Did I just miss out on a bargain or dodge a bullet?

mi-key

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

mi-key said:

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

ArbitraryRandom said:

Have to agree. 

When you're talking a purchase of (on average) several hundred thousand pounds... saving a few thousand really isn't all that.  

If it's a good property (ticks the boxes) and I think the process is going to be 'easy' (no probate, long chain, and no reason to think the sellers are going to be difficult), then that's worth at least a few thousand right there. 

Yes, but this OP has offered 65k below the original asking price, it isn`t inconsequential amounts of money.

An offer means nothing unless it is accepted. I can offer £1K on a £500K house, it doesn't mean I am saving £499K 

The real world example we are dealing with was an offer of 65k below original asking price, this was accepted "within the hour" according to the opening post of the thread.

It was an offer of £30K below what the house was on the market for. What it was on before it was reduced isn't relevant as the OP didn't make an offer on it then.

The OP offered 5.5% below asking, so it's not a huge surprise it was accepted

pinkshoes

We had a very similar scenario 8 years ago.

We were chain free (and even better with no rental as we were living with inlaws!).

A property that was previously £475k dropped to £450k so appeared in our search. Our top budget was £425k. We managed to find another £5k so offered £430k which they accepted as we agreed they could leave any furniture and stuff in the house.

The vendor was moving to a retirement property so it was a very straightforward chain free move. A huge advantage to us!

Everyone kept saying that it might drop further if we waited but the reality was that if we had waited we would have been priced out the market and had to find something much smaller.

It's a home after all, not a business transaction. 

jimbog

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

jimbog said:

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

Yes, but this OP has offered 65k below the original asking price, it isn`t inconsequential amounts of money.

But as the OP themselves said:

Thomas12346 said:

 It is strange that someone else mentioned an offer of £475,000 as that is the highest i think i would go given the market at the moment - i believe the seller almost certainly won't accept this

Offering low ball offers knowing it won't be accepted is pointless, consequently the £65K  'saving' is a moot point. In addition, as the OP has accepted, their credability as a purchaser has already been compromised 

 if they feel 475k is the limit then the seller is obviously chancing their arm

not necessarily. It may be that the buyer is chancing their arm

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

jimbog said:

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

Yes, but this OP has offered 65k below the original asking price, it isn`t inconsequential amounts of money.

But as the OP themselves said:

Thomas12346 said:

 It is strange that someone else mentioned an offer of £475,000 as that is the highest i think i would go given the market at the moment - i believe the seller almost certainly won't accept this

Offering low ball offers knowing it won't be accepted is pointless, consequently the £65K  'saving' is a moot point. In addition, as the OP has accepted, their credability as a purchaser has already been compromised 

 the fact that an offer of 65k below original asking was accepted "within the hour" tends to back up this view.

you misunderstood the OP's post. He viewed it at £550K

jimbog

mi-key said:

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

mi-key said:

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

ArbitraryRandom said:

Have to agree. 

When you're talking a purchase of (on average) several hundred thousand pounds... saving a few thousand really isn't all that.  

If it's a good property (ticks the boxes) and I think the process is going to be 'easy' (no probate, long chain, and no reason to think the sellers are going to be difficult), then that's worth at least a few thousand right there. 

Yes, but this OP has offered 65k below the original asking price, it isn`t inconsequential amounts of money.

An offer means nothing unless it is accepted. I can offer £1K on a £500K house, it doesn't mean I am saving £499K 

The real world example we are dealing with was an offer of 65k below original asking price, this was accepted "within the hour" according to the opening post of the thread.

It was an offer of £30K below what the house was on the market for. What it was on before it was reduced isn't relevant as the OP didn't make an offer on it then.

This is true.

It reminds me of the time I realised I could save £5 a day by walking to work rather than taking a bus. I was feeling pleased with myself until the day a colleague shrugged and said I would have saved four times that amount if I had been taking a taxi

Sarah1Mitty2

jimbog said:

mi-key said:

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

mi-key said:

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

ArbitraryRandom said:

Have to agree. 

When you're talking a purchase of (on average) several hundred thousand pounds... saving a few thousand really isn't all that.  

If it's a good property (ticks the boxes) and I think the process is going to be 'easy' (no probate, long chain, and no reason to think the sellers are going to be difficult), then that's worth at least a few thousand right there. 

Yes, but this OP has offered 65k below the original asking price, it isn`t inconsequential amounts of money.

An offer means nothing unless it is accepted. I can offer £1K on a £500K house, it doesn't mean I am saving £499K 

The real world example we are dealing with was an offer of 65k below original asking price, this was accepted "within the hour" according to the opening post of the thread.

It was an offer of £30K below what the house was on the market for. What it was on before it was reduced isn't relevant as the OP didn't make an offer on it then.

This is true.

It reminds me of the time I realised I could save £5 a day by walking to work rather than taking a bus. I was feeling pleased with myself until the day a colleague shrugged and said I would have saved four times that amount if I had been taking a taxi

Getting a house 50k cheaper is a slightly different thing though.

Sarah1Mitty2

pinkshoes said:

We had a very similar scenario 8 years ago.

We were chain free (and even better with no rental as we were living with inlaws!).

A property that was previously £475k dropped to £450k so appeared in our search. Our top budget was £425k. We managed to find another £5k so offered £430k which they accepted as we agreed they could leave any furniture and stuff in the house.

The vendor was moving to a retirement property so it was a very straightforward chain free move. A huge advantage to us!

