anyone who brought a house in VIC this year?

[Salsa]

Ok - we are hoping to buy soon(1st home buyers) but when I look at the prices listed on property websites Im not sure what sort of offer we should make. I have heard that prices are inflated currently, but also to expect to pay maybe another $20,000 on top of what the advertised price is.

So my question is for anyone who purchased property in Melbourne over this year is when you made an offer was it for the advertised amount (and these can vary - some are listed as broadly as for example $400,000 - $450,000) or less or more, and then was the agreed price below, about same or above asking/suggested price?

Thanks in advance for your replies

[Salsa]

bump

[Jellyfish]

onthehouse.com.au - Agent and Private Real Estate, Free Sold Property Information is great for looking at what properties have sold for and when if you want to see what certain area trends are.

[Mak]

Hi Salsa!
How exciting! See if you can grab a copy of the recent results - in Sun/Mon papers and keep a bit of a log with some notes bout area/house etc to give you a feel for the prices. Depending on the agent's they all have different ranges/expectations. If you know what area you are after and are keen to move quickly you can purchase area reports - but it is hard to differentiate between the properties if you don't have access to floorplans etc...
Good Luck!

[shellbell3]

Well we bought nearly 2 years ago but I'm sure things are much the same.
Auction prices be prepared for it to go well over, we found add 10% minimum just to have a chance, sometimes would be up to 20% more.
Private sales different, I think you could put in an offer up towards the higher end of what they are asking you could get it, guess would depend on the interest.
We were dissapointed at so many auctions and found where we are now at private sale, it had been on the market for awhile and they kept having to drop the price down, we found it when it was in our price range and offered exactly what they wanted and got it, the next day there was all this other interest so we were lucky we got in first.
I think it would depend on area too, how much of a supply/ demand there is in that area, if they are having plenty of houses up and not as many buyers you may be able to negotiate a better price where if there is a high demand you may end up having to pay alot more than intitially thought.

[leesha]

We had this same problem! A good friend who is a real estate agent said that for example when they give you a $30,000 price gap (like 400,000 to 430,000) they are really wanting as close to that 430,000 as they can get.

If you have a limit in mind then offer less than that so you have some leverage to play with. But not to offer too low as they may think you aren't serious.

We purchased a property that was listed at 250,000 to 265,000. Offered 255,000 and it went back and forth till we settled on 260,000. We really wanted it though!!

It can depend how long it has been on the market for too. Find out what their reasons for selling are, how long settlement would be as you can gage if they are wanting a quick sale or not! Ask the agent lots of questions as they have to give you answers.

Google how to make an offer on a house and there is some great tips on websites out there!! Good Luck!!

[anney]

We sold about this time last year and have had some friends recently sell and they certainly got heaps more than they expected. Media seems to be saying prices are inflated, especially in first home buyers price range but really, no matter what the prices are, if you have done your research and know what you are prepared to pay and what you think a property is worth in comparison to those around then offer what you think is reasonable.
It certainly varies across the states but in Victoria, real estate agents seem to publish a low price so that they can get many people through the property so I say always expect to pay the top of what they are quoting or more.
good luck - very exciting time.

[Visitor6]

We've had nothing but grief. Final sales in in eastern Melbourne way above what were advised.

So hard to compete with the overseas syndicates buying up around us with $50,000 bid jumps.

Hard to compete too with sellers still continuing to want so so much above the real value of properties. Looks like if we ever buy it's paupersville for us.

[Amity]

I bought in July. Was quoted at $350,000+. I knew as I'd been looking in the area for 18 months, that the property would sell between $420K and $435K. So I made them an offer before the auction for $410K. That put the property on the market and everyone else who received the s32 was given 72hrs to put in their highest offer. I was given the right of reply, and got the property for near enough to the bottom end of that range. It's a 3br unit on a main road.

However, three months prior, I could have bought a 3br house, in the same suburb, on an entire block, for $425K at auction.

So yes, the prices are going crazy... an almost identical 3br unit on the same road sold for $450K at auction yesterday... so I've pretty much made $30K before I even blink...

Scary to think that...

[cindyb]

We bought july last year and our palce was advertised as 315+ we didn't want to go over 300 though and our first offer was 285 and loads of "no we want minimum 310 / 305" junk we ended up buying it for 297k and were happy. like div said, we had done our research in the area and knew what similar houses were going for which was low to mid 3's, but also knew that ours was in a fantastic spot but cosmetically was not in great shape, we got a bargain!!

Do some research into the areas you are looking at!

[Salsa]

Thanks for the advise everyone.

