Jump to content

The tale of the sale of our old house


Recommended Posts

Yet another formal offer has just been received, cash buyer, no mortgage, realistic exchange of contracts date.  Not unexpected, but it does mean that we much be now near-certain of getting a sale at a reasonable price.  I don't think we have ever been in a situation where we've had so many people making formal offers to buy in such a very short period of time.

 

We're leaving it to the agent to do the negotiating for us, as that's all part of the service, and it's something I'd rather not get directly involved with.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

 

Have the offers complied with the "offers over" stipulation of your listing?

 

 

So far, yes, but only just.  We are going to "best and finals" this week, so I anticipate some, perhaps all, the offers to increase somewhat.  Price is not the most important aspect of any offer for us, the financial position of the person/people making the offer is.  The two offers we have where the purchasers have the money in the bank, and do not require a mortgage, are more valuable to us than the one that requires a mortgage, simply because we are aware of the added delay, and element of risk, incurred in arranging a mortgage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

 

 

So far, yes, but only just.  We are going to "best and finals" this week, so I anticipate some, perhaps all, the offers to increase somewhat.  Price is not the most important aspect of any offer for us, the financial position of the person/people making the offer is.  The two offers we have where the purchasers have the money in the bank, and do not require a mortgage, are more valuable to us than the one that requires a mortgage, simply because we are aware of the added delay, and element of risk, incurred in arranging a mortgage.

 

A friend had this a number of years ago. He immediately got 4 offers up to 25k over what he was looking for. He went back to those and said re offer around the 275 mark and then secured his buyer. I think if I was buying a house that I really wanted I would like to know what I would need to offer to secure it rather than be kicking myself that I hadn't offered a couple of grand more. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, newhome said:

 

A friend had this a number of years ago. He immediately got 4 offers up to 25k over what he was looking for. He went back to those and said re offer around the 275 mark and then secured his buyer. I think if I was buying a house that I really wanted I would like to know what I would need to offer to secure it rather than be kicking myself that I hadn't offered a couple of grand more. 

 

 

It's a tricky conundrum.  On the one hand there's a point of view that suggests that transparency, so all can see what's being offered, is the best way to get the highest price, rather like the situation with an auction, on the other hand there's the point of view that a lack of transparency may just attract an offer that is a lot higher than needed to secure the purchase.

 

I honestly don't know which would be best in our situation.  Neither do I know if it's reasonable to make other offers public or not (my limited experience with estate agents has been that they never say what anyone else has offered).

 

If we get a bit over £260k, as a solid cash offer, with no faffing around with delays whilst someone gets a mortgage sorted out, then I'll be happy.  Our savings pots will be topped up to back where they were before we started the new build, I had a bit of luck and sold an old watch a few months ago and made a profit of well in excess of £20k on it, It looks like my late Mother's farm is likely to sell for more than we anticipated, so my share of that will be a fair bit more than expected, plus I've done a lot of unexpected (and well paid) consultancy work this year that has brought in another £15k or so (after the tax man's had his big bite out of it...).  So, all told, maximising the sale price of our old house isn't as much of a high priority as it may have been without the unexpected additional income this year.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, JSHarris said:

(my limited experience with estate agents has been that they never say what anyone else has offered).

 

I've had an estate agent tell me what had been offered by someone else once, and several times they have said 'they have already rejected an offer above that' when I have been buying houses. I agree it's difficult. I like the fixed price idea up here. Offer that money and get it pretty much and then good to go once the missives are concluded, none of this pulling out the day of exchange or similar. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just accepted an offer for £285K, cash buyer, no chain, no mortgage, can complete the purchase in around 6 weeks.  Looks like our strategy of pricing low and asking for offers in excess of the minimum price achieved a sale price that I suspect is higher than  we'd have got by asking for a higher price and negotiating down.

 

Just off to open a bottle of wine...

  • Like 13
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks folks.  Still can't quite believe that we put the house on the market around nine days ago, have had three offers and accepted one that seems fair and most importantly with a purchaser that's in a strong position to proceed.  For us that was always going to be the most significant factor, rather than price, so to have an acceptable price as well is a pleasant bonus.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, ProDave said:

So Jeremy is buying the beers in November then?

 

Might have a buyer for our boat, been on the market 2 days and have a viewing this afternoon.

If I were younger and closer would have booked a viewing it looks great

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...