Lack of negotiation but still want the house...

theoretica

Don't think about the 2006 price - they might have got an absolute bargain, or overpaid.  Carpets aren't all that relevant either - brand new ones that you disliked wouldn't make the place worth more.   What is important is the market - how often do houses like this come up (so your chances of finding another one) and what do they sell for?

I paid 2 or 3 % 'over' for my current property - and I thought of it as two transactions.  I paid the fair value for a place on the property ladder, I also paid a premium for living where I wanted to, and over the years have been very happy I did that rather than having the extra money to spend on holidays or pension or whatever and living somewhere good value I didn't like as well. 

FTB_Help

toellandback said:

Thank you all for the responses.

To be honest I'd be kicking myself if I lost it for £309k to someone else, but I'd also be mad if I overpaid £9k when they may have come around to my last offer if I'd just waited a few weeks... Who knows.

I'm thinking about going back to the EA and asking if the seller is willing to propose a counter offer to see if we can meet somewhere in the middle (hopefully £309k.....)

You have 2 aips for 325k, your max you want to spend is 309k

You told them 300k is your max, now you want to go back and ask to meet in the middle?

If someone comes along and offers 308k are you going to come back and offer 309k (after telling them 300k is your max, then later 304k is your new max)?

If i was the seller, im not sure if i would take you seriously and would worry throughout the process (surveys) that you're going to constantly look for reasons to get £ off.

If you really want this place go in with your BEST final offer (309k) tell them you managed to borrow cash of your parents so can now increase your best and final offer to 309k.

Honestly if someone else comes in tomorrow and offer 308k or 309k and it gets accepted you will be regretting it.

caprikid1

"If you really want this place go in with your BEST final offer (309k) tell them you managed to borrow cash of your parents so can now increase your best and final offer to 309k."
This with spades on...
Ultimately you know the market and what it's worth.
If you think about the person who bought it, do you think they are sat thinking dratt I paid £200K and now it was only worth £195K.....not they are thinking I made £100K because I made a decision and got on with my life !.
Ultimately to get a house we all pay more than someone else is willing to pay... so ultimately we all overpay....
Why do people get so upset around £5K on a house and then buy a car that loses 5K as it drives of the forecourt and then only keep it for 3 years.

Mani_London

Hi,
As many people suggested if you like the house then putting your maximum offer is not a bad idea.
I know i have offered around £3-4K more for the house i am buying (fingers crossed), but me and my partner liked the property the moment we stepped in to view it. Our first offer was rejected, but we then offered our maximum and told them that is final offer and they came back after 2 days and accepted it. So i would say offer your maximum and lets see what vendor has to say. You never know what going to happen. 

caprikid1

I recently lost out on a car I wanted, it was to be a project with my 14 year old, we were really excited. It previously sold for £940 and came back on again, excitedly I bid £1100, lots more than it was previously at. I did not get it I was gutted, but I feel I gave it my best shot, with hindsight I would have gone a bit more ... if I had bid more I would now have had it, I am sure if I had offered £1100 to the seller I would have almost certainly got it, but I tried to be clever and get a bargain....
The car would cost c £4K to restore so £100 - £200 more for the right project really would not have mattered.
sometimes just pay what you are comfortable with and crack on with your life. I am not wasting time looking for another project !.

numbercruncher8

IMO the lack of negotiation is because they know you will be back to resume it. Trying to justify your offer with lots of reasoning and saying what your maximum is says to me someone is really keen, and a good estate agent may be able to get them to put emotion before logic = bigger offer.

If it's really a sellers market, how comes its been on so long? What are the alternatives you would be looking for if this didn't exist. For example, there was a house that came up in January in an area I know that has very few - it was SSTC inside a week.

Problem is if you go back with £309k your credibility is shot; wasn't your max £300k? In which case it might be possible that you can be squeezed up even further. For instance, if the last counter offer is £313k, then what?

