[Closed] House buying - negotiating

If £150K is your max, just tell them that.
Make the offer and leave them in no doubt that if it's not accepted that you're walking.

£163k is a strange amount, reckon they are looking for at least £160k

has been on the market long or a new instruction?

Be honest, go straight back in at 150k making it clear that that is the max and offer something else as the deal swinger, e.g. no chain.

explain that 150 is the most you can finance, and you don't have access to any more funds. If the EA has said it needs to be much closer, I doubt you'd get it for 150k. Tell them you're a first time buyer, no chain, and funding in place, might help, but I dunno if the other owners will take a 25k haircut (it may be that they can't afford to do this - if they were first time buyers too, for £150k they'd probably not have enough to pay off the mortgauge)

Depends if you still think it's worth £150k. If so, tell them that's all you can afford and either take it or leave it. If the house has been on the market a while, they might be very happy with that offer.

Tell them your budget and that you are looking @ another house which is cheaper,worked for me 2 weeks ago 25K under asking price.

I'm a first time buyer with morgage approved. I think the house is worth £150k but not the £163k they are asking. It's been on since July but originally for £170k which is way off the mark IMO.

I think £150k final offer is my best bet

150 best and final. Ensure the estate agent is fully aware if your position. Also book a few property viewings with the sellers agent. That always helps to chivy things along.

You're doing the right thing.
Stick to your guns

£150k or walk away, there will be others and if you think its only worth £150k then you shouldn't pay anymore.

£144k, and tell em it'll keep dropping by a grand a week 😆

£144k, and tell em it'll keep dropping by a grand a week

What worked for us was an 'unusually specific' offer and a story that suggested we'd scraped around to max out our finances to try to swing them. example in your case might be £149650.

Even if rejected,let the agent know the offer still stands if the buyer changes their mind. It's a difficult market to sell in a lot of places, don't pay over the odds (mortgage companies seem to be very cautious with optimistic valuations too.....)

Just remember, the estate agent is working for them, so don't tell the estate agent you will offer £150k but can go to £155k, as he'll just recommend the sellers to reject the offer 🙂 You need to convince the agent as well as the seller that you are scraping the barrel with you final offer.

Also, beware that if you decide to offer just that bit more, when the mortgage company do their valuation, they will refuse to lend if they think you are paying more than its worth. On our first house the mortgage company said we either needed to get some money off or the existing owner had to rectify some issues to make it a safe security. The sellers wouldn't budge so we bought a near identical house 10 doors away for the same price, five years later they are still trying to sell.

Do you have the number for the vendor? Give them a ring or make another appointment and go talk to them, that worked for us. Turns out the house we wanted, the vendor had bought somewhere else and although he didn't want to just let it go, he didn't want it sat empty. We were first time buyers, mortgage approved and ready to move.

It was up for £160k, we went in at £141,300 and told them that was all we had, we settled at £143k including all electrical White goods and carpets. The latter part made no odds to us, but meant we have spares of everything. By doing this, it meant the estate agent was really a formailty.

Whatever the price of the house, it cost us another £3k for a rewire, plastering, decorating, etc. It was all done by me & qualified mates too.

A house is worth what someone will pay for it. If you think it is worth 150k to you then offer that best and final. I've bought and sold a bit of property and sometimes if there is a big gap in price and I am cash unconditional i tell them that is the highest cash offer i can make before i drag something else into the deal i.e.e create a chain on another property. What that says is that you might pay more but the risk is on them and it is then their decision between quick cash sale and lengthy drawn out process where nothing could happen for 5k more say. Both times i did that they snapped the cash offer up almost straight away !!
EDIT: And both times i was being economical with the truth !

Well hit them with what your prepared to pay Also your a first time buyer
That means a hell of a lot.
Also get a feeling of them, will they guzzump you if they get a better offer if so walk away.

Your first offer was 145k

Now offer 140k

While the house is worth what someone will pay, for you its probably what the mortgage company decide its worth.

I've always offered the asking price but said it depends on the valuation. Once you've the valuation you can then offer (maximum) what they say its worth (plus any cash you want to put in) - at the most.

And you can always pull an offer.

135k...

What NZcol said.

If it was me, I would go in at £148k first, then £150k as last final ever offer, with much handwringing. Basic psychological warfare, people need to think they have got the better of you.

Don't recommend sending a chopped off ear tho, that can be misinterpreted.

130k

I'm walking...

OP, also really worth remembering that this is not the only house for sale. Don't get overly hung up on it, there is fairly good chance that with a limit of 150 you just can't afford it. Sometimes it goes like that.

Now on a more positive note...the owner paid 175 for it 4 years ago. Its likely they are going to find it hard to accept that it may be worth much less now, and of course they may not be able to afford to sell it for much less. But, fingers crossed, with time, they may come to accept the lower value. No need to rush them, sometimes these things pan out over days or even weeks. Go up to 150, but only if your certain it's worth it for you. Once your there tell the EA thats as far as you can go. Then either sit back and wait, or more sensibly get out there looking for somewhere else. Good luck 🙂

I'm trying to sell a house I bought four years ago for 175k -- not the one you are looking at, but let me know if you want a place in Manchester. . . . 🙂
in our case we couldn't possibly drop to 150 as we owe much more than that.
an asking price of 163 isn't odd if they still owe close to that amount.
tough times to be selling a house. good time to be buying -- so don't think they're necessarily out to make shedloads of cash off it!

