What do people think about buying a place opposite where they work? There's quite a nice bungalow for sale to the side of where I work but it overlooks the multi story car park (they've kind of made it look like a house with a brick exterior and is about the same height as a 2 storey house but is still 100m x 100m structure). The thought of a 200m walk from my front door to desk is quite appealing in some ways.
Making Offer on House in 2013
- Thread starter CircleFaust
- Start date
I've been giving it some thought, I think I'll go and view it next week.
As far as I can see there are 2 problems, 1 is I'm going to be asked if others can park on the driveway and the other is it makes a big statement that I'm going to stay there for a few more years yet (however the director straight out asked me this before which I gave an honest answer to).
As far as I can see there are 2 problems, 1 is I'm going to be asked if others can park on the driveway and the other is it makes a big statement that I'm going to stay there for a few more years yet (however the director straight out asked me this before which I gave an honest answer to).
In terms of it making a 'statement' as you put it, I assume you mean you are concerned that the company won't have to bother giving you a promotion/rise as they expect you to stay anyway. The way I would look at it is, if you left your job (for whatever reason), would you still be happy living there (i.e. what are transport links like)? If the answer is yes, then I'd go for it. You can just leave and work elsewhere and statements be damned.
+Short commute
+Go home for lunch if you want
+Close enough to even go home during a 5min smoke break or whatever (e.g. if you've forgotten something)
-Possibility of not being treated the same by other workers in terms of 'attitude' to you being late, working from home or whatever
-Less privacy e.g. more chance of being spotted by colleagues when you are not at work (not ideal if you have things you want to keep secret from them)
-Colleagues expecting you offer out your facilities e.g. come round after work for drinks etc simply because it is convenient (maybe park on your drive as you mention)
+Short commute
+Go home for lunch if you want
+Close enough to even go home during a 5min smoke break or whatever (e.g. if you've forgotten something)
-Possibility of not being treated the same by other workers in terms of 'attitude' to you being late, working from home or whatever
-Less privacy e.g. more chance of being spotted by colleagues when you are not at work (not ideal if you have things you want to keep secret from them)
-Colleagues expecting you offer out your facilities e.g. come round after work for drinks etc simply because it is convenient (maybe park on your drive as you mention)
Well, I'm the first in so being late goes unnoticed. 
My boss was very quick with asking if he can park on the drive. Think he said it jokingly though.
Anyway, I viewed the place and I got a very good feeling about it. When they say guide price X to Y do they expect a number between the 2?
My boss was very quick with asking if he can park on the drive. Think he said it jokingly though. Anyway, I viewed the place and I got a very good feeling about it. When they say guide price X to Y do they expect a number between the 2?
Well, I'm the first in so being late goes unnoticed.
Anyway, I viewed the place and I got a very good feeling about it. When they say guide price X to Y do they expect a number between the 2?
In my experience its normally lazy agents who want to tempt he vendor to advertise with them but they are unlikely to achieve the top end of the range. Offer whatever you think it's worth given how much work it needs doing, your position and how desperate they are to sell.
Sold it for £200k in the end, the first buyer fell though at 190 and i was annoyed so put it up 10k, found another buyer 2 day later, the house market when mad in the 8 weeks i had it up (between accepting the first offer and completing) so it was a fair price
Now tho, im looking to buy, a house im interesting in is priced at £270,000, it was originally £280, im not really sure where to go in at, the estate agent says they will take £260 for sure, so i guess £250 would be the starting rate, but between £250-£260 is it really worth the extra £7800 tax? i dont think it is tbh
Then just say 249,950 final offer and that offer will be withdrawn in 3 days - take it or leave it. If you say you aren't willing the pay over the stamp duty threshold then can't argue with that.
One thing is for sure - don't get emotionally invested in it, or you'll over bid to seal the deal.
One thing is for sure - don't get emotionally invested in it, or you'll over bid to seal the deal.
I would suggest it's being advertised at 280 because there isn't a hope in hell that they will take 250k. And why should they. If you like it, don't put an insulting offer forward and get serious otherwise someone else will.
Well that's a 10% reduction in price.
And I just got 12% off a house that I'm completing on, this friday, so I'm not quite sure I agree with that.
In London where the place is in a bubble perhaps, but the rest of the UK still has deals to be made, and the average completion price is 6% less than what it was listed at.
Nothing ventured nothing gained.
And I just got 12% off a house that I'm completing on, this friday, so I'm not quite sure I agree with that.
In London where the place is in a bubble perhaps, but the rest of the UK still has deals to be made, and the average completion price is 6% less than what it was listed at.
Nothing ventured nothing gained.
Whilst i agree that 280-250 does seem a bit of a large drop, it is currently at 270 and the estate agent said they would take 260. I can afford that but its only just into the stamp duty bracket which makes it seem a bit silly to only just creep into it.
