Dealing with offers

So what is a fair price for your home?

This is often where expert advice from a local estate agent really comes into its own, but don’t feel you have to accept what they say. DO YOUR RESEARCH! See what else is on the market in your neighbourhood; compare prices, even visit one or two. Be honest about the state of your home, the road, the area etc and form an opinion about the price in your own mind. Then get a valuation from two or three local estate agents. Question them as to what the selling points are and if their valuation is more or less than what you had in mind, find out why. If it’s less, is there something you can do to change it – like a lick of paint, converting a study back into another bedroom, even splitting a big bedroom into a two smaller one’s or adding a downstairs loo? All these things may hold you up for a month or two, but could seriously add value to your home.

INTERESTING FACT: You can search the Land Registry online from just £3 to download plans and see what your house, or the one you are buying, sold for in the past

Accepting offers

Most people these days will make an offer below the asking price. You have decide whether to accept it and also, if you can get more than one offer, which to go with.

The first thing to remember is you don’t have to accept the offer. You can go back with a counter offer nearer your asking price or you can hold them off a while and see if you get another offer. The main thing here is to find out as much as you can about the buyer.

If you have an estate agent, he or she should be able to help with the following questions.

How serious are they?
Do they have a property to sell? If so is it on the market?
Do they have an offer on the property they are selling?
Do they need to move fast?
Has your estate agent seen a ‘Mortgage Offer in Principle’, which would suggest they can afford to pay what they are offering?
Are they are a cash buyer?
How much do they really want your house?
Did they start imagining where little Tommy would sleep or was yours one of six they saw that day and they thought it might be ‘worth a punt’?

Once you know a bit more, you can decide if you think they are an ideal buyer and it’s worth saying yes and getting on with it, or if they’re a bit too soon into the process and you can tell them to come back when they have an offer on their own house, without any commitment to sell.

Negotiating on timing

Sales often involve more than just your property. The people buying may have something to sell and the sellers of the property you’re buying may have something to buy and so on. This creates a chain, which can sometimes involve as many as 8 or 9 properties. Bringing all these buyers and sellers together takes a great deal of organisation, usually managed through your solicitor and/or your estate agent.

If you are able, it’s best to push for a deadline while leaving some flexibility in your own schedule, in case things slip. If you have to move on a certain date, make sure this is clear to the parties involved and make sure that your solicitor organises the whole process so that you can make that move.

If one part of the chain collapses, don’t forget you still have options. Moving out to rented property or organising bridging loans can both be ways of keeping your move on track. Talk to solicitors, estate agents and mortgage advisors about the options.

Gazumping

Gazumping is when a seller accepts one offer and then accepts a higher offer later on abandoning the first buyer. It’s not possible in Scotland, where offers are legally binding, but in England and Wales it is possible to accept another offer right up to exchange of contracts.