Q:of similar houses that I'm looking that has been sold recently in my area?
www.houseprices.co.uk tell me the price and the type of house (but only up till march).
I was wondering if it's possible to cross check with rightmove?
Want to put in an offer that is approx 15% lower than asking price but want to check that the property is priced ok for the area.
Also, does anyone know the implications of offering 250k and a cash sum of 10k for furnishings and fittings so we would be under the 3% threshold? This was advice from a work colleague (who was informed by an EA, so not entirely sure how this is viewed, thought it was best to ask here!!)
WRONG
The Revenue & Customs take a very close look at properties sold for £250K and the price paid for furnishings fittings etc. You are even asked to list them all with the price/ second hand value – which will only be a fraction of the new price. How much do you think you would get for all your furnishings if you were selling them in the local paper – no where near £10,000.
If the revenue suspect that you have falsified the value – they will come after you for the additional S/D plus a substantial penalty. think very carefully before entering into a transaction of this nature.
Any transaction around about this amount may be investigated by the Tax Office and if you've offered ￡10k for a pair of old curtains and a carpet then they'd hammer you.
Land Registry have only been publishing prices since April 2000, so it won't be on any of the lists.
Here is the link on houseprices to that road:
http://www.houseprices.co.uk/e.php?q=rolfe+drive+rh15&n=10
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-20397527.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy
The last detached house sold on the same road last year for 337,000 and a semi-completed this year in Feb sold for 285,000. Their price isn't too unreasonable (in the current market), they are moving abroad.
They have had 3 offers, 1 rejected as it was too low, and the other 2 are part of chain waiting for their houses to sell. So we are in a reasonable position to bargain but can wait another 3 months until they get desperate….
As for the ￡250K for the house and ￡10K for the furnishings, to drop below the stamp duty limit is perfectly legal and above board. Just bear in mind that the ￡10K for furnishings can't be added to the mortgage, only the ￡250K will be classed as the purchase price (or ￡249,999).
OK, perhaps if it was reduced from 350K down to 260K then this may be stronging it, but otherwise give it a go.
Do you know what they paid for it?