First time buyer needs advice please

teabelly

If the outstanding mortgage is 95k then they will struggle to go lower than that. You need to find out from the EA what other offers have been made and already turned down. If the other one is on at 115k then knocking off 20k for the work leaves a price of 95k. Developers will want a 20% return so they will be offering 80k at best I would have thought. If they have had lots of low offers and turned them all down having someone come in a bit higher might sway them to accept as they may well think they may not get any better if all of the offers have been round the same level.

Make an offer and keep sniffing them up by smaller amounts so you'd start at say 85,950, then sniff to 87,850, then up to 89,100 then 89,500 so they get the idea you are running out of room if they keep turning you down. If the EA definitely says they won't take under 95k and you really want the place then you could make a full and final offer of say 92k and argue that is it really worth them losing a sale for the sake of 3k when you have already demonstrated willing by coming up a whole 7k from your initial offer.

You just need to balance what you pay with the scarcity of what you are looking for. If this is the only place you have liked then it is worth paying a little more for. If there are loads of places you'd be quite happy in then it isn't and you may as well keep looking.

Jorgan_2

My concern with this purchase is the small deposit the purchaser has. If the property hasn't been modernised there is a real possibility that the mortgage lender wil put a retention on the amount they lend.

OP do you have additional funding for the £20k worth of work you have calculated, on top of the deposit monies?

Kez100

Lennys_Shinpad wrote: »

I'm enjoying this thread.

I'm a first time buyer myself and like the tactics discussed here to ensure getting the best deal.

Just a question for Kez, how can I find out if what houses have been repossessed in the area I am looking in? Is there a central list somewhere?

Thanks,

Lenny.

I don't know Lenny. We just asked EAs back in 1994 as we didn't/couldn't buy from auction.

Jorgan_2

Lennys_Shinpad wrote: »

I'm enjoying this thread.

I'm a first time buyer myself and like the tactics discussed here to ensure getting the best deal.

Just a question for Kez, how can I find out if what houses have been repossessed in the area I am looking in? Is there a central list somewhere?

Thanks,

Lenny.

There is no central list of repossessed properties, lenders will give them to either estate agents or auctions to sell.

italia

janegal wrote: »

Dear Lisa,



However, if you get the property, I would never get more money from the bank to do it up - it would mean that you would be in negative equity straight away = you have borrowed more than what the property is worth.
Huge stress (potencially) if the property prices fall as much as we think they will.

Good luck with it all. Janegal

if the money is used to do the property up then the property will be worth more when done so the negative equity doesn't really apply. At the end of the day you have to be comfortable with the repayments simple as that. if you are happy and can pay what does it really matter if the value drops for a while, esp as you aren't thinking of moving. i dont know the value of houses where you are looking but you would get a 1 bed flat round here for that, ok inthis market maybe a small 2 bed.

lisal0u

Hi,

Thanks again for all the useful advice!

Just wanted to let you all know that we put in an offer of £85k and it was rejected, as I expected, but they did say it was nearer to what they wanted. I hope this means they are willing to negotiate a bit more! I am planning to leave it a while now before putting in another offer and possibly look round a few more properties being sold by the same estate agent.

Teabelly - I don't think there is an outstanding mortgage as the deceased’s children are selling the property but I will see if I can find out.

Jorgan - unfortunately we don't have the £20k needed for the work saved up. We have asked the Halifax about lending us more which they are willing to do as long as we provide plans and quotes for the work. They did say they would probably retain the value until we provide them with invoices for the work. I don't really see a problem with this as we would be able to afford the repayments and are planning to use the money solely on the house!

When would you put in a second offer?

Kind regards
Lisa

Kez100

It's difficult and a mind game because the longer you wait you could possibly lose it. However, if you are prepared to try and accept you might lose it, I would look at other properties and then - when the next national house price falls are announced and all over the papers - go back to them with 85k again (or lower!), if you haven't found anything else.

teabelly

When they say it is closer to what they want it is a suggestion to up the offer a little. Try 87,750 or 88k and I suspect they'd agree. If they turn that one down then wait a few days then decide what to do. Unless they are particularly motivated then they can afford to wait for a buyer that might pay more. They may even decide to do the place up themselves and sell for a much higher price. Their noises are encouragement to continue negotiation so it is worth a small increase in your offer. You can then decide whether you make a full and final 3rd offer (could be the same as the 2nd!) or walk away.

lisal0u

Hi All,

Just a quick update. We put another offer of £88k today about 2pm! Haven't heard back and the suspense is killing me! Either they haven't spoken to the vendors yet or they are mulling it over. I'm hoping the latter!

I'm keeping everything crossed!

Lisa x

lisal0u

Hello again,

Just wanted to let you all know, after some fantastic advice from you guys, we've had our offer accepted today!

The vendors came back to us today saying that £88k is not quite enough and could we go a little bit higher so we ofered £90k which is the maximum we were going to pay. The house is now off the market, no more viewings and a sold sign is to be put up!

Im very excited but also feel a little bit sick hahahaha

Thanks again for all your advice!
Lisa x