Viewing / Buying a house

[Xela]

1 hour ago, jackbauer24 said:

Is this normal or shall I just wait for the Covid/Stamp Duty bubble to disappear in June/Sept?

The market isn't normal at all at the moment. A lot of people are leaving cities for more rural/suburban areas, or just places with gardens, due to WFH more and the fact they don't need to be in the city 5 days a week. Some areas like Cornwall and Devon, things are just getting snapped up in hours. Add in the stamp duty holiday and its a perfect storm. 

[Rds1983]

9 hours ago, Xela said:

The market isn't normal at all at the moment. A lot of people are leaving cities for more rural/suburban areas, or just places with gardens, due to WFH more and the fact they don't need to be in the city 5 days a week. Some areas like Cornwall and Devon, things are just getting snapped up in hours. Add in the stamp duty holiday and its a perfect storm. 

Having grown up in Devon and seen a regular flow of people leaving cities to relocate there I fully expect this to be a artificially inflated bubble that will correct itself in about 18-36 months. They will get fed up of the lack of amenities, the limited choices, and that it's boring as hell in the winter when it just rains all the time and you can't get out on the beach. It's been this way for 30 years at least but now there's loads more people doing it. Great for a holiday, very different to live there. 

I also expect to see a push back on the WFH movement as companies look to get people back into the offices. Be it for easier team communication/training, enhanced cyber/data security, or just a old fashioned mindset from senior management. 

Devon /Cornwall has always been a fast moving market but this is ridiculous, seems to be that way anywhere rural though as Cheshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire are similarly inflated. Although HS2 might help keep them inflated if people can live there but be in London quickly. 

[Rds1983]

10 hours ago, jackbauer24 said:

How insane is the market at the moment?! Is it always like this?

I'm a late first time buyer but am now in a very healthy position and decided to finally get moving on this. Having a good budget, the deposit sorted and very stable jobs in no chain I thought we'd not find it too hard despite our quite particular requirements list.

However, so far we're getting nowhere. Found a house... Did a drive by, phoned up Agents and price had risen by about 20%! A week later, find another house advertised on Saturday, phone Monday and it's Under Offer and no more viewings. Find another a few days later and again, 24hrs later they're not accepting viewings. Today, goes live at 3.30 (Rightmove), phone at 4.15 and viewings full and we're ninth in waiting list.

I thought this would be the fun part before the paperwork/solicitors bit but I'm so disillusioned already. We've spoken to a few agents who know what we're looking for but they don't really seem to bothered to even send emails... Bar one who decided to book us into a viewing for a house while we were at work... For a house that was half our budget, in the wrong location and way smaller than we'd discussed.

Is this normal or shall I just wait for the Covid/Stamp Duty bubble to disappear in June/Sept?

The housing market is crazy right now and hard to predict (although I have my suspicions above). 

Waiting could be a good option and what I'd be tempted by. However everyone expected a covid crash last year and the opposite happened for various reasons. I know several people who sold up and moved into rented to try and make a bargain and it's backfired massively for them. Prices may drop but they might go up still. 

Whatever you decide, I'd keep half an eye out and if you see a house you really like then go for it. We're in the process of moving to Cheshire to be closer to the in laws and the price we're paying might be higher than what it's worth in 2 years time. However, it's a long term investment and hopefully will go back up again and more, there's a risk it won't and we might have to take a loss down the line but it's a risk we're taking. 

[jackbauer24]

Latest update in the insane market...

House goes live on Monday basically as I'm refreshing the Rightmove page. Phone estate agents and they say they've just put it on. As they have our details they quickly book us in for the first viewing on the first day viewings will take place, this Saturday.

Log on to RM tonight... House is under offer?! So am I missing a step or are people just offering without seeing properties now? Estate Agents haven't told us a thing.

Phoning them in the morning but so so bored of this now. People keep suggesting I just put in offers so I can VIEW the properties but that seems a very disingenuous way of approaching it all. Surely you can't just go round offering on 10 houses til you choose the one you like?!

Estate Agents don't have the greatest rep and I can see why too, their communication and effort is awful. On saying that, in this market, I suppose it's not worth their time as there is no pushing needed, everything is coming to them.

I'm hating this process so much and this was supposed to be the fun dreaming bit before all the gazumping, paperwork and expenses come in to it... I can barely view houses.

[AlwaysAVFC]

6 hours ago, jackbauer24 said:

Latest update in the insane market...

House goes live on Monday basically as I'm refreshing the Rightmove page. Phone estate agents and they say they've just put it on. As they have our details they quickly book us in for the first viewing on the first day viewings will take place, this Saturday.

Log on to RM tonight... House is under offer?! So am I missing a step or are people just offering without seeing properties now? Estate Agents haven't told us a thing.

Phoning them in the morning but so so bored of this now. People keep suggesting I just put in offers so I can VIEW the properties but that seems a very disingenuous way of approaching it all. Surely you can't just go round offering on 10 houses til you choose the one you like?!

