House Advice

robroy said:

seen a property today on at £395k offers over. Went on yesterday and today they have had several offers. We were the 7th couple to look at it 

Im chain free and offered £400k. So Monday is final offers. 

Thoughts?

we do love the house 

You in Scotland 

If it’s that much and you really want it I’d be inclined to go a bit higher. If you’re spending £400k then another 10-12k won’t kill you. And if it secures the place you want then everyone’s a winner

Have you looked at house prices in that road on Rightmove ?
You can of course offer the highest sum, then reduce it later, possibly based on the survey.
I don't like that practice, but many do it.
But don't tell the estate agent you intend to do it, as he will tell the vendor.

The whole process of house buying in England stinks, frankly.  Have an offer accepted in Scotland and both parties know what the outcome will be.  Have an offer accepted in England and you merely move onto the next stage of the negotiation.  

As far as how much you should pay, you should take any advice you get on here with a pinch of salt.  The house is only worth what a willing buyer is prepared to pay for it.  So, have a think about what your max is. But, a house is only worth what someone can sell it for.  So don't underestimate the fact you're chain free. The fact you're not going to be knocked delayed is a huge plus to a seller. 

Also, for what it's worth, this works sometimes.  Offer a non-round figure.  That way, it looks like you have scraped together every bit of money you can, to offer your max.  So, instead of £400,000, you could offer £402,750.  If nothing else, that sometimes helps an offer stand out.   

Good luck - keep us all updated. 

I work for a medium sized estate agent. Buying position is key, being chain free will definitely work in your favour so an offer 5k over asking price should do it. Depends on the other buyers buying positions though - make sure you’ve got your solicitor ready and mortgage sorted as that could make the difference.

In my opinion you are in a great position chain free and you have gone higher so you are a perfect buyer.  They should snap you up. 

robroy said:

Thanks for the advice. There was two other couples there when we were looking yesterday, so I suspect the other offers is not just bs from the ea.

I have my mortgage good to and solicitor. Will phone them tomorrow and ask where my offer stands.

Cmon robroy we need to know the property 

clb74 said:

robroy said:

Thanks for the advice. There was two other couples there when we were looking yesterday, so I suspect the other offers is not just bs from the ea.

I have my mortgage good to and solicitor. Will phone them tomorrow and ask where my offer stands.

Cmon robroy we need to know the property 

Not difficult to identify with the info given above.

robroy said:

I asked the ea where my offer sat and was there anyone else in my position and I got this back 

“Unfortunately we aren’t able to disclose what offers have come in and the reason we would advise a vendor go to best and final offers is if multiple people are in similar situations.

Sorry I can’t say more at this stage but hope that helps.”

Silly this best and final offer thing if you ask me, surely give people the option to keep upping their offers to get the best price. 

I suspect they priced it low to create this and also did the open house to create a buzz

We were in this situation when we were buying about 4 years ago.  I was sat by a pool in Morocco firing off emails between the ea and my mortgage broker. 

The house had been on the market for about six months.  They reduced it by 10s of thousands, which brought into our target bracket, we loved it.  Our 1st 2 bids were regected and it went to best and final.  We offered 10k over the asking price (about 7.5%) it ended up going for more than the original asking price.

We ended up buy a house round the corner for about 30k less. 

I suppose the difference is we were looking at 3 bed semis, in West Yorkshire, yes it was significantly more than 100k but I assume at 400k your looking at someting more exclusive and less likely to have as many options? 

ForeverAddickted said:

Dont really have much advice that I can offer from my slim experience of house buying

All I remember (was only four years ago) was every house I looked at I'd go on Zoopla afterwards and look at their estimate and thats what I'd offer (maybe a little bit more so it was slightly closer to the asking price) - Would nearly always be rejected with me having to explain each time to the EA why I was going in with such a lowe offer, thankfully got mine in the end because the seller had actually listed their property really close to the Zoopla estimate (Had been letting it out and wanted a quick sale)

All I'll say about the property is it looks lovely (Would love a house with those big sliding doors in the Living Room)

Really hope that it works out for you and that you manage to get it

It does look loverly doesn't it!  Just sent the ea my best and final offer ;-) 

Offer 10k over their original asking price and once you get get to the the exchange of contract tell them what you really want and are going to pay. At that stage you might, because of all the time and money both sides have paid out, get a house at the price you want to pay.
Horrible thing to do and not something I would do but that’s one method.