Buyers' Advocates > The Purchase

This is all about knowing what to do and when to do it. We will explain to you why a particular approach is most likely to result in purchasing the property for the lowest possible price.

Before we consider making an offer to buy a property on behalf of a Client, two crucial issues need to be addressed:

  • Whether the property needs a building and pest inspection, and if so, to arrange such inspections (at the Client's expense) and then analyse the results.
  • Have the contract and Section 32 checked out by a solicitor.

Once these checks have been satisfactorily completed, there are a number of questions that need to be considered including:

  • What terms best suit us?
  • Can we use terms as leverage against the vendor?
  • What does the agent think the property is worth? (This is very relevant as it may influence the vendor's thoughts.)
  • What does the vendor think the property is worth? (This could be the same or very different to the agent's view.)
  • What is motivating the vendor to sell?
  • How will the agent handle our offer given that there will probably be interest from other parties?
  • Is the vendor receptive to an offer (if the property is on an auction program)?

Only when we have answers to these questions and in light of what we consider to be the property's real market value, will we advise you of what we consider is the 'correct initial' offer to buy the property. (Our first offer, of course, should not be the maximum amount we are prepared to pay.)

Negotiating the sale from this point is something we do on a very regular basis. Through the negotiation phase of the purchase, there are always 'judgement' calls to be made. These may include:

  • If our initial offer is rejected, should we increase it and, if so, by how much?
  • Should we increase the offer straight away or wait for a specific reason or time period? (For example, we recently purchased a large house in Brighton after a protracted 10 day negotiation. At one point we did nothing for five days as we knew we were the only buyer and a large number of somewhat similar properties were due to be auctioned that coming weekend. We were confident that the auction clearance rate would be low as a consequence, and that this would have an impact on the vendor's price expectations. It did, and we purchased the property on our terms and price.)
  • Should a time limit for the vendor's acceptance of the offer be stipulated? (In most, but by no means all cases, the answer to this question is yes.)

Naturally, we will keep you fully informed of the progress of the offer and always obtain your approval if it needs to be varied.

Our negotiating experience will quite often be the difference between you buying the property or missing out!

Buying at Auction

There are, of course, many situations where we cannot buy a property quietly or by negotiation. In these situations we will bid on your behalf at the public auction. We are able to make instant decisions on bidding tactics during the course of the auction, and generally bid in such a way as to maximise your chance of success.