Do you set yourself minimum as well as maximum budget when buying?

bayo000 · 11 Nov 2017 at 19:30

We're currently looking at buying a house and we seem to be considering houses from 160k to 330k.

We set ourselves a maximum budget of ~320k even though we could go higher but ideally wanna keep it around 250k.

It seems weird to me that we could be looking at 2 houses on Rightmove talking about viewings and one is double the price of the other one.

Now obviously the houses around 300k are usually detached with 4 beds and the ones at lower end are semis which need work but have good 'potential'.

Anyone else was in the same position when buying?

TripleT · 11 Nov 2017 at 19:49

Not really that big a bracket unless you're considering very different locations. I imagine most people have a set criteria of how many bedrooms and whether detached or not.

Obviously if your considering Salford and also Didsbury them that's where you'll see massive price differences will be seen.

koolpc · 11 Nov 2017 at 19:52

My max budget is 100k.....

bayo000 · 11 Nov 2017 at 20:03

TripleT said:
Not really that big a bracket unless you're considering very different locations. I imagine most people have a set criteria of how many bedrooms and whether detached or not.

Obviously if your considering Salford and also Didsbury them that's where you'll see massive price differences will be seen.

To be honest we've not 100% decided on area. We're looking mainly at Prestwich maybe Worsley. Currently have a flat in Salford Quays so we do look at nicer areas of Salford like Monton.

Ideally I want a detached but not opposed to semi.

mattyg · 11 Nov 2017 at 20:05

I always push the limits. If my budget was 330k I'd be looking at 350+. Actually our last house was 389k then got dropped to 375 within a week so knowing they wanted a quick sale I went in a 350 which was our max budget.

TripleT · 11 Nov 2017 at 20:13

bayo000 said:
To be honest we've not 100% decided on area. We're looking mainly at Prestwich maybe Worsley. Currently have a flat in Salford Quays so we do look at nicer areas of Salford like Monton.

Ideally I want a detached but not opposed to semi.

I was talking closer to Salford Precinct...

I know a few people in Monton it's nice.

I'd always go for the top end of the budget so long as you're not stretching yourself too much to still enjoy life. The cost of moving house is high (legal fees, selling fees, stamp duty, movers) and moving again in 5 years or so is extra expense everyone could do without!

Not many people complain about having too much space!

mattyg · 11 Nov 2017 at 20:23

Maybe not complain about having too much space. But your bills go up.
£3k council tax
£1500 water rates
£300 per month gas and electric.

tsinc80697 · 11 Nov 2017 at 22:17

Used to live in Worsley/Boothstown, bought a house at the start of this year further out as we were struggling to find anywhere in Worsley that had what we wanted within our budget.

mattyg said:
Maybe not complain about having too much space. But your bills go up.
£3k council tax
£1500 water rates
£300 per month gas and electric.

Those water, gas and elec rates nuts! Our gas and elec is £180 a month and water is £250-300 a year. We have our own sewage treatment plant but that only needs draining every 5+ years. Works out about £300-350 a year, £1500 is insane!

koolpc · 11 Nov 2017 at 22:25

tsinc80697 said:
Used to live in Worsley/Boothstown, bought a house at the start of this year further out as we were struggling to find anywhere in Worsley that had what we wanted within our budget.

Those water, gas and elec rates nuts! Our gas and elec is £180 a month and water is £250-300 a year. We have our own sewage treatment plant but that only needs draining every 5+ years. Works out about £300-350 a year, £1500 is insane!

I agree, crappy price for sewerage!

HangTime · 11 Nov 2017 at 23:19

Not really, although very cheap properties come under a lot of scrutiny as there will usually be a reason like non-standard construction or whatever. I think I tend to have a wider range than most people; for me buying things has never really been about 'set a budget, then get whatever the best you can find for that amount is'. First house we had a target range of £125-175k. My current Rightmove shortlist has a proportional range similar to yours i.e. max price roughly double min price.

I think search area plays a part here; people who have zero'd in on a specific area will probably have a narrower effective range because houses of similar type will cost similar money. My target area is quite broad so a house costing say £600k in one area might be £400k in another area.