Will we get chance to increase offer?

[Christmastree43]

Hello,

We are FTBs. Found a lovely property which is in slightly shabby condition, not much done to it in 16 years but a very good family home, on at £319,950

I understand that the vendors actually sold it last April at, I think, £320k but that sale fell through last winter due to chain issues. They remarketed it this March and have had quite a few viewings, two people interested who needed to sell but no offers. The vendor mentioned there is a property they’re interested in, just up the ladder.

After some deliberation and advice from friends and family (I know - annoying FTBs) Monday afternoon I called and offered £300k, fully expecting this to be declined.

Agent said in response they have three viewings booked in for Tuesday (yesterday) so will want to wait and see

We would really like to increase our offer if given the chance and don’t want to miss out due to our first low offer.

I do have viewings in other properties this weekend, and we wouldn’t pay over asking price, but would be disappointed to miss out on this lovely house thanks to my silliness and trying to ‘play the game’.

How do you see this playing out and is there anything I can do to help our chances of succeeding here?

Thanks so much

Financial advisor & mortgage broker here if it helps.....

I've never known the mortgage broker to call & give update on offers. Its not his place & unless it's a very small office (2 or 3 staff) then I would wonder why he's getting involved an any case......apart from the fact that if you are getting a mortgage via him he has a vested interested if you have to borrow more.

Get back to the EA and say £310 stays on the table. You are looking at other properties at the weekend.

You won’t go any higher.

Please stop dealing with the mortgage broker - either on messenger (seriously who does that?) or by any other means! Why is the estate agent not calling you to update on the progress of your offers? Is the agent even aware of the side game that the broker seems to be playing?

Tactically, you should let them stew, until Friday and then get back to the agent and say we can't go higher than £310 K.

Friday is a good day for negotiating - the conversation between the couple who are selling will be "For god's sake, let's just accept it so we don't have another weekend of uncertainty, £8K is nothing in the scheme of things, when we know that means we can stop this weekend's viewings on our dream house and secure it. We could go and have lunch out [in new location] to celebrate!" (presumably their sellers are still conducting viewings while waiting for them to go under offer)

You are only a FTB once - you must capitalize on that and not pay over the odds!

Hi all, thanks for the advice. I am feeling inclined to leave it at the £310k now.

• Comparables: there’s two for sale on the same street, same build (30s semi). One at £325k ‘fixed price’ but in pristine condition, on since May; one at £300k directly opposite ours, bit of a bomb-site but already dropped £10k in two weeks so obviously motivated. One on at £340k sold in June (don’t know what sold price was), but this has a properly converted loft so four bedrooms and an additional bathroom.

• It’s been on since March - almost four months - with no offers so £318-320k is definitely not a bargain. It is shabby, has had nothing done to it in 16 years on vendors own account and certainly needs a new kitchen.

• We are in a good position - have been told by this vendor and others that theyve had interest but only from people who need to sell.

• We don’t want to push ourselves any further on mortgage or stamp duty etc

• I think they are taking the Michael with the £318k counter offer

I am booking us in to see some more this week but will leave the £310k on the table. I may suggest we’d go up another £1-2k to sweeten the deal if necessary.

Any thoughts?? Does this close the door to an increased offer from us at some indefinite point in the future?

I think part of the issue round here is that property prices reached a peak in 2017 and have been coming down slowly since then. I think vendors see what the one next door sold for a year ago and want that. If houses are priced right they do sell within the week - I mentioned the one on at £315k that sold in two days. Houses like this one have come on and sold in the time this ones been on the market (ie since March).

I have to say I don’t gel with the agent either and I’ve started to be turned off the sale - yes it’s nice as we wouldn’t have made an offer otherwise, but there’ll be other properties and we’re in a position to go for them straight away.

Thank you all for talking me down

Why dont you buy the 300k one over the road.
Also never say to an agent that you can come up 1k or 2k to sweeten the deal... they will keep coming back for an extra couple until they get what they want... and you have form for upping your offer without having the previous one rejected

Just a thought, is the mb related to the vendors possibly? Something feels off about that, to me.

Stick to your guns O/P. EAs are snakes who will push and push. Just remember they work for the seller, not you, no matter how nice they are. Leave your 310 on the table is my advice, unless you desperately want the house.

