Making Offer on House in 2013

Just off the phone to estate agent having put in an offer of £170K on a house up for £187,500. Thats about 9% ish. The guy I'm dealing with at the estate agent used to work for us as an IFA so he's help re-assure the sellers that our offer is genuine and he knows me of old etc etc.

I did think about £165K but they would dismiss that pretty quickly. They did say they would leave any furniture we wanted so might start using that as a bargaining chip - I need to check with letting agency that the furniture in our current house would be worth leaving there when its let.
 
Out of interest, im about to sell my house, paid 179k for it a couple years back, dont really want to sell it at a lower price than i paid, so should i put it up for 179k, no offers, or start it at like 185k?

Mines mid terrace and the two either side just sold for 180k and they started at 185k
 
Thats what i was thinking, the only reason i question it is because the two neighbors were end of terrace so their houses are worth more, im in no rush for a quick sale tho so i can camp it out for as long as it takes really.
 
Kimi said:
Out of interest, im about to sell my house, paid 179k for it a couple years back, dont really want to sell it at a lower price than i paid, so should i put it up for 179k, no offers, or start it at like 185k?

Mines mid terrace and the two either side just sold for 180k and they started at 185k
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£185k sounds good to me. I reckon a lot of buyers would simply ignore '£179k no offers' and still put bids in below that level. I think the best time to use fixed price is if you are selling at a genuinely low price e.g. a few years ago I viewed a 4 bed detached house that was fixed price £250k (family wanted quick sale to move abroad) when all comprable houses marketed at £275k+. I would definitely have paid full asking price but my wife wasn't so keen on the house.

glen8 said:
When we bought our house in 2008 it was on the market for £230k and ended up negotiating it for £193k

Go in low!
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2008 was a pretty bleak time for the housing market coupled with people probably hanging on to unrealistic asking prices and I'd imagine it is harder to get such big discounts now.
 
What are peoples thoughts on putting a hugely low offer on a place? For example one place has been on the market for a year now without a price change and is £50k more than a similar property that sold in a better location. This one is a fair bit bigger, but same number of bedrooms.
 
Trifid said:
What are peoples thoughts on putting a hugely low offer on a place? For example one place has been on the market for a year now without a price change and is £50k more than a similar property that sold in a better location. This one is a fair bit bigger, but same number of bedrooms.
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Seller grasping onto unrealistic selling price methinks, low ball em and walk away :p
Sellers like that really annoy me, right PITA when yer lookni to buy "oh but its worth this, its worth this" yeah sure pet thats why multiple others have sold and yours is still there.
 
EddScott said:
Just off the phone to estate agent having put in an offer of £170K on a house up for £187,500. Thats about 9% ish. The guy I'm dealing with at the estate agent used to work for us as an IFA so he's help re-assure the sellers that our offer is genuine and he knows me of old etc etc.

I did think about £165K but they would dismiss that pretty quickly. They did say they would leave any furniture we wanted so might start using that as a bargaining chip - I need to check with letting agency that the furniture in our current house would be worth leaving there when its let.
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I started at £170k, seller came back with £177,500 and we settled on £176k and whatever furniture we want. Only a grand over my "limit" of 175K :)

Happy with that.
 
Its a big house for £176K too 4 bed detached with proper walls and a utility room the same size as our current kitchen. We lived in a 2 bed terrace in Witney in Oxfordshire and you won't get much change from £200K+
 
I've just been to view a loft apartment that has literally just gone on the market. It's advertised at £175k and a 2 bedroom place but it is only a 1 bedroom apartment with quite a cool mezzanine floor that overlooks the lounge (this is what they have listed as a bedroom). They bought it for £148 in 2008 and I might look at putting a offer in around this value too. Was disappointed by the size of the lounge at 4m x 3m, it felt slightly cramped.

Also slightly funny, the estate agent opened the door to be greeted by barking and promptly closed it and tried to contact the owner on his mobile. I had to return a couple hours later with a different estate agent. It turns out the dog was a Labrador who went back to sleep after saying hello. :D
 
Trifid said:
I've just been to view a loft apartment that has literally just gone on the market. It's advertised at £175k and a 2 bedroom place but it is only a 1 bedroom apartment with quite a cool mezzanine floor that overlooks the lounge (this is what they have listed as a bedroom). They bought it for £148 in 2008 and I might look at putting a offer in around this value too. Was disappointed by the size of the lounge at 4m x 3m, it felt slightly cramped.

Also slightly funny, the estate agent opened the door to be greeted by barking and promptly closed it and tried to contact the owner on his mobile. I had to return a couple hours later with a different estate agent. It turns out the dog was a Labrador who went back to sleep after saying hello. :D
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Unless they've had massive improvements done, there are no properties that have "naturally" increased in value by that much in the last 5 years. 4mx3m for a lounge is tiny too.
 
Nope. It is exactly the same as the it was when it was turned from a coal boiler house into flats at the turn of the century.

I offered £140k which is what I feel it is worth (also made clear it was the only offer I would be putting in) and was subsequently turned down. He'd rather rent it out then let it go for that. I do fear a lot of the first homes are going buy to let when the owners move out into a larger place. :/
 
Wouldn't surprise me, we sold our first house for £145k and then saw it advertised to rent online for a staggering £1050/month (he'd converted the lounge into a 4th bedroom with an eye on the student market but basically done nothing else). In hindsight had I known it had such rental value I'd have been tempted to hold on to it. I felt it was worth maybe £800/month absolute top whack and that wasn't accounting for the fact it had neighbours from hell.
 
Has anyone offered lower on a house 'offers in excess of' (I'm not in Scotland, I understand they may have different rules)

I am thinking about going in at 15% lower and seeing what they say. It's in need of modernisation, looks like it's not been touched since the 70's so I need to factor in wiring, heating and kitchen before I even begin to look at other things.

I've had a look at the land registry and prices in our area have dropped ~8% in the last year. I am a FTB and should have an agreement in principle next week :) (fingers crossed).

I have everything on my side don't I? Erm, not quite it is in a desirable part of town.


One final question. I'm thinking about getting a mortgage quote from my own bank to use as a baseline and then shopping around to compare others. Does shopping around increase your chances of getting worse deals/being declined due to all the hits on our credit report?

Cheers.
Mike.
 
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They can only say yes or no to your offer.

Don't forget to check the state of the roof.
Got one here needs doing refelting, & quotes for it, are £3000- £4000.
 
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