Would you offer under right now?

[MoominWoomin]

Hi

We are looking at buying a house (terrible time I know) the house is very niche and they rarely come up in this area.

It has just came up again after a sale falling through where it sold in 4 weeks. It is £360k valuation.

We are worried about offering then the house market dropping and we have paid way more than it will be worth come the end of the year.

I know no one is a psychic and can tell me how much the market may or may not fall by, but personally if it was you what would you be offering?

How much do you want it? I mean sure, offer under. They’ll accept it or they won’t. But if its the sort if thing that rarely comes up/ is in demand then the vendor may well hold out for a better offer.

I'd be offering 20% less and settle for 10% less

We are ready to go with buying. Generally we plan to offer 10-15% under what would have been “fair value” before covid.

However the kind of houses we look for aren’t that unique so if we miss one I am sure there will be others.

If I see something rather unique and fits our needs more than any other property then I may consider to offer maybe some grands extra knowing that I may be paying over the odds for the sake of being happy with the place. And those extra K I am prepared to lose should I need to resell/ remortgage in some years. How much are you willing to pay over the odds for your favourite house is definitely individual. For us maybe 30-50k but again we are looking to buy in the 800k range.

Also a fair price pre-covid isn’t necessarily asking price pre-covid. In the segment I follow I notice asking price is usually aligned with Zoopla value estimate and sales price in Feb/ March (my definition of fair price) tend to be about 7% under that. So broadly speaking it will be 20% under asking

All very interesting replies and good to hear from others looking to buy at the same time!

I am in Scotland and houses are cheaper here so this house would be classed as expensive. So I think a reduction in price wouldn't be as much as 20%. We were thinking maybe offer 10% lower and go from there, we really don't want to miss out on it (its 9 mins from my work ).

I don't want to end up offering lower then coming back to them over and over with increased amounts as we will look like idiots haha

We have only ever bought one house and it was very straightforward so this is quite new to us.

Go in with a 'reasonable' offer rather than cheeky and express your interest but also your financial concerns. Be honest. If it's in an area where not many houses come onto the market and you plan to be in it long term any market fluctuations should be covered when you come to sell. But only you know what it is worth to you and only the sellers know what they will accept. :) Good luck.

@sbplanet that is a very good point about recouping the loss over our lifetime. This would be our forever home!

@MoominWoomin Also, generally, if there is a big property revaluation after you've bought then 'good' property is less affected (ie one in a 'good' terrace street is less affected than one in a bad street). The 'good' property will also recover its value more quickly.
Do you know why the house is being sold (ask the estate agent) as that could affect how the sellers react to the current situation?

@sbplanet The elderly owner moved into assisted accommodation and the children are now trying to sell it for them, it has been empty for over a year

@MoominWoomin Does it need work done? Some work means the buyer needs cash as well as a mortgage as opposed to total refurb? Hmmm could be tricky, needing to have all the children agree to an offer. Or they could think they need to get rid fast or they'll be stuck with it. They'll be thinking the same as you about the financial climate now.
Has the estate agent mentioned any other viewings and/or offers?
I think it might come down to how much you want it, BUT I think I've changed my mind and I might go in with a 'cheeky' offer. The children will have differing views as to why you've done it anyway, so there's bound to be haggling.
Are you all 'set to go' financially, are you chain-free? When did you go see it or haven't you?
Sorry to sound nosy, just wondering what I'd do - we're in a similar property atm and have been here nearly 16 years. :)

@sbplanet We are viewing it Friday, they shared the link to it on a Fb group so I messaged them directly and arranged the viewing as the state agent is completely closed so we are kind of sneaking in there before others can until they open again. No we have a house to sell but our estate sells in a week under normal circumstances but a neighbour put theirs up on Monday and has 20 requests to view already so we want to secure a place before selling because as I said we are looking for something specifically niche and if we sell then nothing comes up that fits we would have to settle for something that is not our dream house

Yes it needs a minimum £10-15k spent on it. Looks like when the parents moved out they spent a bit of money on it new carpets, kitchen, one new bathroom so they could make some money but left a lot of other things such as artex removal, another old bathroom etc.

