First time house buyer. Negotiating offers. Advise needed OcUKers!!

Bromhead

Bromhead

Bromhead

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11 Nov 2012
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Location
Staffordshire
Hi guys,

We have a house viewing and it's pretty much perfect, amazing, exactly what we want, etc etc etc..

The price is 120k, as first time buyers we have a budget of 140k, so this is well within our limits. I'm worried it will be snapped up fairly quick, the pricing seems strange as, compared to other houses in my area it's on the level of a 170k house.

3 bedrooms, detached, garage, loads of drive space, land with it, modernised inside.

We asked to view this house just before Christmas, but the couple selling changed their mind. We saw it still on the website, so we thought we'd ask again and hurray, they are back on track for selling.

We were in a similar situation where we saw another "perfect" house for 110k, we mulled it over, but someone got in there first and we missed out.

Where do I stand with making an offer, I just need some advise on how to proceed in negotiating. As a first time buyer, I'm completely unexperienced, what's a "normal/reasonable" amount to offer below?
 
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If it is the "house" you want then take it for asking,as you are a first time buyer the odds are in your favour as there is no chain.

But don't seem to keen :)
 
I recently offered 10% lower and agreed to meet in the middle. Only 2 days ago mind you so still weeks of the joyous process to go! (2nd time buyer)

Good luck. I found the first 2 years the hardest. It gets easier!
 
If the house is too cheap, ask yourself why? Either there's something wrong with it or they're desperate to sell, or both. Either way, you can negotiate up but not usually down*, so go in low and test the water. A lot depends on your area, but around my way I'd be suggesting a first offer of at least 10% below asking.

*If you have an offer accepted and get to surveys, then there may be an opportunity to negotiate down if there's something wrong.

An estate agent may ask for proof of finance before forwarding an offer to a vendor. Do you have an agreement in principle?

And always remember, you may think this is the perfect house and be gutted to think of losing it but I guarantee there will be more houses that will be as good, or even better, turning up before you know it.

I'm in the early stages of selling and buying (just this week accepted an offer on my house and one on a new one) and it's bloody stressful already! Good luck!
 
I've just this month moved into my first house, its exciting and so I wish the best of luck to you.

If you really think its the one then you ought to go for it. Remember, you have NOTHING to lose by putting in a low offer first. All they can do is reject it.
 
I would offer the asking price if you can afford it, it's already lower than you can afford, it's what you want and don't want to loose out or risk loosing out again. I did but that's because I was going shared ownership and the there wasn't choice.
 
Its not ex-council? If it looks different to the rest in the street it might be. My sister old house was like that, ie a row of identical semis apart from a few which where council house but you've never guess just by looking at them.

Or get a full survey asap to check for any defects.
 
I'd always go in with a really low offer first. As a FTB with mortgage approval and ready to go then that puts you in the best position. Many people are desperate to sell now due to financial difficulties and while you may feel bad - you have to use this to your advantage.

I've just bought a 2nd property as an investment and I basically offered them what they had left on their mortgage. That was about 60% of the house valuation. They of course refused out right but after many meetings with their financial adviser they come back and said OK as they just HAD to get rid of it asap. This was a rare situation though and it's not often you would get that lucky but perfect house or not saving £10,000 on a house is a big deal, especially long term.

My friend is going around buying up flats in his street to let out. There was one up for £69,000 and he offered only £53,000. They settled on £55,000.

If the seller has already reduced it and is unlikely to reduce it more - offer lower but only give it a day or 2 then go in with a revised offer.
fact is, by offering low, then raising it a bit but staying under their asking price they are still likely to take your raised offer unless they are not that interested in selling it.
Always worth a shot though
 
I disagree with Blitzwing if similar properties in the area are going for 170K and this is 125 it's a steal and already priced to sell quick someone else will pay asking.

I'd argree if the house was priced inline with other properties in the area.
 
jas72 said:
I disagree with Blitzwing if similar properties in the area are going for 170K and this is 125 it's a steal and already priced to sell quick someone else will pay asking.

I'd argree if the house was priced inline with other properties in the area.
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You really just have to know the area.
Personally, in my town you should never offer the asking price even if it is already priced lower than other properties. But then I know that in my town there are very few people in a position to buy so those that are have all the power when it comes to prices.
In other areas this won't be the case.

Maybe i'd advise getting a good look at these higher price properties in the are and see what differences there may be. If none, then yeah just go ahead and pay what they want as they have already reduced it a lot.

Unemployment in my town is very high and a lot of the industry is closing so many people losing their jobs. This makes the housing market very lucrative for the few who have financial security long term.



I suppose if you have already missed out once then maybe don't take any risks this time but you have to always assess your individual situation even after receiving various advice from others.
 
Put in an offer a few k below asking, and if that's rejected give them asking price. You don't lose anything by making an offer first, but if it seems good value you probably won't get much off.

If you really want it it's not worth being too awkward with the negotiations. Sellers want buyers who they don't think will cause problems later on. When we sold our flat last year we rejected the first offer purely because the guy seemed like he'd be difficult to deal with.
 
As with anything an item is only worth what you are willing to pay...

When I bought my house I was willing to let it go if they didn't drop the price by 10% they told me where shove my offer. So I did. 8months later it was still on the market at the same price and they contacted me through the estate agents, 2 different buyers had pulled out from the deal with them, and asked me if I'd take the house if they knocked the 10% off. I now live there.

I'd say you have 3 options

If you aren't bothered about losing the house then try your luck with a silly low offer.
If you want the house but want a bit more spending money, just go in with a few k knocked off

If (and I would class you as this) really think this house is what you want, you don't want to lose it and you want to live there ASAP, then the house is worth the asking price.
 
Make sure they know you are a first time buyer when you put the offer in.

Not having a chain puts you in a great position
 
I'd offer the asking, but I'd get it thoroughly surveyed first to make sure there wasn't something untoward causing that seemingly low asking price. Would it be possible to make that a condition of sale?
 
As far as I'm aware that's a condition that the Bank would want? They haven't confirmed that, but we have a meeting at our local Bank and that's one of the questions on my list with regards to survey :)
 
The bank will do a valuation survey, but that's a different thing to a full survey. You'd be best finding your own surveyor. They're expensive but could save you a fortune if they turn up something major.
 
Bromhead said:
As far as I'm aware that's a condition that the Bank would want? They haven't confirmed that, but we have a meeting at our local Bank and that's one of the questions on my list with regards to survey :)
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The bank does a valuation to safeguard themselves. What they do is not to protect you. They also rip you off for this. I've just been charged £300 but there is no option.

The Solicitors also do property searches but again do not rely on these either as i've seen them do these searches and they don't do it very thoroughly.

With such a difference from the others you can pay for your own searches independently. The only conceivable reason for such a low price is either it needs a lot of work, there is something fishy they are hiding or they have hit hard financial difficulties.

These days it's very often the latter but this will be hard to confirm yourself as it's private information.
 
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In my opinion, it all boils down to how much you want the house.

If you want it an awful lot, then go in at the asking price and you shouldn't be beaten to it by someone else. But as advised, I'd still make it clear that you're a no-chain first time buyer, and you can always say that it's slightly above your budget, see if they can bring it down by £5k if nothing else.
 
blitzwing85 said:
The bank does a valuation to safeguard themselves. What they do is not to protect you. They also rip you off for this. I've just been charged £300 but there is no option.

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That's untrue, a lot of banks will accept a Generic Mortgage Valuation survey if organised and paid for by yourself as long as it's undertaken by a well known, registered chartered surveying firm. This will cost in the region of £100-150.
 
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