House buying - advice

[Fuschia]

The time has come for us to move to a bigger house (not in ed, sob)

We have looked around a few houses in our intended destination (herts) just to see what's available. The market isn't great there, prices are falling gradually ATM and places often seem to take 6m+ to sell.

We saw a house we liked! Though it's on for more than we want to pay (could pay 95% of the asking though)

We have a mortgage agreement in principle and are now scurrying to declutter and get our flat on the market (no small feat!)

In the meantime I am watching the house like a hawk and worrying its going to be sold to someone else.

But if we made an offer of 90% of the asking price, at this stage, I doubt we would be taken seriously at all.

Is it worth doing it anyway? Obviously if someone else is prepared to offer the asking price we won't compete with that anyway. But it would be galling if it sells now at the price we have in mind.

The particular house has only been on the market for 2 weeks. It's in a very popular road, but is quite expensive compared to much of the surrounding area.

Any thoughts/advice?

Thanks

[LondonMix]

Are you waiting to have your own flat on the market / under offer before approaching them?

It can never hurt to put in an offer- any offer. I have friends who put in offers they never thought would be accepted so its always worth a shot. You can always increase your offer from 90% to 95% as part of the negotiations. Apparently on average houses across the country only sell at 93% of asking (I think I read that somewhere) so you might be surprised.

Your offer might not be accepted officially (ie taken off the market) until your flat is under offer but the vendor is unlikely to accept another offer that's much lower than what you have put forward as most people would prefer to hold out unless they are in a rush!

Good luck.

[Fuschia]

Might go for it then ...

[Convex]

Yes, definitely put the offer in now.

[Carrie]

Definitely put an offer in now. Nothing ventured nothing gained! Get your hose on the market as soon as poss, the market round here is really lively at the moment so provided nothing drastically wrong with it you should get an offer quite quickly ( as long as you are realistic rather than optimistic with the price ).

If your offer is rejected now just repeat it when you are under offer!

[Cam123]

Put the offer in now and don't offer the total amount you can pay straight away - leave a bit for potential negotiations further down the line. At the very least it will register with the seller as a very interested party incase any other buyers come along.

I'd also suggest getting nosey and finding out from the agents what the circs of the seller are and how you might be able to make your offer more favourable by fitting around them as much as possible.

I also think that if a seller has a low offer at the start that they reject and then nothing else for a while, they often stew on whether the offer is infact at a fair level and that perhaps they were asking a little too much (particularly if the market is slow). If that offer is then upped just a little bit they might just accept...

[Fuschia]

Good advice, all

I contacted the EA to offer 90%

They said a cash offer of ?10l more had been rejected, vendor holding out for ?20k more

I said what a Shame, can't compete with such an offer from a cash buyer

Maybe vendor will think again later as prices are falling

We will watch out for any price reduction

EA now asking be for our 'full and final offer'

I am now playing it cool

Will see what tomorrow brings

I don't think there really has Been such an offer

[sarahf]

Brilliant that you are playing it cool. If it's impossible to confirm the existence of the other (and conveniently higher) offer, just ignore it. If there is indeed such a good offer from a cash buyer, you already know you can't compete. Also, if that offer really does exist and the market is still falling, there is no guarantee that said buyer will see through the purchase. This happened to us. Six weeks after losing at sealed bids, the successful bidders pulled out and we eventually bought the home we are in now. Good luck! It's such a stressful process but ultimately very exciting and rewarding. Also - from experience - nice to live somewhere less cluttered until your sale and ultimate purchase go through!

[jennyh]

It is very hard and we are in a similar position. We offered asking price on a house when ours was jut going onto the market, within 24 hours. The vendor waited a few days before saying that he would accept our offer but gave us a timeframe to go under offer ourselves (1 week!!) so we are desperately hoping ours sells quickly. Depending on what you have in dulwich the demand here is high so feasibly things could move quickly here but you just don't know. I would always say that it's worth showing your interest and trying within your means, the worst that would happen is that they will say no but at least you won't keep wondering. I don't think it's uncommon to put offers on when you aren't under offer yourself, but will always come down to how much other interest there is and how close you are to selling! It's horribly stressful though and I feel for you. We had an open day on our flat yesterday and we are praying for an offer as we lose our ongoing buy on weds :-(

[Fuschia]

The EA is very predictable. We have now got to the point where I have produced all my evidence why I think x +10k is really the most the house is worth, but 'admitted' it's Also 'our maximum' ( actually it's 5k under what I think is reasonable )

The EA is now trying to wangle the last 5k out of me but have gone silent. I Have also mentioned a Fictional second viewing on our 'second choice'

Obv the ea will go through the same process with any other interested parties

I will eventually offer the figure I had in mind and ea is currently chasing

Will do the trick unless another buyer is prepared to pay more

My figure is 93% of asking

[snowboarder]

When we were buying/selling last year we did not offer on the house we liked until we had an offer with a 'proceedable' buyer on ours - you just do not know what you can afford without a firm offer price on your own property and have little bargaining power, and as a seller there is no way I would accept an offer from someone who could not move forward....

Good luck though - I'd get your place on asap!!

[Fuschia]

Sb, my feelings too as a vendor but where we are looking, the market isn't great

We will see, anyway