Everyone kept saying that it might drop further if we waited but the reality was that if we had waited we would have been priced out the market and had to find something much smaller.

It's a home after all, not a business transaction. 

The market today is very different.

MobileSaver

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

pinkshoes said:

We had a very similar scenario 8 years ago.

We were chain free (and even better with no rental as we were living with inlaws!).

A property that was previously £475k dropped to £450k so appeared in our search. Our top budget was £425k. We managed to find another £5k so offered £430k which they accepted as we agreed they could leave any furniture and stuff in the house.

The vendor was moving to a retirement property so it was a very straightforward chain free move. A huge advantage to us!

Everyone kept saying that it might drop further if we waited but the reality was that if we had waited we would have been priced out the market and had to find something much smaller.

It's a home after all, not a business transaction.

The market today is very different.

It's really not. Just as then, there's a shortage of good houses in the locations that people want and there's nothing to suggest that that situation is going to change any time soon.

I've just looked back at one of your posts from 8 years ago (so the same time as when @pinkshoes was buying their home) and ironically you were saying then that the market was a "world of difference" to previous times...

House prices have increased by 36% since so if your predictions are as accurate now as they were then that must mean we're in for another housing price boom over the next few years.

Malthusian

jimbog said:

This is true.

It reminds me of the time I realised I could save £5 a day by walking to work rather than taking a bus. I was feeling pleased with myself until the day a colleague shrugged and said I would have saved four times that amount if I had been taking a taxi

I would have spent £150 to hire a limo to take me into work, then carried on walking to work the next day. Saving £150 per day would pay for the cost of the limo within a single day.

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

Getting a house 50k cheaper is a slightly different thing though.

You are ignoring that the potential downside of messing sellers around - that you lose out on the ideal house - is much much higher than saving money on a commute, just as the potential gain is. You can't justify a gamble on the grounds that the upside is thousands of pounds and ignore the potential downside. 
The cost of losing out on the "ideal house" and having to settle for "whichever house is being sold by someone desperate enough to put up with my messing around" is intangible. For some people it could even be nil, if they are fixer-uppers or property speculators. But given the difference between what people are willing to pay for a house in a desirable area and what people are willing to pay for fixer-uppers, it could easily be hundreds of thousands of pounds.
As others have adequately covered, there is no "£50,000 cheaper", the saving you're talking about doesn't exist. The market value of the house is £520,000 (as far as anyone knows) and there is no reason to believe that an offer of 9% below market value would be accepted.

pinkshoes

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

pinkshoes said:

We had a very similar scenario 8 years ago.

We were chain free (and even better with no rental as we were living with inlaws!).

A property that was previously £475k dropped to £450k so appeared in our search. Our top budget was £425k. We managed to find another £5k so offered £430k which they accepted as we agreed they could leave any furniture and stuff in the house.

The vendor was moving to a retirement property so it was a very straightforward chain free move. A huge advantage to us!

Everyone kept saying that it might drop further if we waited but the reality was that if we had waited we would have been priced out the market and had to find something much smaller.

It's a home after all, not a business transaction. 

The market today is very different.

Markets are a never ending "different". 

All I know is that despite everyone saying prices would/might drop, and although 3 bed semis in the is area did drop in price, 4 bed detached houses continued to go up and if I'd delayed, I never would have been able to purchase something like this. 

I didn't buy an investment. I bought a home. 

I've never been bothered about it's value as we have no plans to move for another 20 years! But just being nosy... it's now "worth" about £600k to £650k according to Zoopla which is probably about right. New builds (slightly smaller) sold for £650k to £700k. 

If I had to rent in this area, then we'd be paying £2500 a month for a similar house, which is over double our mortgage. If the OP is happy renting and has a nice rental that is cheap then it would be perhaps better to stay put. I personally hated renting.

Sarah1Mitty2

pinkshoes said:

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

pinkshoes said:

We had a very similar scenario 8 years ago.

We were chain free (and even better with no rental as we were living with inlaws!).

A property that was previously £475k dropped to £450k so appeared in our search. Our top budget was £425k. We managed to find another £5k so offered £430k which they accepted as we agreed they could leave any furniture and stuff in the house.

The vendor was moving to a retirement property so it was a very straightforward chain free move. A huge advantage to us!

Everyone kept saying that it might drop further if we waited but the reality was that if we had waited we would have been priced out the market and had to find something much smaller.

It's a home after all, not a business transaction. 

The market today is very different.

Markets are a never ending "different". 

All I know is that despite everyone saying prices would/might drop, and although 3 bed semis in the is area did drop in price, 4 bed detached houses continued to go up and if I'd delayed, I never would have been able to purchase something like this. 

I didn't buy an investment. I bought a home. 

I've never been bothered about it's value as we have no plans to move for another 20 years! But just being nosy... it's now "worth" about £600k to £650k according to Zoopla which is probably about right. New builds (slightly smaller) sold for £650k to £700k. 

If I had to rent in this area, then we'd be paying £2500 a month for a similar house, which is over double our mortgage. If the OP is happy renting and has a nice rental that is cheap then it would be perhaps better to stay put. I personally hated renting.

The only guide to how much a property is worth is when someone buys it, Zoopla are not considered to be particularly accurate as far as I have heard, but if you are happy then that is all that counts really? I think most economists and experts agree that we are in a new kind of "different" now, that is what I mean`t by that comment.