Buyer's support thread #5

[scribblegirl]

Sorry for breaking the last one

and for all....

[scribblegirl]

Oh, I mean hypothetically we wouldn't view it. I do accept that I'm rather in the middle of buying somewhere else right now

[ChubbyPolecat]

I've just been depressing myself looking at what I could have had if I had been buying end of last year or even in January. One house was sold in Jan for 100k and the developer has put a cheap kitchen and bathroom in, chucked a tin of paint around and is selling it for 150k. I'm a FTB doing this on my own and already terrified about making the wrong decision...wondering if it's time to give up on "do I love it" and just buy somewhere that will do!

Was hoping the market would pick up so hopefully prices would go down but I can't see it happening. I'm in Kent and thanking my lucky stars I'm not in London!

[JT05]

Thanks scribble. We set the completion before the exchange delay. Everyone wanted the bank holiday week end.

I'm glad I left the London madness, years ago!

[Heyheyheygoodbye]

Yeah JT and Palomb!

Well, we went back and saw the rural-ish property today and we really love it. I think we're going to put an offer in. Eeeeek!

[StepAwayFromTheThesaurus]

Congratulations JT and Palomb.

Good luck th the offer heyhey.

I have nothing to report, other than that I might have to murder DH. He said we were doing all this with the view to never moving again (at least til it's nursing home time). He has now downgraded that to moving in 10-11 years and won't say what his new plans are. I'm not impressed.

[scribblegirl]

Thesaurus I'm not sure if it's much consolation but I can sympathise! Dp is great now but we had a lot of changing mind issues last month. We're now on the same page but to be honest it was a pretty tricky time - its stressful. This was going to be a long term move.. Not so sure now. You just have to do the right thing for you now - who knows what the future will bring

[Palomb]

Thank you :)

Sometimes I wish my dh was a bit more flexible. He's the kid of person that makes up his mind and that's that - no deviation at all. Ever. His mind will will not be changed. He has, however, realised it's generally better in the long run if he entertains me a bit but he struggles with the concept. His whole family are the same though so can't blame him. Bil is more inflexible X a million.

It can be very waring. I have told him I'm not moving again unless we win the lottery or
make a lot of money. He's working on the money rather than changing my mind which is a good sign I think 😂


Did you offer Heyhey

[Heyheyheygoodbye]

We offered last night and should hear this morning. We offered fairly low so plenty of wiggle room for negotiation - but higher than some other offers the agent told us have been rejected. Eek!

OMG Thesaurus. I never want to move again after this! We are FTB but have moved six times in the ten years we've been together, as renters in London! The idea of moving away was to get off that wheel forever.

[readingrainbow]

I told my dh that we aren't moving until I'm too old to climb stairs or when I'm dead, whichever comes first. The house we're buying has 4 floors, so the stair issue is pertinent.

[StepAwayFromTheThesaurus]

Stairlifts are clearly your friend.

This house we're buying will be the 5th house DH and I have lived in together in the 8 years we've been together. I think that's quite enough. Once we move Ds1 will have lived in 9 different houses (or flats) in his 15 years of life.

[readingrainbow]

Stairlifts! Excellent. Much easier than moving house. :)

[Heyheyheygoodbye]

Stairlifts are definitely the way forward!

Our first offer was rejected - fine - so now DH and the vendor are negotiating through the agent. I find all this back and forth unbearable. I wish there was just a sticker price and you paid it and that was it! I can't even haggle on a market stall - I have to walk away when DH gets started.

[scribblegirl]

I know what you mean Hey. I have learned from this experience that I should never attend an auction - I get far too stressed and het up and am just inclined to say 'fuck it, give them all the money'

(Unless you're my vendor, in which case I am a pro negotiator and don't you dare mess with us )

[Skittlesss]

Oh gosh hey I know what you mean. I let my hubby handle all that as his job involves negotiation of prices etc. Haha.

