FTB Advice - Anxious About Location for Viewings, Competition and Paying the Right Price

maton91

Hello all,

I am a FTB and now that I have sufficient deposit saved I'm looking to buy a property.

Where I am looking is not in my home town and relatively far away for viewings during the week after work hours unless I took time off.

In addition, I want to pay a fair price for a property. I know Estate Agents advertise for a estimated value, lets say £200k-£210k. How do I know after viewing how much I should offer? For example if I offer £190k could this be accepted by the seller? Could I offer £200k and the seller wants £210k? What makes it the right price? I've seen houses on RightMove that are advertised at £175k for 6 months, why would this be?

Because of the above I am anxious that I may miss out on properties and the potential added competition. I'm sure these are all worries people go through but a bit of reassurance and advice would be helpful.

Thanks in advance

Redwino222

Different areas are in different positions.  Where I am most houses are being bid well over the asking price.  The first bid on my house was £5k over asking - people know it will be bid up so they start strong.  

Also it depends how estate agents are valuing the houses, I know my area very well and can tell by the estate agent whether the house will be over or under priced.  It’s a very annoying system, but you need to get a feel for it.

only offer what you think a house is worth to you.  If a house has been sitting for a long time, don’t pay asking price and go in with a bid under asking price.  You may find the owner is stubbornly waiting for an asking price offer that will never come, but it isn’t selling at that price.

also you will get a feel for the market once you have viewed a few.  Ask the estate agent to keep you informed of offers, then you will see how the market is performing.

dont get carried away, decide what a house is worth to you and don’t bid over that.  Be firm with estate agents, take time to think about your offer.

i was in a bidding war for the house I am hopefully buying.  While it was bid way over asking I actually got it for less than I was willing to pay.  The estate agent had under priced it to get lots of people through the door,  in my opinion this is a stupid tactic because lots of People viewed who couldn’t actually afford it, and there was a flurry of bidding.  I waited until iT was about twenty grand over asking price before I started bidding and by that time ten bidders had dropped out. 

maton91

Redwino222 said:

Different areas are in different positions.  Where I am most houses are being bid well over the asking price.  The first bid on my house was £5k over asking - people know it will be bid up so they start strong.  

Also it depends how estate agents are valuing the houses, I know my area very well and can tell by the estate agent whether the house will be over or under priced.  It’s a very annoying system, but you need to get a feel for it.

only offer what you think a house is worth to you.  If a house has been sitting for a long time, don’t pay asking price and go in with a bid under asking price.  You may find the owner is stubbornly waiting for an asking price offer that will never come, but it isn’t selling at that price.

also you will get a feel for the market once you have viewed a few.  Ask the estate agent to keep you informed of offers, then you will see how the market is performing.

dont get carried away, decide what a house is worth to you and don’t bid over that.  Be firm with estate agents, take time to think about your offer.

i was in a bidding war for the house I am hopefully buying.  While it was bid way over asking I actually got it for less than I was willing to pay.  The estate agent had under priced it to get lots of people through the door,  in my opinion this is a stupid tactic because lots of People viewed who couldn’t actually afford it, and there was a flurry of bidding.  I waited until iT was about twenty grand over asking price before I started bidding and by that time ten bidders had dropped out. 

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated!

A few follow up questions:

1. decide what a house is worth to you and don’t bid over that - Daft question, how do you know how much is worth and if the EA is under/over valuing the house?
2. If a house has been sitting for a long time, don’t pay asking price and go in with a bid under asking price - What in your opinion is 'sitting for a long time' (2 weeks, 2 months?)
   
3.  When do house visits normally happen? If I worked a 9-5 job, could I visit a house at say 7pm, or would I have to wait until the weekend, do I take time off?
   

p00hsticks

I'd say

1. Comes partly from knowing the market in the area you ar looking in - are there other houses nearby also on the market or sold recently ? How does the price compare ? - but also on your own personal needs / 'must haves'. We probably paid a bit over the odds for the house we are in now, but we'd had our eye on this particular street for several years ,and knew it was one where properties rarely came onto the market, so were prepared to pay a bit extra for our 'forever home'.

2. I'd say six months or more

3. It depends on whether the oner is prepared to do viewings or not. In my (not rece t) experience and estate agents will only come out 9-5ish but if the owner is doing the viewings themselves they can be more flexible and may even prefer evening / weekend viewings if they work themselves.

ciderboy2009

Research, research and more research it what you need to do.