Im feeling rather anxious about us 'getting in'. We know our top dollar, but seems many of the places in the area we want are listed as starting at that.
Strecthbearer - we are looking in the east! I hope we dont encounter what you have
I suppose we will look round some houses and get an idea. Its very fustrating not knowing an area and what its worth etc.

What do you all think about revealing budget to agents? Like is it advisable to not let them know what your top $ is? Just thinkig about if we were to make an offer on one of the many places listed as say $320,000+, and the most we can go to is $320,000.


I do feel that there will be a house for us, I just hope it wont take too long to find it and get it.

[fionas]

There's really no substitute for doing your research as the others have said. You can buy a report for the suburb you're interested in for about $9.95 from one of the usual real estate websites - that will give you six months of sales results then just google the addresses and the most recent sold ones will still have their photos/floorplans available.

I was looking at buying/selling until, oh, about last week, and my rule of thumb was to add $120K to the lowest quoted starting price and that SHOULD secure the property eg. if it was quoted at $680 - 730 then really it would go for about $800K. So that's about 20%.

My real estate agent said the way to get a bargain is to look for houses that are advertised with an agent who doesn't have many properties for offer in that area. It means that they won't have as good a feel for how much properties there are going for and, in my experience, usually means that the owner is trying to get an agent with lower fees. He said that makes it more likely they will take an offer before auction so go around with your cheque book and make an offer on the spot.

Good luck - it's nuts at the moment so don't lose heart. There's plenty of us who're just going to wait until it settles down again.

[Lulu]

Don't EVER reveal your budget. Always keep your cards close to your chest, never tell them how much you want a property.

In fact, pretend you are buying a property for me. It will help keep the emotions out of it.

xoxoxoxo

[Cassius2]

hi salsa!

we bought a house 2 months ago after almost 12 months. it was a hard and emotional slog as we were FHB with a definite limit.

home price guide com au is a great place to see what properties sold for in your area in the last week. it also gives you prices for record sales of the year and previous years...good way to gauge how far it can go up.

we were looking brunswick/northcote area and basically if they advertised say 400-450, that ALWAYS meant AT LEAST 500. at one stage in the beginning of the year DH and I went to 20+ auctions and they all sold roughly 100k above the advertised price.

when making offers on houses new to the market, try to come up with a figure that a) you are willing to pay for that property and b) a figure that is attractive enough for the owner to place it on the market (ie pull out of an auction...not too easy as melbournians love an auction!). ALSO, if making an offer try to do it on a Friday just before close of business, that way it reduces the chance of other people getting organised in time to also place an offer (sounds cruel, and it is but it's the done thing).

if it is a property that has sat there for more than 28 days at private sale, then usually the vendor is more flexible and you can work your way up from a lower offer...

if it has been passed in at auction and a reserve price is set then i recommend making an offer that just tips over it. we had to wear the brunt of missing out on a property that had a bid only $500 above the reserve (we bid just under). also good to remember that just because it is private sale does not mean that you have exclusive right to the vendor, others may come in and pull the rug from under you...we had this happen soo many times.

in our case after attending countless auctions and watching delapidated junkie house after junkie house sell for 100ks of dollars more than the advertised price we landed an opportunity with a local RE agency. in this case, the fact that they were crapulent at advertising etc worked in our favour, no one was impressed by the online images and we took advantage (on a whim) and checked the place out, only to find that it was really lovely! we waited a couple of weeks before making an offer as the price was $1000 out of our maximum (it was a private sale) and we were def not going to go over. during this time we realised that there were no other potential buyers so we rather cheekily on a late friday evening put in an offer 30K less than the asking price and told the RE agent that we needed an answer that night by the vendor as we were going to auction the following morning (this was no lie luckily!). we got a call a couple of hours later with the news they accepted.

[MamaPan]

i get chills reading your story clare!

[Cassius2]

i get chills reading your story clare!

ha ha! i break out in a cold sweat just thinking about it lol!

[Lulu]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Cass, that's awesome.

I totally agree with the crapulent advertising thing. I got both my houses before the For Sale sign went up...

[Salsa]

Thanks again for all the advise

Im getting a much better idea of what to expect and what to do - but I was wondering, if we want to make an offer on a property, what sort of things is it advisable to put into the offer - such as a building inspection? Finance? Is there some sort of thing you can put to find out what the councils plans and permits are for that home or street?
Perhaps we should be looking for a lawyer now? Or should we do that once we have made the offer?

Im nervous, and just wanting to make sure we do this right and dont get ourselves in trouble.