I'm currently flat hunting in the Crosby/Waterloo areas of Liverpool and have a budget of £110K max. There aren't many properties currently for sale that I like at that price, but there are some nice ones being marketed for £120-125K. What I'm wondering is whether it's worth me visiting anything as far above my budget as that? I know that lowish offers can sometimes get accepted, but I don't want to waste the vendor's time by viewing their property when I can't really afford it.

Jay.

I'd only be looking at properties over my budget, because you never know, one of these may be desperate to sell.

Hey BB - wot you doin' over here? Why U hiding from us? E-mail me please.

Jay,

Don't worry about 'wasting' the vendors time. Go look at them and put in the offer. They can yes or no. They may have priced them higher expecting a reduced offer.

Your only loyalty should be to yourself.

Hi Percy I don't really do forums anymore. I'm only allowed to look during my lunch hour. Regards to all.

Hi Jay,

I wouldn't say you'd be wasting the vendors time as you really do want to buy. If they're keen to sell, you could have a decent chance of having an offer accepted.

With the Stamp Duty Threshold being £120,000, many people around that mark will be expecting to drop their price to accommodate that. Will they drop £10,000 - £15,000 from a price like that? It's hard to tell. They may, but most likely will not drop their price enough for you. And it is also worth considering whether it's worth going so close to the top of your budget when unexpected expenses are inevitable?

Ary.

Thanks for all your advice. I'll look at properties up to £125k then and see what happens. I am chain free and can move quickly so suppose some people might be willing to agree a lower sale price in exchange for a speedy sale. As for unexpected expenses Aryldi, these seem to happen to me in every property transaction, so I pretty much think of them as expected expenses now! I have built some money into my budget calculations for that.

quote:

Originally posted by Aryldi:
With the Stamp Duty Threshold being £120,000, many people around that mark will be expecting to drop their price to accommodate that.

Ary.

Threshold is now 125K

i had people viewing my flat and putting in ridiculously low offers, p****d me off, thought it was cheeky. was wary that anyone putting in such a cheeky offer would be cheeky enough to gazunder me lower as well

g

quote:

Originally posted by Baldricksbrother:
Hi Percy I don't really do forums anymore. I'm only allowed to look during my lunch hour. Regards to all.

Your Friends are missing you BB And even the people that don't like you very much are missing you just a little bit

quote:

Originally posted by soopermum1:
i had people viewing my flat and putting in ridiculously low offers, p****d me off, thought it was cheeky. was wary that anyone putting in such a cheeky offer would be cheeky enough to gazunder me lower as well

g

A house is worth what someone is prepared to pay. Theres nothing wrong with people offering what theyre prepared to pay. House prices are at daft levels so you could argue that asking prices are a bit cheeky too.

Any offer within 10% is fine, beyond that you risk offending. Maybe if a house has been on the market two years it's worth chancing your arm.
London properties seem to be going for something in the 2% discount range.

I discounted the flat i'm in the process of buying by 10% that's in London. Seller was in a chain so he wanted to complete ASAP, i had a large deposit and my mortgage ready. All these factors weighed in my favour- i guess you just have to try your luck and look as serious as possible.

quote:

Originally posted by susiecam:
And even the people that don't like you very much are missing you just a little bit

Even me - who has been 'clapping hands' about you.

quote:

Originally posted by cakehead:
Any offer within 10% is fine, beyond that you risk offending. Maybe if a house has been on the market two years it's worth chancing your arm.
London properties seem to be going for something in the 2% discount range.

It's not offensive, if you don't want to accept it you just say no. Perhaps if more people are prepared to make lower offers housing will become more affordable, which is a good thing.

why should i sell my flat to someone for a silly price when there could, and usually is, someone else who is willing to pay a good price. that's the thing, it's demand that creates these 'silly' prices. i managed to sell my flat for £181k and it was marketed for £185k.

also, it's a pain in the backside keeping the place clean and tidy for viewers, i got offended that they wasted my time. one cheeky prospective buyer even turned up on my door, unannounced, on a saturday night, trying to persuade me to do a private sale. i sent him in the directino of the estate agent, where he then put in a silly offer. total waste of time.

g

Fair point soopermum- your flat was obviously priced to sell.
Some people over value their flat refuse all the silly offers initially and then end up having to lower their price anyway.

soopermum, your reply sums up my worries in terms of wasting vendors' time (not that I would ever turn up unannounced and pester anyone, what cheek!). I have sold two places and in both cases they went fairly close to asking price. My last flat I sold last month for £107K, it was on the market for £109k. I would not have accepted an offer far below asking, but I wasn't in any hurry to move out. I suppose that sometimes potential buyers visit properties above their price range because it's worth a try in case the vendor is willing to do a deal.

quote:

Originally posted by soopermum1:
why should i sell my flat to someone for a silly price when there could, and usually is, someone else who is willing to pay a good price. that's the thing, it's demand that creates these 'silly' prices. i managed to sell my flat for £181k and it was marketed for £185k.

also, it's a pain in the backside keeping the place clean and tidy for viewers, i got offended that they wasted my time. one cheeky prospective buyer even turned up on my door, unannounced, on a saturday night, trying to persuade me to do a private sale. i sent him in the directino of the estate agent, where he then put in a silly offer. total waste of time.

g

You don't have to sell for a lower price. If you think someone is prepared to pay then just wait.

I cannot afford todays asking prices so I have made low offers. Prices have risen out of all proportion to peoples earnings. You don't get if you don't ask.

Jay - having had a series of timewasters when I was selling I find your integrity touching! I was interested in serious offers - a serious offer to me meant that a buyer would quickly show they had the funds, not that it would be bang on my asking price. so, go, look.

the house I finally bought went on the market at 300k - I viewed it first when it was dropped to 275 and had my offer of 250 refused. I offered again and was refused again when it went to another agent on at 265. finally, 6 months on my original offer was accepted. Obviously there is a context - the place was woefully overpriced at 300 and even at 265 (IMHO). Why not view at least a bit above your budget? If you really felt it was worth more than you could offer then just say this in your feedback to the ea - as the vendor I'd be ok about this as at least it would give me an indication that my price was ok.

We found that certainly in the zone 2 area of London we were buying, the estate agents were quite snotty about allowing us to view properties that were more than around 4% over the budget we had to quote when we initially contacted them. Nice way of keeping prices up I reckon , although maybe they were just cutting out wasted viewings for their own sakes as well as their clients.
They must miss out on a few sales though, because some people who have a 'fixed' budget will suddenly increase it if they see a musthave feature at the over budget property.

The estate agents in our area kept contacting us about properties that were £10-£30k over the top end of our budget. Either they thought the vendors would accept lower offers, or they thought we'd find a spare £20k hidden under the sofa!

quote:

Originally posted by susiecam:

quote:

Originally posted by Baldricksbrother:
Hi Percy I don't really do forums anymore. I'm only allowed to look during my lunch hour. Regards to all.

Your Friends are missing you BB And even the people that don't like you very much are missing you just a little bit

I’ve only just seen this, thank you SC. I’ve just been back and had a look, I don’t understand what all the fuss is about, dare I say it, ..a bit pathetic? I’m perfectly with in my rights to leave a forum and post where I want. Most of the members have already left and without giving a reason or saying good bye.

Since leaving I’ve hardly looked at a forum, and its working out well for me. The temptation to read FT is not what it was and the catty comments have burnt my boat back -so thanks for that.

Susie I can honestly say I really, REALLY enjoyed our chats on line, it really was a good laugh and I do miss you more than anyone else. (kiss smilie)+(Hug smilie) + a (Moonie smilie for YP)
Best Regards.