What would you do?

[Monkee4]

Found a house I can afford. Needs a bit of work but good location. Been on the market for nearly 2 months. No interest in it apart from me according to EA. Made an offer 10% under asking price. Refused as I expected. Made another offer 7% under asking price. Refused. Don't think the house is worth any more (checked on usual websites etc etc) Vendor not budging - I can literally only afford a few thousand more and I mean a few - don't want to though because it needs work . Would you just sit tight for a week or two? Would you go up a few thousand (already increased my offer by 10K in the course of a weekend so feel that is wrong and like I said I really need that money to do the work)

I would not increase my offer as you've said it's not worth more and you need to do work to it and say your offer stands for X days if they change their minds. You might want your expiry date to be just after a weekend so if they don't get viewings or offers they'll give it serious thought.

thanks wowfudge - good idea to say it stands for x days - I forgot about doing that - can I just ask how many days would you say?
Also just to add - property is empty - been rented out previously - owner in no great rush to sell it would appear ie not his home etc

Even if they have no mortgage in it they will still be paying council tax etc. Can you see what they paid to see if they may be in negative equity? If as you say you have offered a fair price I think they are absolutely crazy not to accept in this market. Agree with wowfudge. Give them a time limit and a weekend to think about it. I bet they are just hoping you increase again. Good luck

Hi Ianbeales - I agree I believe the vendor is selling a few rented properties off as no longer wishes to be a landlord. OK will give a time limit including weekend. Thank you!

last sold about 5 years ago and price has increased 25% since then

Leave it over at least one weekend. It depends whether you think anything else interesting is out there really. I'd probably say 7 or 10 days max. When you go back to the agent, give your rationale for not increasing your offer - so based on other sales in the area, what an updated house has gone for, etc. Don't say because you'll want to decorate everywhere or the kitchen isn't to your taste or you want to rip up the flooring and put reclaimed oak down or whatever. I.e. make it about how the house compares in the market not what you like. Vendors get pissed off if they think a potential buyer is trying to get them to pay for changing serviceable parts of the house to their tastes iyswim.

Ok good points Thankyou

Thanks everyone thought I'd update. Left it a day - had a phone call from EA saying they would accept 10,000 less and it was an extremely good buy! Said no, can't afford it and then I agreed on £15,000 less eventually - so I did go up 5k more. However it is in such a good location didn't want to lose it as new houses were coming on last week at such high prices I thought I am never going to find somewhere I can afford. That was my max I could afford but now I have some left to do the work needed. Happy :)

Landlords are currently forced sellers because of tax changes. I think you are probably in a strong position and the seller is trying to bluff you that they do not need to sell. I would definitely not increase your offer. In fact, in this market, I would have kept it at 10% below, especially with the current forced selling by landlords.

Bit late now as the OP has secured the house.

Your post contradicts your others on another thread @AnalyticalChick where you advised a single parent to pull out all the stops and borrow from friends and family in order to secure the house she had offered on, without knowing anything about the sellers.

Anyway - OP I'm pleased for you. Time limiting your offer brought them to the negotiating table and a deal has been done. Hopefully you made your offer subject to survey.

Remember the seller might have just rented it out again if they didn't get the price they wanted so they were never over a barrel.
You sound like you have reluctantly paid this extra £5k but you will soon forget that when you have made this your home. I'm really glad you got the home you wanted.

Yes, just tell them you'll leave the money on the table, for your choice of days, then move on OP.

Sorry OP, congrats. 💐

Hi thanks I do appreciate all your comments - I was going to hang out longer and not go up any more but a load of new houses came on the market that day and they were all more than I could ever afford so I was really worried. The town I live in is very popular and so it is in a bit of a golden bubble when it comes to prices in certain streets. Previously the only houses I could afford were in areas where people advised me not to buy because I would have real problems selling again and there were problems in those areas. So when this came up in the right area I really wanted to grab the chance :)