Making an offer on a house

Wafty Cranker

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Joined
31 Mar 2006
Messages
1,103
After years (and about £30k) of renting I've decided to get my own place. I've sorted my agreement in principle and been on upwards of a dozen viewings, and at the weekend found a house I like.

The house I like has only just come on the market is a couple of grand over my budget. When on the viewing there was a young girl on the viewing at the same time, who is also an FTB. The estate agent rang me today to ask what I thought. Without sounding too eager I said I liked it but the asking price is slightly out of reach, but am considering an offer. Now the estate agent said there's one other person who is also thinking of putting in an offer.

Want I want from you bluemooners, is for you draw on your own experiences and let me know can I trust a word the estate agent says? Also given the above set of circumstances would it be unwise to stick and offer close to the asking price and basically say here's my offer like it or lump it? Aside from the obvious such as the offer is subject to contract, what else should I be stipulating when making an offer.? Can I give them times frames, and tell them if you acccept the offer it comes off the market?
 
I wouldn't believe an estate agent if he told me water was wet.
 
Wafty Cranker said:
After years (and about £30k) of renting I've decided to get my own place. I've sorted my agreement in principle and been on upwards of a dozen viewings, and at the weekend found a house I like.

The house I like has only just come on the market is a couple of grand over my budget. When on the viewing there was a young girl on the viewing at the same time, who is also an FTB. The estate agent rang me today to ask what I thought. Without sounding too eager I said I liked it but the asking price is slightly out of reach, but am considering an offer. Now the estate agent said there's one other person who is also thinking of putting in an offer.

Want I want from you bluemooners, is for you draw on your own experiences and let me know can I trust a word the estate agent says? Also given the above set of circumstances would it be unwise to stick and offer close to the asking price and basically say here's my offer like it or lump it? Aside from the obvious such as the offer is subject to contract, what else should I be stipulating when making an offer.? Can I give them times frames, and tell them if you acccept the offer it comes off the market?
Make an offer that you can afford if it's not accepted keep looking #estateagentsaretwats
 
Offer what you would pay at this stage, leave yourself room for manoeuvre as they always reject the first offer. The girl could have been a plant, you never know!

Also, I'd recommend going in for a second viewing and look behind everything. I missed a couple of little damp areas when I viewed the house (behind wardrobes, boxes, sofas) I've just bought and luckily the bits aren't serious. It is just surface which has been killed off by some mould spray.
 
Never trust an estate agent
Try and find out if the other buyer is a cash buyer like you if not then you have the advantage
only offer what you can afford,interest rates will rise sometime soon and you could find yourself really stretched
 
mancmackem said:
Offer what you would pay at this stage, leave yourself room for manoeuvre as they always reject the first offer. The girl could have been a plant, you never know!

Also, I'd recommend going in for a second viewing and look behind everything. I missed a couple of little damp areas when I viewed the house (behind wardrobes, boxes, sofas) I've just bought and luckily the bits aren't serious. It is just surface which has been killed off by some mould spray.
And check the girl for damp patches;)
 
firstly, i wouldn't necessarily believe the estate agent. no offence to any who post on here but in my experience, they will do anything to secure a sale and therefore their fee.

also, when you put a house up for sale as a seller, the sale price is usually set at a little higher than you expect to sell for - ordinarily it's what they would like to sell for, not what they expect to sell for. offers of 90-95% of the asking price are usual. i sold my last house for 90% of the asking price but then got the same pro-rata reduction on the one i bought.

go back and do another viewing - take a mate or a family member who has owned property and will know to look for the signs of potential problems and, who won't look at the house with the same rose tinted glasses on that you might. a builder / electrician or someone who's done a bit of DIY is ideal.

if you're still interested, decide on a maximum price that you are prepared to pay. put an offer in a couple of grand short of that to leave yourself room to increase the offer but, don't be bullied into going above your maximum. make your offer conditional on the property being taken off the market and, if you're confident that you can work to a timescale to complete, by all means set one but just bear in mind that there might be issues from the survey or the legals which might prevent you from completing within your deadline.

good luck!
 
Offer 10% less than the asking price, when it gets rejected ask for feedback on where they see the true price.
 
When I bought the house I am in now I had an offer accepted, had the survey and a week before exchange of contracts got a call saying that someone had offered 5k more (15 years ago). I told them that it was supposed to be off the market but they said someone had approached the owner direct. I immediately asked them to book a viewing at a house a few street away. They asked if I wanted to beat this other offer. I said no. Four days later I got a call saying this other person could not get a mortgage. I should have renegotiated really but I loved the house. I told them if there was anymore funny business I would walk away from it. In summary estate agents are in it for what they can get.
 

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