Gutted on losing a house but can't justify the price

BMTH

Hi, FTB here living in the midlands. We saw a house we really liked which had 'offers over'. We had a couple of viewings and did our research and thought we'd go in at 240k. They rejected which is fair enough. However, we've gone back in at 242.5k which we're expecting to get rejected aswell. The EA haven't been helpful at all with us but we reckon the sellers are trying their luck for 245k + . I know this doesn't seem like much more but I can't justify paying the extra 5k on what we've seen. Is this normal or am I making a mistake because of how much we liked it? This is all very new to us so I'm on my mind a lot!

Just to add this only went on the market a week ago today so wondering whether the sellers are lapping up the interest.

GrumpyDil

Assume it is on for offers over 245?

If that is the case then you'll have to wait and see.

What comparable sold/for sale prices have you seen in your local area as prices are of course relative so without doing that research it's not possible to guage the price.

That said you're talking on the region of 1% and unless your sellers have a very specific reason for asking offer over 245 you may find they accept the offer. 

BMTH

GrumpyDil said:

Assume it is on for offers over 245?

If that is the case then you'll have to wait and see.

What comparable sold/for sale prices have you seen in your local area as prices are of course relative so without doing that research it's not possible to guage the price.

That said you're talking on the region of 1% and unless your sellers have a very specific reason for asking offer over 245 you may find they accept the offer. 

It's offers over 240. So we've genuinely gone over now with our second and final offer.

The road is a little cul-de-sac, there was one just a few doors down which was a tad bigger which was on for £230k. (The only issue with this one was it was backed onto a main road)

Other houses in the area have gone between £220k-£270k but looking at the size and what this one has/doesn't have I'm genuinely puzzled the owners didn't accept the £240k. I honestly think the EA are having us on here (mainly because it's only been on for a week) but we'll never know.

jackieblack

How gutted are you?
If it’s your dream house and somewhere you can see yourselves living for many years, is it worth losing over £2.5k? (Assuming you can afford the extra - obviously if it’s beyond your budget that’s a different matter)

While buying a house is clearly a financial transaction, buying a home is more complicated and other factors, including emotions, also come into play.  Buying the right home can impact your entire lifestyle, health (mental and physical) and general happiness. That’s worth more than a couple of thousand £ - if you were to live there 10 years, that’s £250 a year, but only you can decide if it’s worth it to you.

BMTH

jackieblack said:

How gutted are you?
If it’s your dream house and somewhere you can see yourselves living for many years, is it worth losing over £2.5k? (Assuming you can afford the extra - obviously if it’s beyond your budget that’s a different matter)

While buying a house is clearly a financial transaction, buying a home is more complicated and other factors, including emotions, also come into play.  Buying the right home can impact your entire lifestyle, health (mental and physical) and general happiness. That’s worth more than a couple of thousand £ - if you were to live there 10 years, that’s £250 a year, but only you can decide if it’s worth it to you.

If I had to put a percentage on it I'd say 60-70%%. Like it's bothering me now but I know I'll get over it. This week has just been quite stressful because we've obviously put the offer in with confidence they'd take it only to be told 2 days later it's rejected. (Welcome to the world of buying a house I guess)

Looking at all the great advice on here and from family/friends I was always told you offer what you think a house is worth. I personally think it's worth the 240k but I'm willing to go the extra 2.5k. I think my fear is that we're not going to see anything else come up on rightmove for this sort of price/cheaper if we let this slip.

I'm not even sure what I'm asking here, just a bit of vent I suppose!

mi-key

If it only went on a week ago they may be waiting to see what other offers come in. It could be they have already had some for more than you have offered or have other viewings booked up and want to see what happens with those.

Really when sellers say 'offers over' they don't mean 1% or 2% over. If they only wanted £240K they would have listed it at that and waited to see if they get a buyer for full asking

It could also be they have had offers from cash buyers, or those with large deposits, so prefer that over an FTB.

In any case you can only guess, and wait and see if they accept yours, and if not, if you feel comfortable making another offer 

[Deleted User]

BMTH said:

Just to add this only went on the market a week ago today so wondering whether the sellers are lapping up the interest.

They might not have expected an offer quite so soon. They might now be wondering what else they can get over the coming weeks, once the property has been more widely seen.

Flugelhorn

[Deleted User] said:

BMTH said:

Just to add this only went on the market a week ago today so wondering whether the sellers are lapping up the interest.

