There's a thread for those with selling woes. Is anyone trying to find a house to buy and would like to commiserate and rant with me?

[Pernickety]

We've been looking for a year (since we sold ours). With the benefit of hindsight there's a house we maybe should have bought but it was one of the first houses we looked at. We did put in an offer but we had a limit since they were charging a premium for a parking space which we didn't value since it was too small for their Ford Ka, let alone our small family car.

But since then I have watched 4 bedroom house marketing prices (and not necessarily detached) go up and 3 bed semi house prices go radically down. It's getting ridiculous. There's very few signs of people buying these 4 bed properties and I'd now describe the 4 bed market around here as saturated with lots of proerties sitting unsold. We're nearly at the point where we could buy 2 X 3 bed semis for less than a 4 bedroomed house!

There seems to be a floor price for 4 bed houses in this area. The estate agent has 2 pieces of criteria 1)4 bedrooms, 2) X area, and then it doesn't matter what state the house is in, what size garden it has, whether there is parking or not, whether it is on a main road or not - it will be marketed at a minimum price, equal to a 4 bedroom house that has much more going for it. So, even though we are willing to compromise on things, these compromises are not reflected in the pricing. On top of that I see houses come on the market at a far higher amount than a house ever sold for on that street, even at the peak of the market and it just makes me despair.

What's happening in your area? Are houses selling? Are vendors accepting offers? Are all house prices coming down or just some?

There isn't a lot of downwards movement in asking prices in the price bracket we're looking at. Seen big reductions above and below but the houses we're looking at seem to sit on the market with no reductions.

Nothing seems to be selling though. There's a huge gap between sellers expectations and what buyers want to pay, or rather what buyers can afford to pay under current lending criteria.

We've made a few offers which I think sellers might think are taking the piss but are genuinely what we think the houses are worth based on current market conditions.

I think we have viewed around 20 houses in the past 6 months and not a single one of those has sold. We've put in two offers, both ended up at 7% under asking as our max. Sellers weren't even prepared to counter offer.

I console myself with the fact that it seems highly unlikely that house prices are going to shoot up, so if it takes a while to buy it takes a while to buy.

Oh yes, houses at the very top end of the market have also started to lower their asking prices. It's just this band in the middle, of the type of house we want, that is not shifting at all.

Ooh another one here. We've agreed our sale (fingers crossed that goes ahead, but as you say, a different thread!) but can't find anywhere to move to.

We want to move so that we're in the catchment (or whatever it's called now) for a great primary school. Problem is, that's a v small area. We can't really go into rental either as there is nothing to rent in the school catchment and we'll be making primary applications in Jan so only have a limited time to move.

The annoying thing is that we have the budget to buy what we want in the area, but there's nothing for sale! We've leaflet dropped and I pester EA's but still nothing. There were (in hindsight) great places earlier in the year but they were snapped up before we became proceedable.

The area has lots of lovely 1930's houses, and they sell soooo quickly, literally within a week (sometimes even before they make it onto Rightmove!) so we're resigned to paying asking price, and quickly, if anything does come up. It also seems as though lots of houses are bought via friends/family etc!

I (mistakenly) thought that we'd get a good deal on anything we bought, given the market generally but it seems as if we want to move to one of these "bubbles" that is unaffected

Of course, our buyer wants it all to have completed yesterday...

I'm in a complete nightmare scenario. :( House been on market almost 2 months now. I priced it realistically (15k under comparables) from the start, & dropped it another 5k last week & still nothing! Ive had only 2 viewings, the last one was a month ago. Im at a loss of what to do... :( We are relocating & the children will be starting at new schools, one of which has a waiting list & of course they wont even put your name down until you exchange contracts so I need a buyer like yesterday!! The stress is really getting to me now. :(

Good luck to all those in the same position. You have my sympathy.

Pernickety - we have been looking for almost 3 years for the right house. Next house will be 'forever' (hopefully), so hence time spent. During that time I have seen only 4 houses I want (1 gazumped, 1 went for ridiculous 'ott' price at auction, 1 agents started a bidding war on, and we pulled out, and one we are trying to buy having put in a respectable and reasonable offer, we feel. We are in the Cotswolds and house prices have held I think, although there is some evidence of overpricing, as some properties have been reduced anything from 50k to 100k around here.

Just had an offer accepted, really not ready for that! Was still 12% under asking.

Have you tried putting in lower offers? Presumably if the house market is saturated and the houses are sitting on the market then its a case of the estate agents inflating the prices rather than their true value. A house is only worth what somebody is willing to pay, and it seems you aren't the only one who thinks they are all overpriced! It might be worth putting in a few cheeky offers. Even if they don't accept you may find them come crawling back to you in a few months time!

We're looking for a good size 4 bed. Asking prices have rocketed over the past year, but the ones we've had our eye on are still on the market after almost a year and others have been removed from the market. I don't think we'll be moving for a couple of years with things as they are. Have honed in on a particular spot though, so keeping an eye out for something decent worth offering on there.
We have the money, just not worth us moving at the moment. No motivation at all to buy in this market. Sheer sheer greed.

(One example is a house that sold for around £580k, then came onto the market after 18 months for £750k - no new kitchen/bathroom, no extension, is now languishing at £695k after a year. No offers.)