House offer advise

[Anitai]

Hi All,

We’ve finally found a house that we love, its a 2 bed end of terrace in Bexleyheath and has been in the market for about a week, with a guide price of 325k.

We put in an offer last night for 317k, some would say this is too high but we absolutely love it. The EA came back this morning and said the vendor has rejected it and might accept 320k at a push.

We then offered 322k thinking surely they’d accept it, however the EA came back and said they vendor wants 323k and would take the property off the market straight away and cancel all viewings.

My question is, are they taking the piss? And would you settle for the 323k?

The EA claims there are lots of viewings lined up for Saturday and if nobody makes a higher offer, then of course the place would be ours. I believe the house will get a lot of attention but who really offers that close to asking?

Not sure whether to wait it out, or take the 323k in fear of losing it!

Your thoughts would be great!

In the grand scheme of things if you love it, I'd just pay the extra £1000. It really depends if youd be happy to potentially miss out for the sake of that £1000. I think nowadays people often price a house at roughly what they expect to get and won't accept a lot less than that anyway.

We’ve finally found a house that we love

we absolutely love it

Is it really worth quibbling over £1000?

I'm in Scotland so it works differently in that it's usually offers over (your guess is as good as anyone's so it's a gamble as to whether you go high enough or too high, if it goes to a closing date or if you might get a second chance at offering etc etc) or fixed price, where first come first served.

What helps me is envisaging the 'buy it now' fixed price - if that house was on at a buy it now of £325k, would you have just gone for it? Assuming you can cover it in the mortgage, how much stress is £1-2k extra worth to you? Worth the risk of losing the house? Do a few calculations to see what it will cost you in your monthly mortgage payments - you might be horrified how little difference a few grand makes - again, assuming you can afford it and raise the mortgage...

Also (in Scotland) until missives are concluded there is scope to negotiate on other areas - so are white goods included? Or maybe garden furniture, a light fitting you like, a big piece of furniture... You could potentially offset that £1k in other areas.

If it were me (and it was a few months ago!) then I'd go for it. Imagine the feeling of having secured a property you love and the relief at the end of the searching!

£5/£1000 per month always used to be a good gauge, probably lower than that now with rates at current levels.

For the sake of £1000 I would offer it.
Would you be gutted if it went under offer this weekend?

Thanks all, I’ve just had a look in Rightmove and it says the ‘property is no longer on the market’

I’ve called the EA but can’t get through !

Does this mean the sellers have pulled out??