We all have seen prices drop for a few months now. We are looking for our first home and need some advice on how to deal with greedy Estate Agents and Home Owners.
Find a seller who's desperate to sell, make a derisory low offer then have a survey which you can use as an excuse to knock even more money off, finally keep them waiting for months and months before threatening to withdraw on the day of exchange unless they drop it further.
We all have seen prices drop for a few months now. We are looking for our first home and need some advice on how to deal with greedy Estate Agents and Home Owners.
Any Tips welcome!
How dare you link home owners and estate agents together. Will you become a greedy owner when you sell your first home. That's if you manage to buy with your low offer and not offend every home owner you view.
We all have seen prices drop for a few months now. We are looking for our first home and need some advice on how to deal with greedy Estate Agents and Home Owners.
Any Tips welcome!
How dare you link home owners and estate agents together. Will you become a greedy owner when you sell your first home. That's if you manage to buy with your low offer and not offend every home owner you view.
Calm down wendyc This was a Troll posting probably intent on winding people up....posts something controversial then never to be seen again on the Forum. Ignore it. Mel.
I need to provide for my family and need to live in a reasonable distance to where I live. I cannot afford anything unless I can get a reasonable price, there are people out there that cannot afford a house.
I dont care if prices go up or down, I want a home for my family. I really cannot borrow more then 4 times my salary at the moment houses are at 5.5 times my salary and their owners want to make over a 100K profit. So give me a break!
Og, wait and save then mate. THings dont happen for free. I am saving 80% of take-home at the moment, I dont have much of a social life, I dont smoke, rarely drink.
If you want a home for your family, firstly wait, becuase this recession that is about to hit will wipe off a LOT of value from the uk housing market.
Secondly, get a deposit. I am not talking about some Cruddy 5K deposit like barratts would ask for, I am talking about 25% of your realistic purchase price. Banks would chew their arm off to get hold of you. Its not unrealistic. You have, in my estimation, 3 YEARS to achieve this before prices start going up again. (ignore this months rightmove figures, its got lots to do with lower volumes registered of new first time buyer homes and nothing to do with average asking prices, thats why they dont break down the changes in asking price by home type).
Batten down the hatches, get used to tesco/asda value (even if you earn 40k+) dont go on holiday, dont drive gthe car unless you have to. If you want to moan about not getting on the housing ladder thats fine. JUst make sure you are making the sacrifices that mean you have earned the right to moan.
Looks like no one is willing to give any advice on negotiating prices down. Do I reed greed between the lines?
Well since no one here can help and I am sure others would like to know here is my advice plucked from varies other sites:
Be prepared before you put an offer
Know what other houses sold for
Download all sales that took place in the postcode you want to buy and model the volumes and sale price trends (property spy site)
Get google alerts for "Credit Crunch" and "UK house prices" and do your reading
Listen to the vendors for hints, like if they are downscaling, have debt, or moving to a cheaper area, basically any inkling they might need a quick sale or are fed-up with failing sales
Look to the estate agents website and make notes how many properties have come back to the market (it is likely that is sales failed that they are getting desperate and willing to accept lower prices)
Make notes if properties get advertised for lower prices in the area.
Read the comments of pflusk on getting as much deposit as possible (for every pound you borrow you need to pay two back, remember)
Now you are prepared find the property you like. (the fun part)
Deciding what to offer.
Making an offer. (don't if you don't have 10% deposit)
- Offer low enough and wait (at least 15%). There are not many buyers out there so wait. Months if needed and then add 2% or 3% (if you really like the property - Don't believe estate agents, the 20 other viewings (and offers) really did not take place, trust me. - Be prepared to walk away, new property will come on the market. - If you know properties have sold for 15% less let the estate agent know you know.
He he, lol, Just read some comments again, I said Greedy Estate Agents and Home owners, I did not say, greedy estate agents and Greedy owners. But hey, I know what to do now so good luck to you all getting the best price for a place for your family.
I think this only works if the sellers are also reading these forums!
As it says on my other post, we saw a house we liked. We're going to pay in cash - no mortgage, no chain. We thought we were going to be in a terrific position to bargain. And then it turns out that the seller is in no rush to sell, despite having been on the market since last summer (they took it off over the winter and re-marketed), and would rather hang on for an extra £20k - or maybe hope someone will offer over the asking price - than take our solid offer. Unfortunately, there are plenty of wealthy buyers after a specific kind of home in our neighbourhood, and they are all thinking that now is a good time to buy...
It's fair enough if you think estate agents are being greedy but rather than 'tips to negotiate prices down' I would say it's 'tips to pay a fair price'. There is sense in many of the points you have made (and you are right in one way because some people don't do their homework, they don't ask the right questions, they don't research and that, in part has contributed to the massive price hikes over the past few years), but I think it goes a bit too far to look at the personal circumstances of those selling to influence the price even further. Those who want a quick sale for whatever reason have generally priced to cover that. We all want the highest price possible for our homes but the seller too has to be fair and do research about what selling prices have been and how their home compares to others.
It's common nature to want to buy a home for the lowest price you can, but sell yours for the highest. It's the same with cars. You want a bargain second hand car but you always consider the car you are selling to be worth more than the others - heck it's worth a try and I have to say it's the same for home owners. People soon drop their price if nobody is interested.
*It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them. -- Pierre De Beaumarchais
Originally posted by Og0tai: He he, lol, Just read some comments again, I said Greedy Estate Agents and Home owners, I did not say, greedy estate agents and Greedy owners. But hey, I know what to do now so good luck to you all getting the best price for a place for your family.
John
You may not have written Greedy owners, but you implied it earlier " I dont care if prices go up or down, I want a home for my family. I really cannot borrow more then 4 times my salary at the moment houses are at 5.5 times my salary and their owners want to make over a 100K profit. So give me a break!
Would you give your buyer a break when/if you've got a property thats able to achieve a £100k profit for you, you'll give up some of your profit to help someone else out. Sounds great, but unfortunately thats not how the property market works!
The trouble is that most 'greedy' sellers need every penny they can get because they are trying to move up.
We are trying to sell - but there is no point letting our house go 'cheaply' because it means we haven't enough to buy a house like we want. If all prices go down 20% that would be great, it benefits us, but until then we need as much as we can get. We haven't set the price, the market has. We chose one of the lower valuations. In a few months the market might set it 10% lower, who knows?