Can you do anything with fixtures and fittings? 5k for the inbuilt kitchen, dishwasher, fridge etc
Can you do anything with fixtures and fittings? 5k for the inbuilt kitchen, dishwasher, fridge etc
I recently settled on 387k for a 395k house that was originionally on market at 415k. We were FTB, sellers were desperate and had moved out months ago, getting ready to rent the place so we thought we would get 380k but no chance.
Market is picking up, some freinds paid 5k over asking to secure a house they liked.
Market is picking up, some freinds paid 5k over asking to secure a house they liked.
And we moved in 2 weeks ago. There were 4 houses of our design being built with us being the first one released, the last one was on the market for 35k more than we paid.
Will be interesting to see once the land registry figures are up as to what all the others actually went for.
Jumping 7K for your next offer makes you look too eager & flush with cash, scale it back a bit, maybe add a couple of grand, not a whopping 7K in one go, that just encourages them to to sit on there hands & see how much else you can throw into the pot.
I think he's actually suggesting an £8-10k increase, not £7k 
I'm inclined to agree, rightly or wrong most people seem to have budgets in even multiples of 5/10k so you could probably make out either £230k or £235k is your max budget having previously tried to shave a few grand off. Depending on what you think the property is worth I'd even go in with £230k telling the agent that's top of your budget, or something around the £231k mark with the expectation that they will counter-offer at £235k.
If you still get flat refusals then maybe leave it too cool for a few days (given they have no offers and typically the market slows down at this time of year so less chance of others putting bids in). You can then return having "done some sums" with a final offer.
Finally one thing to consider is £250k is a 'magic' number (on the 3% duty threshold) so some vendors may not want to budge much as they may not be inflating their advertised price as much as other vendors might given that £250k will get way more viewings than say £260k. My house is worth in that sort of ballpark and if I was to sell today I'd want it on the market at £250k but probably wouldn't budge much on price (maybe £240k for a chain-free buyer).
I'm inclined to agree, rightly or wrong most people seem to have budgets in even multiples of 5/10k so you could probably make out either £230k or £235k is your max budget having previously tried to shave a few grand off. Depending on what you think the property is worth I'd even go in with £230k telling the agent that's top of your budget, or something around the £231k mark with the expectation that they will counter-offer at £235k.
If you still get flat refusals then maybe leave it too cool for a few days (given they have no offers and typically the market slows down at this time of year so less chance of others putting bids in). You can then return having "done some sums" with a final offer.
Finally one thing to consider is £250k is a 'magic' number (on the 3% duty threshold) so some vendors may not want to budge much as they may not be inflating their advertised price as much as other vendors might given that £250k will get way more viewings than say £260k. My house is worth in that sort of ballpark and if I was to sell today I'd want it on the market at £250k but probably wouldn't budge much on price (maybe £240k for a chain-free buyer).
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Thanks for the advice, I think I agree with not going in too high. We didn't get round to putting an offer in this week and haven't heard about anyone else making an offer. I think the owners have a slight misconception of the value of their house. Two neighbours sold for £220k in 2012 and one went for £250k at the start of 2013 but it's about 30% larger. I think we might put an offer in for £230k and see what happens.
Depending on how long the house has been on the market and how desperate the sellers they may not budge much at all. If you aren't dead set then by all means go for lower offers to see how low you can go but do note that the sellers might simply get annoyed , say no and ignore any other offer (or only accept the 250 asking price), in which case do something like 232 and get the agent to explain that any more would be impossible due to mortgage etc.. If you really do want the house just be cautious about low balling, 240k would be a fair price, and don't forget house can and do sell for more than the advertised price.
Pricing relative to neighbors can be difficult. Factors will not only include size, but room layouts, number of bedrooms, garage, Garden size, is the garden nicely landscaped, quality of the finish, exposure. Also just depends, if the neighbors property were sold due to bank foreclosure or desperation by the owners then obviously values will be less.
Pricing relative to neighbors can be difficult. Factors will not only include size, but room layouts, number of bedrooms, garage, Garden size, is the garden nicely landscaped, quality of the finish, exposure. Also just depends, if the neighbors property were sold due to bank foreclosure or desperation by the owners then obviously values will be less.
At the beginning of September I bid 150k on a property on the market for 160k. Offer was accepted immediately, making me wonder if I shouldn't have gone a bit lower. When I got the deeds with the Contract I discovered that the original/current owners paid 155k when the place was new in 2007. Of course, if I point out that this is a detached 3-bed with garage you'll work out that it's up North. No "recovery" up here.
You pose the other side of the coin. As I said the owners are deluded about the value of their house. The house is in a small victorian terrace of 8 houses, with three recent house sales in the past 2 years, which in my opinion is a good indication of house value. I was quite keen to discuss this with the owners but soon realised they would take it as an insult. I don't feel too bothered any more, so will see if they want to accept an offer before Christmas.