The property market definitely favours the seller right now with more demand for property than supply. Therefore it is likely that there is more than one potential buyer putting in an offer. Below are a few tips to making an offer and getting your offer accepted.
At the viewing, get as much detail about the property you are buying as possible. Act nonchalant, do not let them see that you have fallen in love with the property!
Make sure you ask lots of questions e.g. what is included, who is the seller, why do they want to sell, is there a chain, does the seller want to move quickly, how long is left on the lease, how much is the service charge/ ground rent. A lot of the times the estate agent will say they don't know and will check. Make sure you do get an answer though even if its after a offer has been made and accepted. Even upon acceptance of an offer you can still pull out with no costs incurred, if you haven't already instructed a mortgage broker, lender or solicitor.
My partner and I have recently had our sale fall through because the vendor was an incapacitated old lady with an estranged son who later managed to achieve a constructive trust in the property, therefore it was not the old lady's to sell despite her name being on the land registry. Long story short, if we had known that vendor was incapacitated with these potential risks, we may have decided to go for another flat.
Be aware of lying estate agents - Don't overpay!
Estate agents most definitely lie through their teeth. They can say there have been lots of offers when there has been none. They aren't supposed to do this, but our government who is quite happy to have a housing bubble to make people think there is a good economy, doesn't impose any kind of real regulation over estate agents and their conduct. In addition, estate agents love having open house days where they crowd a bunch of viewers in together so that you are made aware of how much competition there is.
That being said, unfortunately the bubble in London created by lack of new homes being built, property being snapped up by overseas investors who just want to flip property, means that they don't even need to lie these days, there genuinely are a lot of rival offers.
However don't get sucked into a bidding war, know your limit to what you can afford and stick to it. One way to find the fair market value of property is to go on Zoopla and look at other house prices in the area, and history reports on prices so don't pay more than what it is worth, fuelling the housing bubble even further for others!
By having gone to a lot of viewings you will get a better idea of what is worth what to you.
Don't get too attached to a flat upon viewings
With such competition right now in London, you can find it difficult to get your offer accepted. You will find that often you are outbid and will be disappointed, therefore do not get too attach to any house and there will always be the next one.
Get a Mortgage in Principle, have talked to a mortgage broker and thought about who you want to instruct as a solicitor.
You get this by arranging to see a mortgage provider, doing a quick 10min questionnaire about your salary, how much you want to borrow, and a very quick credit check, and they will print you out a certificate of a mortgage in principle. there and then. The estate agent will usually want to see this if your offer gets accepted. At this point you don't need to have chosen your mortgage provider, you can always go ahead with a different one. However it can be an idea to have a good idea with which mortgage provider you want to go with already.When you make an offer you can let it be known that you havre already arranged a mortgage in principle and have chosen a solicitor. I recommend going on comparison websites to compare costs of solicitors. Beware that the reviews on them are actually self selected by the solicitors. Google the solicitors and look for reviews elsewhere. We do not recommend BHP Law - slow and useless. We do not recommend Wiseman Lee who should really be struck off from providing a legal service.