Send us your vibes, we will make offer on house tomorrow

[eemie]

We've seen house we could love. Under pressure, as landlady wants us out to put rental house back on market.

Will make offer tomorrow.

It's on at £450K. Agent says there have been 'lots of offers' turned down (it's been on for five weeks). One offer is acceptable but that buyer can't proceed till she sells. Agent hasn't said how much any of the offers is for.

We are your actual dream buyers - nothing to sell, huge deposit, credit checks and mortgage agreement all in place.

What would you do? Should I blatantly ask agent what she will sell for? We could pay asking price but it would be way out of whack for the street (according to Mouseprice) where the best price ever achieved was £430K.

DH can't stand the thought of bargaining and will be no help.

So it's all up to me - please hold my hand!

[FindTheLocation]

May be offer £425k? Good luck & let us know how you get on

[Tinker]

£400k

[slackrunner]

Agree with Tinker. £400K will give you some space to stretch too.

In the current climate an offer where someone isn't proceedable is as good as useless - you are in a really good position. They are bonkers to think that the other offer is worth anything at all.

You need to be prepared though that the vendor may not be in a hurry to sell - if that's the case I'd look for another rental property and move on. I personally wouldn't pay over the ceiling price for a house during the biggest recession the world has seen for eighty years. See 'Property Pundits' thread for some soothing words.

Good luck

[SamVimesIsMyHero]

Good luck! We've just done this recently. You might find that when you put an offer in the agent might tell you what they have rejected.

We put in a very low offer on a house that turned down offers and the agent said there was no point us putting that offer in and then told us what they had turned now. There's no point them not telling you otherwise you are both just wasting your time. I would start at £400k myself and give yourself plenty of room to maneouvre, lots of offers turned down doesn't mean anything, they could have offered £300k for all you know!

Very good luck, it's a nerve racking business! My dh is very ballsy about what price we start at/will pay etc but then leaves me to do the actual negotiating

[MrsMattie]

I'd go in at 400k and if they knock you back, decide what you can go up to. I personally wouldn't offer over 420k from what you've said, but it is up to you...

You might love the house, but don't get attached. View it as a business deal at this stage. I have learned this the hard way!

If it's meant to be, it will be.

[ouchitreallyhurts]

We have had an offer accepted on a house that was originally marketed at £499000, it dropped to £450000 and they accepted £410000 from us :0) we started at £400000 which we thought was far too cheeky but it worked.
good luck!!

[Fizzylemonade]

Agree with others, you are in good position. She could have accepted £425 but it is useless unless that person has sold theirs, their house could stay on the market for years as others have.

Go in at £400, if it is rejected start with small increments so I would go back with £405, that way the estate agent is more likely to tell you what they will accept rather than ringing his client and telling them each time you increase by £5k!

Be brave.

[eemie]

Thanks all for excellent advice.

We decided to show willing by offering £405. Agent immediately told us it would be rejected. I emphasised that we're all ready to go and asked him to put our offer forward - waiting for the rejection now.

On seeing house again today didn't feel so strongly about it - haven't set heart on it by any means.

Off to look at property pundits...

[slackrunner]

Hope it works out OK for you. I agree with Mrs Mattie; what's meant to be will be. I've walked away from properties in the past (in a rising market) because the vendor wasn't prepared to budge, and I've never regretted it. In fact we've had the last laugh on several occasions when they've ended up selling for less than we'd have been prepared to pay .

[KathyBrown]

£400k tops.
Good luck, PS. Don't buy just cos the current land lady wants you out, you're not under any pressure please don''t put yourselves under any.

[eemie]

Thanks again everyone. As we expected, offer was rejected. But agent spent a lot of time on phone with me trying to justify. This makes me think other offerers are not in a competition to bid higher.

Agent also said they'd be willing to accept 435K but that's seriously over the odds in my view. If we needed to sell in a couple of years, (eg if husband made redundant, which could happen), there'd be a high risk of taking a severe hit. Mortgage valuation will not be anything like as high as that.

Otoh, husband really likes and wants house. Has actually expressed opinion today, which is something rare.

KathyBrown, you're absolutely right, rather than pay over the odds I'd prefer to rent again (and we'd get something for a substantially lower rent than we're paying now) and hold on to our strong position.

[eemie]

Aargh. Woke up seething with anxiety at 5 am.

Soothed myself by going over to the house and trying out the walk to school - twice by different routes. It's fine, lovely in fact. Another point in favour.

Poor dog was knackered by 7.30 am.

Going to keep nerve and look at a couple more houses next week.

[eemie]

Have just reviewed all my research - we've seen 16 houses and there are another two that we ought to see before we decide our best offer for this one.

