Help. Think we've offered too much for a house. Should we gazunder?

[RobinsonOnTheA24]

Clueless first time buyers here. Been looking for a house for a while, not finding much on the market, but found one that we liked last week which seemed to be a good price, viewed it on Saturday and we offered the asking price (£280k) straight away. Agent called Sat afternoon and said the buyers were very pleased and had provisionally accepted. Another buyer had made a matching offer but as they were in a chain and we weren't the vendors were inclined to go with us. However, as they hadn't had feedback from all the viewings they would call to confirm on Monday (today).

Got a call from the agent this morning to say that someone else had made an offer over the asking price, so they were now asking for our best and final offers. Spoke to them again this afternoon and they said that a third buyer had offered cash over the asking price and had "come in strong" (whatever that means). So after a brief conversation over the phone with dp we offered £286k, based on the fact that this is the absolute maximum we are likely to be able to pull together, including help from family and friends, but leaving no money to do any work on the house

Agent called back about an hour later to say they had accepted our offer, and now I'm panicking, thinking that perhaps it was completely crazy to offer £6k over asking, and also feeling depressed that we won't be able to do the work we had wanted to do on it.

It may all be taken out of our hands when we hear back from our mortgage advisor anyway, but if not, wwyd?

Am v embarrassed to be telling this tale of ineptitude, but would be very grateful for any advice.

I know exactly how you feel. We've offered on two houses and been pushed up higher than we wanted on both due to 'other buyers' suddenly appearing. The issue was the same, I wanted to hold some back to do it up and felt manipulated going up so high. At the end of the day both have fallen through, but I know that feeling well! No answers though, if you hold back you gamble that you'll lose the house (or you get it for a price you are comfortable with). If you go to the limit at least you know you did everything you could. No answers, but you are not alone!

I flew through the last few posts here so apologies if this has already been mentioned. Ime agents dont necessarily try to beat offers up unecessarily. They want a quick easy sale and a buyer who can complete. It is not in their interests to push a buyer to the point of not getting a loan approved. Say their fees are 1.5% then they only make another £90 on the extra 6000. So it is not worth losing the rest of their fee over. I would therefore suggest that there is genuine extra interest and/or it is the buyer who is a bit greedy. So dropping later might not be too easy after surveys. If you cant afford 286 then pull out now.

I paid about 8k over what i was comfortable with when i bought my first place. It meant that i had to wait a little longer to sort my kitchen but i had the right sized house in the right place. Over 8 years later when i sold that "extra" meant very little.

If you have had offers on similar houses rejected at 285 then maybe you have to accept that you can only afford a 2 bed if you are not prepared to wait to do work.

Good luck! It is nervewracking!

every time I've bought I've paid a few thousand more than I wanted to go, but that's cos I bought desirable properties in desirable areas. This meant that I enjoyed living there and then sold for a bit of a profit. I've never come across bargains or sellers who didn't want the highest price possible - that's life.

The 6k isn't relevant if you can stick it on a mortgage - your sense of whether this is a good house in a local house market with stuff going for it (jobs, amenities, recent sold prices of other houses) is way, way more significant. You can't insure against a market drop, but you can just make as good a judgement as possible and that won't come down to 6k..

Buying your first place is so stressful, I feel for you.

Thank you everyone for all the advice. Tricot, yes that makes absolute sense.

Got a recommendation and quote from mortgage broker today. It's going to be very tight. Have to sit down tonight and talk it through.

One other question if anyone is around: those of you who have experience of the price being dropped following the survey, what sort of things did the survey bring up that justified the lower price?

I think it is justifiable to drop the price if the survey reveals significant problems that must be addressed and will cost real money. Things like rising damp, leaky roof, extensive woodworm etc. When I sold my last flat, the price was reduced to allow for the (admittedly antique) electrics to be rewired.

Things that came up when we bought this house included window frames getting a bit old and tatty, cracked render etc. We didn't ask for a reduction because those things are all part of general maintenance of a house, that you would expect to be attending to within a few years anyway.