Estate Agents don't have the greatest rep and I can see why too, their communication and effort is awful. On saying that, in this market, I suppose it's not worth their time as there is no pushing needed, everything is coming to them.

I'm hating this process so much and this was supposed to be the fun dreaming bit before all the gazumping, paperwork and expenses come in to it... I can barely view houses.

I know the estate agent we bought through, don't allow bids without viewings, I'm not sure where things stand legally in not doing that.

However they do do viewings before the house goes live on the market. My brother works for them so we viewed a few properties before it was on the market including the one we bought. I know they do it for others to, I'm not sure what criteria they use for doing it, presuming it's when they have a potential buyer that it ticks all the boxes for.

As I buyer I felt it was a bit of a minefield as you obviously couldn't offer below asking price as they would just list it.

We bid for the first house and needed one quick as we were relocating and starting new jobs so bid a bit more than what it was worth but not stretching us. However they got a bit greedy and thought they could get more whether that was from us or someone else. So they went to market and it flopped, I'm not sure if it's sold now or they took it off but it dropped £10k in asking price.

Again the house we bought we agreed a fee just before it went to market(others and seen it to) the advert still went up on Rightmove but had sale agreed when it did.

[rodders0223]

9 hours ago, jackbauer24 said:

Latest update in the insane market...

House goes live on Monday basically as I'm refreshing the Rightmove page. Phone estate agents and they say they've just put it on. As they have our details they quickly book us in for the first viewing on the first day viewings will take place, this Saturday.

Log on to RM tonight... House is under offer?! So am I missing a step or are people just offering without seeing properties now? Estate Agents haven't told us a thing.

Phoning them in the morning but so so bored of this now. People keep suggesting I just put in offers so I can VIEW the properties but that seems a very disingenuous way of approaching it all. Surely you can't just go round offering on 10 houses til you choose the one you like?!

Estate Agents don't have the greatest rep and I can see why too, their communication and effort is awful. On saying that, in this market, I suppose it's not worth their time as there is no pushing needed, everything is coming to them.

I'm hating this process so much and this was supposed to be the fun dreaming bit before all the gazumping, paperwork and expenses come in to it... I can barely view houses.

2 years ago when I was trying to get on the housing market in my parents area (erdington) I'd go on right move first thing see a new listing phone to make a viewing and it was sold.

Had to move away. Impossible.

[chrisp65]

I don’t think any of this is a new phenomenomenom.

We were looking for a house 20 years ago and by the time a house was advertised, it was already sold.

Eventually, through persuasion and making a nuisance of ourselves, a house came up in the area we had identified and we were invited along.... to the valuation! Literally, the estate agent met us outside, we went in with the EA, she looked around, gave the owner a valuation and said that if they signed up with that estate agent she could sell it full price same day. To me.

The guy agreed the price, I offered the price, she wrote it in her book. Job done.

I can see the same happening now, a for sale sign went up yesterday a few doors down, an old lady’s house, needs a lot of work. It has sold in 24 hours advertised as requiring renovation, and the price was the highest I’ve ever seen in this street for that style of house.

It makes no difference to me, I’m already here. But how the hell do my kids get a house anywhere near the town where they grew up?

 

[Rodders]

when we sold our house, one of the EAs we ended up using, said that part of their 'thing' was to offer preview viewings before going on RM etc, to their members ( aka followers on facebook ) so yeah that does appear to be a norm. 

I remember one place we looked at, when it appeared on RM, we called up same day and it already had 15 viewings booked in for the following day. I called up 2 days later and there had been 11 offers  it was at the top end of range so no chance us bothering on that one. We did end up finding a place in an area we hadn't considered  beforehand though, through necessity in part, but it's turned out pretty fine for us so far, so fingers crossed something unexpected may come up for you. 

[Rds1983]

4 hours ago, chrisp65 said:

I don’t think any of this is a new phenomenomenom.

We were looking for a house 20 years ago and by the time a house was advertised, it was already sold.

Eventually, through persuasion and making a nuisance of ourselves, a house came up in the area we had identified and we were invited along.... to the valuation! Literally, the estate agent met us outside, we went in with the EA, she looked around, gave the owner a valuation and said that if they signed up with that estate agent she could sell it full price same day. To me.

The guy agreed the price, I offered the price, she wrote it in her book. Job done.

I can see the same happening now, a for sale sign went up yesterday a few doors down, an old lady’s house, needs a lot of work. It has sold in 24 hours advertised as requiring renovation, and the price was the highest I’ve ever seen in this street for that style of house.

It makes no difference to me, I’m already here. But how the hell do my kids get a house anywhere near the town where they grew up?

 

The bit in bold is one of the reasons why I had to move away from North Devon. There's no real career opportunities down there and house prices continually rising due to holiday homes. I know loads down there (including siblings) who are struggling to get on the property ladder or if they do it's a very small house that sells quickly and for a lot. 

But by moving away, I've now got a good career, can afford a nice house and in discussion to be one of those people I hate who owns a holiday home down there (save us £££ when we go down to visit and hopefully make some money too). Hopefully your kids can do something similar. 

