First time buyer - advice needed please

[Butterfly134]

Hi everyone 😊
Looking for a bit of advice as a first-time buyer. We’ve seen a house we absolutely love that’s listed as offers over £360k. Similar houses on the same road that are more updated have recently sold for around £340k, which is closer to our budget (we can stretch to £350k max).

Would it be unreasonable to offer £340k in this situation? Not sure how flexible “offers over” really is and don’t want to offend the seller, but also don’t want to overstretch ourselves. Any advice or experiences would be really appreciated!

I think that’s what been the most challenging part is knowing if the estate agent is being genuine or not. They are the only ones in our area who seem to market all houses as ‘offers over’ only. Thank you for the reassurance about our position as first time buyers- it can so easily be forgotten. I think this has taught me not to get too attached to liking just one house as been the case here.

Thank you 😊

Yes definitely check in for progress! One thing I learnt when we were buying and selling (recently, just moved in October) is you have to keep hassling EVERYONE! I didn't find it easy because I hate hassling people but it honestly seems to be what you have to do. Keep on top of everything. It's like a job, for as long as it lasts.
Hope you see some other lovely houses so you feel you've got some options! And it's very hard not to get attached if you like a house but there's always another waiting in the wings, in my experience. We ended up buying the FIFTH house that we wanted. And we went to see absolutely everything possible, I really believe seeing as many houses as possible helps you to understand what it is you want.

Just leave your offer of 340k on the table.

If you offer more you are just bidding against yourself if you think about it, since yours is already the highest offer they have received so far.

The EA should inform you if they get a higher offer. You could remind them that you would like to be kept in the loop but a good EA would do that automatically.

In the meantime, keep looking at other properties, and tell the EA you will be doing that so the seller are aware they can't be complacent about your offer.

There is an alternative approach which is to state that your offer is only valid for 48hrs. This gets the vendor to focus the mind.

I think if you check in weekly and give them endless rope they might just see you as naive and desperate and come in with a counter offer to nudge you up out of your comfort zone - as others have said just bidding against yourself.

They have actually almost put a counter offer to you as they said they are confident that they will get near asking price.

I would hold firm. Put the wind up the EA by viewing others on their books, appearing enthusiastic and booking a second viewing.

Do you know if it’s in a tight school catchment area or on key transport line?

A little update. After us putting an offer in on Friday we were told that there were more viewings and left our offer on the table. We then received a call from the estate agent yesterday asking if we were still interested in the property, which we found unusual as we had just spoken to them on Friday. The then mentioned they’d received another offer and we put our final offer of 346k in. She then mentioned she would speak to the seller and get back to us. How should we now approach this as we do not want to get into a bidding war, even putting our best and final offer in. Sorry if this is repetitive, I just don’t know how to go about it.

If that's your best and final offer and you don't want to get into a bidding war you just stick with it. They could be somewhat bluffing or there genuinely could be a similar competing offer and vendors trying to push for a bit more.
But if vendors are considering both offers you should hear soon. So sit tight and wait. Although if I didn't hear anything in 48 hours I'd chase up, but for a decision, not in order to offer more. Good luck! 🤞

You just have to recognise and accept that sometimes life says “no” and you move on.

I agree with @TemporarilyCantDoMyself

You should hear back from the EA soon. If 346k is your best and final, then it's straightforward really. Even if it does go to "best and final" bids, you will stick to 346k and hope for the best.

I would assume the EA is being truthful about there being another offer. However, you don't know the position of the other people and you may be in a better position than them even if they are offering the same as you or more than you.

They could well be using your increased offer to go back to other viewers to ramp up their offers. Did they tell you what the other offers were?

Nothing you can do. Do not overstretch yourself.

Leave it as it stands. You are in a better position (unless the other people are also FTB).
Buying and selling is often about holding your nerve. And, say you are successful at £346, and get a survey done which points out a few unforeseen issues. Now old properties are just that: old. So it’s not going to be pristine. But say it say X is in urgent need of repair. It is reasonable to ask for the seller to share the cost of whatever it is, but it is unreasonable for you to expect them to pay more than half - after all YOU will be benefiting, they won’t.

God, I wish I’d done this 48h thing, I’m in the middle of somewhat protracted negotiations.

Sometimes I just think I don’t actually care any more 😄.

There may be another offer and they are using both your offer and the offer to try to increase the selling price or they may be making it up to put pressure on you to do this. Either way, just stick to your final offer and do not increase it. Wait for them to get back to you either way. In the meantime, look elsewhere. There will be other houses.

The timing is interesting. Your offer went in on a Friday - they obvs has Sat viewings and were waiting for offers from them - they may or may not have come through by the time they came back to you. Phil Spencer always does the offer on the table only for 48hrs, it’s taken off the market immediately and viewings cancelled. Forces the vendor to focus.

Thank you all. I thought it’s only fair if update you (not the one I was hoping for) received a phone call today evening to say the seller had decided to go with the other offer as opposed to ours. Though we did find it odd that they asked whether they can keep our details should their buyers sale fall through. So the hunt for our family home continues… x

I’m sorry, I know how disappointing it is. But you WILL find another house that will be right for you. Mark this one down as a learning experience, next time you will be sharper of eye, harder of heart and armed with firmer negotiation skills.

ps, if they do come crawling back tell them only your first offer is still on the table, you then have room to negotiate.🙂

Good advice.

We saw a house, liked it and put an offer in, knowing we had competition. Our offer was refused as the competition had their money sorted out and we didn’t. Fair enough.

Two weeks later, I was chatting to DM who said “a house isn’t sold until it’s sold. Ring the agent back and find out what’s happening “. Eventually, I said I would. It was a long phone call so I went to the loo when we had said good bye - as you do.

I came back and sat down to ring the agent when, reader, the phone rang. It was the agent. The other buyer was actually other buyers (brothers) and while one has his finances in place the other didn’t … and couldn’t.

So, did we still want the house? Yes, we did. “Did we have finance in place?” He asked. I said “Not yet but we will get it”. “How did I know that?” the agent asked. “Because our deposit is 150% of the mortgage” I said. There was a long silence while he worked that one out and he sort of said “right. I’ll present that to my client”.

Twenty two years later, we are still in the house and I will be carried out in my box.

A house isn’t sold until it’s sold. There is no harm in keeping your offer live.

Thank you for the update and sorry that on this occasion you were not successful with your offer.

It is standard practice that EAs want to keep your details as a "plan B" in case the current sale falls through. A lot can go wrong between making an offer and completion.

Good luck with your ongoing search - whether this house comes back to you or another one emerges, you will find a family home.

They are not supposed to tell you what the other offers are but in my experience I have had it happen to me.

That’s true - they never say the numbers
but usually ‘its very close to asking price’ is trotted out…..