous buyers pulled out. Why? Probably because the seller is a bit of a time waster constantly pulling these kind of tricks.

Save yourselves the heartache and start looking for another house.

The previous buyer decided she didn't actually want the house when it came to signing the contract. Nothing to do with the seller as far as I'm aware!

The EA / Vendor will always give you the most palatable reason (aka being economical with the truth). It sounds much better to say that the buyer was a bit flakey and pulled out at the last minute, than to say that the buyer became frustrated with the vendors and pulled out.

You have since added that their have been multiple buyers attempting to buy the house, all of which have failed. Did they all randomly decide to pull out at the last minute?