Think we have offered too much on a house that is accepted with no negotiation

[Taanya]

We are first time buyer, new in this market with no experience either, This house been in market for less than a week for £475! and when we made an offer initially our offer was accepted at £445! what worries me is that, there were no room for negotiations and i am worried if i have now over paid for the house whilst Zoopla estimate is only showing at £400.
Agents say zoopla estimate is never accurate, This is a very old house and has had some refurnishing & extensions carried out, i am wondering if all those costs have been added from seller to make that margin up.
Can you guys please share your thoughts on how do we go about this?

Offer is just an intent, it's not binding until contracts. However if you start revising your offer without got reason eg survey valuation then you might become seen as an unreliable buyer

What’s the sellers situation?

A house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it - isn’t that what they say?

It might be that they aren’t messing about and want to move.

Besides, a survey will bring to light any problems, a mortgage survey will agree its value. There’s wriggle room at this point to renogotiate.

When I sold my flat for less than I thought, I renegotiated the price Of the house I was buying and essentially passed the % hit I took on in the process.

If you want the house then crack on. Presumably you were prepared to pay more, but they accepted your opening offer. That is a good thing.

The house is worth what someone will pay for it so it is worth 445. You can negotiate money off if anything comes up in the surveys and as long as the mortgage company value it at at least what you have offered and you can afford the repayment and don't plan to move soon it doesn't matter. You could always pull out if you are really worried? Do you love the house? Is it exactly what you were looking for?

Reduce your offer and see whether they accept it or not. Do not wait until the contracts have been exchanged to reduce your offer therefore blackmailing your seller into a lower price.

The bank won't lend on an overvalued house. That's not to panic you, just saying.

You could get your own valuation done and use that as the reason you are lowering your offer.

I assume you are still looking at alternative houses ? Even if it's just for comparison.

That’s a cheap house.

Thanks John

Where i stand now is, I started to process the application with lenders, my borrowings are about 85% and the rest on cash,

1. Whilst i wait for the building surveyors to evaluate the house for me, and if they evaluate less than what we have offered, at what price difference it is good to renegotiate/accept ?
2. secondly, there was a local agent that evaluated the house also when seller was comparing the price and they thought it is worth between £445 7 £450 k, is this the price the house worth in market ?

The second agent's valuation doesn't mean anything. It was the amount they would suggest marketing the house at, not what they thought they'd get for it or what it is independently worth. They are salespeople not surveyors. But the same goes for the agents selling the property.

If the survey does come back low then there is no rule really. The vendors may decide not to shift price and wait for a buyer who will pay that.

I think you're panicking (understandably). If there is a mix of housing in your postcode then zoopla could be massively out. Get a good survey done, see what the surveyor says and take it from there. You also need to get straight in your mind whether the house it worth that much to you. If you have a good grasp of how much you'll have to spend on it and you still think it's a better buy than other houses in your price bracket, then you are unlikely to be overpaying. But try not to fall in love with it if you can help it.

I wouldn’t take too much notic of Zoopla tbh as ive looked at it and compared actual prices and they are quite wide of the mark

I don’t think you have to worry, I really don’t. You’re at the start of a process and there is a long way to go. These things play out with twists and turns on the way. How much do you want the house?

It might be the sellers want to sell and move,
In which case you could have a very smooth process.

Just because they didn’t negotiate doesn’t mean anything. And pricing varies really widely - I’ve seen properties that to me were overpriced by 100k+ and I’ve also bought a property where my opening offer was a lot above the asking price as it just was listed as a silly low price.

Have you seen other properties in the area? By comparison, does this one seem good value at the price you’ve offered? If so, then just relax.

Before exchange takes place and you’re legally bound, get a full survey to find out if there are any issues + the bank will get the property valued. The bank will fork out most of the money for the purchase do they need to make sure they aren’t forming out 400k for something that isn’t even worth it...

Zoopla does not mean anything, please ignore it!

Look at actual sold prices on your road and on neighbouring roads. Asking prices and estate agent valuations can be anything.

www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices.html

That will give you an idea. Make sure you compare like with like; a wreck will be significantly cheaper than a house that is all done up.

Your surveyor will give you a valuation. If you have any questions at that point, call them up and ask what their reasoning was for arriving at that valuation. It might set your mind at rest.

Get your survey done and then consider if the house is worth that much to you personally. If you're not happy renegotiate, if you're happy then carry on.

For clarification zoopla estimates my house to be worth 50% more than my immediate identical neighbours house sold for in November.

If the mortgage company accepts the valuation you have no problems. Go from there.

Thank you to all for your quick responses!
I shall not worry too much now as you guys say, I will wait for the complete building survey carried out and then come back to you guys on what they say and move from there.

I will contact you in a week time after i had all the results.

wish me luck

It is interesting that the bank just valued our house at about £500k more than we think it’s worth. We wanted a small mortgage to help DD. So valuations are not an exact science and Zoopla isn’t worth looking at.

Sold prices in recent months are worth noting for houses like yours in the same location. If it’s wildly low or high, then it might be cause for concern but it may be that the seller wants a first time buyer with no chain and a quick sale. As the seller I would have pushed you, but if it needs some work they might have decided to be pragmatic. Their EA did not work very hard for them though!

I don't know why anyone takes any notice of Zoopla. It's completely arbitrary and bears no relation to reality. Ignore it.

Your vendors probably want a quick sale and agreed a minimum price that they'd accept as soon as it was offered. It's a hassle selling a house, tidying up for viewings, worrying if it'll sell. It doesn't mean anything sinister if they've accepted your offer.

Zoopla valuations are a load of rubbish.
We accepted a first offer which was under our asking. We thought we could probably push for more but we didn't actually need it to buy the house we want. We thought that accepting a low ish offer would hopefully mean the buyers would be keen to push through and get completed. Seems to be working so far.