Ten top tips for buyers
What are the most important things to remember when bidding for the most expensive single purchase you’ve ever made – often using someone else’s money to part-fund it?
Buying agent, Henry Pryor, shares his top ten tips for buyers:
1. Try and buy with your head and not your heart. You may love the view, the garden or your dream kitchen, but don’t forget that you need to be able to keep up with your mortgage repayments.
2. Don’t be afraid to negotiate if you think the asking price is too high.
3. Use the tools on Rightmove to check what similar properties have sold for, what other homes are for currently for sale at and how long the property has been on the market.
4. Calculate the yield – the rent that could be achieved divided by the asking price. Aim for 6%+; less than 4% should ring alarm bells.
5. Look at other properties through the same agent so he knows you are serious and could buy something other than the one you have your heart set on.
6. Bid an odd number. You don’t have to increase in regular amounts to outbid someone else.
7. Be clear about what you are buying. Is the garden furniture, the carpet, the curtains and/or the new kitchen equipment included in the price?
8. Put your best foot forward. Include the name of your solicitor, your mortgage lender/broker, state just how fast you think you could exchange contracts and how flexible you are on when you might complete. Make it easy for the seller to accept your offer. It may not be as much as he wanted but it gives him other things of value such as time to find another home.
9. Don’t be afraid to walk away. There is no law that says the buyer has to be the one to blink first, often the seller will negotiate indeed often he expect to.
10. Always follow up any offer in writing and mark it ‘subject to contract’. Be confident, after all you have what the seller wants… money!
Henry Pryor is a buying agent. He is a regular commentator on the BBC and in a number of national newspapers.
http://www.henrypryor.com/
Follow Henry Pryor on Twitter – @HenryPryor
