It's not as easy as buying a Chewbacca mask!"

If only buying a property was as easy as buying a Chewbacca mask!

If only you could pop down to your local estate agent and point out to the sales person that you wanted to buy the property that you had seen in the window. It's just not as easy as that. The first thing that you need to work out is how much do you need to pay for the property? Here are some questions you should be asking yourself when deciding on the all important price at a Closing Date.

How long are you going to live in the property?

No point in paying a king's ransom for a property that you are only going to be staying in for a few years before you buy that bigger place. As soon as you pay over the Home Report value then you are in negative equity. The property is only worth what the unsuccessful bidder was prepared to pay.

"Play your cards right!"

Higher or lower than Home Report is the question here. In all likelihood a property that is going to a Closing Date is likely to fetch a price in excess of HR unless it has been on the market for a while. Don't be fooled by the Offers Over price!

On the buses

No point in paying a ridiculous amount for a property that is a bog standard flat in a tenement. Don't be fooled by the decor, appliances or nice touches. It ain't going to look like that when you move in and in any case you can make any property in the right location look fantastic. it just takes know how and hard work. If you don't get that flat there will be another one along in a while that will be cheaper.

"My Luck Number's 1"

Ridiculous as it seems I would suggest putting in a price and add your lucky number. You don't want to be losing a property for £11 - a figure that a client of mine won a closing date at recently

Put an offer in

I bought a property by not putting an offer in and would never recommend this tactic. Closing date was announced. I had worked out that our offer was not going to be competitive so did not offer. I phone the estate agents after the CD to be told that no offers had been accepted. I asked what they would accept. The figure that they came back to me with was £10K less than I was originally going to offer. Needless to say I got an offer in as soon as I heard that. Make the offer!

If you would like any advice on what to offer at a Closing Date then do get in touch.