Offering lower than fixed price on a house

[JudgeRindersMinder]

I’m in Scotland and we’re looking to buy a house which is currently on the market at a fixed price. We’ve not moved for 20 years so have no idea what the current etiquette is!

I’m not sure if I want to pay the asking price, although we can afford to.
it needs a lot of work done (probably around £50k), amd I know from my intense research (Location location location ) that down south it’s common to offer below the asking price.

Is this a thing north of the border? I’ve only ever bought 2 houses, amd that was 20 years ago, it was a fixed price new build so we rocked up and paid the asking price .

The fixed price is £10k under the presale survey valuation, and it’s been on the market since October, in an area where decent houses get snapped up inside a week.

I just don’t know if it’s the done thing, or do we just go in and say I want this house, please take all money.

Asking here as if I ask in property people won’t appreciate the difference between buying up here and down south!

Result!!

The house we're in was for sale for a fixed price and we offered £4K under and got it - it had been on the market for a year and needed a lot of work done - but was in a good area.

You have nothing to lose, worst case scenario they say no. Alternatively they might say yes or come back with a counter offer. We offered 20% below our fixed price house and it was accepted.

Excellent news!!

Ok that’s a good start.

Now I know you have a home report. But for a house that you are going to pay £310k that needs £50k of work, I’d be tempted to get a full survey. And of course you need to do that now before missives are concluded.

Unless of course you have professional knowledge as builders / surveyors. And you know what you are getting in to.

But £50k worth of work in Scotland indicates more to me than a new bathroom / kitchen / flooring / redec. Does it have dampness or structural problems? Or is your £50k for extending / new windows / new roof?

Congratulations!!!

Yay! Congrats!

Well done!

What I should have said is that we ended up offering the asking price as there were more viewings booked and just didn’t want to take the chance! Happy to pay it though
.
Ours should be on the market by the end of the week!

@C0RAL

Ok that’s a good start.

Now I know you have a home report. But for a house that you are going to pay £310k that needs £50k of work, I’d be tempted to get a full survey. And of course you need to do that now before missives are concluded.

Unless of course you have professional knowledge as builders / surveyors. And you know what you are getting in to.

But £50k worth of work in Scotland indicates more to me than a new bathroom / kitchen / flooring / redec. Does it have dampness or structural problems? Or is your £50k for extending / new windows / new roof?

Sorry I just saw your post! It’s for rewiring, upgrading insulation, new windows, kitchen (which will be more than just a straight like for like), maybe not £50k, but definitely more than £20k I think

So rewiring, new DB, insulation ( attic or underfloor ? ) ,windows , kitchen, all flooring and full redecoration. What about the roof, heating system and the bathroom ? External and internal doors?

And yes, that’s more than 20k. Unless it’s a one bedroom flat.

The roof’s ok, one of the bathrooms will need redone, heating system is ok, but boiler is 20 years old so silly not to replace it when we do the kitchen, both from an energy efficiency and reliability perspective. Insulation will definitely be the loft and cavity wall, and depending on cost/value, potentially underfloor. My dad was a forerunner in energy efficiency and it’s rubbed off!

It’s a large 4 bed 😂. I actually can’t wait! Even if we spend £50k on renovating it, it will still be really good value, we live in what has always been a bit of a microcosm for property, hence why they accepted an offer when our house wasn’t even on the market, never mind sold!

YY to the boiler, a condensing one will be more efficient and you will need a wireless thermostat and TRvs on all the radiators.

What a great legacy to have from your dad.

I think you will find it easy to spend that 50k 😬 but it sounds like it will be worth it. What an exciting project ! I love a good reno.

@C0RAL

YY to the boiler, a condensing one will be more efficient and you will need a wireless thermostat and TRvs on all the radiators.

What a great legacy to have from your dad.

I think you will find it easy to spend that 50k 😬 but it sounds like it will be worth it. What an exciting project ! I love a good reno.

Thanks Coral-my dad wasn’t a practical man, but boy did he come up with good advice-when I had my flat in 1990 it was lit with low energy bulbs which he’d got as samples😂. People barely knew what low energy lamps were at that time! My sister keeps going on about decorating and I’m giving it “yeah after the windows, which will be after the insulation, which will be after the rewire”. I’m in the very fortunate position of having the means to do it.

Just a wee update! We sold our house inside 2 weeks so now we’re just waiting for the legal wheels to turn. Absolute bonus is that our buyer has a cash buyer for their house, so with our new house being empty, it’s a very small chain. Hoping to move at the end of April-let the mayhem begin 😂

Glad to hear it's all going ahead!