Going over asking price by 150k…stressed!!!

[MovingandStressed]

Hi all, I need someone to calm me down! We offered in March on a property that we loved, asking price 700k and because there was so much interest (think could barely get a viewing etc) we offered 150k over in a sealed bid process to secure it. We were told after we won the bid by the agent that someone actually went slightly higher but they wanted to sell to a family.
Now the market has gone down considerably since then, we had got a really good offer on our house (also paying over asking) but they have now pulled out and we are looking to have to reduce our asking price by 50k. Fortunately we can borrow enough to allow us to buy the property we like before selling ours (paying an absolutely extortionate mortgage in the process).
Now massively panicking that the price we are paying for the house we love is way too high in todays market (it’s a very lovely location - bit of a one off - which is why all the interest). We would intend it as a forever home. Needs oodles of work extensions etc and totally gutting (we are used to doing big projects but this time I wouldn’t have the intention of moving!!), but the plot is fab and I love it. In terms of buying the property, if we had sold this, we would only have a tiny mortgage, but we need a bigger one for all the extension work, but still half what we are currently paying, so the interest rates don’t worry me tooo much. I want a good investment though and I’m getting really nervous about the fact that we are overpaying asking price hugely for this and that they probably wouldn’t get that in todays market.

help!!! Do we renegotiate the price?

@Fooksticks i am also worried about a 100k drop as I wouldn’t say it’s completely out of the question in the current market!

We are proceedable. Just not from proceeds of this sale 🤣
that’s a good thought re how much would we mind if it went to someone else…a fair bit I think!

It's your home so if you love it just buy it

Good to know that they accepted this, do you mind me asking what reduction you asked for initially and what they eventually agreed to? I presume it won’t be as simple as me asking for 50 and getting 50…

I can’t believe people are offering anything over asking price in this market. £150k over on a 700k house that needs loads of work sounds like a terrible investment and a lifetime of pain both ends if your mortgage is huge ontop + building works.
I wouldn’t be buying anything over asking, at least 10% under is this market. By the time you get to completion property will be worth -10% at least.

This would be too much risk for me on top of the risks involved in buying somewhere that needs work in the current market. We're renovating an old house at the moment (like you, a one-off that we fell in love with) and prices for materials are eye-watering- the work is going to cost £100k more now than when we initially priced it a couple of years ago.

I think adding together the fact you're probably buying at the top, maybe paying too much, haven't sold your current house, need a large mortgage, interest rates, need to do a lot of work AND want to make a real terms profit- you'd be crazy to do this. Then again, people do crazy things and they work out. Just go into it with your eyes open.

I wouldn't believe a word the estate agent said. 150k above! Just wow.

I am shocked you’d offer that much more. Up to you as you risk losing it but could be worth asking

This whole story sounds literally unbelievable to me.

What sort of mug would pay 150k over an asking price of 700k in a falling market? No one is that stupid with their hard earned money, it’s a fantasy.

An asking price isn't a valuation, it's just a marketing figure. Some houses on at £700k might fetch £500k, in other more unusual cases make go for £850k if the property is desirable enough.

There isn't enough information here about the type of property, future potential value, location or value of other similar properties nearby to be able to say with any certainty that it's stupid or unbelievable. It might be, but there's no way any of us can know with just the information there is.

There seems to have been a sudden influx of all of these. Oh no, I fucked up what’s going to happen to me how terrible stories. Can’t think where they’re coming from.

Can’t think where they’re coming from

Do you honestly think that a fairly small sub-forum has any particular influence over residential property market trends that it would be targeted by vested interests in order to manipulate the market? Jesus wept.....

I don’t think they have any influence at all which is why amazes me they go to the time in trouble of infiltrating this one.

infiltrating this one

Perhaps there's no infiltration at all and it's entirely genuine!

I know of cases where houses have sold for more than £150k over asking, and others where an offer more than £150k below was accepted. None of it really means anything.

As I said above, an asking price doesn't represent the value of a property, and paying anything over is 'overpaying' it's just a marketing figure plucked out of the air by the agent and owners.

Yes. Curious, isn’t it?

Yep agree, I think it this is madness.

They may very well have been looking at properties to buy at £850k, or above even, nowhere has the OP said they weren't.

Plenty of people prefer to take a house needing work at a lower price and update to their taste, rather than spend a larger some of money buying an already done up house, but to someone else's taste.

and you think it wouldn't.....

how much should a man spend on an engagement ring?
if you say 3 months salary on a diamond, thats all marketing from a diamond company

All those saying “who offers £150k over”, it is common for agents to put houses on for a low value to generate interest and lots of competition, guess what it worked. Especially with “unicorn” houses needing work which it sounds like this one is, EAs don’t really know what it’s worth so want to test out what someone will pay.

At the end of the day OP the question is can YOU afford it and is it worth this amount to YOU. That depends on your own financial position and love for the house, much more than it depends on the market. If you will be in dire straits if you can’t sell your current home quickly or have to take a big chunk off its price, or if you buy this place and it drops a lot in value, then maybe this isn’t a good idea. If however you can definitely afford these possible outcomes (and the building work), and you love the house, then it’s kind of irrelevant whether you are “overpaying” or not.

We paid £35,000 over the 'kindest' valuation on our home 27 years ago!

It was our forever family home, and our DC (then 3 and 4) have the most wonderful memories of living here - as do we. With the growth in the property market since 1996, and the investment that we have made, the valuation now bears no relation to what we paid.

It worked for us!

It's 150 over. That's a massive overspend.

Oh please. This sort of paranoia needs to stop. There seem to be a small number of posters on here who are obsessed with HPC forum at the same time as saying they are not on it.

Plenty of people have overpaid for houses in the last 3 years, egged on my ZIRP and government throwing money at the population like drunken sailors and even adding the stamp duty holiday on top.

A house worth is what it means to you. Ignore price tags and estimates for the area; if this is your forever, ‘I must have it home or I’ll regret it for the rest of my life’ it’s worth that £150k and probably more.

only you can say what it’s worth

It might be, it might not be, there simply isn't enough information available in this thread for anyone to know.

It’s not 150k over at all, the asking price was £700k, £700k is not the valuation of the property, completely different, that’s why it went to sealed bids and another person offered more than the OP, it’s the same with auction properties they are marketed at ridiculously low prices to garner interest it doesn’t mean that that’s the valuation of the property.