Page 2 | What would you offer?

lemondrop72 · 2022-05-10T19:15:07+00:00

We're going to view a house on Saturday but we already have a good feeling we're going to love it. It was taken off the market after a day as requested by the vendor because they were inundated with interest. The estate agent has said there are 19 viewings on Saturday 😳 we are selling with the same agent so she did say she can't obviously tell us any figures of other offers but can tell us how many after Saturday. The Rightmove listing said "Guide price £325,000" and in the description it said said "Offers in the region of 325-350" Should we stay within that range? Slightly higher? Our budget is slightly more than the top end but of course we don't want to pay way more than it's worth. It needs modernising so there is room to add value but we'd ideally be there while dc are in school so no plans to do it up just to sell.

killerqueue · 11/05/2022 22:46

@Whitney168 I agree

Original poster

lemondrop72 · 12/05/2022 11:45

killerqueue · 11/05/2022 22:20

This is what we want to avoid but it just seem impossible to know. I suppose if you go in with what you're willing to pay then that's all you can do.

One house we lost out on the EA said the winners were already winning & then offered another 18k. My friend was selling & had already decided to accept an offer that was 20k over & the same sellers offered another 15k.

All you can do it's weigh up what it means to you.

That's madness!!
I'm not sure that should be allowed! I suppose it's up to the individual how to spend there money.
That's why going in on blind bids is ridiculous.

We don't want to mortgage ourself up to the eyes. I'm a sahm at the moment since having our 1 year old so we're trying to keep an eye on money and still want to have a life.
Will see how much we like it after the viewing. Not sure we will offer much outside the guide.

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BearBibble · 12/05/2022 16:18

Reading these threads, we need eBay for houses at the moment - people need to be able to state the maximum they're prepared to pay, but not actually have to pay to that maximum if the next offer is £5/10/20k below! (Tongue firmly in cheek, but honestly it is madness at the moment.)

Its not letting me reply to thus post but this concept is essentially buying at auction - which is what we're looking to do atm. It means you're more or less limited to completely run down properties that need thousands of pounds of work doing, but for us it's the only way we're not going to end up with a family of 4 sharing one bedroom 🤷🏼‍♀️ People think they only go to cash buyers and developers but our mortgage broker tells us that's not the case, and the auctioneer said 60% of the properties they sell are bought by people using a mortgage. So 🤞🏽 it works...

Paddingtonthebear · 12/05/2022 16:28

I’m not sure a mortgage down valuation makes much difference in this market. We’ve been interested in two houses that were then down valued by the mortgage lender and both times we were expected to pay the difference ourselves.Which we couldn’t do due to our LTV. So we had to pull out, both houses went back on the market and sold again straight away. Where we live it seems there’s always someone else with more money to put in to make any up shortfall on the valuation! I guess cash buyers don’t have that problem either.

Startuplife · 12/05/2022 16:39

@Paddingtonthebear did you lose money both times on the valuation fee and searches? I’m concerned about our purchase being downvalued as well so would prefer to find out sooner rather than later

treebit · 12/05/2022 16:52

Where we are looking mortgage down valuations are a thing so we built that into our budget/offers if that makes sense. However part of me wonders if some people just overbid with the view to renegotiating later.

Paddingtonthebear · 12/05/2022 16:56

We didn’t pay any valuation fees thankfully but we lost money on the solicitors fees.

If houses were appraised properly it probably wouldn’t happen. In both situations we offered the asking/guide price and then due to multiple offers we needed to increase ours to best and final offers. And they were fairly conservative (£10k) increases that we made, nothing crazy. Both houses sold for what we offered but I guess those buyers had a bigger deposit.

Paddingtonthebear · 12/05/2022 17:27

But you know, it’s in the agents interest to drive up the prices incrementally and raise the bar every time. At some point it will all have to stop but it doesn’t seem to show any signs of slowing. People I know who haven’t needed to buy a house for years find it incredulous that an asking price offer isn’t enough any more. Never mind the days of being able to take your time, go back for a second viewing and then start with an under offer figure. Crazy times

RedRum27 · 14/05/2022 08:56

Similar experience here. House on at offers over 325, went went in at 350 (upped our offer twice) and didn’t get it so who knows what it went for…like a pp said you weigh up what it means to you but you could end up paying way over what it’s worth really. What happened to putting in an offer at asking price or getting a bargain and going just below? See a lot of ‘offers over’. The market does seem crazy

Bubbles1st · 14/05/2022 09:33

Let us know how you get on @lemondrop72 ! Hope you get it if it's the one for you

homeownerwannabe2022 · 14/05/2022 09:42

Hi! We are buying and had an offer accepted that was 15% over the top end of the guide price range. It seems like a lot (and it is!) but we had been looking for a house for over a year, and given what we lost out on over that time, I don't think we could have got it for less. It will really be down to the competition in your area. Good luck!

Original poster

lemondrop72 · 14/05/2022 10:05

Bubbles1st · 14/05/2022 09:33

Let us know how you get on @lemondrop72 ! Hope you get it if it's the one for you

Thank you so much! We have a viewing this afternoon. The agent has said any offer by Monday and hopefully with have a decision before Wednesday. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

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Original poster

lemondrop72 · 14/05/2022 10:06

homeownerwannabe2022 · 14/05/2022 09:42

Hi! We are buying and had an offer accepted that was 15% over the top end of the guide price range. It seems like a lot (and it is!) but we had been looking for a house for over a year, and given what we lost out on over that time, I don't think we could have got it for less. It will really be down to the competition in your area. Good luck!

