Think maybe we made a mistake- offering

[Lolly567]

Hello,

I’m really worried we’ve played this out wrong.. we are FTB and went to see a house on Saturday that went on the market on Friday. We loved the area and got such a good feeling from the house- we imagine ourselves there for 20 + years and starting a family- this is the first house we’ve had that feeling with (although it’s also by far the most expensive we’ve viewed as until recently we thought we had a much lower budget) It’s outdated but would mostly only need cosmetic updating as it’s well looked after, but would probably need new carpets, artex ceilings plastered over, new bathroom eventually and reconfiguration of kitchen, new internal doors, but it’s on for the exact same price that one fully modernised and beautifully decorated is. I’ve also noticed this particular estate agent seems to market things very optimistally, things stay on the market for a while, and they seem to sell for about 10% below asking.

So we decided to go in at 10% under asking (asking is around £240000) We weren’t going to offer yet as we were going to wait and let them have more viewings (and if my thoughts about overpriced are correct then no offers) and then offer, and I thought it might go down better. But estate agent rang for feedback as they do and I got talking and let slip about making an offer, so the estate agent asked what it was. She said it’s almost certainly too low as they’ve just come on the market and will want to see what other offers they get, but she’ll pass it on to them anyway. This was Saturday just before EAs closed, she wasn’t able to get through to pass on offer and left a message to the vendors saying ring me Monday morning. So now im worried they will have been thinking over the weekend that they’ve got an offer, and then they find out it’s lower than they expected.

I’m thinking of ringing up estates and saying we’d like to withhold our offer until they’ve had more viewings? They were a lovely couple and I don’t want them to be offended by too low an offer. Or I was thinking of writing an email saying how lovely the house wa but we’re worried about interest rate rises and don’t want to stretch our affordability too much.

For more information, I’m guessing the owners will have paid off their mortgage by now as they bought pre 1995 and I know the owners want to downsize and they need an offer on their house to be able to put an offer on a new house for them- I got the impression they want to get this done quite quickly as they perhaps have lost out on an onward purchase due to not being
Proceedable.

Thanks so much for any advice. Really would love to get this house but it’s true I don’t want us to stretch ourselves too much as we only have 10% deposit saved although we do have a little cash spare after that.

Actually just googled and it looks like you get it tested for asbestos first for about £30 per room, then plastering over costs anywhere between £1000-4000 eek!

Your DP has the right idea. The tips I have learnt from process are:

• Never bid against yourselves especially if there are no other offers.
• Under bidding is part of selling. Once it reflects a realistic price (not ridiculously low) the vendor is unlikely to be offended.
• Play a little 'hard to get' with the EA and don't appear too keen.
• Have a set limit and don't go above it (max offer what the property is worth to you).
• Remember the EA is not your friend, no matter how pally they appear to be. They are working for the vendor so be careful of casual conversations about how much mortgage approval/how much you love the property.
• Don't get over invested financially or emotionally before the deal is complete.
• Telling them how much your max budget is can leave you open to being manipulated by fake bids (it does happen) so keep it slightly vague.
• The vendors may want X amount for the property but it is the market/what people are willing to pay for it is what it will sell for.

It might be quiet because of the holidays, but people who are looking for a house, like me who has sold my current property (STC) do carry on looking when they are away, wherever they are in the world, via online property alerts.

I'm a bit reluctant to be away from home in case I miss anything but if something came up I would call the agent and book an appointment to see it for the day I was back.

If anyone is about to sell a bungalow, which can be a wreck, a couple of miles or so around the area of South Woodford, E18 please send me a message! Thanks.

What I meant to say was that if they haven't got any more viewings that's rather hopeful for you OP.

The owners probably wouldn't know if it was asbestos and you can plaster over it. There was asbestos in the artex in the house we bought and we decided we didn't want to take the risk of leaving it. At the MOMENT the school of thought is it's ok to plaster over. Who knows when that train of thought might change. I'm glad we got rid of the horrible stuff as the thought of asbestos in our family home wouldn't have been nice.

I would stop asking about viewings, it doesn’t really matter anyway, they could have 20 viewings and no offers or one viewing who offeres.

You need to know if your offer has actually been rejected before you can make a decision on what to do.

Your plan to see the house again and other houses is good.

Don’t worry about the asbestos for now. Cross that bridge when you come to the survey stage.

has anyone else gone with this approach and been successful? Or sold to someone who came accross like this?
Yes to both. People are very emotional when selling houses. I have said how much I loved a house before now and it’s perfect for our family, etc and given my absolute maximum-said it’s at the complete top of my budget but I just love their house so much. I got it over a cash buyer (I didn’t even know about the cash buyer until we’d moved in and I actually spoke to him and found out he offered slightly more but was rejected as they wanted to sell the house to a family and really liked me!).

I’ve sold to someone who was open from the start on how they just fell in love with my house. I needed a quick sale and I was certain they would be very proactive and move quickly, knew they wouldn’t mess about over the survey, etc. I actually had 2 higher offers but I didn’t trust them to move fast enough and knew the first person wouldn’t pull out due to how much they loved the house. As much as I tried to stop it and see it as a business transaction, it was a nice feeling that a family who loved it moved in.

Some great advice on this thread - buying a house is an emotional experience, but you have to train yourself to be as un-emotional as possible during the negotiations.

The 'we love your family home and can imagine starting our family here' line works up to a point - I got my first house for a slightly cheeky amount because I think I reminded the vendor of her daughter, but that was after the house had been on the market for over a year, needed a lot of work (which was reflected in my offer), and she was under some pressure from said daughter to downsize.

It's probably not going to work on a house that's only been on the market for four days. And don't assume that because they bought pre 1995 that it's all paid off - they could have remortgaged to pay for the kitchen/bathroom, or for a child's wedding, or for any number of things. Plus, this is probably part of their pension. They'll have a price in their heads that they want to achieve to move on, and will be hanging onto the hope of the full asking for at least the first month it's on the market.

Keep calm! See other properties. Keep your cards close to your chest. I sold my house last year to a woman who walked in and said, 'Oh, I love this place! I've always wanted it!'. Her husband tried to do the whole teeth-sucking negotiation routine, but I knew she'd pay the full amount and just held out until she did. Don't be Debbie Desperate. Be Poppy Proceedable-but-Practical.