Spoke to my brother

My brother has just bought a place, and is in the know with the whole process.

I told him the place was on the market for £370K and I was going to put in an offer for £350K, both he and his girlfriend were astounded that my offer was going to be so high, they suggested that my offer be as follows:

• Purchase price £335K.
• No need to renegotiate if there was less than 3K of work needed to be done post surveyors report.
• Stress that I am a first time buyer, hence NO CHAIN.
• Stress that I am hot to move quickly.
• Stress that I have the cash in the bank and the mortgage arranged.
• Stress that the market is dropping currently, every month they leave it will cost them another couple of £K on the selling price
• Demand that once the offer is accepted that the property comes off the market with all estate agents.

I should note that the property is listed with three different estate agencies, since estate agencies will charge more for this competitive service (they may after all advertise the property and one of their competitors sells it, so they receive no commission), this is usually an indication that the vendor is looking to sell quickly or that they are under financial duress. In this case since the property is empty, I'm guessing that the current owner is paying for a mortgage and a very expensive bridging loan while they are owner of both properties.