Personally I'd have been cheekier and gone in lower but congratulations you had your first offer rejected so you pitched it right and you've now established a starting point for negotiation.

I like the suggestion of going to £148k and then if necessary making them think they're dragging you kicking and screaming to £150k. If you think that's all the house is worth then stick to your guns and be prepared to walk away.

Remember the first rule of real estate. Don't buy anything you don't think you'll be able to sell.

Out of interest what do these sites value it at?

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/
http://www.mouseprice.com/

That's it! 120k

FINAL OFfeR - You KnoW You WonT get BETTER..

Zoopla and co all value it at over 170k but their estimates are way off.

Second rule of real estate...there is no such thing as value. A property is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, right here right now. A vendor may choose not to sell for that price, but that doesn't mean it's worth more than what someone is willing to pay.

EA's are all too willing to talk about higher prices in the past, higher prices in the future or the mythical family with kids ready for the local school blah blah blah. But in reality, unless there's an offer on the table its value is zero.

I'm in a similar situation. Seen a nice place which was on the market in April for 220. They got nowhere so put it on recently for 205. They had one offer around 200 which fell through, and I've just gone back to them, first of all with 180. I was pretty sure that would be rejected, and predictably admitted I'd go as far as 185.

The EA came up with all sorts of guff about "It'll need to be 19 on the front to be taken seriously", and buy-to-letters swooping in etc. but I have played up the fact I'm a FTB, renting so no chain, can move whenever I feel like it, and that I've got plenty of time to look around.

Now I wait.

Of course it depends on whether you are in a good position, ie do you have anything to sell? Cash buyer? What is their situation?

You need to be clear-headed and walk away if you have to.

Good luck, I've just bought and sold for the second time in three years! Never again.

Offer 150k, and be prepared to walk away, there are plenty more houses out there.

150 and wait it out, this is the wrong time of year for them to get other offers, tell EA to keep in touch, I reckon 3 weeks and it'll be urs, it really is a buyers market you've just gotta stick to your guns

Having slept on it I think I'm doin the right thing and to me it's worth 150k and I'd be happy if I got it for that.

Prob going to wait a day to put the offer in so it doesn't look like I'll go up again too easily.

I'm going to buck the trend a little, because you are getting a lot of bargain hunting views and that is missing an important point taking this into account.

" I really like the house and its far better than others I have seen."

Can you pay more than 150? Because if you can't that’s probably the reason why this house is much better than the others you've seen (presuming the others are in budget) …. You'll always find houses that are just, just, over your budget that are much nicer than those in budget.... Grrrr.

If however you can pay more than 150, how will you feel if a sold sign goes up outside?

Don’t miss this house for a couple of grand, in the long run it really will not make a massive difference....

Pay up and be happy... 🙂

I'm sitting in a place that was valued at near on 700k more than I paid for it. Moonbeam valuation but the vendor wanted 400k more than we offered as cash, unconditional. We went up a token 10k and sat it out. 2 weeks, us saying any more meant we would have to sell a house and boom they went for it. Quite frankly this was the only house we had seen in two years that we fancied !! Don't panic, offer what you can afford, what is fair market value and what will be will be

The others have been on the market for £160-£170k with my view I can bring them down into may budget or at least try. Some where 'nicer' but not as practical for my needs. I don't think in these times trying to knock 8-10% off the price is unrealistic.

The absolute max I would pay for the house is £152k but I'm not telling the estate agent that. £150k this afternoon as a final, this is all I can afford offer. If it hasn't sold in a few more weeks I'll offer 150k again.

If the sold sign goes up it wasn't to be, not worth putting myself in financial difficulty.

Your in a different league NZCol!

Absolutely not, never, especially in this economy. I have a colleague who lives on the bones of his arse to afford his house.

NZCol - did you buy Jonah Lomu's house or something ??

It's nz dollars mind so not real money 😉

I think the best way forward is to go in with the 150k and an arm full of reasons to explain why you're not going to pay 170k. You are not part of a chain and can exchange contracts today, that a 160k house has a new 20k kitchen, that the other higher priced houses have better spec, better location, that the house you want will need 30k spending to bring it up to the spec of the other, etc.
You are, I fear, going to have to do some (home)work to get the 20k discount you're looking for.

I'm looking for a 13k discount, not 20k. The fact that is was up for £169 initially makes no odds IMO - it didn't sell or attract enough interest at that price.

You could try substituting 20k for 13k then, but the idea's the same. Equally it's quite difficult giving advice without knowing the vendor as different people react differently to suggestion when it comes to money and properety valuations.

What something is advertised for and what it sells for are often completely different despite what agents try and tell you