Making an offer etiquette

Vannaa

I'm new to the house buying process and it's suddenly got real and I'm quite nervous. I owned a property 20 years ago but I was living in it and it was bought off family very cheaply so I circumvented most of the process. I'm now renting and moving 200 miles away for affordability. I had a friend round who was born and raised in the area and we've identified two house that are pretty much ideal. One though ticks more boxes. So questions -

Is it OK to offer on more than property and drop out if an offer on the preferred one is accepted?

Is is OK to offer when you're not 100% sorted financially?

I'm waiting on a pension to become active, this will double my savings and increase my income by 10%. It's pretty close, just waiting on AVCs. I can afford one of the properties without this. The other will need to this to happen first if I can't get a £10k reduction on the asking price (it's already been reduced by £10k). If I'm honest I'd happily pay full asking price if the seller stuck to their guns, it's ticks all the boxes and I have no plans to move.

Or is it just the wild west out there and it's every buyer / seller for themselves?

mi-key

Generally you will find the estate agent wont let you view, or consider any offers from you until you have all your finances in place. They want to see that you are a serious buyer, and proceedable if the offer is accepted, and will want to see proof of your finances before passing an offer on to the seller

As for offering on more than one property, you can do it, but really it's not the way to do it. You are better off offering on the one you prefer and seeing if it is accepted. You will normally find out pretty quickly, often the same day. If you can't get the price you want on that one, then move on to the next and offer on that.

It will only delay things by a couple of days, and it saves messing people around and really it's the proper polite way to do things.

 

mi-key

To add : If you were a seller and you accepted an offer on your house. It then gets taken off the market by the agent. The buyer then pulls out for no reason a week or two later. In that time you could have had someone else who really wanted your house and was serious about buying, but saw it was sold, so bought somewhere else.. 

mi-key

Getting £10K off may well be possible though on the one you prefer, it depends if its a £100K house or £350K one though!

lesalanos

Offering on 2 properties may be frowned upon.  If with the same agent then they will most likely not put the offers through... but there is nothing legally stopping you putting the offers in.  You can withdraw offers up until you exchange.

For me I would offer the lower offer on the one that ticks the most boxes.  Its then up to the vendors if they want to accept and you can discuss from there.  

As stated some agents may want to see that you have the funds first but its becoming more of a buyers market at the moment.

Good luck.

Vannaa

mi-key said:

Getting £10K off may well be possible though on the one you prefer, it depends if its a £100K house or £350K one though!

was £250k, dropped to £240k after less than a month.

mi-key

Vannaa said:

mi-key said:

Getting £10K off may well be possible though on the one you prefer, it depends if its a £100K house or £350K one though!

was £250k, dropped to £240k after less than a month.

Is worth making an offer of £230K then as it may be accepted if the seller is keen to sell and you can show you are proceedable, 

Jonboy_1984

We happily placed multiple best and final offers in this last time last year when it was peak sellers market, and some property’s were having 25 viewings in a day.

We didn’t get any that way immediately, but now live in one after the first buyer fell through and they came back to us a month later.

Emily_Joy

OP, have you actually seen these houses with your own eyes? Have you spoken to the agents, checked EPCs, and so on?

Vannaa

No - I live 4 hours drive away

Emailed for more details and a viewing appointment

EPCs are on Right Move

I'm not making an offer on something I haven't seen, but casual drive-bys by me aren't an option. A close friend was born and raised in the town, and still has family there so I'm confident in the area. Apparently my friend's mother is going to look at one of them today for me 'after church' 

I know I'm likely to end up buying somewhere I've only seen once or twice but I need to move, paying in excess of 2k a month in rent and over £400 for gas and electric (EPC of F!) for a property no-one in my family likes living in is wasting money.

mi-key

Vannaa said:

No - I live 4 hours drive away

Emailed for more details and a viewing appointment

EPCs are on Right Move

I'm not making an offer on something I haven't seen, but casual drive-bys by me aren't an option. A close friend was born and raised in the town, and still has family there so I'm confident in the area. Apparently my friend's mother is going to look at one of them today for me 'after church' 

I know I'm likely to end up buying somewhere I've only seen once or twice but I need to move, paying in excess of 2k a month in rent and over £400 for gas and electric (EPC of F!) for a property no-one in my family likes living in is wasting money.

Worst case if you buy it and like the area, but dont get on with the house, you can look at selling it in a few years. Nothing says you have to stay there forever.  When I bought my current house I viewed it once for about 20 minutes and knew it would be suitable. I knew the area anyway and I really hate shopping !