@Alexalee we wouldn’t have the cash to do the work it needs after completion (kitchen is half finished and bathroom fittings have been ripped out)

After deposit, SDLT, fees etc at £310-320k we’d only really have a buffer of £5-7k so want something that we can live in. We also both work full time etc.

What on earth is the broker doing? Did you give consent for your husband to be contacted via Facebook on this matter? At the least it's unprofessional but it might even be a breach of gdpr to deal with you in this manner.
I can just imagine the conversation in the office "oh we have a negotiation with Mrs x, does anyone know anyone in the family that we can contact via other means? No? Let's ask the cleaner, handyman, a mate of mine instead" are they going to start popping round your house in the evening putting notes through the door to help the negotiation?

@Christmastree43. Have you officially seen the £325k fixed price one...? Of not I'd make an appointment to see it with a view of offering £315k. They may want £325k but if it's been on circa couple if months & know your FTB's then they could well take £10k less.

@hadthesnip2 yes we’ve seen it, it’s on with the same agent. We did ask if they were open to offers and they were very clear that they weren’t at the moment, I asked them to let me know if the position changes. It’s an elderly lady who has an offer in on a downsizer in a different area.

They are within their rights to want the asking price or very close to it OP, and as that is above your budget I would walk away for now.

The price they are expecting doesn't seem that out of line with the other property for sale nearby - 5K more for a pristine example (you describe the one you are interested in as shabby so that doesn't sound like a lot of work needed) and one that needs more work at 20K less (if you can get a mortgage on a house that has no bathroom).

I have sold houses in the past and do find it annoying when I get a low offer that gradually creeps up - it puts me off the potential buyers as they seem like hard work to me, and buying a house is stressful enought without intense negotiations over every little detail! Not everyone feels like that though, so you may get lucky.

I am wondering why you looked at a fixed price house that was 10K over budget though? If you go round too many houses outside your range then anything inside your range is going to look less attractive tbh!

I have to disagree @chiccroissant. If your budget is £310/£315k then looking up to even £340k isn't "wrong". You just have to put things in perspective & realise that things above your budget are either going to look better / be bigger / have something different about them. I'm not one for buggering people about or being a cf'er but if a house is up for £325k then the seller has to accept people will look to get it for upwards of £300k. It's entirely up to the vendor at what price they eventually sell at. Estare Agents can only give their opinion on what price you should put your house on the market for. No one is right & no one is wrong. Surveyors have a lot of say as to ths price of a property if you are getting a mortgage so a vendor can hold out for whatever price they like but as 95% of purchases are done with a mortgage you might have to be prepared to move a little.

@ChicCroissant thank you for your perspective, we seem to be torn one way then the other every other hour 🙈

£320- 325k isn’t out of budget for us if it was perfect, we could easily go up to £330k and possibly a little further but don’t really want to. The reason for viewing one at £325k fixed price was to see if paying that extra felt worth it to us, and it didn’t.

Am also concerned that house prices are stagnating if not declining so don’t want to make a bad bargain now when we could wait another 6-12 months and regret it.

I actually work in a valuation field in my professional life (not property) and find that if both parties are willing and able the eventual price is usually somewhere in the middle of what both parties want (I know, very precise!)

@hadthesnip2

It’s a lot less than 95%!

Who said anything about 95% (I'm assuming you mean offering 5% below asking pdice). I have said before that most people look at offering around 5% less but it's not a given. You can offer as little as you like, but be prepared to be rebuffed & maybe then ignored by the vendor if they think you are taking the proverbial.

@hadthesnip2

Sorry I meant far fewer than 95% of purchases happen using a mortgage.

More like 60-70%.

I read that about half of properties that come on the market never actually sell. Either get taken off the market or rented out if they dont get the offer they want/need

I would talk to the agent about the pristine fixed price house. Fixer price in May likely to be less fixed now.

Ah, I was going by the 315K walk away as your top budget so the fixed-price house viewing seems a lot more sensible now!

It is a very stressful business, especially when it is your first property. Some vendors are really attached to their properties and take it personally when there is an issue with the survey, others see it purely as a business transaction. Trouble is, you don't really know which one you've got until you start negotiating!

Good luck with the property search OP.