Not at all it is nice to speak to someone else about it as I am driving DP mad

@MoominWoomin When will you put your house on the market? If the place you're looking to buy is 'popular' then you will have some competition even in the current market? If you are serious I'd get some valuers/estate agents round to your place tomorrow - or at least have a date that is happening to the sellers you will 'deal' with on Friday. Is that possible I've just realised you're all still sensibly 'staying home'.
How did the sellers come across when you messaged them? If they've done a bit of 'tarting up' it sounds like they won't give it away. So is it not officially available to view via the agent?
It's difficult because when you're looking in an area with restricted sales it makes things seem more acute. In a town I'm loathe to believe there are houses that people just 'have' to have. But in areas with limited markets it is much more so. We all now talk about houses as property but they are homes firstly for many.
Many people suggest how to deal with buying/selling property and there is no one way. I guess the right way is the one that makes you feel that you can accept the outcome whatever that is - hopefully that you get your home. But 'caveat emptor' for a reason. I hope your sellers are reasonable people, that makes it easier to make a settlement. And some times if you express your wish to create a 'happy long-term' family home in someone else's 'happy long-term' family home then they can be emotionally disposed towards you. That makes it sound calculating but it isn't meant to be, just having been a seller I know I appreciate dealing with 'reasonable' buyers who like my house! :)

@sbplanet No it is not able to view through the estate agent. They were more than happy to hear from me, sent me more pictures of it and information without even asking, asked me when would suit me to come. Then started telling me about the history of their family home and said if we had any questions just message again. They could just be very nice people.

It is the type of home a developer could come in and ruin it through extreme modernisation which we don't want to do. We appreciate the ageing features on a historical property and would want to maintain them.

We have an estate agent lined up we are going to use and they said as soon as Sturgeon gives the go ahead we can get it on within a week. I will just explain why we want to buy first and if they aren't up for that then thats that.

You cannot apply broad brush rules of thumb to this situation because it all depends how much your seller actually needs to sell. I’m for sale, but I don’t need to sell thankfully and can ride out any price slump to try and sell the house for a decent price. That said, there’ll probably be plenty of distressed sales going soon.

@MoominWoomin well I'd guess from them pushing it on FB that they are keen to sell (who many are involved in the decision, do you know?).
I doubt a developer would want to pay the price the sellers will ask. As they've already done a bit of updating you say. So I'd guess you'll be competing with private buyers. In which case (I'm not sure how the Scottish buying process goes) you will probably be more favoured by appreciating their home, but not necessarily to the extent of getting it cheap (I'd guess).
How would they proceed with their sale if estate agents are closed, do you know?

@sbplanet Not got a clue how many are involved, and I am not sure how they would proceed either, we will know more when we view I guess. Lots to think about!

@MoominWoomin If you're referring to it as you're 'forever home', I'd offer 10% below asking, no less. There may be a cohort of people who are keen to move/purchase before this so called impending doom hits us (I'd be in that cohort if I hadn't managed to complete before covid), so I probably wouldn't mess them around. You have to ask yourself how upset you would be if you offered too low and somebody else managed to swoop in and seal the deal.

What upsets you more, negative equity/losing money on a purchase or losing the house, its your call (and the bank if you are borrowing the money) Im sure the seller will be delighted that someone is interested in this climate.

It's not just a terrible time I think you're insane to be purchasing a house now as we are on the cusp of the biggest house market crash in decades

@GreyGardens88 Where are you living atm then?

I think it very much depends on the venders circumstances which you shouldn’t be privy to, I cannot believe the number of estate agents that are sharing their clients finances with potential purchasers.

Anyway I’m on the market. If I decide to go up the ladder and will be seeking a similar discount on anything I buy, I’ll accept less.
If I decide to go down the ladder I’ll want 15% off for every 10% I drop by. It’s all the same to me. If it works. If it doesn’t nobody’s moving.