We really can't afford 15% over the top guide price so I really hope the offers don't go that high. We will see! Not getting my hopes up too much. Glad you found your home 😊

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Original poster

lemondrop72 · 14/05/2022 10:07

RedRum27 · 14/05/2022 08:56

Similar experience here. House on at offers over 325, went went in at 350 (upped our offer twice) and didn’t get it so who knows what it went for…like a pp said you weigh up what it means to you but you could end up paying way over what it’s worth really. What happened to putting in an offer at asking price or getting a bargain and going just below? See a lot of ‘offers over’. The market does seem crazy

If we love it we will offer what we can afford. If we don't get it for that than it was meant to be! Hopefully there will be another one

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Original poster

lemondrop72 · 15/05/2022 10:17

We love the house! It needs a little more work than we thought but DH works in the building industry so we could do it all ourself and it's not unachievable. Although it would probably mean lots of evening and weekend of me solo parenting while he gets on with it.

We do think it will probably go for 370/375. Which seems crazy! And that is our absolute max. But sitting down last night and looking at the numbers I'm just not sure it's the right thing to put all our money into it and be paying such high outgoings. We're going to put an offer in within the guide price and hope for the best. Very unlikely we will win it but I'm not sure it's worth putting our family under financial strain, not matter how lovely the house is.

There's really nothing wrong with our house now. It's actually a similar size, just slightly smaller, but the new one is on a very lovely road and looks very pretty from the outside and had the most incredible garden which would be amazing for the dc.

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Threetulips · 15/05/2022 10:26

Frustrating isn’t it?

Now the wait. Did the agent give you any indication of other bids?

Original poster

lemondrop72 · 15/05/2022 10:38

Threetulips · 15/05/2022 10:26

Frustrating isn’t it?

Now the wait. Did the agent give you any indication of other bids?

No, he did say most people loved it. But obviously he is going to say everything to big it up.
I think all offers have to be in by close of day on Monday. We're going to wait to put ours in until DH gets home from work and call them and cheekily ask what ball park the offers are at.
It's so frustrating!!
It would've been on the market for 300 before all this madness.

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EugeniaGrace · 15/05/2022 22:32

It’s madness. We lost out last week in similar circumstances to a house we loved.

I really regret not going all in despite offering a good amount over asking, so I think you are doing right working out exactly what you can afford and offering that, so you can avoid the regret of not having upped your offer the most but also know if you lost out it would have been too much of a stretch.

As for blind offers, in our case, we didn’t have any clue what a good bid would be. 10k over asking, 25k, 50k, 75k?

This market is all quite new to the estate agents too who seem a bit overwhelmed by it.

Turmerictolly · 15/05/2022 23:32

I'd go in at £362,500 and no further.

LoveSpringDaffs · 15/05/2022 23:49

I'm looking too & am as frustrated as all hell!

just be doubly sure you check out your MoRtgate interest rate will hold for as long as it will take to get in place and that with inflation skyrocketing etc you aren't over stretching yourself. Also make very sure that the difference you're paying for a new house & what you're getting for yours is worth it to you.

I'm pretty much resigned that at current prices there's just nothing I can buy that's a big enough gain over my house that it's worth the additional money it'll take to buy.

Original poster

lemondrop72 · 16/05/2022 09:12

LoveSpringDaffs · 15/05/2022 23:49

I'm looking too & am as frustrated as all hell!

just be doubly sure you check out your MoRtgate interest rate will hold for as long as it will take to get in place and that with inflation skyrocketing etc you aren't over stretching yourself. Also make very sure that the difference you're paying for a new house & what you're getting for yours is worth it to you.

I'm pretty much resigned that at current prices there's just nothing I can buy that's a big enough gain over my house that it's worth the additional money it'll take to buy.

Yes I agree with you!
The new house we would lose our utility room and en-suite but gain a large garage, driveway and a second reception room that we would use as a playroom for dc. There is scope to extend also should we need/ want/ afford to in a few years. The location is also brilliant with a great primary and secondary school.
I couldn't sleep for thinking about it all last night. We have drafted our offer letter and plan to put it in this afternoon.
Fingers crossed 🤞🏻
Thanks everyone for your comments.

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LadyEloise1 · 16/05/2022 14:44

Best of luck @lemondrop72 I

Bubbles1st · 19/05/2022 07:10

@lemondrop72 did you get it?

We just accepted an offer £17k over our guide price, we did have one £21k over but chose likelihood of better chain and transaction.

Original poster

lemondrop72 · 19/05/2022 07:21

Brilliant! Fingers crossed for a quick sale for you 😁

We found out last night we didn't get it 😢
We offered 365,500 😳 so we think it went for at least 370/375. It's just madness! Never in a million years would we have thought the need to offer 40k over asking.

Nevermind. I think we have decided to pull ours off the market. We have a viewing day booked Saturday and have had a lot of interest on ours but we really don't want to string people along. The way things are going at the moment I think we're best to stay out for now. We will find the one, one day!

Good luck to everyone else in a similar position!!

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Bubbles1st · 19/05/2022 09:51

Such a shame @lemondrop72 but seems like you know what you want and hopefully you'll find it one day. And extra 10% over is crazy and it makes me wonder why it's happening rather than just being valued at more and it being offered on as it usually would for no more than asking price.