Feel a bit more supported by dh now he has actually expressed an opinion, even though it's contrary to mine. Can't stand the feeling that he'll just go along with anything I say.

Got to calm down and chill out about all this because can't get by on four hours sleep!

[lalalonglegs]

Hold your nerve and wait - it seems your offer is a pretty good one, certainly not out of step with what other people have offered. Don't stew, let the vendors sweat.

[slackrunner]

Yep - hold your nerve (hard I know). It is still a buyers' market, and you do have more properties to see. Worth mentioning the latter point to the EA - unless of course the other two properties are on with them. It will make the vendors more likely to think twice about your offer.

Good luck and sleep well

[eemie]

Increased to £420K today.

Have viewed again and seen some others. Have also got estate agents' particulars of houses nearby that sold at peak prices in 2007, so that I can compare. Makes me feel less worried that £420K is sticking our necks out too far.

House meets most of our needs and we could be staying there at least 8 years if all's well.

Also it would be worth a lot to have the issue settled. But there are other options (as I keep repeating to myself in endless circles).

Oh, for a night's sleep...

[KathyBrown]

What are you like, walk away if they reject it though.

[eemie]

Anxious is what I'm like!

Not quite true to say we're not under any pressure. I went from part-time to (more than) full-time work at the beginning of April, there's serious illness in the family, we're taking my elderly mother to live with us.

So yes, we could rent again, and keep on looking, and move twice, but it wouldn't be a walk in the park.

otoh, I do take your point KathyBrown, we shouldn't be paying over the odds just to suit the landlady's timetable.

Been waiting for a house the agent told us was about to come on the market in one of our top roads. Sounded ideal. Found out tonight it's in the worst possible position on the road, right next to a busy five-way junction.

Also, landlady rang tonight to ask if we'll allow a viewing by potential buyer - well before she's legally entitled to.

Now torn between thinking they'll have to take it as they find it, and wanting to show it as well as possible, out of sheer pride and a compulsive sense of responsibility!

[eemie]

OK this is where I'm at - if anyone's interested please hold my hand.

We have to be out of rented house in 10 weeks. Since I found this out I haven't slept more than four hours in a night.

We know and have viewed everything on market in area that would suit us. The area splits into two - the desirable and expensive East, the West less so.

The house we like is on the West, would suit us well but we'd have to pay over the odds (which we can afford) and take a risk (e.g. that dh will be made redundant and we'd end up having to sell in 2yrs at a big loss).

We could pay same amount and get beautiful house (which I love) on East, but we'd have to do some work to make it suitable for us. And we'd have to do a lot of work (including ground floor and attic extension) to make it as good as the West house for our family.

Also have to factor in that I've just increased my hours at work by a lot (inspired by threat of redundancy for dh) so won't have much headspace for project management in the next few years.

Ashamed to admit how much this is messing with my head. It's not as though one of us is ill (and there is illness in the family, so cannot thrash it out with sisters as I usually would, because they're rightly preoccupied with more important stuff)

Aargh. Help me, somebody!

[eemie]

.

[wohmum]

in the grand scheme of things , is £10k worth the stress and lack of sleep ?
if you really like it, I'd offer £430k and say you can make it happen within the 10 weeks and be clear it is your final offer -

if they still turn it down , move on to somewhere else . if its still available in 3 weeks and you've not found anything better it might be worth going back to see if they would reconsider .

I really feel for you - but £10-15k really isn't a massive amount if you are spending £400k! !

[Rhumba]

did they accept offer??

[Fizzylemonade]

bump?

[eemie]

I'm coming round to your way of thinking wohmum.

They rejected offer - not very surprising. £420K was the ceiling of what I thought a fair price range for the house, given the area etc. SO now have to decide whether/how far to stick our necks out.

We could add the equivalent of a year's rent to our offer and be fairly certain they'd accept. So we're going to have another look tomorrow, with my Mum (who's coming to live with us) who's been summoned from afar for the occasion.

Meanwhile we looked at the house by the busy five-way junction tonight and it's absolutely great. And chain-free. So feel better knowing it's there. Location not ideal but still excellent - works for us.

[eemie]

They rejected offer.

We reconsidered, viewed again, and added the equivalent of a year's rent to our offer, since we reckoned that doing the deal now will probably save us that.

They haven't come back to us. Agent is going round others who've made lower offers, seeing if they want to bid against us.

But in the meantime we saw another house on the East side, a better location, which I love. It is affordable (not as easily), better value for money and will retain its value better if prices dive again. I want to offer on that, dh not sure.

I've laid out all the figures for him and he's thinking about it.

Woke at 2.20am today, didn't get back to sleep, had punishing day at work with lots of driving. Feel frazzled and restless. Tell myself glass of wine is not the answer. Then think - why isn't it the answer?