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Original poster

Offered too much on a house?

47 replies

Nanabana · 08/01/2013 11:45

I have seen other related threads which have been helpful but just need to share my current situation.

DH and I have been looking for a 3 bed house since just before Christmas (first time buyers).. we?ve seen a fair number of places which haven?t really done it for us, and found a place a few days ago which ticks almost all the boxes, doesnt need any work (we think it?s lovely), and can move straight in.

Problem is I think we might have jumped too quickly to the asking price. The vendor said that he wouldn't accept anything less than the asking price, but we tried our luck and offered a few thousand less than that (which was only around 2% less). After one or two exchanges via the estate Agent, we met the vendor at the asking price.

Now I feel like perhaps we could have got it for less because

a) there were no other offers on the table, we only knew about one other buyer who was considering viewing the property again
b) I?ve checked zoopla (which I?ve seen from other threads isn?t always reliable anyway) and it looks like properties on the same street have sold for 10s of thousands less last year. Saying that this property has more to offer in square footage due to it?s positioning on the street
c) the zoopla estimate was £15k less than our accepted offer. (although I didn?t provide all the square feet information)
d) it was on at another agent at £10k less than the price we have agreed to? which to me means that another agent considers the property to be worth less than what we have agreed to.

We are in a good position in terms of being able to afford the mortgage thankfully as we have restricted ourselves to a budget, but I hate thinking that we may have been too hasty? I know we could try to reduce the offer at the risk of losing the property, and I hate being an unreliable type? or we could withdraw altogether.. feeling very stressed right now. I know I have to weigh it all up.. we?re going to see the place one more time with family who are familiar with the area, it is a home rather than an investment and we should love where we live without worrying about a few extra thousand.. just wish we?d been a bit more scrupulous for peace of mind

OP posts:

lalalonglegs · 08/01/2013 18:18

As ftb's you can pretend to be a bit thick. Tell the agent that someone has just explained to you about stamp duty and you're going to have to reduce your offer by xxx amount.

Goodwordguide · 08/01/2013 19:45

I agree with lala - plus, look at the Land Registry, it's much more reliable than Zoopla, which I would never use to value a house.

Comparing one house with another is pointless beyond acting as a certain rough guide - you don't know the circumstances of each sale eg, last time we bought I was heavily pregnant, we were moving back to the UK and we had to exchange within 6 weeks so we paid the asking price and would have paid more - it would have been worth it to us and our circumstances.

How much do you want this house and can you afford it? I would only renegotiate if you're really prepared to pull out.

MarianForrester · 08/01/2013 22:20

If you want the house, then relax and just be pleased you got it. TThes amounts won't matter down the line when you are happily installed

Springforward · 08/01/2013 23:03

I'd wait for your valuation survey now. IM recent E mortgage lenders won't take the risk on an overvalued property, and valuations are cautious. FWIW last year Zoopla said £237k for the house we bought, we secured it for £190k, valuation came in at £190k. Asking price was none of those figures.

If it's not really about the price and more that you're wondering if you could have found anything better value in spring, I would perhaps withdraw before money was spent.

DewDr0p · 08/01/2013 23:09

How much do you love this house? Are there lots like it around and about?

If you think this one is special, I would also wait for your valuation survey - the surveyor will tell you if you have offered more than it is worth - this will give you plenty of clout to renegotiate. Have done this myself (we were new to the area, the vendor was over ambitious with the asking price and there aren't many houses of this type so it was hard to judge it right)

If you feel more take it or leave it then tell the vendor you want to reduce your asking price (and why) but be prepared to walk away if they refuse you.

LakeFlyPie · 08/01/2013 23:22

I'd echo "how much do you love the house?"

I think we probably paid over the odds for our house 2 yrs ago.
I.e. 20% more than adjoining semi sold for 18 months earlier although ours does have various features which increase it's value.
The bottom line for us was we could afford the offer and hadn't seen anything we liked as much in years of searching whilst waiting for our previous house to sell.
It was definitely worth the extra to us.

Good luck

Original poster

Nanabana · 10/01/2013 11:53

Thanks for all the advice. The more i look into it the more i believe it's worth less than what we offered, and although i really liked the house, i haven't been looking for long enough to know what else i'd be able to get.. i might miss the boat on a house I really like.. but i'm going to reduce the offer and see what happpens

OP posts:

noseynoonoo · 11/01/2013 11:57

Any news?

