Negotiation strategy

Scotbot

RHemmings said:

Scotbot said:

Slinky said:

Try tossing a coin, heads A, tails B. 

You might find that you want it to land on a particular side, and that might give you your answer.

I have actually tried that!

What was the result? Both the coin-toss result, and your gut feeling result. 

Coin toss A gut B. 

To complicate things further I had an offer accepted back in Feb that fell through,  I withdrew as the buyer had done a substantial extension without building regs approval. This house was on with the same agent as house B but at a much higher price. So the agent for house B knows my budget is a lot higher than 425

funny_bones

I have limited knowledge on negotiations but will share my experience.

Property on market for 200k, when it was reduced to 190k, I viewed and offered 180k. 

Offer accepted and then EA went quiet. Few days later the emailed me on a Fri stating another offer was on table and they are checking the finances as part of their due diligence and they would get back to me. I didn’t bother replying to their email. Then the following Monday, I got call from EA saying they are going ahead with my offer. 

I get the impression EA will always try to get more money out of you. Sometimes it pays to sit a while and do nothing ie that’s my offer. But it all depends how keen you are on the property.

Albermarle

Try making a list of pros and cons of each house. Show the brochures for both to friends or family members to get their input. Think about how each house would work for you ten years down the line. Does one have more likelihood of being a longer term home than the other? Are there any things about either house that you think could bug you down the road. Would losing one give you a feeling of regret more so than the other?

This is good advice.
Make a list of pros and cons.
You mention kerb appeal for one. Of course it is good when it looks nice, but it is a lower priority than location and floor space/layout ( in my opinion).

As above the acid test is to think how you would feel if the EA phoned and said House A had been sold. Would you be disappointed or secretly relieved. Then go through the same thought process with House B. 

Problem is when the pros and cons point one way, but your emotional reaction points the other way......

Scotbot

Albermarle said:

Try making a list of pros and cons of each house. Show the brochures for both to friends or family members to get their input. Think about how each house would work for you ten years down the line. Does one have more likelihood of being a longer term home than the other? Are there any things about either house that you think could bug you down the road. Would losing one give you a feeling of regret more so than the other?

This is good advice.
Make a list of pros and cons.
You mention kerb appeal for one. Of course it is good when it looks nice, but it is a lower priority than location and floor space/layout ( in my opinion).

As above the acid test is to think how you would feel if the EA phoned and said House A had been sold. Would you be disappointed or secretly relieved. Then go through the same thought process with House B. 

Problem is when the pros and cons point one way, but your emotional reaction points the other way......

Quite. I have done the pros and cons list. The pros for house A were no chain,  floor layout and cheaper. The cons were small rooms and amount of work required. The pros for house B were bigger bedrooms, less work and position.

They are 10 minutes walk from each other but house B is a small cul de sac that opens up onto a circular road with a wooded area in the middle that leads to woodland trust walks. Access to green spaces is very important to me as I have a dog and love walking and am a runner. Obviously all this is only 10 minutes from house A but with house B it is literally on the door step

There are 16 houses in house B Road, only 2 sales in the past 10 years so I guess the residents like it there.

I am a data scientist so off to do a 6 sigma exercise to rank the 2.  I think I am reaching a decision 

Scotbot

PS The irony of the fact I am trained in advanced analytical techniques for decision making yet am unable to decide between  2 houses is not lost on me !

Millsandovis

This cash viewing might not even exist by the way. I had a situation where I was waiting for my house to go on the market before I could offer on a property. I really loved the property I’ve now had an offer accepted on and the agent knew it so gave me the bluff about another viewing on the Saturday (it had been on the market for a year, with substantial reductions). Lo and behold a few days later I offered 15k under asking with the offer of a deposit, had an offer accepted at 10k under and the house was taken off the market. 

Now if you had a viewing on the Saturday and were on with 3 other agents, you wouldn’t just accept 10k under from someone who was at the time unproceedable. They essentially took me at face value and took the house off the market knowing I’d be getting a lot of interest in my property (which worked out in the end) 

probably isn’t relevant to this situation but agent will try everything. I’d just wait and see how this viewing plays out and then act accordingly. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were trying to get you to offer more straight away though. 

ReadySteadyPop

Cash buyer might not exist, and if they do might make an even lower offer as they hold a lot of bargaining cards. I would be taking an interest in the price history of the previous sales because interest rates have changed so much.

Slinky

Just because there's not a chain doesn't mean a purchase/sale will be problem free. We were cash buyers of a property where probate had been granted. It still took 6 months to get to completion as the vendors took so long to clear the property out.

Some things are worth jumping through some hoops for (we lost 90% of the cost of a holiday we'd booked that clashed with our eventual completion date); I'd rather get the right house with a difficult transaction than the wrong one which was easier to buy.