help a first-time buyer who has no clue about houses please! seen a house i love for £195k what sort of offer do you would be reasonable given that it needs some work doing to it?

[JackiePaper]

the house has only been on the market for a week and is a fair bit cheaper than others we have seen in the area (but then those aren't selling) It's a 3 bed semi which has been the home of an elderly couple. aside from the naff decor and carpets the loft needs insulating the back door needs replacing and there is no radiator in the third bedroom. i also suspect the central heating system is quite archaic.

one on the next road road sold in nov 2008 for 174,950 but obviosly i don't know what sort of condition that was in when it was sold.

please help me, we are first time buyers (on a gov scheme for key workers to help us buy) and i have no clue about buying a house/doing one up!

thanks x

All this stuff about bathrooms etc is pretty irrelevant. there is no 'real' fixed but invisible value for the house - it's worth what the highest bidder will pay within the timescale the sellers are prepared to wait it out. Your aim is to pay as little as possible within the timescale you are prepared to wait it out.

Start low. If £150k makes you blush go for £160k. They will reject it at this stage but it does mean they know about you - that you are in a great position to move and are interested, albeit not at the asking price. It also means you can quiz the agent on what they think it might go for. They might get no viewings and no more offers for a month and then come back to you (especially if you make sure the agent knows you are still interested - go and look at it again, phone him up etc). On the other hand they might get a good offer for £185k the week after which is not something you can do anything about at all.

Also, remember the agent wants the house to sell asap. If it goes for £160k and he is on 2% he gets £3200; if it goes for £180k he only gets an extra £400. He'd rather have the £3200 now than an extra couple of hundred in two months time. So he will look favourably on a good quick low offer - obviously he wants his clients to get a fair price, but it's not in his interests to hang out for an extra couple of thousand quid.

Remember the building society/bank will do a valuation too and there is no way they will lend more than they think it's worth, so in your shoes I'd offer around £190/85k, secure the deal and then see what the surveyor comes back with, you can re-negotiate at that stage if necessary.

thanks for all the advice everyone, problem is our mortgage is only for 130k, the rest is a government interest free loan, up to a maximum of 200k, so mortgage valuation won't give us much of a negotiating point.

I don't really want to borrow more than we have to on the loan as it is linked to any equity in the house and we have to pay it back somehow within the next 25 years.

i think i'm going to ring up and ask for a second viewing and go and look at it with my practical head on, see how much actually needs doing, tot it up and then make an offer around the 168-170 mark.

Just because you have the loan doesn't mean you have to spend it, the bank won't let you pay more for something than it's worth, not with their money.

Think you are right Jackie. Good luck!

They will Sorrento - the bank will only be concerned that the house is worth 130K plus 10%. They aren't bothered about you paying over the odds as long as they get their money back.

And the talk of bathrooms etc isn't irrelevant - how much needs spending immediately impacts on the affordability of the property (and therefore its value) to the OP.

Yes, but that's the point it isn't her money it's the banks and the government scheme's money so if the house is only worth £130k they will put that on the survey and that can then be taken back to the vendor and used as a point to negotiate.
Of course if you have the difference you can pay that out of your own money but I do not believe people are so thick that if the bank won't risk their money that people would risk there own.

Yes, in most cases that is absolutely true.

have got a second viewing booked for wednesday afternoon, and so far we are the only interested party.

how would i find out how much it would cost to put a radiator into the bedroom and how much to buy and fit a upvc back door? We really need the radiator putting in as it will be dd's bedroom and as she is only 2 i would worry about a portable/electric heater from a safety point of view.

thanks for all your help so far everyone, and if anyone knows the cost of getting radiators fitted i'd be very interested to know!

cheers x

I would guess a radiator would be around £200-250, not sure about a door though.