How much should we pay for our house

[assumetheposition]

We have been renting our house for 12 months, after selling last year.

Although we didn't intend to stay in the area, DS1 is now settled at nursery and starts reception in September and we've made some friends, so we have decided to stay.

As so little has come onto the market in the village in the past year, we have asked our landlord if he will sell the house. He has asked us to make him an offer (although he considers it a long term investment blah blah blah).

He paid £250k for it in summer 2007, and has since had a 2 storey extension and added en suite and new kitchen, bathroom.

All of the fixtures and fittings are very cheap (UPVC windows, budget mfi kitchen, plastic bath) so he hasn't spent a fortune on it, apart from the building work.

What do you reckon we should offer, bearing in mind everybody says that prices are going to fall again after the election and we sold our house at the bottom of the market .

Actually not at all sure we are doing the right thing by even asking but we would just like a home now

well, he'll want to get his money back at least so £275? but i reckon he will want more like £300

An estate agent will do you a valuation for free. Just ask them to value the house because you are thinking of moving and don't tell them you don't actually own the house.

Pay for a professional valuation.

Hmm I did think if getting an estate agent round. Trouble is, we have been house hunting in the area for so long I am an established 'face' with pretty much all of them

Maybe get my brother round to pose as DH posing as the landlord

I would think around £270000 sounds right but he will probably want £300000.

We are in exactly the same situation assumetheposition. We had a letter through the door out of the blue yesterday saying LL wants to sell but is giving us the option to buy first. He is getting a valuation done so we'll see what ridiculous price he wants for it and try and barter him down if we can for a quick and easy sale. The house is desperately in need of modernisation and hasn't been touched in 20 years.

I agree houses will probably fall again this year so am very reluctant to buy at the moment. However, we have a child at the local school and I can't be doing with this level of insecurity in renting.

Don't forget, you are in a good position - your LL will save on EA fees and the hassle of chains etc. You should offer what you think is reasonable for it - summer 07 was pretty much the peak for house prices so I wouldn't offer more than £275000 personally!

Well the agent came round this morning and I lied convincingly.

He says it's worth £325k. "We" could put it on the market at £340k but would expect to get £325.

So I think we might offer £300k and see what he says.

To be honest, I think we'd be happy to pay £325k for it but it's just whether we could hang on for another couple of months and get it (or something else) for less.

I feel like I'm on Deal or No Deal.

Duane, I'm not sure how they'd find out. It's not a managed property, they just did the initial agreement.

We have been here a year now and have had no dealings with agent since we moved in - just with the landlord.

Dwayne is same for us - is not a managed property. LL very keen not to use an EA if he sells to us.

assumetheposition - wow that has gone up a lot in value! If you can offer £300k then maybe you have nothing to lose. I wish I had that kind of cash Good luck!

Sorry forgot to change name back in previous msg!

Well we offered £310k and he has replied saying he wouldn't consider anywhere near that figure

I've asked him to come back with a figure but I suspect it's going to be over £350k. Trouble is I think he thinks all the fixtures and fittings are top notch and it's worth a premium. The catch 22 is that there is no impetus for him to sell while we're paying rent. If we were to move out next month I suspect he'd put in on the market.

I'm just so bored with it all

He wants £400k

So that's £150k more than he paid for it in 2007 (albeit with a bit of modernisation).

The man's a loon.

Back to the drawing board

£400k that is a joke!! I would say he clearly doesn't want to sell atm - hard luck and I hope something comes up for you soon. We have a flood of property coming onto the market in our small village in the last week - never seen so much for sale

I would leaflet drop every house that you would consider buying asking them to phone you if they are interested in selling, you never know!

Thanks everyone. I did leaflet drop about 6 months ago and heard nothing, but it may be worth another go.

He's crazy. We bought our house 3 years ago for £247k and did about £12k worth of work to it (new kitchen, carpets, flooring etc) plus lots of gardening etc and we have just sold for £285k.

He will not get £400k.