How advantageous is a good deposit and no chain?

HotPantsCruiser

Brodel said:

My partner and I started looking in August '21. We saw a house we liked so we put an offer in but didn't feel comfortable increasing it at the time because we hadn't viewed any other houses and so it went to someone else. Now that we've looked at quite a few it's clear it was the best by quite a distance.

Fast forward 6 months and it's back on the market for £25k more because the buyer couldn't meet the deadline set by the owner.

We know that the owner would like to sell it to someone local who is looking to start a family (which is our situation) and can move fast as the house has gone through probate and is sitting empty. We are renting so have no chain and have a deposit that is almost 50% of the asking price.

Interest on mortgage rates have gone from 0.99% when we were looking in August, to 1.59% today, which means offering at the new asking price would stretch us to our limit.

It's probably difficult to say, but how much of an advantage do we have with our deposit and no chain, is it enough to put a cheeky offer in, or does it not count for much given how crazy the market is right now?

Thanks in advance.

And it looks like they will be moving much higher. With that amount of deposit and many sellers getting "down-valued" or finding buyers not prepared to stretch quite so much as interest rates rise you are in a very very good position IMO!

neet87

Another vote for 'absolutely no difference' unfortunately. As chain free buyers with a big deposit we still lost many houses to higher offers last year, many in best and final. Having looked at the land registry sale prices for two I particularly liked the accepted prices were £3k and £1.5k over our own offers. I know the £1.5k was to a buyer with a chain. I imagine that sale got pretty stressful too as it completed 6 months later on the day of the SDLT deadline. 

lookstraightahead

Yes a big difference in my opinion. A big deposit helps "fill the gap" on mortgage valuation (for those willing to pay the difference between what a house is worth and what the vendor thinks it's worth / what the buyer is willing to risk above the banks risk ) and no chain speaks for itself. 

Why are they insistent on selling to those wanting to start a family? I find that a bit strange.

aside from that, do you know that is why it's back on the market, or was it valued less by the previous buyers mortgage company, or is there something wrong with the property etc? Would be a red flag to me.

TheJP

Brodel said:

My partner and I started looking in August '21. We saw a house we liked so we put an offer in but didn't feel comfortable increasing it at the time because we hadn't viewed any other houses and so it went to someone else. Now that we've looked at quite a few it's clear it was the best by quite a distance.

Fast forward 6 months and it's back on the market for £25k more because the buyer couldn't meet the deadline set by the owner.

We know that the owner would like to sell it to someone local who is looking to start a family (which is our situation) and can move fast as the house has gone through probate and is sitting empty. We are renting so have no chain and have a deposit that is almost 50% of the asking price.

Interest on mortgage rates have gone from 0.99% when we were looking in August, to 1.59% today, which means offering at the new asking price would stretch us to our limit.

It's probably difficult to say, but how much of an advantage do we have with our deposit and no chain, is it enough to put a cheeky offer in, or does it not count for much given how crazy the market is right now?

Thanks in advance.

Id say the £25k hike is due to the market increase and not deadlines, could be a host of reasons why this fell through.

High deposit and chain free will make you attractive but wont change the price you pay.

lookstraightahead

You need to find out for sure why it fell through. Has the vendor changed the property they want to buy? Is it more money? Did the survey from the previous buyers bring anything up? Did the vendors 'sell' quickly and now think they can get more or, conversely, was the house "down" valued and the buyer didn't want to make up the difference? Are they stalling for time?
it seems strange that they have recently put on for more after it fell through especially if they are in a hurry - why would anyone risk it taking longer / being undervalued after hiking the price up, if they are in a rush. Unless they just can't see past the extra money, which they probably won't get based on buyers knowing it was on for less just a little while ago, and the uncertainty for vendors going forward. 

I would definitely try to get to the bottom of exactly why it's back on the market.

SuseOrm

 I think it would be well worth you putting in an offer,  i’ve bought a house in Midlands for the same price as my relative paid in 2018 arguably they have a better kitchen and bathroom but I have a much larger garden and on a quieter street,   there’s just so many variables at the moment that mean not every house is attractive to every buyer.  

They can only say no right ? 

user1168934

Brodel said:

user1168934 said:

In the current market, in South East, I would say it makes absolutely no difference at all. Even if you are a cash buyer the seller will still go for the higher offer. If you really like the house I would advise against a cheeky offer. It is seller's market at the moment.

