I am getting really annoyed with estate agents...

[JackieTheFart]

I’m in the throes of selling my house, will probably accept an offer tomorrow. The market is absolutely booming in my tiny neck of the woods - every single house I have called about is already sold STC . It’s just so irritating that the EA don’t even update their own websites?! Don’t even get me started on how only one EA has actually asked me what my circumstances are

Also, I decided to look up local places to rent, if we had to sell and move out without somewhere to go.

Every. Single. House. On Rightmove is a student share. Every single one. How do families who don’t own actually find a place to live?!

What was feeling really exciting is now getting annoying and feeling like a chore.

Once you have your offer call round all the estate agents and tell them you are proceedable and their dream buyer with a clear idea of what you want. If they are any good they will start matching you to houses potentially before they are put online. Can’t help with the renting problem sorry.

Thank you both - excellent ideas I will take on board!

There’s one house husband and I particularly like (on paper) that when i called the EA said they’re wary of doing viewings because they’re ‘elderly and worried about Covid’. Not denying that’s true, but if you don’t actually* want to move, why is the property a premium listing and why was it recently reduced? This one smacks of wanting a fast mover although they’re clearly still living there.

*i put it like this because - to generalise - the house does not look inhabited by an elderly couple at all!

Oh I’ve found why I’m only finding student lets.

I have to search for 500 and over PCM else it’s all ‘per room’. Houses in my area go for £100k-£200k depending on size, so £80 a room per week in a three bed house they’re raking it in.

Not expecting to pay more than £550 for my new mortgage - looks like £700 would be what I need for rent

It is very frustrating when they don't put 'under offer' up. Such a waste of time, but then the estate agent gets your details and you will be bombarded with totally inappropriate properties!

Hang on OP...You are selling your house so you can rent, in a booming market? If it is booming then prices might rise, is it really a good idea to move into rented, as then your sale price slips versus what you can buy in a few months' time.

I did this once, sold my house at £40k over the asking price and used this excess to justify time slippage versus purchase of our new home. I discovered renting a whole house is very expensive and in a family home you are often tied into a 1 year minimum lease with a requirement to give 3 or 6 months notice, which is bad news if you find somewhere to buy a few weeks after you sell your home!

We actually moved in with our in laws instead for a while, and then went into a holiday let for a month (it was out of peak season so I negotiated a good price for a long stay!).

If you don’t think you’ll need to rent for long, what about house-sitting? You’d look after someone’s pets, house and garden while they’re away, in exchange for free accommodation.

@RainingZen no I don’t want to rent - I’m just exploring all avenues if we can’t find a house to buy but need to move else lose our buyer.

Absolutely don’t want to do this - moving in with family isn’t an option at all for us so we’d have to rent.

We have final offers on our house today and have four viewings of others lined up so fingers crossed!