Paying stamp duty...

[MARGOsBeenPlayingWithMyNooNoo]

We are trying to buy a house, our affordability is around £255k mark with the proceeds of our previous house.

This leads to the problem of stamp duty and the availability of houses over £255k

I know that fixtures and fittings seem to be frowned upon now, but is there any way that we can offer 250k and get away with 5k as fixtures and fittings?

Any advice? Anyone moved in the last year and done something similar.

Of course, the estate agent isn't helping me in this area as it will affect his commission

yep - you can but only if the f&f are really worth the 5k. id try to look at houses at 249,999 if i were you.

cx

if you have the funds, just ask the vendor if they will accept £5k in cash.

We sold our house just over a year ago for £250K and they gave us £2k for carpets etc. The estate agent said at the time that it's still doable, but you have to be realistic about the amounts. So if you have lots of built-in appliances in your kitchen for eg you can get away with more than if it's just carpets iyswim.

But from experience, if you have an asking price just over the £250K you struggle to get it because of the stamp duty issue, so you may find that people with houses priced at around your £255K limit are open to offers of £250K anyway.

Thank you MrsFlowerpot, Jools and Hertsnessex.

I offered on this particular house about 3 weeks ago at 250k as nothing had gone for over that amount on that road. She refused it but we went there last night and asked her about her position. she's looking for a particular bungalow and needs the extra money. She has had other offers for 250k.

I really like this house, we went to see 3 others last night but nothing came close to this one in terms of convenience and size

well what's yr position? If you're proceedable and others aren't that's still worth more to a seller than a couple of extra K.
I'd negotiate like crazy to pay £249,950

Completed on my house yesterday and we are now living at my mums

This doesn't seem to hold any advantage though

talk it up! That's a massive advantage to a seller compared to anyone in a chain - helps them with their onward purchase, means you can move speedily, have ready access to necessary money/mortgage etc etcf.

Remember the agent is representing & paid by the seller so will deliberately talk down yr position and act as if it is not particularly good, but it it!
Sorry, hope I don't sound patronising but I've dealt so much with agents/sellers over the past few months, and I hate it when sellers/their agents take advantage!

Just say 250 is your limit.Most houses even up to 265 ish are really expecting offers of 250 because of that very reason

tbh when I worked it out the difference isn't huge int he sceme of things and you could simply try to negotiate the price downwards by that amount ie on £249,950 you'd pay 2.5k , on 260k you'd pay just over 7.5k , so you could try to get a 260k house for £252,500 and feel no worse off stamp duty wise as effectively the discount equals the extra . To do as you suggest and have a contract at £249950 but pay more is actually illegal and your solicitor should not entertain it.

sorry meant a 260k house for around 255k and feel no worse off ...

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