I'm just glad we got to an agreement within 20 mins of offering. Would have hated to wait all night or longer :(

I just wanted to give them what they wanted for the house, but in the end we knocked 7k off.

[Palomb]

7k is a lot of money really isn't it.. It's a whole new kitchen! Definitely worth haggling for. We haggled a bit but are right at the top of what we can afford without having no life ever again. I think it's worth it as Its a forever home for us so worth stretching ourselves a bit.

[StepAwayFromTheThesaurus]

Feel exactly the same, heyhey. I'd like a 'buy it now' price for houses (which you'd think would be the asking price, but somehow it's not).

We are truly crap at negotiating so we are just paying the asking price for the house we're buying. Tbh, DH would have to have negotiated with the vendor directly which would be worse than doing it through an EA. Maybe we could have gotten it for a little bit less, but maybe we'd have lost it and there's nothing else to buy (well there is the unscrupulous gazumpy people whose sale fell through, but who wants to try to buy from them?).

DH said he just feels like money is pouring through his hands all the time with the house buying and selling nonsense to the extent that it's all becoming pretty meaningless. Even paying asking price it's fine. After everybody has had their fees (and there are so many fees to pay!) and we've paid movers we should still have about £8k in savings to replace all the flooring and decorate. I would like to change all the tiles in the bathrooms and change the kitchen at some point too (and also knock out a wall between the kitchen and dining room to create a huge living space with a big bifold door - but I haven't run this one past DH yet because he'll get weird about it even though I'm totally right that it's the way to go) but that will have to wait for a bit.

[readingrainbow]

We're paying at the top of our affordability because this house is a once-in-a-lifetime gem. I know that sort of terminology is cliched, but I genuinely believe it. I've been looking at the houses on the market for a while, and still check out the listings from time to time, and nothing even close comes up. It's immaculate and absolutely perfect for our family.

When we went to view the house, we point-blank asked the vendor what he was after and he told us he'd already had two offers, and what they were. Now, he could very well have been playing us for fools, but I tend to have a good instinct when people are lying to me, and I felt he was being truthful. We offered above the top offer so we didn't get stuck in a bidding war and we could just move forward.*

*a bit of a laugh, really, because we made the offer in mid-January and it looks like we won't be completing until mid-to-late May. hah.

[Skittlesss]

Palomb it is, especially where we are in a little town in Yorkshire as house prices aren't as high as they are down south or closer to the cities. The house is perfect as all that needs doing is redecorating for the kids rooms.

Feels like this process takes forever and we've only been at it since the offer was accepted 5 weeks ago. Haha. It's exciting especially when you've only ever rented before.

[Palomb]

It does feel like that doesn't it. We must hadpbe had our offers about the same time too. I was hoping to be moving at the end of the month but I doubt it. I have a week off at the end of May so maybe push for that? Who knows why it's is such a long drawn out process.

[Skittlesss]

I'm hoping it'll be soon. Everythings done on our end, waiting for vendors to get a wiggle on with the queries our solicitor has sent them.

Fingers crossed for may for you :)

[readingrainbow]

I firmly believe it takes so long because there are so many people who want a slice of the pie. It's a lucrative business for a LOT of people, this house buying/selling malarky.

[Slowlybutsurely]

Due to complete today! Too excited for words but scared something may go wrong at the last minute! It's been a long process for us, with a move into rental in between so just can't wait!! Crossing everything for a smooth completion!!

[Heyheyheygoodbye]

Everything crossed for you Slowly! What an exciting day!

[readingrainbow]

Fingers crossed, Slowly. :)

[readingrainbow]

We are sending money across to the solicitor for exchange! I just closed down my help to buy ISA and posted the paperwork for them to claim the government bonus. I was the first person they'd ever seen do this in my local branch, so they had to double-check how to do things correctly. I hope it's the right paperwork for the solicitors - I'd be more than gutted if the bank staff messed it up!