Get an idea of what houses in the area you're looking at are actually selling at (not what they're asking for them).  This is normally about 3 months out of date before the data is published so you also need to have an idea of what the housing market is actually doing in your area (ie: here in my part of Bristol prices are still going up fairly quickly so I would probably add 3-5% on top of 3 month old sold prices).

If a house has been on the market for a long time for your area without being sold (around here I would be thinking 3 months+) then try to identify why - it may be the price but it may also be something else.

Look at all the properties for sale in the area you're interested in on Rightmove - work out why you think the prices are different.  This will give you a better idea of the local market.

Whatever you do DO NOT ask the Estate Agent for advice on what sort of price to offer.

Unfortunately there is no magic formula that you can use to value a property - it all comes down to you doing some legwork to gain knowledge.

maton91

Again, thanks for your replies guys!

I'm guessing the interior design also accounts to the price? For example a like for like property in terms of structure/tenure/age one that has been modernised at £220k and one that hasn't changed since the 90s at £200k?

My main question though, are my concerns normal for anyone looking to buy a property, both FTB and those looking to move?

csgohan4

maton91 said:

Again, thanks for your replies guys!

I'm guessing the interior design also accounts to the price? For example a like for like property in terms of structure/tenure/age one that has been modernised at £220k and one that hasn't changed since the 90s at £200k?

My main question though, are my concerns normal for anyone looking to buy a property, both FTB and those looking to move?

Don't worry what other people think, offer what you think it's worth. Because if you don't, you may have buyer's remorse. 

Redwino222

It is very hard to give you specific answers because the housing market varies so much form place to place - even street to street in some places.  Where I am houses in good condition under £250k will usually be sale agreed within two weeks.  

A house came on the market around the same time as mine did - I could tell immediately that it was overpriced - very dated decor, twenty year old kitchen and bathroom and quite ugly paved garden.  But it was priced higher than mine which is about 15 years old and has had a new kitchen and Bathrooms.  It sat for a month and has now been reduced by £10k.  I think it needs to go another £10k.
But the only reason I know this is because I know the area very well, I ring up estate agents to see if there are offers in on properties and I know what kind of bids I have got in my house.

as someone upthread has said - I am afraid it takes research and time to know a market

ciderboy2009

maton91 said:

My main question though, are my concerns normal for anyone looking to buy a property, both FTB and those looking to move?

From some of the threads I read on here then I would say that your concerns are not normal - but they probably should be rather than people jumping in with both feet without any consideration as to whether or not the price is appropriate and then wondering why the valuation comes back at less than they have offered!

p00hsticks

maton91 said:

Again, thanks for your replies guys!

I'm guessing the interior design also accounts to the price? For example a like for like property in terms of structure/tenure/age one that has been modernised at £220k and one that hasn't changed since the 90s at £200k?

Yes - although you need to be wary of homes under the hammer style 'flippers' who think that they can come in, paint everything light grey (used to be magnolia), bung in a cheap new kitchen and bathroom suite and some cheap hessian carpet or laminate flooring, put some twigs in a jar in the corner and believe that that has increased the value by 50k+ .

With one that hasn't changed since the 90's, you need to be thinking / checking about whether or not this is an indication that the general maintenance has also been neglected - are gutters clear, has the boiler been serviced regularly etc ?

And remember that if you don't like the decor that's there and you intend putting your own style on it, then spending more on one that's recently been doen to the curent owners taste is money wasted. (I once had to patiently explain to an estate agent that I wasn;t interested in a property I'd just viewed because it was too expensive for  the area - a 'selling point' that it had been newly redecorated throguhout included Paddington Bear wall paper in one of  the bedrooms and pine cladding in the bathroom!)

justworriedabit

Hi OP
It's supply and demand, plus a bit of luck, EG, nice property ok location, you have the advantage of FTB ie no chain but if someone else was interested then you may have to pay a bit more.
Play on your strengths, ie read to move FTB with deposit and mortgage in principal ready.

Go for location and try to check out area diff times of day - the decor, reflected in price as you always lick of paint but it is supply and demand and the ace you may have is you are ready to move, no chain
Good luck