Owning your own home

You should only offer what you think the place is worth to you. Doesn't matter what others think. You don't know their position.

houses having a short life span and slightly more consumable than here - 20 years on average

Interesting. I wonder what they are here, I'd guess going on 80 years or something.

i’d imagine not even close to enough sq/m for @Dammit

Aye which is fair, the problem is so many people don’t think like that.

This is very good advice.
While its big sums of money, what does 10k really equate to over 5+ years?

having to fish your daughter out of the brook sounds annoying.

And if it's sport fishing you'd have to put her back in again after catching her.

At that level very little id say, 100 a lot more noticeable.

an offer isn't legally binding is it? just offer what you want you may be in a better position than the others.

We viewed a place that apparently had 20 viewings in a day so was final and best offers only by midday the following Monday. We put an offer in 10k below asking and they replied to say there was an offer at asking price but they didnt like the position of them (presumably chain etc) and said we could have it if we increased our offer to match.

So much for final and best offer! told them if they liked our position so much then just accept our offer..

We had another offer accepted prior anyway so we were only going to go for it if the price was right. Its still on the market and good luck to them but would have pulled out on principle anyway even with our offer, final and best offer is exactly that not being drawn into some bidding war

solid wooden panels up to 2/3 height then trellis for the top 1/3.

A trellis top is great for security as you can't climb over it easily as it won't support the weight of a person, but that's a bit of a moot point if there's a 1m high fence either side of your garden.

I hate the idea of boxing myself in, and if you get on well with your neighbours then something that you can see through, but still gives you a bit of privacy, is a good thing.

It’s a paradox really - £10k looks like nothing on the total cost (and spread over a mortgage period) but it’s a shit load of cash up front and could be an insurmountable barrier if you’re already at your limit.

I reckon some kind of auction system would be better for everyone - market determines price instead of estate agents and overly optimistic sellers.

10k was the difference of going into the next LTV bracket for us

I think that type of system wouldnt be favourited by estate agents who are making incredible amounts of money by pushing up the prices more and more to enable bigger percentages for them.

Estate agents dont really care if the house fails into negative equity as by that point they are long gone.

£10k is another rolex

an offer isn't legally binding is it?

No. Not even when accepted, unless signed and in writing. Section 2 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989.

I reckon some kind of auction system would be better for everyone

If that was the case, why isn't everyone buying houses at auctions? It's not like they don't exist.

My feeling is that the price would bid up fairly far, the house is probably worth close to a million in good condition, so another 20k on the purchase may seem like small beer to the other party. I reckon if I bid 840 then it would just be the start, and I don’t want to get involved.

A lot of houses go at auction here... It's quite the spectacle, it all happens outdoors in front of the house... A place over the road from us was auctioned a couple of weeks back, it was like a mini carnival...

A lot of houses go at auction here...

So do they bring the dramatic hammer down when they go? :)

I'm not going to be fencing off the sides, just the end that leads to the river/park. There are many other houses along the brook that have nothing at all. If anyone was looking for an easy garden to access, it won't be ours.

I've used a similar phrase when talking to ms_com about how she came into the world. Didn't go down well.

You old smoothy, you.

I believe there's also a cultural thing where many people prefer new houses so old ones get demolished unnecessarily. Kind of opposite of here. (Cultural preference, not that homes don't get demolished unnecessarily.)

I reckon if I bid 840 then it would just be the start, and I don’t want to get involved.

Deal with it like everyone should deal with an eBay auction. If you think 840 is the most you'd pay (and it's already at 830) then bid 840 and be prepared to be outbid.

If you don't bid 840 then you will have 0% chance of getting it for 840.

If you do bid 840 then you've got a small chance of getting it at 840. If the others out bid you then enjoy walking away. It doesn't cost you anything and you get the smug satisfaction that you've probably cost the others an extra £20k by making them bid up to 850. Just don't get caught up in a bidding war.

I bought our current place on the strength of offering asking price (in 2007!) and saying "That's it, that is the final final offer, there is no more, if they want more it won't be from us, take it or leave it."

Yes, quite. Bid your max and stick to it. If it’s worth more to someone else, then so be it. I’m not sure what ebays kind of auction is called but the auto bidding system means you don’t automatically pay your max, just enough to beat the next highest.

Wrong sort of auction and aren’t they legally binding too?

I’d say a system where everyone has a week to submit offers (after viewing) with an autobidding system and agreed minimum increment in place to encourage best offers without the price shooting up through outliers. Make the current price public and crucially the result is subject to survey.