Owning your own home

Never, ever accept the first offer unless you've had the property on the market for months.

I would totally hold out for asking price

It's a buoyant market, and the bidder knows that. They are testing what you'll accept. Reject the initial bid and see how quickly they come back to you. If they really want it then they'll bump the offer up to something closer to asking price. If they respond within a few hours you might be able to get them to asking price, if they take a while then they are testing your nerve.

Remember it's a game.

Remember it's a game.

I dont like games that involve vast sums of money.

I think i'm going to go back to the agent and say that I very keen to seel to them, as they are solid buyers, but I need the price to come up a bit to accept an offer so early in the game.

I think I'd be very happy with £345k, but all this talk recently of offers over asking price has made me think I should be a bit more greedy.

I'm cashing out of the London market, which you only do once, so i need to make as much from this as possible.

Perfect response.

Thanks for the advice Andy.
Much appreciated!

This is a one bed flat in Brixton right? Jesus.

Yuh.

Congratulations, you're the first person I know that cashes in on this whole thing. As much as I'm against the whole profiteering on peoples homes, I wish I'd bought a place a few years ago and could cash in now we're heading back to sweden.

This is a one bed flat in Brixton right? Jesus.

Yuh.

Christ!

Congratulations, you're the first person I know that cashes in on this whole thing.

This. Good decision. Well played and all that.

Buyer came back to me pretty quickly with a final & best offer of £343k, which I was quite happy with, so I accepted.

Fingers crossed everything moves along smoothly from here.

Thanks all for your advice.

Am I the only one that thinks that now is the perfect time to sell?

#2008

wowzerz - not bad for a 1br flat!

I think the market will be managed upwards until the 2015 election to give the Tories the best chance of winning. After that there **may **be a harsh 'market correction'.

Well done!

Sage advice up thread - you NEVER want your first offer to be accepted as a buyer, as there is always the danger that if it was accepted then you offered too much.

Always start low and expect to be knocked back initially.

This applies equally to sellers. If you accept the first offer then you sold it too cheap.

So, what you're saying is:
Don't worry if your house sale falls through, there will be bargains in 2015?
I can't wait that long.

Also: does anyone on here work for Lambeth Living?

I said may. If its a landslide the government may have the confidence to correct the market. If its too overblown it may correct itself. Or it might not.

tldr: I don't know anything.

#2008

You've got to think about what might trigger this? What could upset the supply/demand balance which dictates London prices?

2008 was essentially caused by credit drying up, after a period of relatively strong growth. From the bankers buying at the top to first-timers looking for a mortgage, demand for house buying was tempered.

Whilst we may be in for an easing of growth or even a small National correction as more sellers come to market and if and when interest rates rise (looking like late this year/spring '15), the London market remains an anomaly. Now more than ever its driven by forrin investors buying at the top; they are not influenced by such matters. Mark Carney himself has admitted he cannot influence it.

Savills has predicted a 24% rise over the next five years and I'm sure I read that other major anaylsts agree.

So, there'll be no London slump. Right? (hash tag I have a 2-bed buy-to-let flat in Brixton)

the upcoming world war 3 might cause a slight drop

I've got window shutters to mitigate that risk.

I have sturdy curtains & blitz spirit.

No euph.

My sale price is £153k more than I payed for it exactly three years ago (and most of that is in the last year or so).
Surely prices can't continue to rise so quickly for much longer??