Help me make an offer...small 2 bed house

[Greenfairydust]

I am buying my first house after living in a flat for quite a few years.

I saw a 2 bed, 2 baths (one small en suite with shower, one bigger bathroom with a bath and attached shower), semi-detached, house today with side parking on a modern estate (built about 10 years ago).

The garden is a surprisingly good size. The rooms themselves are definitely a small size though, as expected. Decent, quiet location. The owner has maintained the house well. The boiler has been checked every year with certificate as proof. He has done little with the garden so it is just grass, but tidy.

It is on at £280,000 so I am not sure how much I could offer. I am new to this and really struggling with that part of the process (my previous flat was a new built sold at a set price with white goods thrown in as incentive so I never really had to deal with offers before...)!

The agent was honest in saying they have not had any offers so far, mainly because the house would only appeal to first time buyers and they are thin on the ground in this market. It was reduced last month to £280,000.

I think all I would want to do is remove the carpets (they are quite new but I really don't like carpets as I have pets and ''accidents'' are easier to deal with on other surfaces ...) and one cupboard in the kitchen which is just taking too much space that could be utilised better.

I am in a decent position (recent mortgage in principle in place and money from the recent sale of my flat ready in the bank).

How much would you offer in this market?

I'd go in for under £250,000 as that's the stamp duty threshold. You are proceedable too.

Nothing to lose!

Yep 249,999

May be difficult to sell to other ftb when you come to sell.

l’d offer a bit lower

Its not unrealistic to go in at 10% under asking price and £250k is just about there.. go for it!

Gosh, you are all really tough negotiators!! :)

I am so glad I asked because I was going to offer much higher...

I am going to also look out at what was sold nearby recently to get an idea of the house prices on that estate.

Can you post the right move link?

Depends on so many factors

It depends on so much - how long the property has been up for sale, the desirability of the area, local property market, number of customer properties etc. Can you give us an idea of those things?

£250

I would rather not post the link as it is a small town :).

South East, small seaside town, not exactly Whistable but getting more popular.

Not a lot on the market due to the size of the town.

It has been on the market for a few months from what I can see & reduced in December.

I can see that a couple of 2 bed terraced house were sold for £240,00 & £260,000 last year between June and September but their living room/bedrooms were actually bigger than the small semi I saw today.

Gosh, you are all really tough negotiators!!

I’m always astounded when I see the figures people say you should reduce to on here. Maybe the houses in our area are more realistic priced or something?

I would start at around 260k. Around here the 2 beds at 300 plus aren't shifting but those just under have sold. South west desirable location.

''@WimbyAce · Today 20:06
I would start at around 260k. Around here the 2 beds at 300 plus aren't shifting but those just under have sold. South west desirable location.''

That's what I was thinking as well. 5% less offer would be £266,00 so starting with £260,00 looked about right.

I have asked the agents whether there are any estate maintenance charges as well & the composition of the estate in term of ownership because I do think there are a couple of housing association shared-ownership houses a bit further down. It doesn't bother me but those are factors to consider as well.

I'd say 270, if it was me selling I wouldn't entertain lower.

At what point last month was it reduced?

Between June and Sept last yr was when the market was very active (prices high/ quick sales). Given those sold prices and that those houses went for less (and assuming no other factors that would make them less desirable like location or outside space or cosmetic issues) then I’d go in at 245, being willing to go up to 249999. But, it really does also depend on how much you want it, how much you can afford and how long you plan on staying. A house is worth what someone is willing to pay for it…

250 is very optimistic. And you may be lucky or you maybe unfortunate and you piss them off and they won’t deal with you further. I’m always fairly sure people advise on these threads who have never bought in their lives.

I would be prepared to negotiate up to 270 which I imagine they would accept if they have had no other interest.

You got to bear in mind though if you offer to low, the vendor will think you’re taking the pi$$ and won’t proceed to take any further offers from you. You could speak to the EA and get the feelers as to what they are prepared to accept. That said though, I would start with a lower offer. £250k IMO is too low under the asking price. I would go in at £265k as £15k under asking price and see where that takes you?

''@WimbyAce
I would be prepared to negotiate up to 270 which I imagine they would accept if they have had no other interest.''

£265k - £270k would be what I would be comfortable paying so pondering whether to offer £260 to start with or a bit higher.

Will wait to hear back from the agent about my additional queries first though.

What do you know about the vendors? Is the sale dependent on them finding somewhere or might they be content to just get the sale done - relocation, divorce, bereavement, moving into a nursing home, mortgage offer about to expire? Can you find out when they bought it, what they paid and assess what they may have spent? You are in a strong position so you should exploit that. If you are worried about putting in too low an offer you could always wait for the feedback call from the agent and tell them you are considering putting in an offer but don’t think it is worth the asking price for x, y, z reasons. To an extent the ball is then in their court to encourage an offer and in doing that you can find out more. You are just opening up negotiations, you can always increase your offer if they don’t accept the first figure mentioned.

@LadyLapsang I was told there is no chain: the owner wants to relocate to be nearer family members in a different part of the country. I can see that it was bought in 2016 for 196K as a new built.

Yep! If you go in at £250k and then try to negotiate up they will assume you're the kind of buyer who will find every excuse to reduce your offer at the final minute.

All these people saying a vendor will refuse further offers if the initial offer was too low have clearly never sold a house a before.

A vendor will listen to and evaluate every single offer they receive. It takes no time, and costs them nothing. The EA will huff and puff, but it's their job to do that - it's part of the theatre of the negotiation.

What does change is the probability that an alternative offer made in the interim comes in that is better than yours. Better can mean 'higher', but can also mean 'is assessed to be more likely to proceed to conveyancing and sale'.

If you are sanguine about the risks of someone else making a better offer - go in low and move up in £500 increments if that's what you want to do. Saving £5k may be worth that risk. If you really want this place and don't want to take that risk, go in higher. And if all you really want is to feel like you've won a bargain, go shopping in the January sales ...

All these people saying a vendor will refuse further offers if the initial offer was too low have clearly never sold a house a before.

I sold my house last spring and didn't bother entertaining the people who'd initially offered £25k below asking on a £280k house in perfect condition because I knew they'd constantly try and re-negotiate up until completion.

But you are rather missing the point. If you sold your house at a price closer to your asking price to a different buyer, then of course you didn’t entertain people who made the lower offers.

But if you turned down the highest eventual offer just because they’d initially offered a lower amount, and instead sold to someone whose initial offer was closer to your expectation then you’d have left money on the table. Your prerogative … but not great negotiating skills and you should sack your estate agent.