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Original poster

Help me buy a house! Need a tactical plan

70 replies

BewitchedBefuzzledBewildered · 28/01/2014 22:13

We have been hunting in a very specific area of London and so far have been beaten to the chase twice by developers in buying a property to live in. We need to be in this particular area to be close to certain schools.

The two properties we lost out to developers were 'fixer-uppers', but we have now spotted a property which ticks all the boxes and needs practically nothing doing to it at all.

We are going to be the first viewers on Saturday at the Open Day. The asking price is a bit (by 5-10k) above the top of our budget. How do we secure the property? We are not experienced property buyers, and don't want to make rookie mistakes.

Do we offer our best and final bid straight off? What if there is competition? How do we manage the game?n we have sold our house, we're living in rented and have a mortgage agreed in principle.

Thx

OP posts:
PenguindreamsofDraco · 05/02/2014 13:38

OP, if you're not prepared to get into a bidding war for a property you like in a very specific area for a reason (schools) that will apply to a lot of people then yes, I'm afraid you will lose out. It is a seller's market in London at the moment.

Monty27 · 05/02/2014 14:49

Can I ask what area?

lessonsintightropes · 05/02/2014 16:14

We missed out on a 2 bed flat this week in Forest Hill advertised at 450 - we offered 485, it went at 530. London market is horrendous.

Monty27 · 05/02/2014 16:40

Lessons Shock

London1975 · 05/02/2014 18:01

It makes you wonder how long it can go on like this. People are stretching themselves to the limit taking advantage of the slightly relaxed mortgage lending rules stimulated by Help to Buy scheme at the bottom end of the market. But when interest rates rise, which inevitably they will
do at some point, a lot of home owners are going to feel extreme financial pressure. This is when more properties will start to come on the market as people sell the homes they can no longer sustain and competition will die down a bit. However that definitely won't happen this year. This is why it's so important to only bid what you can comfortably afford.

lessonsintightropes · 05/02/2014 18:29

That's our position on this too - we are very clear about what a reasonable multiple is on our income in terms of affordability and will absolutely not go above it. Our mortgage advisor has been really helpful on this point too actually and strongly advised us around savings to have in reserve. Lesson for me was that Forest Hill's market is overheated, and I wouldn't pay more than our BAFO as I think that property wasn't worth more.

London1975 · 05/02/2014 19:00

Also people offer stupidly high bids to get a property and then come unstuck when the mortgage company values way under what they bid and refuse to lend and then the sale falls through. The london bidding climate is utterly ridiculous but the sad truth is, you have to be in it to win it.... or move out.

LondonGirl83 · 05/02/2014 20:27

When I tell my family back home how it works in London now they are shocked. You get to see your new home once on an open day with 20 other people and then have to present a sealed bid above asking. It seems insane when you think about how quickly you are being asked to make a life changing decision regarding most of your savings!

London1975 · 05/02/2014 20:55

And then when you finally get your dream home after fighting off half of london you think you can sit back and relax .... Until you realise you have to fight off half of london again to get your Dcs into a halfway decent school. Sorry to be so doom & gloom, just feel exasperated by everything, rant over :)

Preciousbane · 05/02/2014 21:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Monty27 · 06/02/2014 02:06

Or the olders precious like me, who invested in 1990 during the crash, then it picked up. I think it'll crash again. But then what do I know about world economics? not much

I was listening to something on the radio about Chinese investors who buy in London with their spare cash. Just to see how much they make and don't even bother renting it.

Young people here, particularly the low paid, don't stand a hope in hell against that.

Monty27 · 06/02/2014 02:10

I bought before it picked up thank goodness, but I did get divorced and had to remortgage, but even that was 15 years ago so not so bad. Although I'm not that highly paid, just survive. (two dcs and no financial help grr)

Monty27 · 06/02/2014 02:12

Sorry, I'm not on the thread I thought I was on Blush

Buy mine, buy mine :)

Preciousbane · 06/02/2014 08:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Anniegoestotown · 06/02/2014 09:21

Bought a flat 1 year ago in London.

It was put on Rightmove at 8.30am I saw it on the Internet at 8.43am and made an appointment for 9.15. By the time I arrived to view the EA said he had 4 more appointments for later in the day. I offered the full asking price and it was sold to me by 9.25am other 4 appointments were cancelled.

When I went into the EAs office to do the paperwork the phones kept going with people offering 25k over the asking price site unseen.

After renovating it we have had 3 separate 1st time buyers pull out at the last minute. EA have now said to raise the price by 30k as the market has picked up.

The only recommendation I can offer is if you see anything that is in the right area and is just about ok then go for it.

From someone who has ridden out 2 recessions and housing bubble bursts my advice is if you are buying a family home then you should not be worried about property crashes.
Property prices might crash but they never crash to the price they were 15 years before. My first house in London was bought in 1983 for 28k. I doubt we will ever see the 28k house in London again.

lessonsintightropes · 06/02/2014 21:16

OP, will fight you for them ;D but here are some of the ones we're viewing on Saturday to give you an idea of what you can get:

this one

another one

this one is a bit far from transport but loads of land

our favourite

Original poster
BewitchedBefuzzledBewildered · 10/02/2014 22:07

Well you lot were right, everything we are looking at is going to sealed bids. So we have looked at a cheaper place just outside the original search area, but have now offered a massive 100k over the asking price. We don't know yet if this will secure it, as there are 9(!) sets of people vying for it.

Time will tell.

OP posts:
Original poster
BewitchedBefuzzledBewildered · 10/02/2014 22:08

West London is nuts isn't it? The rest of the country is going through massive property sliding values. Even shitty little flats in west London go to sealed bids.

OP posts:
wetaugust · 10/02/2014 22:17

History is full of 'bubbles'.

They all pop eventually.

littlecrystal · 10/02/2014 22:23

The same is SE London suburbs. My agent today said she was very busy after having 40 viewers on Saturday for one house and over 10 offers by Monday morning.

I am having to settle for a 2 bed maisonnete instead of originally intended 3 bed terrace as I cannot keep up with this rat race anymore.

House bubble will soon burst, I think. It is not natural.

AgathaPinchBottom · 10/02/2014 23:36

Oh lessons we will be neighbours!

TheGreatHunt · 11/02/2014 07:04

It's scary. We want to sell our flat (SE London) which on the face of it is great but we want to buy a house in the area. Houses on the cheaper side of town where people traditionally move to are insane price wise. It's gone crazy. Who can afford them?!

MeanMrsMustard · 11/02/2014 07:26

Out of pure nosiness, where abouts in west London are you bewitched?
We're just starting a search of west London (moving from north London) but to be honest I'm not sure I've got the energy to take on the property market right now.

Original poster
BewitchedBefuzzledBewildered · 11/02/2014 16:31

Ravenscourt Park and all the surrounding areas.

OP posts:
MeanMrsMustard · 11/02/2014 18:13

I went to school round there. It's nice.
We're looking in Ealing, so further west. From what I can tell there are a lot of buyers moving into the area who have spent their 20s living in a flat in zone 1 or 2, and are moving to zone 3 to (try and!) buy a house.

Good luck with your search.