[TeaPea]

Hello, nice thread, I'm currently looking to move up to my second home, sick of waiting for them to come down, not so convinced it's going to happen now.

Anyway, sold my house, so looking to start placing offers, most the houses I want are advertised around 250k but I can only really spend 220k so going to try and go in with some offers around that number and see what happens

[pby]

Wish I has spotted this earlier before I posted my question. Great thread I have to say!

[notnow]

Property-bee is the tool you need.
I have spent the last 4 years STR and have just bought. One year ago the house I bought came to the market. I bought it recently at about 70% of original asking price, and 20% below last asking price. Pre Nov 2007 crash I would say it was a good buy at the original asking price.

The diference between my purchase and all the other houses I offered on was that this vendor snapped my hand off, the others said things like "I am not going to give it away", and behaved as though I had insulted them.

So, you have to find the combination of the right house for you, and a motivated seller. Do not settle for second best. If you are not thrilled with the prospect of buying a particular house, you are buying the wrong house at the wrong price.

I am so glad the other vendors turned me down, as I ended up really happy with my deal. All of the properties I offered on are still for sale. There is a moral there.

Be pleasant to the vendor and the agent, be business like. Make a decision and offer, and explain just how very quickly you will move on it, and that you will walk away if there is a sudden mysterious third party (there always is), and be prepared to up your offer by a very small amount if refused and then walk away if refused again. If you have to wait more than a few hours for vendors response to an offer, walk away.

You are holding all the cards and must behave like you are. You are playing high stakes poker against experts and liars. I was so close to buying the wrong house at the wrong price, but that enabled me to recognise a really good buy when I saw it. If you offer on a house that has had a deal or two fall through, you are much more likely to have an offer accepted. Property-bee is your friend! Look through the houses that property-bee show as reduced three or four times, and perhaps sold a time or two as well. There you will find your motivated seller, there is your sub 250k bargain. Dont rush. Sorry for rambling but I am passionately against the trend happening right now for some people to still believe the market is "bouyant, on the up, buy now before they go up" and all the other EA cr*p.

[bearwithasorehead]

notnow, on 31 January 2013 - 10:42 AM, said:

snip
Look through the houses that property-bee show as reduced three or four times, and perhaps sold a time or two as well. There you will find your motivated seller, there is your sub 250k bargain. Dont rush. Sorry for rambling but I am passionately against the trend happening right now for some people to still believe the market is "bouyant, on the up, buy now before they go up" and all the other EA cr*p.

Agree with most of this, but a question: does the evidence on PB of sales repeatedly falling through not indicate an 'unmotivated' seller - one with whom potentially it is difficult to do business. I am wary of those and more interested in the ones who have unilaterally reduced over a period of time.

[pyracantha]

bearwithasorehead, on 01 February 2013 - 10:59 AM, said:

Agree with most of this, but a question: does the evidence on PB of sales repeatedly falling through not indicate an 'unmotivated' seller - one with whom potentially it is difficult to do business.

Possibly - or too many people thinking they can get a mortgage sorted and then can't. In my search area EA's are not passing on offers unless buyers have funds in place or a firm offer already on the table for their current property.

[StainlessSteelCat]

notnow, on 31 January 2013 - 10:42 AM, said:

Property-bee is the tool you need.
I have spent the last 4 years STR and have just bought. One year ago the house I bought came to the market. I bought it recently at about 70% of original asking price, and 20% below last asking price. Pre Nov 2007 crash I would say it was a good buy at the original asking price.

The diference between my purchase and all the other houses I offered on was that this vendor snapped my hand off, the others said things like "I am not going to give it away", and behaved as though I had insulted them.

So, you have to find the combination of the right house for you, and a motivated seller. Do not settle for second best. If you are not thrilled with the prospect of buying a particular house, you are buying the wrong house at the wrong price.

I am so glad the other vendors turned me down, as I ended up really happy with my deal. All of the properties I offered on are still for sale. There is a moral there.

Be pleasant to the vendor and the agent, be business like. Make a decision and offer, and explain just how very quickly you will move on it, and that you will walk away if there is a sudden mysterious third party (there always is), and be prepared to up your offer by a very small amount if refused and then walk away if refused again. If you have to wait more than a few hours for vendors response to an offer, walk away.

You are holding all the cards and must behave like you are. You are playing high stakes poker against experts and liars. I was so close to buying the wrong house at the wrong price, but that enabled me to recognise a really good buy when I saw it. If you offer on a house that has had a deal or two fall through, you are much more likely to have an offer accepted. Property-bee is your friend! Look through the houses that property-bee show as reduced three or four times, and perhaps sold a time or two as well. There you will find your motivated seller, there is your sub 250k bargain. Dont rush. Sorry for rambling but I am passionately against the trend happening right now for some people to still believe the market is "bouyant, on the up, buy now before they go up" and all the other EA cr*p.

This is great advice - and I largely followed it when buying my place last October. Such sellers might be rare - but they are gold.

And I couldn't have done it without Property Bee. When the house first came into my price bracket in August - Property Bee showed it had at least one asking price reduction every month since April. I knew they were good for more, even though the house already looked like good value compared to others in the area. Also they'd be in the house since the 70s so obviously should have plenty of equity. Finally got another 17% off.

My additional tactic was to offer on a few different properties with different agents, make them aware I was in cash and would take up the first to do a deal.

Sadly, it didn't help the estate agent we bought it through. I noticed they'd closed down on an irregular trip to town yesterday.

[Swansea Estate Agent]

Just to update you all from an estate agent.

We are still constantly receiving offers around 30% below and very little movement with regards to second increased offers. Many buyers are now realising that if they keep putting in these offers, then they will get a deal eventually.

The main issue is having the sellers that are buying again to try to negotiate a similar deal, so that they can accept the offer. The problem gets worse the bigger the chain becomes.

Of course this could all be avoided if some agents were not ramping prices to gain instructions or the vendors were realistic. However if an agent ramps a price, then those nearby see pound signs.