First time buyer, putting in an offer, advice please

[PraiseBee]

I'm a total house buying novice and especially nervous in the bonkers market at the moment. So, any wise words of what to ensure I say/do when making an offer on a house? My only point of reference is Kirsty and Phil

Exciting! Have bought twice now. Generally have called the agent and said hi I’m calling about the house on X road we viewed yesterday / yep, really liked the house (positive but not too enthusiastic in case it sounds like you’re desperate and will pay above the odds!) / would like you to put an offer to the sellers please / we’re prepared to pay £xxx / if they’re able to accept that I am a FTB so could be completely flexible on time scales / however that would be on the condition of the property coming off the market today, marked as Sold STC on your website and Rightmove and no more viewings / look forward to hearing back from you!

Basically it’s like Kirstie and Phil except you want to stress the things that make you an attractive prospect (FTB with no chain will help with that!) and I always insist on it being marked as Sold STC on Rightmove so they’re less tempted to accept a sneaky viewer if someone calls up!

Good luck!

Previous poster has covered most of it.
My only other feedback is to offer what the house is worth to you, don't put in a "cheeky offer" just because everyone on TV does it.

Offering(for example) 20% under list price and far below market value marks you out as a dick, and agents will remember that in the future.

Thank you, you absolute stars. That's given me a boost. I've got this

That should read "offer what the house is worth to you, BUT don't put in a "cheeky offer"".

For example friend selling house for around 500k at the moment; loads of interest, and offers around asking price (495 etc). But then an offer from "really motivated purchasers" around the 400k mark. That's the sort of offer that marks you out, as it shows an ignorance of the local market, and makes you seem like you want something for nothing.

You do have this - getting the money is the hard part these days, so if you've managed to save enough to get to this point you'll be absolutely fine

Good luck @PraiseBee - keep us updated!

Don't over think. I've just completed today on my first purchase. I was upfront with the estate agents while I viewed properties about whether I was interested or not. I decided how much I wanted to pay for the property I wanted and offered it. No messing about with low offers or stretching over what you want to pay.

Yeah, got to a keep cool head. The house ticks 90% of our boxes but it's not attractive. Hopefully that'll stop the heart strings getting too involved. Will keep you posted

@Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Don't over think. I've just completed today on my first purchase. I was upfront with the estate agents while I viewed properties about whether I was interested or not. I decided how much I wanted to pay for the property I wanted and offered it. No messing about with low offers or stretching over what you want to pay.

Congrats!!!!

We'll go straight in at the asking price. If someone wants to pay more, then good for them and the vendors

Thanks!
I offered £5k under asking and was accepted. I knew there were other properties in my price range that I could have paid more for and my max was £10k above what I offered but I knew this property wasn't worth that.

Ahh nice. Glad it all worked out for you. Hope the move goes ok

@PraiseBee

We'll go straight in at the asking price. If someone wants to pay more, then good for them and the vendors

This may depend on the area. In our area at the moment the asking price means don’t offer less than this but house often go for much more. But our area is crazy at the moment. What is the market like in your area.

Depending on your attitude and how fast houses are selling you may want to make a slightly under the price offer - say 95% of the price and then increase it slightly by a thousand or two if that is rejected until you reach an acceptable figure- that way both seller and you feel that you've got a good deal. ~

Otherwise (and this the approach my partner used on our current house) if you really like it and theres not much else around you may want to go in straightaway at the full price

Either way you want to stress that as a first time buyer you are able to move quickly and can be flexible, you have the deposit and mortgage in place etc - you are a very deisrable buyer in other words

I'm a FTB too. Put in an offer last week and the sellers wanted to play silly buggers taking offers until the end of time but it went for £16k over asking price in the end. Very frustrating. 2 more interesting houses came on the market today so at least there's that. Trying to keep an emotional distance from it all but, ugh, so frustrating

@Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Thanks! I offered £5k under asking and was accepted. I knew there were other properties in my price range that I could have paid more for and my max was £10k above what I offered but I knew this property wasn't worth that.

I missed this well done. Make sure they take the property off the market. You need to find a solicitor now - ring around and ask them for quotes from people who get recommendations from and start to apply for mortgages.

Thanks @Fitforforty but I've completed today :) it's all mine! (Well 15% mine)

Sorry I got you confused! Congratulations 🥳

The market has been totally bonkers where we live. Good advice about offering slightly less with room to go up a little bit. But the market is so crazy we don't really want to get involved in bidding wars. We're chain free, can moved quickly and our budget is our budget. If someone wants to pay more than it's valued at then that's our of order hands. I'm not saying I think house prices will go down but I am hoping that the craziness ceases.

Correction: out of our hands*

I think it's better to offer a little less to start with, it's such a common thing to do that they will expect to reject the first offer you make and accept the second or third. You might find they say no to whatever first offer you put in expecting you to counter offer.

Ok. Thank you very much

Also, do you have any burning questions for the sellers? It might be better to get these out of the way, rather than have them accept an offer and you pull out. Particularly if you are making your offer conditional on removing the listing.

Also as a seller I won't be taking my house off the market until my EA has seen a mortgage in principle and the buyer has confirmed which solicitor they are going with - so you might want to line these up.

So we decided to put an offer in straight away at full asking price which the vendor accepted very quickly! They had another offer at asking price but that party where in a chain. So fingers crossed that it all goes through. I've got horrid mouth ulcers from the stress. Need to improve my chill... Thank you all for your contributions