When you view your potential next home, it’s all too easy to get carried away when making an offer.

And by that I don’t necessarily mean offering too much. It’s also easy to offer too little and just as it’s not easy to reduce an offer which you then decide is too high nor is it easy to raise an offer when you’ve made one that’s insultingly low.

Making that initial offer requires some research backed up by careful thought. When I’m making a market appraisal of a property before it goes onto the market I consider not only the property itself but also those around it, what else is for sale in the locale, how keen buyers are on that area, and, to a lesser degree, how the market has performed in that area in the past.

Luckily for me, I don’t need to have emotional input, unlike a buyer who has to love the home they are planning to live and or the seller, who may loathe the idea of moving out even they know current circumstances mean they have to.

It’s very easy to go on the property sale websites, see what has sold in the area before and what it went for. But historical data, as I’ve pointed out many times, is largely irrelevant. In the last decade we have had a market peak, a sudden collapse, and a slow recovery so at what point does the online data become relevant – or irrelevant, come to that?

As a buyer, you want to get the property for the least possible. As the seller, you want to maximise your price in order to move on. As an estate agent, I work out what’s a fair price in the current market, not only to appease the wishes of the seller but also to keep the price attractive to potential buyers.

So if you have been to view a house, you have to have accept that the estate agent has set a guide price somewhere near what the market will stand. If we set it too low we waste time showing it to people who can never buy but if we set it too high then we deter those who might really want it.

Before you go to view, work out

1. Your budget
2. When the mortgage rate rises, will you still be able to afford it
3. Have you got the Stamp Duty money you need
4. If the area has all the amenities you want
5. If not, how much will it cost you to access what you need, such as schools, or to get to work

When you arrive at the viewing decide how impressed you are by

1. Its appearance from the road
2. The general appearance of the neighbourhood
3. The front garden (if it has one)
4. The overall condition as you approach the front door
5. The smell – if it reeks of dog and you hate dogs, you’ll never feel comfortable unless it’s a real bargain
6. Is the house condition sufficiently good to avoid large immediate expenditure
7. Compared with what else is on the market, how does this one appear for both condition and position

After the viewing, talk to the agent before rushing in with an offer, then

1. Decide if you really like it and can live with it
2. Does it do all that you need
3. What sensible offer you are prepared to make (making a ridiculously low offer never gets you the house)
4. Be ready to give the agent details of your solicitor / conveyancer and surveyor if you have one
5. Have proof of your financial means, so you can show your offer is backed up by an ability to proceed with the purchase
6. When your offer’s accepted, have a wry smile, toast your success, and push on with the process.

Remember, though, that the estate agent works for the seller, not the buyer. Unless the seller instructs us otherwise, estate agents have to carry on with marketing the property.  So ask the agent if, once your offer is accepted, marketing will stop. And make sure that everything you think about the house is accurate. If you have any questions, ask them. Even when working for the seller, the estate agent has a duty under the law not to mislead the buyer.

Colin Shairp, director, Town and Country Southern<