made an offer - second thoughts

B

buckfast

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Hi All,

I somewhat impulsively made an offer of the asking price on a property. While I am still very interested in the property, I feel, and it's a golden rule really, I should have tried to bargain and offered less than the asking price.

I suppose it's possible for me to withdraw my offer and make a new, lower offer?

Thanks
 
Nothing is committed until contracts are signed, but to be fair to all parties involved I think you need to figure out first if you're serious about buying & at what price.
Do you already own a property, if so have you done anything about selling it yet?
Have you got mortgage approval yet?
 
We made an offer (impuslively) of 5K above the asking price in 2007, on our house we are now living in. After a day or two we realised we were foolish to have done this, so we withdrew the offer. A week later we made a further offer of 10K below the asking price and it was refused or so the EA said. We had doubts about the EA and if she had really put the 2nd offer to the owners. We went off on hols for two weeks, when we got back the house was still up for sale, so we approached the owners of the house directly and made the offer of 10k below asking price and it was accepted there and then. As we had initally thought the EA hadnt informed their client of our 2nd offer, so the deal was done without the aid of the EA. The owners saved a few bob too.
 
Of course you can change your offer. I've recently done it myself. Asking price of 250,000 euro which i offered and two weeks later i dropped to 220,000 which was accepted! woo-hoo! Reason being i had lost quite a few hours in my working week and i didn't want to put myself under pressure.
 
Thanks for the replies, especially the bidding tips from Sadie. Since my offer I have come across another property with the same auctioneer. The asking price for this house is 25k more than the original property I had looked at. I have made an offer on this second house of 10k less than the asking. I don't think i'll move any higher on my offer- actually i'm pretty certain that I won't. The only real issue is that I had received a mortgage offer letter for the 1st house but i'm not sure i'll get the extra capital for the latest property. Guess i'll just have to wait and see. I've found out that this property has been on the market for the last 8 months and the price has been dropped at least 4 times.
Thanks again.
 
buckfast said:
Thanks for the replies, especially the bidding tips from Sadie. Since my offer I have come across another property with the same auctioneer. The asking price for this house is 25k more than the original property I had looked at. I have made an offer on this second house of 10k less than the asking. I don't think i'll move any higher on my offer- actually i'm pretty certain that I won't. The only real issue is that I had received a mortgage offer letter for the 1st house but i'm not sure i'll get the extra capital for the latest property. Guess i'll just have to wait and see. I've found out that this property has been on the market for the last 8 months and the price has been dropped at least 4 times.
Thanks again.
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Buckfast I think you should slow down. This is the biggest financial decision of your life. Making rash offers off the cuff is not good for anyone involved.

Before you even consider making an offer do the following:

1. Work out what you can afford, allowing some breating space for interest rates to move up a few percent (I'd allow for ECB going to about 6%, 2% above the long term rate)
2. See what kind of offers you can get from the cheapest mortgage provider
3. Check out the asking prices of other houses for sale in the area
4. Ring estate agents selling other houses and ask what the current bids are and even what they thing the buyers would be willing to accept
5. Check out rents in the area (daft.ie) and compare to your potential mortgage repayments, given low interest rates at the moment I wouldn't touch a house where the mortgage would be higher than the rent
6. Get some advice from a financially astute friend
 
Thanks for all replies. Asking prices for other very similar houses in the area are some 20 to 30k higher than the asking price for the house i'm interested in, and I have bid 10k less again.
 
I'd be with other posters on saying take a time out and re-assess how much you want/can afford to spend.

What I did personally was find a figure that myself and my partner would be comfortable with, but also that we could cover the repayments if one of us lost our job and if interest rates went to 5 or 6%. Admittedly, we'd be struggling but at least we'd know worse case scenario we could still survive.

I don't know if you're buying with another person or not, but definitely look at the interest rate factor and whether you coudl afford repayments when/if they hit 6% We couldn't afford the type of house we wanted for a long time, but we waited for the prices to come down to us and then put in offers. And yes, sometimes as low as 30 or almost 40% below asking.

You may feel like you're chancing you arm - and you could be, lets be honest - but if it means you've some level of peace of mind for the next number of years - i.e. you're in a house you like and can afford - isn't it worth it?

I know you might want to jump in now and enjoy a new home, but for your own sake take a breather and step back from it all. You might be glad you did, and you've nothing to lose.
 
You obviously don't know what your doing which could cost you alot of money that you may regret for years to come.

Take a few steps back and find a friend \ family member who is used to negotiation with estate agents ( who will take you to the cleaners if you don't know what your doing ) or who may advise you to wait until it bottoms out in the next few years ( which is my advise).
 
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