They might not have expected an offer quite so soon. They might now be wondering what else they can get over the coming weeks, once the property has been more widely seen.

this is usually the case - if they had been on the market for a month or so (or 6 months maybe) with little interest then they would have taken your offer.

BMTH

[Deleted User] said:

BMTH said:

Just to add this only went on the market a week ago today so wondering whether the sellers are lapping up the interest.

They might not have expected an offer quite so soon. They might now be wondering what else they can get over the coming weeks, once the property has been more widely seen.

Makes sense. 2 things with this though , that's obviously a risk which could backfire. Secondly, makes you wonder how much it would take for them to say yes to an offer now.

mi-key

BMTH said:

jackieblack said:

How gutted are you?
If it’s your dream house and somewhere you can see yourselves living for many years, is it worth losing over £2.5k? (Assuming you can afford the extra - obviously if it’s beyond your budget that’s a different matter)

While buying a house is clearly a financial transaction, buying a home is more complicated and other factors, including emotions, also come into play.  Buying the right home can impact your entire lifestyle, health (mental and physical) and general happiness. That’s worth more than a couple of thousand £ - if you were to live there 10 years, that’s £250 a year, but only you can decide if it’s worth it to you.

If I had to put a percentage on it I'd say 60-70%%. Like it's bothering me now but I know I'll get over it. This week has just been quite stressful because we've obviously put the offer in with confidence they'd take it only to be told 2 days later it's rejected. (Welcome to the world of buying a house I guess)

Looking at all the great advice on here and from family/friends I was always told you offer what you think a house is worth. I personally think it's worth the 240k but I'm willing to go the extra 2.5k. I think my fear is that we're not going to see anything else come up on rightmove for this sort of price/cheaper if we let this slip.

I'm not even sure what I'm asking here, just a bit of vent I suppose!

Another handy thing can be to look at your figures and see ( assuming you can stretch to it ) how much more the monthly payments would be for spending £242.5K compared to £245K. Depending on your deal etc... it is probably less than the cost of a takeaway.

Then think would you rather have a takeaway one night a month, or would you rather get the house you really like ( and get a pizza from Tesco instead ).

From what you have said I don't think the house seems overpriced particularly compared to others. You can never really go on what other houses sold for ( unless they are identical in every aspect ) as there can be hidden reasons why they are cheaper that you cant see without in person viewing or a survey on them.

You can compare with houses currently for sale, but ended listings are pretty meaningless as you can't buy that house anyway so it only gives you a very wide ballpark of prices in the area. 

ThisIsWeird

The decision to accept an offer is the vendor's. 

The EA will help to 'guide' their client's expectations, but will not at all be interested in dragging things out for an extra couple of £k - the extra amount will mean very little to them in commission. They do, tho', like the idea of getting a good deal for their client - it helps their reputation - so will try and balance a quick sale with encouraging a few more offers. They will soon tire, tho', if they sense the vendor is getting 'greedy' and holding out for an even 'better' offer; in essence, EAs just want to 'sell, and move on to the next property'.

For the vendor - and you've yet to be one - it's usually a magical desire for the max amount possible, from the best positioned & most reliable & cutest nuclear family, and in the correct timescale to fit in with their plans

What's happening here? 1) It's been on for just one week. 2) They've already had 2 offers over the asking price - from one person. 3) They will almost certainly have had other viewings, and possibly other offers. 4) It's early days. 5) You don't know if the vendor is keen to sell - has another property lined up, or whether the amount they get is more important. 6) And you don't even know if you are the only person chasing it with any enthusiasm.

The potential offers from other interested parties - if they've had them - could be the same as yours, more than yours, or less than yours. For the latter, the EA will likely be telling them "you need to do a bit better to match other folk". For the former, it could be, "You'll need to do a bit better as they've already had a similar offer but from a FTB, so no chain". For the middle option, it might be "We'll see if any of the others will up their offers to match or exceed - it's early days."

See? It's all unknowns! I hope that helps :-)

One possible approach - tho' it certainly isn't guaranteed to work - is to not keep upping the offers, but to ask the EA outright, "We are FTBs and we like the house; what figure do they want to remove it from the market and proceed quickly with a sale?", and that puts the ball in the vendor's court to come up with a figure. You can then decide what you want to do. Worst case - if you are really not prepared to go there - is to say, "That's a shame - it's just too much. We are FTBs, keen to buy, so if they change their mind, please let us know. Meanwhile we have other places to look at." And, of course, you need to be prepared to walk away.