If you want them to negotiate on your terms then you have to be prepared to walk away; someone said the best deals always arise when you don't really want them. That means not contacting them anymore and simply waiting for them to come back. Of course they may not if there is other interest, but the 'at this point' comment says to me that nobody else has come close to what they want.

Also getting attached to a property is generally a bad idea, very easily done if you're FTBs but even if you miss it, something else will come up even if that feels impossible at the moment.

loveka

I have a minimum amount I need for my house. If I don't get it I am not bothered and will just rent it out again.

toellandback

Thanks all.

There's obviously financial considerations with risking the extra £Xk - we can get an excellent mortgage rate with a 75% LTV but obviously the more we pay, the more of our savings we lose to our deposit. We have next to no furnishings as we rent in a furnished flat.

It's not badly priced against the market though internal sq footage and garden space is smaller than most other 3 beds (and one of the bedrooms is practically a cupboard). I'm finding it quite difficult to compare prices in the area as there's not a tonne on the market (it's definitely slowing down, only maybe 2 properties added each week in the whole town and most are either in a worse area or completely run down...)

So it's quite difficult to be distracted with viewing other properties in the same area as there aren't really many I feel it is a seller's market in general as it's a desirable town, houses tend to get snapped up quickly and there's not a tonne on the market in comparison to other areas so it seems less people wanting / needing to move.

I know I've probably handled this all wrong from the beginning but I can't imagine it's ever an easy process to navigate unless you have a tonne of experience / get lucky.

FTB_Help

toellandback said:

Thanks all

There's obviously financial considerations with risking the extra £Xk - we can get an excellent mortgage rate with a 75% LTV but obviously the more we pay, the more of our savings we lose to our deposit. We have next to no furnishings as we rent in a furnished flat.

It's not badly priced against the market though internal sq footage and garden space is smaller than most other 3 beds (and one of the bedrooms is practically a cupboard). I'm finding it quite difficult to compare prices in the area as there's not a tonne on the market (it's definitely slowing down, only maybe 2 properties added each week in the whole town and most are either in a worse area or completely run down...)

So it's quite difficult to be distracted with viewing other properties in the same area as there aren't really many I feel it is a seller's market in general as it's a desirable town, houses tend to get snapped up quickly and there's not a tonne on the market in comparison to other areas so it seems less people wanting / needing to move.

I know I've probably handled this all wrong from the beginning but I can't imagine it's ever an easy process to navigate unless you have a tonne of experience / get lucky.

You received the full deposit 75k (25% of 300k) from your parents, surely you/ your partner have some cash saved up yourselves?

If you go in with the story that you have just manged to get an extra 9k off parents and is your FINAL offer, to stay in the 75% ltv will mean you will only need to put in £2,250 yourselves in the deposit (your parents are giving you 75k).

From what you've said you've had 2 aip in the reigion of 325k so seems possible for you.

If you think the houses in your area are selling and there's not much comming in the area then im sure this one will go soon?

You can either wait it out, they could possibly have no takers and come back in a few weeks and accept your 300k offer or just go in and actually offer your best and final.

If this was to get sold tomorrow you probably would be annoyed at yourself for not trying.

With regards to furniture, im in the same situation, when i move in i will only have my matress with me, but i will be saving each month to buy a new piece of furniture, im sure there are a ton of people doing the same thing.

It took me 9 years to save for my 25% deposit so count yourselves lucky you've been gifted that upfront

niceguyed

An empty property does have ongoing costs for the vendor so each month that ticks by will be on their mind. They've also lowered the price to incite interest. Sometimes an offer (especially several) can embolden a seller that more is always around the corner even if your offer is reasonable. Completely agree with others, next step can only be a final offer and actually mean it. On my current house it took 3 sequential bids, my final offer was close to asking and was on the table for 24 hours max. We made it clear no further offers would be forthcoming or counter offers considered. Buyers too trump is being ready, willing able to walk away. Good luck OP.