House buying advice...
 

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Stick to your guns, then when they come back to you saying they'll take £310k, offer £308k for the inconvience. If they accept, run for the hills, if they barter, fine.

If they're willing to move out to rented accomodation, the sceptical part of me has to ask WHY they are selling up in the first place. If they were moving to a house they're buying fair enough, but they're willing to rent for a while (which is ALWAYS more expensive than buying). Hmm.

Always a tricky one this. It all depends on how much the seller is keen to move.
Personally I would hold for off for a few days and see if he comes back with an offer.

My missus used to work as an estate agent, she used to say that houses are always on the market at slightly higher than the market value to cater for an offer made. Rarely did anyone pay the full asking price unless it had goldmine written all over it ( ie: doing up a run down shack )

If I was selling at £315 and someone offered £310, I'd bite their hands off.

No need to pay asking - just hold out. IMO

Although having no chain would be good. Only you can answer as to how desperate you are and other choices you've seen.

We had no chain buying the place we're in now. There's nothing wrong with the house, or anything inside it. I still made them bend over backwards for no apparent reason though.

The Mrs thought I was doing it just to be a c-nut. Did she complain when I told her that all kitchen appliances, including the table, fireplace and a few other goodies were being thrown in with the house, at the price WE said? Damn right she didn't!

its a buyers market at the moment, i cant imagine many sell at this time of year as above stand your ground.

Sounds to me like someone is desperate to sell, and doesn't have anywhere to move to.

...and then instruct me to act for you. At that price I charge £450 + VAT plus the expenses - search fees etc.

Ed

What, no discounts for fellow org members? :P

They may be selling in advance of massive stall inthe housing market. Quite a few people believe it'll happen and in some cases knock between 20 and 40% off a house. So the sellers will be quids in and able to effectively by a similar house for a lot less.

Some people want jam on it, too :roll: :lol:

HEY! hes trying to fix his triumph ya know :roll:

We just bought a house. After offering below the asking price for a variety of houses and losing out we offered the asking price on a place and then negotiated down after getting a survey done. If there's nothin awry with the place you can't do that but if there is some iffy bits to it then it can be better to get the place under offer then re-negotiate afterwards. Of course you might lose the cost of the survey if they still don't budge but it worked ok for us...

I've been ringing agents in Southampton last few days.
My instructions have been simple - send details of properties that are detached, double garaged, immaculate condition, and the vendors will be out by mid Feb, no iffs no buts. Also indicate the minimum price they will accept for a cash buyer, as I wont be haggling. (Although I probably will, all the same)
Amazing how many suddenly have a 'guide price' below the asking price.

I am one of those who subscribe to the belief that the housing market has to crash. Spiraling price depend on new buyers climbing onto the bottom of the ladder and I honest cannot see how first time buyers can afford to jump on board.

Those who have bought houses as investments etc, you deserve to be burnt and I have no sympathy for complaints of negative equity. A house is a home, somewhere to live and raise your family etc. Not a means of making a quick buck at others expense.

If you can afford to "invest" you should be prepared for the occasional loss. I get grief from my brother about where I live but what the hell it is mine and nobody can take it off me. unlike him mortgaged to the hilt and will still be paying it off when he gets his state pension.

I bought what I could afford and 1980's mortgage rates hurt and I was glad I only took a mortgage of twice my salary. I struggled to pay rates of around 11/12% and wonder what people would do now with their 200k mortgages should the rate double over the next year?

I would wait too. You can verify the purchase story here: http://www.nethouseprices.com/index.php?con=sold_prices

I can recommend these guys for conveyancing as well: http://www.movingahead.co.uk/Default.asp - we went back to them as their service was outstanding.

Well thank you gmonsta. Depends if you want a call centre with unqualified staff dealing, who really know very little about land, or whether you want to instruct a solicitor with 20 years experience who deals with your case personally, at an affordable price.

I'd try these guys, I've heard excellent reports :wink: . I believe that one of them even rides a motorbike and posts on a well known bike forum :wink: :wink: :

www.edwardaustin.co.uk

Phew, always exciting buying a house. Especially the first one. If it were me now (with the benefit of hindsight, etc.), I'd take my time over the whole thing. It's not as if you *have* to find a house immediately (I assume) and get it all sorted PDQ to complete a chain. Until the point you have to start shelling out expenses and commit, play it loose. Retract your later offer and offer 'em £300K again, or even lower. So they'll refuse again. Carry on looking at other places. Once a week or so, ring the agent and restate the offer. If the agent won't play ball, ring the vendor direct. If they're not getting other offers, they may come round to your way of thinking. Remember, it's not paper money you're going to be spending, though it does feel like it at times.

Well yeah, there's always a risk of that, and the argument that paying money to a landlord is wasted money isn't always true, when you take stamp duty, solicitors fees (Apologies Ed), mortgage interest and all that stuff in to account.
But if you find a place you really like, where you are not overstretched and you reckon you are going to be there for a good few years then buying makes sense, crash or no crash. I bought a house in Ireland in a rising market but the market was still strong when I sold 6 years later, I was lucky. Now I've moved back to the UK its meant I can afford to buy an ok place. The market may crash but in the long run property is one of the safest investments you can make. Plus life is short so having a place where you can do what you want to it is important. Be cautious aye, but don't believe all of what the doom sayers say (like this crowd http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/), you don't want to be paying rent when you retire.