Yfronts · 11/01/2013 16:35

just withdraw and say that you have done more research and consider it to be overpriced.

HowToChangeThis · 11/01/2013 16:44

Be careful with this, I've seen a number of cases recently where the mortgage company's surveyor values lower which changes the LTV, sometimes the rate that they'll lend at and sometimes the purchasers haven't been able to make up the shortfall.

Goodwordguide · 11/01/2013 16:51

I'm concerned that will happen to us how when we renew our mortgage in two years - is that less likely to happen if you stay with the same adviser? Do they value the house again? I don't seem to remember the, doing so last time we got a new mortgage (on the same house).

ecuse · 11/01/2013 16:56

If this is really going to bother you then I'd get a survey and then find something in that on which to base a reduction in your offer. There's always about a million things in there to make you panic.

On the other hand, if you love the house, want to live there and can afford it then I'd just buy it. There is no objectively "right" price for a house, there are so many variables even within a street. There's just people who want to buy at a certain price and people who are prepared to sell to them.

We've been trying to move for over a year, lost three houses we had offers accepted on, one becuase we refused to pay extra when the vendors tried to negotiate upwards. With hindsight now I would much rather have been sitting in that house and a few grand poorer now then still stuck where we are with no guarantee when we can move. They were cheeky bastards, but I wish I'd just sucked it up.

ecuse · 11/01/2013 16:57

Mind you, what how said is what happened to us on the third house we lost on.

It will do you a favour if the valuation comes back low in a way. You'll have something to negotiate with that will make it 'out of your hands' so you won't be the difficult one. And if they refuse to budge - well then you can walk away with peace of mind that you're not paying over the odds.

Original poster

Nanabana · 25/01/2013 10:27

Sorry for the late update - we withdrew the offer altogether as the vendor wasn't going to budge. I didnt want to risk getting the process started based on the hope that the valuation will come back lower. It was stressful and then sad but now i'm over it and will tread much more carefully now. (I was so worried about the vendor's feelings!).

OP posts:

susanann · 25/01/2013 10:45

A few years back I had a vendor who would not budge on anything! Totally unfair. So after trying to haggle and not getting anywhere I said to the estate agent "you know what, he can shove it!" I then found something else which was as nice for less. Things happen for a reason. Im now selling and have had to accept quite a low offer, it was that or loose the only buyer on the horizon. Your vendor sounds unrealistic!

Original poster

Nanabana · 25/01/2013 11:17

Susanann i'm glad you ended up finding another house and for less - it's given me some hope, with all this snow and misery I haven't been very optimistic lately.

OP posts:

susanann · 25/01/2013 11:23

Its a bad time for getting buyers. The financial uncertaintity in the world, time of year etc. People afraid of loosing their jobs, mortgages hard to find etc. I would have thought he would have been more flexible. But onwards and upwards. You will find something im sure. Good luck

clam · 25/01/2013 14:51

Would you walk up to a stranger in the street and hand him 10K of your money, that you'd taken out a high-interest loan on?
No?
You've done the right thing in pulling out. He refused lower offers and "wasn't going to budge" Bully for him. No reason why you should make a loss so he makes his profit. There's a recession on out there, and he needs to wake up and smell the coffee.

Original poster

Nanabana · 28/01/2013 16:13

no I wouldn't Clam, could do a lot with 10k!

I have just viewed a house that's just come on the market... would need a fair bit of work doing to it but hopefully just cosmetics.. it's victorian, so larger, and in a better location.. I'd definitely be getting more for my money compared to the one that I withdrew from. DH is to see it in a couple of days and then if all is well for him I'm hoping to go for it.

OP posts:

Original poster

Nanabana · 28/01/2013 16:16

obviously not all gung ho this time though..

OP posts:

Original poster

Nanabana · 30/01/2013 13:32

they just bumped the price up on the house i am interested in... typical, thought it was too good to be true! Still.. will try my luck if DH likes it too.

OP posts:

PurpleCrazyHorse · 04/02/2013 22:47

I'd definitely polish your acting skills. We loved our house when we saw it but continued to view another house afterwards. I gushed about how fabulous it was (so much so that DH was totally convinced). It was only in the car outside that I told DH I didn't like it at all. However the EA was convinced as we made a low offer on our house, it was rejected, so I simply said it wasn't a problem as we liked a few other houses we saw. EA rang back in 30mins, offer accepted.

Definitely keep house feelings under your hat. Good luck on your viewings though

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