What would your maximum offer be on this £265,000 property?

[Madmog]

Agent phoned to say she had a property coming on market for £250,000 she thought we'd like. She was right, but vendor told agent to put an extra £15,000 on asking price, so now £265,000. Apparently vendor weants £260,000.

Agent has told us they have already received an offer which was ridiculous and rejected and she felt the sticking point would be the £250,000 stamp duty mark which is her original valuation. We know another couple are after it. Property was totally refurbished three years ago (with exception of boiler and roof which was just cleaned), so in good condition. It's in a part of the area we love and could be a life long home as it offers the extra space we need now, but if in old age we can't do the stairs, we can easily live downstairs without having the use them. Unless circumstances change we feel we want to stay in this area for life as we have lots of lovely friends, local facilities, regular buses and shops all in walking distance.

What would your initial offer be and what is the maximum you would offer be?

OH says max of £250,000 as that was our max budget and he's not willing to pay stamp duty which I get, but I half think we should be willing to pay a little more as we would never need to move again unless our circumstances changed.

If you want the house now then you will probably need to pay the asking price unless they are desperate to sell. Otherwise it's playing the waiting game to see if no one else wants it & then put in a lower offer.

When you say 'unless your circumstances change' as in what why? I only ask as life does change, and dependent on where you are in your life, you really don't know what's around the corner. If £250,000 was your budget then I personally think you're crazy to go above it - how do you know you won't get into a bidding war and before you know it you've offered up more than you were initially wanting to?

But of course, it's your money and life, that's just my opinion

Pay what you can afford to pay. If someone else bought it for 260GBP would you regret having missed out? Be aware though that if you offer more than its true market value the mortgage valuation will cause issues for you later on if you are relying on debt for the purchase.

We have been in exactly the same situation, I think the question is can you afford to go over stamp duty threshold?

We could not and so when we have offered on 2 different properties this was our bottom line. First property rejected our offer but accepted same price from a different vendor even though we are chain free!!

Second house is still on market even though estate agent insisted that vendor would accept offer. Vendor is going to have make decision to wait or sell.

At this point we have now had our offer accepted on third house, not in ideal location but is a fixer upper and will be worth it when all done.

Ultimately the decision is all yours, can you afford it? if not walk away

If you are going to be there for the longer term does an additional £5K in stamp duty seem unreasonable ?

It just depends on how much you really want this one - and only you can decide.

I would do as mismil outlined. I expect we will find ourselves in a similar situation soon.

Thanks for your comments. We need to have a good think. At the moment there's nothing else on the market either of us would seriously be interested in, so if this house doesn't come off, I think both of us would rather stay in our present (small) home.

OH doesn't want to pay more than £250,000 as it means adding approx. another £10,000 to mortgage but he only has 15 years left working so don't want to be struggling to pay it off. At the same time, paying extra and getting this house would mean we never have to move again as it and the area ticks all the boxes - only two mins from our present home and we're really happy in this area so know it's right for us.

I personally think we'll end up offering up to £250,000 which will be rejected and then I'll have a lot of work convincing OH to increase. Time will tell!

Coming too late to this but I would be cautious about going for a house over your budget when the vendor is eager for at least £10K more. I don't know you're situation but if you have sold your property you are in a very good position and another couple of weeks and more properties in the area will come up. A lot of people still hold store by selling in the spring. For the stress and haggling I would hold back.

your not you're and don't offer more than £250 000.

Have you seen the Home Report? What does it value at in that?

Why not just put an offer in for £250,000 and see what is said. If it is rejected, you can consider negotiating up a bit if your DH agrees. If you don't do anything the other interested parties might put the same offer in and it might be accepted. Better to bite the bullet and see what happens than to procrastinate and have someone else get it first. I am sure the sellers will have been warned that they might struggle to get over £250k because of the stamp duty threshold.