i am in the same thinking timwilky all my friends have got huge mortgages until they die and i'm in a ex coucil house with only 6k left on my life loan at 34 years of age. its my house its paid for in 12 months and no one can take this family home away from me or my family. its taken me 14 years to pay off a 45k mortgage so i dont think i'll be moving again. :wink:

Not so sure - demand is still greater than supply, and that is predicted to be the norm unless a sustained program of housebuilding materializes.
I agree that 'first time buyers' are priced out of the market, but whilst parents are now paying deposits, (mine bought me a breadbin I seem to remember), and lenders are encouraging longer term loans, interest only loans and shared mortgages, there continues to be a means to sustain the market.
The 'crash' in the late 80's, as I remember it, was more a glut in housing supply due to the enormous number of repossessions, with interest rates at an all time high. I saw my then house rise from approx 60k to 80k value in the space of just 18 months, but then 'crash' back down to 60k once again. I don't see similar comparisons with todays continuing, but steady rises.

I remember about 7-8 years ago, looking at houses I would be able to afford (yes, mature beyond my years, I couldn't wait to get my own house!). Rummaging through the local property papers and reading about them, I looked forward to the day I started my career and saved for a deposit on a semi-decent house.

These days I can't even afford a friggin' 'holiday home' let alone a house made of bricks and mortar. 2 years work experience and I'm buggering off abroad in the hope of finding somewhere cheaper to live.

Yeah, why do we always hear of parents helping out so much except our own :lol:


Actually that whole post was the best I've read in a while, thanks

Mine bought me a set of wardrobes and let me borrow a bed until I got one delivered.

I do despair for kids today. My eldest has 12 grand of Student loan, 18 grand of professional development loan and is only 23 years old. I am currently paying £400 a month for her rented room in Leeds, the insurance on her car and dropping the occasional night out into her bank account. OK when she is qualified proper in a few years time assuming she gets a pupilage etc. She should be earning a decent wodge, but until such time she is just another parasite. I left home at age 20 and never went back. I can forsee my son still being he when he is 40 etc. no wonder my hair has gone grey and started to fall out

Hey - asking price - market value? Sounds like the owner doesn't know.

Check the local SELLING prices with http://www.findaproperty.com/

Good post, Mr Wilky.

I'd like a house. Currently we've got a flat in London. I've paid some of the mortgage off and reckon that I should be able to pay off the rest by Feb 2008. I've no desire to mortgage myself to the hilt and reckon that 2x salary is the most the I'm prepared to borrow when we move. We've been seriously talking about moving to Canada where £210,000 gets you a luxury seven bedroom home with four bathrooms.

Friends of ours rushed to buy their own property and took the first mortgage that was offered to them. £170k interest only, repayments £1k per month.

I gave my advice bit which fell on deaf ears, as far as I'm concerned they are effectively just renting the property and hoping it increases in value.

Plus they stuck a loan on top so they already have a mortgage for more than the properties worth,
I couldn't sleep at night. :shock:

As someone who has just bought their first house. If you're serious enough that you would buy it at asking price anyway (so 'losing' the survey money if it doesn't work isn't an issue), wait a few days, if they still haven't got back to you, accept their price and go ahead with getting the survey done (insist this is done before you rack up any legal fees). There will invariably be at least a few minor things wrong with the place that need doing that you couldn't of been expected to notice/know about that will be detailed by the surveyor (almost all houses have something wrong with them, even if it's something as minor as cracked rendering or vegetation in the gutters). Cite the cost (and inconvenience) of getting these fixed as a real reason for the lower offer.

That's what I did and ended up getting it for the offer price, even though they initally refused to negotiate.

As others have said, it's a buyer's market and you're the one in the position of power.

very few people move at this time of the year, so I doubt the seller is that bothered if you wait. If there's not a chain, perhaps they're not that bothered if you stall.

Have you had a survey done? does it match the asking price? I almost moved into a house once, until the survey came in £30,000 less than the asking price (on a £210k house).

interesting what people say about a crash coming, my view is if the market crashes it will be good for all, except those at the top of the housing market. Afterall, a 40% drop means my existing £300k house is only worth £180k but that 600k house I want will only cost £360k, saving me £120k! providing my original house doesn't drop into negative equity (worth less than my mortgage) I'd be laughing.

I'm looking for a 2nd property. My boy is off to Uni next year and I reckon it will be cheaper for me to buy locally, and then rent the other 2 rooms until he finishes his degree. Then, 4 years later, I can either keep it, or flog it. Any extra money I make will help pay off my Mortgage (which isn't that big anyway).


Lee, best of luck BTW.

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Good idea, "buy to let" is at its most profitable when it comes to student houses- constant demand (new tennants every year), unfussy tennants (so cheap furniture and cheap location) and 3 or 4 people paying rent, rather than one or two so lower risk and more money in total. A friend's dad did this for a 4 bedroom house and not only did the other 3 rooms rent pay for the mortgage on the place, but also paid for all his food/textbooks/pocket money etc. whilst he was at uni- in short paying for his lad to go through uni and getting an asset out of it himself for v. little outlay. He kept the place after his boy graduated and so far as I know, still rents it out and makes a nice bit of pocket money from it. Maybe you could set it go into your MV fund? :wink:

Except if he looks after houses as carefully as he looks after his moped, in which case you'll be down a house... :)

Houses don't need changing the oil! :lol:

Neither do 2-strokes! :D Just a constant feed of oil when filling with petrol.

My turn to stand corrected :-dd

bugger ... if i knew you did house sale stuff i would have had no worries in dumping the guys i was with :x

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