Brodel said:

...

Fast forward 6 months and it's back on the market for £25k more because the buyer couldn't meet the deadline set by the owner.

I am not sure how you know that but do not trust a single word that comes of estate agent's mouth. The reason could be anything.

We know that the owner would like to sell it to someone local who is looking to start a family (which is our situation)

Again, I have no idea how you know that but the sellers I have seen are only interested in one thing - money.

and can move fast as the house has ...

Yep, SE unfortunately.

It was originally advertised with a different estate agent to the one it is now. I called the old estate agent to ask what the why the sale hadn't gone through in case there were structural issues or other costly problems. They said the checks were fine but the buyer was messing around the seller and deadlines weren't being met so they decided to relist.

When we went to the viewing in August the estate agent told us it was the sellers parents home and they had said that they wanted it to be sold to a family and not developers.

Could have all been bs of course.

Sounds BS to me. The house being a probate property, I think the most likely reason is that there were delays in granting probate (due to COVID etc) and the buyer finally got sick of it - six months is a long time.

Ask the estate agents to confirm that the probabte has already been granted. I would not start spending money on it unless probate is granted - you could be waiting for months.

HotPantsCruiser

TheJP said:

Brodel said:

My partner and I started looking in August '21. We saw a house we liked so we put an offer in but didn't feel comfortable increasing it at the time because we hadn't viewed any other houses and so it went to someone else. Now that we've looked at quite a few it's clear it was the best by quite a distance.

Fast forward 6 months and it's back on the market for £25k more because the buyer couldn't meet the deadline set by the owner.

We know that the owner would like to sell it to someone local who is looking to start a family (which is our situation) and can move fast as the house has gone through probate and is sitting empty. We are renting so have no chain and have a deposit that is almost 50% of the asking price.

Interest on mortgage rates have gone from 0.99% when we were looking in August, to 1.59% today, which means offering at the new asking price would stretch us to our limit.

It's probably difficult to say, but how much of an advantage do we have with our deposit and no chain, is it enough to put a cheeky offer in, or does it not count for much given how crazy the market is right now?

Thanks in advance.

Id say the £25k hike is due to the market increase and not deadlines, could be a host of reasons why this fell through.

High deposit and chain free will make you attractive but wont change the price you pay.

Why not ?

GaleSF63

Seller may have used delays (even if they were unavoidable) as an excuse so they could ask for £25 more as prices were going up. They now have to start all over again - so automatically more delays. 

Noneforit999

HotPantsCruiser said:

TheJP said:

Brodel said:

My partner and I started looking in August '21. We saw a house we liked so we put an offer in but didn't feel comfortable increasing it at the time because we hadn't viewed any other houses and so it went to someone else. Now that we've looked at quite a few it's clear it was the best by quite a distance.

Fast forward 6 months and it's back on the market for £25k more because the buyer couldn't meet the deadline set by the owner.

We know that the owner would like to sell it to someone local who is looking to start a family (which is our situation) and can move fast as the house has gone through probate and is sitting empty. We are renting so have no chain and have a deposit that is almost 50% of the asking price.

Interest on mortgage rates have gone from 0.99% when we were looking in August, to 1.59% today, which means offering at the new asking price would stretch us to our limit.

It's probably difficult to say, but how much of an advantage do we have with our deposit and no chain, is it enough to put a cheeky offer in, or does it not count for much given how crazy the market is right now?

Thanks in advance.

Id say the £25k hike is due to the market increase and not deadlines, could be a host of reasons why this fell through.

High deposit and chain free will make you attractive but wont change the price you pay.

Why not ?

Largely because money talks for most vendors and Estate Agents often advise they take higher offers, even if in a chain.

The buyer having a higher deposit or being chain free reduces the risk of the whole process but I don't see how it changes what the property is worth?

As a vendor myself currently, we would have preferred no chain (as we don't have one either) but if I had an offer of £10k less than asking which was chain free and an offer of £10k above asking with a chain. I would pick the higher one. 

We are currently chain free, as our our buyers but based on progress so far with both parties being on the ball and returning paperwork quickly etc, its still likely to take the three month average from offer to completion, possibly longer.