house offer/buying advise

slinxy

slinxy

slinxy

Soldato
Joined
3 Dec 2002
Posts
4,091
Location
Groovin' @ the disco
Hi

I'm going to my first house viewing soon with the view to buy. I don't have much experience in the area so any advice would be welcomed. The house is on the market for 87K and I know thats a lower price than the originally price, I know the area well as I currently don't live that far from it with at my parents and have old school mates that have lived in the area or still do so if all goes well I can make an offer for it after speaking to the bank.

I been advised to offer them 80K, knowing that my brother sold his house which was just the same and was down the street from it for 50K 7 years ago and the person selling it is looking for a quick sale as theres no chain (likely a breakup in relationship) but I think thats too low even for a first offer - what would you think if I offer that much?

Thanks
 
Go for it, When I worked in an estate agents you would not believe the offers that came in and were accepted. Look at other properties in the area, what price are they and are they selling at that price. Take your time. All agents will tell you there is plenty of interest in the property, this is a huge descion don't be rushed into it.

one more thing to add is that as you are a first time buyer, this is the best possible situation to be in a good estate agent will be going all out to help you.
 
Last edited:
I'd say go for it. The worst they can do is reject the offer - certainly don't pay more than you want to pay for it just because of what it's on for.
 
One house we went to look at, which I think was on at 93k, the couple showing us round had talked themselves down to 90k by the time we'd left and we'd not even mentioned a price! They were that desperate to sell... but then it was a total dump!
 
Go for it, When I worked in an estate agents you would not believe the offers that came in and were accepted. Look at other properties in the area, what price are they and are they selling at that price. Take your time. All agents will tell you there is plenty of interest in the property, this is a huge descion don't be rushed into it.
Click to expand...

Thats very good advise. Don't trust estate agents is also something I would advise you to do. I dont think the house market is as bad as people make it out to be at the moment, but be careful where you buy and you shouldnt lose out too much money, should it 'drop a little'.

Offer low, you can only be rejected :). Then if you lose the house, there are plenty more avaliable :).
 
If you don't ask you don't get.

I managed to get 35k off the house i'm currently living in because i went in and picked up on everything and i had a chartered surveyor come in and do a home buyers report which picked up a lot of stuff.

Always start low and then work your way up in little increments.
 
shadow4509 said:
If you don't ask you don't get.

I managed to get 35k off the house i'm currently living in because i went in and picked up on everything and i had a chartered surveyor come in and do a home buyers report which picked up a lot of stuff.

Always start low and then work your way up in little increments.
Click to expand...

Its relitive though. 35k off a 90k house, or a 1million pound crib?

~10% off the asking price is a very good discount, assuming the asking price is resonable for the condition of the house etc.
 
Yeah i understand what you mean, i didn't post the price of house cause i didn't want to start a "mine is bigger than yours thread".

Original asking price of house was 167k and managed to get it for 132k and that was with me saying only if it could complete within 6 weeks (both had no chain). This was in April 2006.
 
Jon Frost said:
~10% off the asking price is a very good discount, assuming the asking price is resonable for the condition of the house etc.
Click to expand...

I'd agree with that - here in Scotland we've got the "offers over" which is what the majority of home's are up for sale with, there's very few at a fixed price. Generally speaking the "offers over" is usually +10% of the displayed price - it's pretty much guess work for there on wards.

As has been said before go in with a low price and work up in small incriments, dont be afraid to offend with a low offer. Only pay what you think it's worth. And lastly take your time, this is probably going to be the biggest purchase of your entire life !
 
Go for it.

When I bought my house it was on the market for 80k. I offered 70k, expecting them to come back with 78k or something. They said they would take 71k.

I should have held out, but I was desperate to get out from the in-laws house.
 
Oh another 'trick' is one they accept, about 3-5 weeks into the deal, throw the curve ball to them that you want x money off for a crack int he wall or fencing work or whatever that needs doing. Save you yet more money and by this point, they have spent on solicitors fee's and probably wont want to fall out of bed with the deal :D

save you another few hundred quid at least. :)
 
Decide what the max is you want to pay for it, say 82 for an 87k place. That is 5k below the asking. Double the value you want to undercut, 5k in this place becoming 10k. Take that from the asking and offer it. In this case 77k. When they reject it you can make a second offer of 80-82k.
 
Jon Frost said:
Oh another 'trick' is one they accept, about 3-5 weeks into the deal, throw the curve ball to them that you want x money off for a crack int he wall or fencing work or whatever that needs doing. Save you yet more money and by this point, they have spent on solicitors fee's and probably wont want to fall out of bed with the deal :D

save you another few hundred quid at least. :)
Click to expand...

That is what I did on my last place. Got the survey done, then told them I would only be willing to pay oldprice-10k. Otherwise I would be walking.
 
ramdor said:
That is what I did on my last place. Got the survey done, then told them I would only be willing to pay oldprice-10k. Otherwise I would be walking.
Click to expand...

Well I wouldnt expect that kind of price drop on a 'standard' house, after you have 'agreed the price'. Possibly 1k on a 150k house. 10k, on one touching 1 mil IMHO.

You might get £500 off, thats the norm I would have thought. Its here nor there, but its money :)
 
Jon Frost said:
Well I wouldnt expect that kind of price drop on a 'standard' house, after you have 'agreed the price'. Possibly 1k on a 150k house. 10k, on one touching 1 mil IMHO.

You might get £500 off, thats the norm I would have thought. Its here nor there, but its money :)
Click to expand...

all depends what a friendly surveyor finds ;)
 
To be honest just go for what ever value you like. My old house is on the market for 240k, but i know i am not gonna get that. I was expecting more along the line of 230k, but it seems as though that isnt happening either, so i have now excepted a 220k offer. Hopefully this is gonna go through, because I am now at the stage where I wanna get shot of the house and sit on the money for 8 months to finish my current tenancy and see what the market does !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom