Did I screw up buying a house?

[Ivyday]

A house went on the market yesterday, nothing here is avaliable for more than a few days. Asking price was 180,000 and above. I offered 177,000 on advice of family who said you never offer asking price. But I really like this house and I've not heard anything about my offer. First time buyer and worried I've messed up and should have just offered 180. Should I call tomorrow and up my offer? I've never done this before and I feel really out of my depth.

@AramintaLee

At the moment, houses seem to be selling above asking price. My friend just sold her place for £30k over the asking price.

I don't mean to be negative, but that's just the market right now.

Good luck

absolutely not true...

Just call the estate agent! Be polite but firm: ask when will you hear back about your offer.

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

Even though the market is very different at the moment, I’d still wait to be rejected before going higher.

I agree with this, if they reject it you can then increase it. Houses are selking quickly in my area but not over asking price.

Our house was on for 180k we offered 167k and they told us they couldn't go lower than 173k so that's what we offered and they accepted. Granted this was just before lockdown and I know the housing market is in a different place now

Houses are taking m, on average, 90 days to sell, some are going the day the go on the market, others can take months. 3 identical houses on our street went up for sale, one sold within a week, another took 2 months, the 3rd took 4 months .

Pay what you can afford and what you think it's worth. If you can afford 188 and you're not 'panic buying' because there's nothing out there, then go back to the ea and offer that amount. Speak to your financial advisor re what you can borrow and deposit before you go steaming in there with an offer you can't back up tho

You were the first offer on the day it went to market. They will most likely want to see if there is a further offer from any viewings Saturday or Sunday.
Follow up with a call to the agent in the morning asking whether your offer was accepted.
If tour offer was rejected (which it won't be and the agent will just delay and not answer....) then you go all Phil and Kirsty on them.....you will offer asking price on the condition the house is removed from sale and no one else is shown around it.

Good luck. (Don't be tempted to enter a bidding war....if the house was worth more...the estate agent would price it higher.

Oh and I'm assuming you have noting to sell and are not in a chain.

On its own, an asking price of '£180k and above' and the reasonableness of your £177k offer says nothing.

Assuming you are in the UK, are you in Scotland, or elsewhere, as the systems are different.

If you are not in Scotland with it's different 'offers over' system, no-one can say without more context regarding the price as in, what can you get for £180k elsewhere in the area.

How long has it been for sale and what is the condition like? If it needs a lot of work and/or has been on the market for months, it's a highly different proposition to it being new to the market and/or in a ready to move in condition.

I could put my house up for sale for £180k and you offered me £177k for it, I'd bite your hand off, because it's worth £150/160k at best.

If it's at the lower end pricewise for your area and houses are selling within days of coming on the market for £10/20k above asking, chances are someone else will see it over the weekend and offer more than you have.

What's the basis of family advising that 'you never offer asking price'? Recent knowledge of the market or their experience when they bought years ago?

If it's offers above, and it's not been hanging around for months, your £177k offer is probably a non starter, but if a lot of people are viewing the property, they might go to 'best and final offers' where everyone who's expressed an interest in the property gives their best and final offer and the vendors choose one. This is not necessarily the highest one BTW. If you offer £186k and someone offers £189k but you're a FTB and they're in a chain, they might pick yours because the sale might be smoother for them.

But you do have to consider the valuation, and your deposit, because if it's valued at less than your offer price, which it could be, and your deposit is tight on LTV, you might not be able to get the mortgage you need or it could at least push you up the % brackets and when you get to 90 or 95% LTV, the interest rate is significantly higher, so do your sums carefully if this applies to you.

I now see that it's only just come on the market, which is likely to mean that your £177k offer will be rejected and the vendors will wait at least a week or two to see what other offers they get.

Have a look at sold prices on Rightmove or Zoopla for similar properties in the area to gauge what the house is worth.

OP it could be good advice in certain situations but it doesn’t always work. Like a previous poster we paid asking price in 2017, it wasn’t worth quibbling over 5k when we wanted a house and people were all over it.

The sellers will want to get the first weekend of viewing out of the way and then assess any offers.

Totally depends on your local market too, things have slowed down massively here with people still asking high prices but with few buyers meaning housing aren’t shifting. A busy market you likely won’t get anywhere by going in under asking price. 3k is such a small amount that it’s not really worth the saving imo.

As for increasing the offer by 1k, I wouldn’t advise that, as a seller I’d find it really annoying to be stepping up your offer in small amounts.

Unless the family members have been actively participating in the property market wherever you are located they aren't really in the best position to advise you right now.

You are already aware that houses are going like hot cakes and presumably have seen enough to make a comparison on this house and know if it's worth the asking price or not. Just saying don't ever offer the asking price is a ridiculous notion right now. You MIGHT see yourself in a much worse position a few months down the line if things don't calm down which no one can predict.

I would go back to the estate agent this morning and say you've had a rethink overnight and are looking to offer the full asking price and restate your position. If you want to offer more than that again do it now as you probably won't get another bite at the cherry. You have no idea what is most important to the vendor - highest price regardless of position, mortgage free in the hope of a speedy transaction or a buyer who falls in love with the house and envisions starting their family their etc.

I think advice about speaking to your estate agent is the way to go. And keep on top of things.

Advice on here about what the market was like 6 years ago or 1 year ago, is not likely to be very helpful to you right at this minute.

As a caveat, and an aside maybe, the housing market may become rocky going forward.
A very large development company in Ch ina is looking shaky, which could cause ripples.
But I couldnt possibly tell you or advise anyone on what might or may not happen about that.

@NannyAndJohn

I'd be expecting it to go for in excess of £200000. Can you stretch to that?

Based on what? You know nothing about the house, the area, the market. You're just making things up and not being at all helpful to the OP.

That was a sensible offer, and coming from a first time buyer (Not in a chain) will be considered seriously

If you start bidding against yourself, you are losing the plot

So don’t.

A lot about house buying is about being reasonable and sitting tight

If the seller is in a hurry, or really needs to move, they’d want you as a buyer snd might just ask you if you can match a better offer they got

But keep a cool head, esp in a hit market. There WILL be more houses, and you WILL find one.

It is a bit of a game, and you can only “win” by keeping calm

So wait what they say, and keep looking around

I live in the north west of England - there is a house on my street on the market for the same price - the EA has been in and out all day with back to back viewings. Call the EA and explain your a first time buyer with no chain and need a bit of guidance. If I really really wanted the house I would go in over asking, not under.

Nobody is offering ‘under’ here. If anything, people are offering over. We moved last week (never again please God), we were one of 16 viewings over the end of May BH weekend, 50% offered on the house ranging from asking price to 15K over asking. We offered 10K over (numerous reasons, the house really was 99% perfect for us).
I’m in the SE, where since the start of the year many people have moved from London to here.

I would call in the morning and ask the agent what the situation is and if they have heard back from the vendor about your offer. Ask directly if they are wanting to see what happens today before try decide. Tell the agent to please remind the vendor that you are a first time buyer and therefore chain free so in a good position to move quickly

North here too. DD paid 5.2% over asking and was one of four that went to full and final. The seller did around 12 viewings over two days and had about 7 first offers.

In the nicest way I think your parents perhaps haven’t sold in the last 18 months and have no idea how it’s working right now.

A very large development company in Ch ina is looking shaky, which could cause ripples.

Do you think it will be allowed to collapse?

@Ivyday

We have a Decision in Principle thingy. I'm just worried that by offering over value we are pushing the deposit up which is another consideration as we don't have loads of wiggle room in terms of LTV.

It's not over value if people are willing to pay more than 180k for it. It's v likely the mortgage company valuation will just value it as the purchase price. I would affect ltv if you are paying more than it's valued at by the lender but in this market I wouldn't worry about that at this point.

It’s a reasonable offer
Wait and see if it’s accepted or not; don’t increase it now. Try not to fall too much in love with a house before your offer is accepted and you’ve exchanged though.

What's the market like where you are ....we had to offer full on our house six years ago. Tbh from what I hear most houses in my area going for over asking. Talk to estate agent as they know the market. Good luck. It's only been a day so they be showing others around

The housing market around here is crazy. It's hard to even get a viewing. Houses are going onto the market at the beginning of the week, having an open day at the weekend and then are sold by Monday for over the asking price

We've put an offer in for the full asking price twice, one we were out bid and the other didnt even get back to us, despite us phoning them twice. It's a nightmare.

We put out offer in on a Friday morning and the agency dithered around until Monday which really pissed me off.
As if the seller and us as the buyers want to sit around wondering what each other have agreed to.
The stupid thing was, the house was on for £340k, we offered £340k and she said no - she wanted £345k.
The offers were not asked to be in excess of, either.

Anyway, she screwed us around and at the 11th hour we found our current place. We showed up, saw it, wanted it and offered the asking price there and then. It was accepted there and then and we were in 6 weeks later.

A far cry from the bullshit of the first house.