Kirstie & Phil's Property Guide: Index Property Guide: Yorkshire

Date Published:

18/07/2008

Kirstie and Phil tackle the latest property issues and bring all the up-to-the-minute news in this ever-changing market.

Whether you’re going for a million pound property or one costing a whole lot less, every penny counts. And that’s where negotiating comes in. Here’s Property Search Consultant Richard Hardie from Garrington Homefinders with some negotiating know-how.

"The negotiation process is pretty intimidating for most people. Often, people haven’t done the research, so they don’t know what figure to pitch at. They don’t know whether to go in at the asking price, above the asking price, or below the asking price.

'When you’re thinking about offering on a property, you have to think about the value and where you’re going to place your offer. A lot of people like a bargain, and feel as though they can offer way under the asking price. But you do have to be careful, because some people find that offensive. If it doesn’t have the right effect, they won’t take you seriously and they often won’t look at your offer any further.

'When you are offering, the best way to make your offer as solid as possible is to put it in writing. Then you can lay out, in the form of a letter, why you are making the offer, why you are a good buyer, and the reason you’re making this particular offer at this level.

'It’s often good to think about the vendor and what’s going to appeal to them. What timescales are they looking at? Would they answer to having a deposit put down to secure the property and take it off the market? Are they looking for a quick exchange and a long completion? There are quite a lot of factors to think about and it’s useful to make your offer more attractive to the vendor.

'The golden rule, really, is to keep as level headed as possible and, if you’ve done your research, keep to those figures and don’t get too excited.'