Advice needed re buying house (long sorry!)

[cooperbug]

Just after some advice on what others would do in this situation. My husband and I have seen a house that we really like in the area that we want to live in.

Over the past couple of months we have watched the house being renovated wondering if it was going to come onto the market. A couple of weeks ago when I was passing I spoke to the joiner who was there and asked if the house was being done up to sell and that we were interested. He said yes and took my number to pass onto the owner (who is a builder). On Thursday I had a phone call from the selling agent he is going to put it on the market with and we arranged to view it yesterday. The house has not been officially valued by the estate agent yet but she said to me she 'thinks' he will get 270k for it and has spent a lot of money doing it up. She did also say that if we wanted it that she would 'back off' and allow us to negotiate as she knew she would get business from this guy in the future.

Anyway we viewed it and both love it, told him (the builder/owner) we were very interested but wanted it valued first to which he agreed he would contact estate agent on Monday to arrange. He did not give us any idea of how much he wanted for it there and then. Despite this I drove past today and there is now a for sale sign up although it is not on the website and hasn't even had pictures taken yet!

My concern is that this will now attract others and I am confused as how it can be put up for sale without having been valued? Just really like the house and don't want to miss out on it! I have said to my husband we should just put an offer in first thing tomorrow.

What should we do??

It's hard to give advice here as none of us have seen the house or know the area. Even if you make a high offer, the vendor can just use this as a benchmark to get a higher offer from someone else.

What's the house worth to you? What sort of offer are you thinking of making?

If it were me, would ring EA first think tomorrow and ask about it. You could also offer what you think would be your top offer to builder but that is risky as he could just take it as a starter for ten sort of thing. I would want a valuation first.

Thanks, yes I appreciate it's difficult to give advice just wanted people's thoughts really.

We don't really want to pay over 250k in view of the higher stamp duty, in terms of the house it's somewhere we can see ourselves living for some time and in a nice area where we would want to send children to school.

We know what other houses have sold for on that street in the past year so can base our offer around that too.

Yes I feel we really need it valued too, but I guess the estate agent are going to value it around the 270k mark as she has already mentioned so maybe we are in a better position now, it's so difficult!

The EA valuation is just a guess at what someone would be prepared to pay for it. The only real 'valuation' is one you get from a surveyor. Buying and selling houses is a bit like Flog it!: the ea gives you a guide as to what something might be worth but it could sell for more or less than that.

I'd oOffer a bit below what you're happy to pay for it on Monday. The builder can then decide whether to accept what you offer and take/keep it off the market, haggle with you a bit then accept a new offer from you and take/keep it off the market, or reject your offer outright and put it on the market. If he rejects your offer and puts it on the market you are still in with a good chance - he might not get a better offer from anyone else. He's a builder so he will want to sell it fairly quickly and if you are in a good position (i.e. in rented with a mortgage arranged) that might be worth him dropping the price a bit.

But it all depends on how hot the market is round you.

but ea said he wanted 270 - I really don't think he will accept what you wantt pay (250) quickly. He will want to have as many viewings as poss to see if he can get above the 250. So if you REALLY want, I wouldn't annoy him by offering 25o if you know he wants a lot more and has dome good job of renovating. If it's a long tern house, I'd put up with the higher stamp duty (but I wouldn't if it wasw a short term option). It's very rare to find a house that you like everything about - all the renovation AND the perfect area. YOu could offer 260 and go up from there if need be.

some missing words there, sorry.

Yes we are in a good position, currently in rented with nothing to sell and mortgage in place.

The area the house is in is desirable and three bedroom semi's like this are quite hard to come by. The market is currently quite slow with just about one or two houses coming up for sale per week which is either priced well over our budget or needs a lot of work done which we do not have the time nor the money to take on.

I agree that the builder will want to generate as much interest as possible hence the for sale board now being put up so we need to act quickly.

A very well presented four bedroom house with loft conversion sold on the same street for 266k late last year priced at £279,950

I think you need to offer around 260 as a start, so at least they are obliged to let you know of other offers and you are in the game. But realistically he can get 265-270 from the prices you quoted.

Depends on the area , but I don't think you can really compare a 4 bed house that sold last year to a 3 bed house this year, things have changed very rapidly in our area. We are in the process of buying an investment property for 250k, agent has already asked if we want to flip it for 280k and we haven't even completed yet.
I also don't think an offer of 250k will be accepted as the property has not even gone to the open market yet. He might be willing a few weeks if he has had no other interest. If it is your long term home then I would pay the extra stamp.

Well estate agent has valued it today at offers in region of £275k but not to take less than 270k for it.

She also said the phone has not stopped ringing about it which I know could just be to get us to put an offer in quick.

Just need to decide how much to offer now, thanks for advice.