Me and the g/f went to look at a house yesterday (first time buyers). Liked the house but is 10-15k over what we would really like to spend (house up for 175k, 3 bed semi in Suffolk) but going to put a cheeky low offer in and see what happens. Owner said they have had 10 viewings so far but no offers.

We have been putting it off for the last year or so but the way we see it now, we could be waiting another year or more before they come down a considerable amount. We are also planning on staying in whatever house we end up getting for some years so prices will go down and up during that time and will really only affect us when it comes to selling again, which will be several years as yet.

Is it wishful thinking trying to get 10k off the price during current times do you think?

 

Depends how desperate they are to sell mate, if they are in a chain and need a quick sale certainly not out of the way, and they can only say no.

 

They will bite your hand off at only a £10k reduction ...... 15% is the common accepted offer as I understand it.

In your case, that is a cool £26,250 Off .... it is obviously overpriced as it hasn't even attracted a single offer.

Try a £150,000 Offer (and wait, let them stew on it) - you can come back as many times as you like, the seller - however - just has to wait for you and hope you will only offer on thiers.

Be brave and you will land a bargain. Happy Hunting

 

Do some research. FInd out what that house or houses on the same street were selling for at 2007's peak and what they were going for in 2004.

If the asking is near 2007 which it probably will be then compare 2004 prices and that is (currently) the level it is really worth.

Lots of dreamers want to sell at 2007 prices and buy @ 2009 crash prices. Personally I'd offer 2002/03 levels to protect yourself from the further, inevitable falls.

 

Thanks for the advice

We have done a bit of digging before we went to look, this particular house last sold in 2003 for £148k (current owner said they have been there for last 6 years or so, so this seems right).

Interestingly the house attached next door sold in Feb of this year for £135k!! Not sure what condition it was in inside but that does seem rather cheap for the area so not sure what went on there??

The same agent is also selling another house (very similar) around the corner for £174k but with it being the same agent it probably wouldn't be much different in first place.

It's hard to gauge price of the area because most houses around there are all 4 bed detached, there's only a hand full of 3 bed semi's.

Also, at the moment the current owners haven't found a house to go to so this is probably the only part against us as they, at the moment, are probably not in a hurry to sell??

We was thinking of starting at £158k but after looking on here I think we might go in lower still, plus we treating £165k as our limit anyway, for any house we find.

Not sure if this will work but this is the prices for houses which have sold in the crescent since 2001 (one we looking at is No. 10) - http://www.hometrack.co.uk/Hometrack...rderBy=address

 

It's worth, at a guess £155k then. Unless they have improved it, by some degree......

The market is on a downward trend with further slides over the next 3 - 4 years predicted, albeit small month on month.

Don't lose your deposit on a house and use head over heart.

I've sold my place to rent and banked my deposit back, and a bit of profit. Just about to move into a rental twice the size for less than my mortgage was and in a better area.

I wouldn't buy a garage in this current climate; never mind a home.

Good luck

Edit:

post here for real advice on your subject.

House Price Crash forum

 

I'd go for a £155k offer and be suprised if they decline.

 

£155k looks fair ...... offer £150k and let them wait on it.

They will, as they always do, reject whatever your first offer is in any case - so, offer low as an opener.

Do not allow the Estate Agents to worry you into increasing your offer .... they will 'hint' that someone else is 'very interested' ...... of course, that's bollox. Estate Agents are trained to lie through smiling teeth - be hard-nosed and you will come out on top

 

Yea, I wouldn't trust an estate agent as far as I could throw em, and I haven't actually dealt with any yet!

The garage has been converted into another room but this was done by the previous owner anyway. All the current owner has done, as far as I know, is to give it a lick of paint and replaced the windows at some point.

Will go in low then and see what happens, I think it's only been on market 3-4 weeks so as yet they are probably in no rush but have had 10 viewings and no offers.

 

Hold on a minute ...... on re-sale a garage is worth more than a room ..... it's madness, but that's just how people view it when buying.

The Agent will tell you that a garage is just full of junk and not as good as a room ..... but, that's not what he will tell you in a few years when you want to sell (then, it will be - everyone wants a garage, even if they fill it with rubbish!).

Think carefully ..... have the other houses converted the garage? If so, then OK - if not, then I would tread carefully!

 

One of my mams neighbours turned the garage into a "hotub room" around 9 years ago, thinking it would help it sell, it never sold and they had to get rid of the front garden and make a block paved drive to try and get the cars parked properly

 

One of the things on my must-have list when house hunting was a garage, or at least somewhere to build one. Houses without were ignored, regardless of how nice they were.

So it will rule out a significant number of buyers I would think.

 

Yep, was one of the few things we wouldn't compromise on with our wish list. That said it is now full of junk and I have no intention of ever putting a car in it

Only other option would have been a place with room to build one but then the cost of that would have to factor into the asking price.

 

Not too bothered about a garage really as it's only a single one integrated into the house. By the time you get the scoob in it (if I would be able to get out of the door once parked inside) there wouldn't be much room, if any, for anything else. Plenty of room on the drive in front of the house for at least two cars.

This is a three bed house NOT including the converted garage/room. Currently used as a game room for their kids (I was thinking big **** TV on the wall, surround sound & Xbox 360 room lol) anyway, what im saying is it wouldn't take much to put it back to a garage if need be. When looking at the front of the house the front part of the garage is still used, just when you open the garage door you only get half the space, stores stuff which I guess you would generally have in a shed down the garden.

Don’t think there are any other houses in the crescent done like this, although everyone’s cars were parked in front of their garages so probably don’t use them anyway.

The other very similar house around the corner which I mentioned earlier is same price, has garage but it’s not joined/next to the house it’s over the road.

