To view houses 10% above my budget?

[GreenestValley]

I'm house hunting (first time buyer) and just wondering how much ahead of your budget it's worthwhile viewing places with a view to a lower offer.

And at what point it just becomes pointless as they would never accept the offer you can afford to make?

I guess it might work in % rather than absolute terms (for instance you might reasonably offer 50k less on a 800k house, but not 50k less on a 200k house?)

It's a bit tricky as I guess a lot of it might be about individual circumstances / context - do they need a quick sale, how much money have they already made on the property, place might be optimistically priced already etc etc?

My instinct is that viewing places 5-10% higher and putting in your best offer is a reasonable way to go about it?!

Would love to hear your experiences (both buying & selling) as I'm totally new to the game.

I would, that is what we did. I agree that the higher the price the better % of reduction you get so many just say offers in excess of and what they really mean is this is how much we want.

Word of caution though is how emotional you are about it, I was quite detached but we lost 2 houses we liked 1 offered more than us so fair enough, the other actually offered less than us but were cash buyers - that was a pain but cash buyers will always win over mortgage I think. Don't go and see a house you think you may love if it is way over and it will break your heart if you lose out, if its more practical buy then you haven't got a lot to lose.

I don't see the problem and I've seen offers of 25k and 15k less being accepted than the listed price.

We got 10% off of ours

Honestly, it depends on what you’re looking for. If it’s a one-of-a-kind house loads of people would love, or in a booming area, there mightn’t be very much point! If it’s been on the market a few weeks, or has a compromise that few would make, then definitely worth looking.

We've always looked above budget. Would look up to 350k if looking to spend 300k for example

I think it depends when and where you are looking. We are house hunting now and all the decent ones are selling over asking price within a week of going on the market.
House listed today had 15 views booked for tomorrow when I called at 3pm. Agent said there was no point in booking an appointment for next week as it'll definitely sell.

Normally though I'd say 10% above is fine.

I think it's reasonable, but it's a good idea to ask about other interest in the property and wiggle room before getting too invested in a property, especially if it's overbudget, and talk with the estate agents.

We looked at one property that was about 10% from our comfortable max as it had been on the market for a while and thought there might be wiggle room there and was in a good location for walking to school. The estate agent was very straight forward that there had been other interest, but there was no wiggle room: the guy was an HMO'er who was willing to hold out (much to her frustration from the tone in her voice, the place was not only overpriced for the area but needed a lot more work than had been visible in the photos) - and she started asked about our needs and selling us on another house that had just come onto her books that I was very amused to having already seen (alerts on rightmove and zoopla, it had shown up on the latter but not yet on the former) that she booked us in for the next week. It ended up being amazing (and was over 30k less than the other place) and I'm currently crossing my fingers over that everything with the bank and solicitors comes back well on soon.

We are looking. Budget is £950-1m but I'm looking at £1.1. Would even look at 1.2. Round here people put in cheeky offers and thinks are being put on for waaay too much

Also more likely for wiggle room if they are desperate to move (are in a chain and desperately want the next house) or it's empty. Unless it's probate.. then they usually wait for asking ... usually .. or cash

Also we are chain free so I think that adds value

OK - so if I am looking at 800-820k, it feels totally acceptable to view places up to 875k?

Traditionally, viewing houses a bit out of your budget would have been the norm as you'd always expect a bit of negotiation. At the moment, there is far more demand than available properties in some areas, so houses are sometimes selling at asking price and above. We got a phone call from an agent about a property that hadn't even hit the market yet and booked a viewing for in 2 days time. The day before the viewing we got a phone call to say the viewing was cancelled as it was sold!

In those kind of areas it'd be a waste of your time. But you wont necessarily know until you try.

Prices seem to have been massively inflated across the board over the last 6 months though. For areas with lesser demand this isn't always panning out and houses are sitting on the market for a while. If you're looking in an area like that, it wont hurt to look above your budget as 10% off may be what they should be listed at anyway.

@GreenestValley

OK - so if I am looking at 800-820k, it feels totally acceptable to view places up to 875k?

Defo

In London? I would look up to £900 with that budget

I would look at houses upto 850 maybe even 875 if I were you. If you make an offer the worst that can happen is they say no. My house needed quite a lot of work but I got it for 17% under the asking price.

Agree with PP that it really depends on areas. There are places that are not selling as quickly as others, and there are places property is getting snatched up at asking price and over.

DH and I were doing this, looking at 10% over our agreed budget. I was really strict about how much I was willing to borrow and determined that we shouldn't go over that amount. Then we saw our house, offered 10% less than the asking price, and unfortunately everyone that viewed it put in an offer so we ended up going 10% over the asking price to secure it, and we only got that as we not in a chain.

Our budget was up to £500k and the house we finally bought was listed at £575k but had been on the market for 18 months.

It needed an extension knocking down and rebuilding, a new kitchen, rewiring, new boiler, new doors & windows, so there was a lot to do.

I only got 2% off my house but sold my house for 29% less than asking price as I was desperate to move away from noisy neighbours. I think 10% is fine but expect to get no more than 5% off unless you have desperate sellers, which if you do find out why they are so desperate to move you don’t want a wreck of a house to deal with.

Estate agents near me are only showing people round who have an offer already on their own house, first time buyers who have evidence of a mortgage offer or buyers who can evidence they can pay cash. This is due to the Covid restrictions. If the house is above your budget I would check if the agent has similar restrictions in place.

I wouldn't pay the 10% more if it wasn't my ideal house - mostly because I think it would be a massive waste of money.

I'd get a higher mortgage which would result in more interest over time AND I'd have to fix the property to my specification... Just a waste of money!

It's worth looking and putting in offers but don't get your hopes up too much. Where we live houses are selling very quickly at asking price and above, but you never know your luck until you ask. I think an offer of 5-10% less than asking doesn't sound too cheeky.

Yep @londonmummy1234 south london