[chrisp65]

We’ll have to disagree there, hopefully my kids never buy a holiday home where some locals can’t afford to live.

 

[Rds1983]

6 hours ago, chrisp65 said:

We’ll have to disagree there, hopefully my kids never buy a holiday home where some locals can’t afford to live.

 

Don't worry about it, you're right.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Rds1983

[Xela]

I'd have to agree with Chris on this. Personally i'd make it prohibitively expensive for anyone to own a second home/holiday home. 

I've been looking at more rural properties, and these were always the ones which were on rightmove for a while... mainly due to being away from towns/cities and not being desirable for office workers. Now everyone is WFH, people want to live the country life. 

Still not sure what my next property move will be. 

[ml1dch]

 

 

[jackbauer24]

Latest;

Found house we were interested in. Offered bang on price (although listed as OIEO) then, given first rejection, increased price by 10k. They got back to us and told us we were miles off other offers, so we've had to walk away. To be fair, given the amount of work needed on it, we were probably lucky they didn't accept our offer!! The dream of how it could look probably can only be achieved by someone with much deeper pockets.

However, we've now found another house but again it's the bloomin' OIEO crap. If you want an auction, just put it in an auction and stop wasting everyone's time. What the hell do you offer?! It's all well and good saying "offer what it's worth to you" but who can afford to spend tens of thousands more than something is actually worth?! Surely the mortgage people will have something to say on that too.

We've put in an initial offer of 5k over listed price. We could, at a push, go another 30k. So when they ask for our final offer what do we say? Like all houses at the moment, there is plenty of interest.

If they reject us, do they (the EA) have to report every offer even if they (the seller) accept someone elses? I'm tempted to just keep offering 1k more and p*ssing everyone off til they tell me what's required or I have offer accepted!

If they said the house is £x then we could either afford it or we couldn't. Little bit of wiggle room with individual bids or matching offers etc but OIEO just is bidding blind and expecting me to be a property expert. I just want to buy a house to live in... I could offer a million pounds and then the mortgage people would say no anyway so it must have a recognised value.

[Rds1983]

7 hours ago, jackbauer24 said:

Latest;

Found house we were interested in. Offered bang on price (although listed as OIEO) then, given first rejection, increased price by 10k. They got back to us and told us we were miles off other offers, so we've had to walk away. To be fair, given the amount of work needed on it, we were probably lucky they didn't accept our offer!! The dream of how it could look probably can only be achieved by someone with much deeper pockets.

However, we've now found another house but again it's the bloomin' OIEO crap. If you want an auction, just put it in an auction and stop wasting everyone's time. What the hell do you offer?! It's all well and good saying "offer what it's worth to you" but who can afford to spend tens of thousands more than something is actually worth?! Surely the mortgage people will have something to say on that too.

We've put in an initial offer of 5k over listed price. We could, at a push, go another 30k. So when they ask for our final offer what do we say? Like all houses at the moment, there is plenty of interest.

If they reject us, do they (the EA) have to report every offer even if they (the seller) accept someone elses? I'm tempted to just keep offering 1k more and p*ssing everyone off til they tell me what's required or I have offer accepted!

If they said the house is £x then we could either afford it or we couldn't. Little bit of wiggle room with individual bids or matching offers etc but OIEO just is bidding blind and expecting me to be a property expert. I just want to buy a house to live in... I could offer a million pounds and then the mortgage people would say no anyway so it must have a recognised value.

There's been a lot of that in the last 6 months or so. Depending how far off the value is compared to the overall amount they'll either say it's okay (our valuation came in £20k under our agreed price but was okay to proceed) or they'll offer their valuation amount and the buyer's have to find the rest. 

[Panto_Villan]

On the other side of the coin, I'm trying to sell a small flat in London and the interest we're getting isn't exactly out of this world

[jacketspuds]

I had a piece of paper through my letterbox yesterday from a couple who are "desperate" to buy a house like mine in this area. Asked me to contact them directly if I was thinking of selling.

Anyone had / done this before?

[stuart_75]

29 minutes ago, jacketspuds said:

I had a piece of paper through my letterbox yesterday from a couple who are "desperate" to buy a house like mine in this area. Asked me to contact them directly if I was thinking of selling.

Anyone had / done this before?

I wouldn't waste my time. High chance of being a time-waster

[theboyangel]

42 minutes ago, jacketspuds said:

I had a piece of paper through my letterbox yesterday from a couple who are "desperate" to buy a house like mine in this area. Asked me to contact them directly if I was thinking of selling.

Anyone had / done this before?

This happened to me with my first house I owned back in the late nineties.
 

I gave the bloke a call and he offered me more than I was expecting so took him up on it and instructed a solicitor. 
 

it all went very smoothly and I didn’t have to pay any estate agents fees! 

[rjw63]

1 hour ago, Panto_Villan said:

On the other side of the coin, I'm trying to sell a small flat in London and the interest we're getting isn't exactly out of this world

You probably need to drop the £4 million asking price a wee bit.