How much should I offer for this house

joepubli

Have seen this house in a very desirable road. Ideal house for us. However very nervous about the property market at present. asking price is £825k. What would be a first sensible offer? The asking price is past my range. Usually houses on this road go quickly. this one has been on for about 6 weeks. Does 10% below asking seem too low? Or should I just wait. I am in no particular hurry.

The seller has owned this for 20+ years and is now on his own and wants to trade down and release equity. No chains either way.

Haveb't bought anything tthis expensive before.
Any help appreciated.

http://uk.propertyfinder.com/2/pf/property/details.do?propertyDetailsKey=11084061&atn=ATN_GET_PROPERTY_DETAILS&=

joe

geoffky

If it was me i would not be taking such a high risk in this market.simple as that.but if you are willing to gamble with hundreds of thousands of pounds
Then i would go in with a 15% off price offer.but if you do your own research and find out how much the houses have sold before.
Then spent a very long time studying markets and predictions.
I think you will find that risk is too much versus a possible gain(not going to happen for at least five years).
I too am waiting to buy a four bed detached for cash but i have decided to wait at least twelve more months more and inthe last two years have read and read and read and do not like what i have found out and have decided the gamble and that what it is.
I looks too far stacked against me to even think of buying now..
Look what the bank of england have said this weekend.they have said they expect a 30% reduction in house prices in the next two years.
so start doing some homework as you will never ever spend so much money without doing so little studying and work from what you find....good luck!!!!

ncooper1974

personal opinion only, but i would offer at least 10% less.
I'm also actively looking to buy, and although I haven't put in any offers yet, when i do it will be 10% below asking

PasturesNew

The most any house in that road has ever sold for was £792,251
http://www.houseprices.co.uk/e.php?f=pd&q=cassiobury+park+avenue+watford&n=100

Now, that's an odd figure, so I guess that went out to sealed bids. Sealed bids give a good indicator for price (at the time). Prices have fallen though... and will continue to do so.

There are others on the road for sale cheaper.

What makes you think this one is worth that much?

geoffky

ncooper can i ask why only ten percent when the bank of england have told us that houses are going to drop by 30% at least on the above house thats a £240.k fall if it was me i would never forgive myself if i bought and thats what happened but am paying for it with my own money not borrowed over time..

ncooper1974

once again, my opinion only, but just cos the BoE say prices will drop by 30% doesn't actually mean it will. people have been predicting a 'crash' for over 5 years now, so now we're in a downturn everyone is now saying "i told you so...." well i dont buy it.
I'm looking to buy a family home, something to live in for 10+ years, so i'm personally looking to offer 10% (which is how far I feel house prices will drop) below asking. In this way, if the house prices continue to drop, then I can mitigate some of the loss, and if it drops further, then I guess its just a bad judgement I'll have to live with. But since I'll be living with it for over 10 years, Im sure that prices will correct themselves again in that time.

jamtart6

HOW MUCH?? Again, I can't believe prices in the south! You could get one of those here brand new for £400k!!

silvercar

It looks a nice house in a very popular location but it is over the ceiling for the road and does need some work, if not immediately then in the longer term. One of the garages is ripe for conversion and you may want another bathroom. The main bathroom, although neutral, is looking dated.

I live a few miles away and that is a lovely area in terms of accessability and greenery and houses! Really though it is overpriced for the road. Even if the area is holding out well and the prime properties do better than others, I wouldn't want to pay over 800k.

Two properties sold in the high 700k's, but we don't know their condition. In that area they could have been in need of complete refurb and still get that price or they could have been in tip top condition.

You are in a good position, there aren't many people that will be in a position to buy without a chain below them.

The problem is that not many properties are ever available in prime roads so you may not want to lose it. If the guy selling bought years ago he will be sitting on a tidy profit, how much lower he would be prepared to go is debatable - he could always decide to hold on for a few years. A point in your favour is that he would never get a good rental yield so he needs to sell or stay put.

A question for yourself is how fixed on Watford are you? Could you widen your search to other areas or are you limited by the few prime roads around cassiobury. You may find more choice in the nice parts of Bushey or Radlett if you can widen your net.

If you love it, you could offer a cheeky 720 and see what the reaction is??

joepubli

silvercar wrote: »

A question for yourself is how fixed on Watford are you? Could you widen your search to other areas or are you limited by the few prime roads around cassiobury. You may find more choice in the nice parts of Bushey or Radlett if you can widen your net.

If you love it, you could offer a cheeky 720 and see what the reaction is??

Thanks for your advice.

The location is absolutely ideal from school and commuting perspective. It has south facing garden and the best road. So ticks many boxes. But dont want to pay £800k today for it to be worth £600 in a year. Usually properties snapped up within days on this road. This one hasn't been. Not enough recent sales to get a good idea and the houses on the road are very individual so difficult to compare.

silvercar

There are a few other houses on rightmove on adjacent roads in the 700-800 range. You could show the buyer these and say you are tossing up between two houses but the other one is cheaper, what price does he really want to achieve. Sometimes showing a seller a comparable cheaper house focusses the mind.

themaccas

Having been bought up round there, I have to agree that although it may not look like it from that awful photo, Cassiobury is a really lovely area to live in and I would LOVE to live there, however I can't see I would ever be able to afford to. I would offer a good 15% less if you can afford it, that sort of area will never lose too much of its value IMO.