Standing your Ground

Garrington were instructed to find a home for a young family who had relocated back from America. They had already selected schooling for their children in the Berkshire area and were therefore keen to restrict their search to a very specific geographical area. With a budget of circa £2,000,000 they were looking for a good family home with a decent sized garden and, ideally, offering a rural outlook.

THE SEARCH

The search took place in a fairly frenzied market in which best-of-breed property was selling instantaneously and, often, for well over the advertised asking price. The client was keen to avoid a competitive bidding scenario and so, as well as viewing all relevant ‘on market’ property, the search consultant undertook a great deal of proactive work to contact relevant properties in the area to establish whether or not they would consider a sale. Whilst the response to this activity was positive the process being discussed involved a massive premium which, it was agreed, was not a sensible thing to do at what was considered to be the ‘peak’ of the market.

With this in mind the search consultant revisited some of the properties that were currently available but significantly over priced. A house in the local area that needed an element of modernisation and internal configuration was still on the market after 2 years. The original asking price of £2,650,000 had been reduced to £2,500,000 and then to £2,350,000. The house was fundamentally sound but the asking price was far in excess of a realistic value in the current market conditions.

NEGOTIATION

At the time of our clients’ interests in the property the vendor was considering a further price reduction to £2,150,000 as they had found somewhere to buy and were very keen to achieve a sale.  With all of this in mind their consultant advised that the property was worth in the region of £1,800,000 and it was agreed to submit a one-off offer at this level.

The offer was immediately rejected and an increased bid requested. The consultant discussed the property and current market conditions at length with the selling agent and, whilst not increasing the initial bid, requested that it remained on the table. The negotiation process went on for several months with regular contact and requests for increased bids but it was agreed to continue to stand firm with the original bid of £1,800,000 in the absence of any interest from other parties.

Eventually, almost three months later, the vendor accepted the original offer and the deal was swiftly concluded.

VALUE DELIVERED

Garrington provided the knowledge and expertise to establish the true value of a property in a rapidly changing market. Once that was established our constant communication with the seller’s agent and daily conversations with our client gave them the confidence to stick with their original bid on a property they desperately wanted to secure. On their own admission this is something that they wouldn’t have had the confidence to do without professional advice.

The negotiation process was tense and highly charged at times as it involved a vendor under immense pressure to achieve the best sale price for their property. Garrington’s management of the situation protected our client from unnecessary exposure to that emotion and ended up securing them the property of their dreams at a significant saving from the asking price.