We bought our first house 7 years ago but it was nowhere near as stressful as the current buying process. We're looking at one particular area in the NW- 6 streets to be exact. All houses are the same when it comes to their original layout; they're 1930s semis. We have viewed houses in the other areas and the prices are similar but they have poor schools.
Last month, we put offers on two houses listed on the same road:
- Listed for £325k, originally 3 bed but had the 4th bedroom built above the garage and a wraparound extension. We offered £330k
- Offers over £300k, a newish dorm in the loft with en-suite (4 bed). We offered £315k and lost it
We'll be a viewing another house one street down marketed at £295k, same bones but has an attached garage and the back of it was extended to create a bigger kitchen. This one has got E facing garden. There was a property marketed on the same road last month at offers over £300k and the house was pretty much the same layout bar the garage which was detached and W facing garden. It sold within 3 days. Other properties within 1/4 radius went for £270k on average but I appreciate that the conveyancing process was lengthy during the pandemic and they were probably listed in 2020.
We can go up to £330k, love the area and can see our family growing in there. That said, I feel like we have been dismissed so far due to us not being as proceedable as a cash buyer. We have a FTB buying our house and can't move to a rented with a 2 year old. Family live abroad so it's not an option. Our house sold for £10k over asking (we had 5 offers at that level) and it works both ways.
We want to offer £307,500 as our first offer and ask the vendor to remove the house from the market. We don't want to sound desperate but we are. We want to start trying for another baby without having to think how our affordability would change if we applied for our mortgage when I was heavily pregnant. Our buyers are getting impatient. That said, we don't want to be encouraging a bidding war (but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures?).
Any advice would be appreciated.
P.S.
We appreciate the house may get undervalued and we're prepared to pay the difference if it means we'll be in a forever home in the area we love :)