We have today put in an offer for 155k so see what happens

 

Really good luck with the offer ...... of course, they will come back with "NO" - just to see if you will up it.

I would strongly suggest that you don't blink first, just say, "Thanks for getting back to me, let me know if they change their mind - could you send me the details of .... 'insert another property they have for sale here'"

 

The vendors of my house I'm in now took my first (what I thought to be cheeky at the time) offer. Anoyed me at first as i wished I had come in lower to start. But then again I might just have offered the right price to start.

Having a large deposit and a firm mortgage offer will help hugely with negotiations right now.

 

We were interested in a house back in 2007, but decided it was too much at £350k, for a 4 bed semi. It eventually sold on 8th August 2007 for £295, so someone got a healthy discount.

It's back up for sale again. Asking price is £335k! Obviously another seller who thinks they can make a few quid in a falling market. I reckon it's worth £250k tops.

 

Jokers, dreamers or just fools that have fallen for a silly Estate Agent 'valuation' in order to get them on their books.

It'll just sit and sit there without any interest until it goes to the threshold level.

I bet you're pleased you didn't jump in and lose £50k!

 

House prices are up 4.2pc in real terms over the past three months - Telegraph

Time to get to Blackpool, already happened

On the Nationwide scale, the last 5-6 months have been near enough complete stagnation.

 

TBH the 50k loss, while it wouldn't have been nice, would not have been an issue as this place would have been a long termer. + 15 years or more.

I just can't see the pleasure in having a £1300+ mortgage to pay every month.

I'm going to keep a close eye on this one, and maybe make a cheeky offer in a couple of months. You never know your luck!

 

April Mortgage Approvals Fall 15 Percent On A Year Earlier British Bankers Accociation Figures Show | Business | Sky News

Mortgae approvals up, but at lower £ levels, reflecting the price crash.

 

Well well well, what's happened here then

BBC NEWS | Business | UK house prices 'up 2.6% in May'

JB..Still confident that you are doing the right thing holding on and on? You are already living in the most affordable part of the UK, affordability for housing north of the border is good and in previous crashes Scotland has always fared well with lesser drops than elsewhere.
Both Nationwide and Halifax indexes are showing clear stagnation in the 5mths so far this year...

Nationwide Dec 08 = £153,048
Nationwide May 09 = £154,016

Halifax Dec 08 = £159,896
Halifax May 09 = £158,565

How long do you hold on for? House prices may well still drop a further 10% but by waiting for that to happen you are playing Russian Roulette with interest rates

Buy a house now at £150k with an IR of 4%
Buy the same house in mid 2010 for £135k with an IR of 6-7%

Surely this has to get people thinking, perhaps now is the right time to buy whilst you can take advantage of low IR's.

5 months worth of clear stagnation surely is not just ''noise'' in the housing market. Are we at the bottom? Perhaps not, but i think we are very close to it. 5-8% or so.

 

Good news isn't it? A 2.6% rise this month, annualised makes 31.2% over the year. Of course, this is wholly sustainable over the long term for the following reasons;

1. Wages are increasing across the country.
2. Unemployment is now a thing of the past.
3. Petrol prices are at historic lows, after the Govt removed all duty on fuel.
4. The credit crunch, ( remember that? ) is long, long gone.
5. Food inflation is at 0%.
6. Household bills are at historic lows.

As that celebrity whose name escape me would say " Good times "

 

Stagnation = months of ups and downs but over a long period, no real change to where it started from. So house prices probably will drop in June, and then rise again in July and so on and on. I do not think there is anyone out there that believes house prices are going to start increasing again.

As to your points, a lot of experts are saying that the recession is nearing its end, £ is doing very well against the $ and mortgage lending is on the up with housing market looking to be in stagnation.

Never understood the unemployment argument...

Total workforce approx = 30m
Expected unemployment = 3m.
Long term average unemployment = 1.5m
Unemployment as a result of the downturn = 1.5m

1.5m/30m = 5% so the majorities will keep their jobs. Out of this 5%, how many are housing market linked? 1-2% perhaps with the remainder in council/social/private rental homes. Then we have our very generous benefits system that pays mortgage interest for those in the dole queue. So to me anyway, rising unemployment to the levels suggested and taking the above into account, its just not enough to make a serious impact in the housing market, the numbers are too small and insignificant.

The real test comes with interest rates to which i also have a little optimism.

Why are house prices being high a good thing? Well they're not but if you are 1 of the many millions who bought in the last 5yrs or so, stagnation in the market now would surely be welcomed due to negative equity and remortgaging purposes.

 

Must have been all that May sunshine eh !!!!!

Good Times ,Good Times !!!!

 

Ok, just an update on my progress sorry, it's not really related to this thread as such but thought I would post in here as I have already asked for advice earlier .......

We offered 155k, rejected, last offer went in yesterday for 160k. This was rejected today but they have said its getting better and should we offer 165k its ours and they will take it off the market.......

hhmmm, decisions, decisions, what would you wise old dogs on here do?? (not saying your old gits but you have all purchased more houses than me!! ) Should we stick to our guns at 160k or try and meet them half way?

We really like the house, especially as it's our first but at the same time we need to be sensible.

 

Well they seem to think we have reached the bottom ! I have been saying that for a while now. I really think we will slowly climb out of this next year

BBC NEWS | Business | What will the recovery look like?

 

Personally, I would leave your offer on the table ( do not increase it!) for a couple of weeks ...... and look at other properties, plenty of them, this will get them jittery that you may buy elsewhere - apply the pressure and don't blink - it's real hard cash we are talking about here!!!

 

I didn't think you needed to go that far as a council house dweller

Did you once sleep with someone who actually owned property