Feeling totally overwhelmed by the market

[fluffycupcakes]

Will it ever cool down? It's not even financially any more although we've certainly lost money between selling our house and now renting waiting to buy.

Every buyer out there seems to snap up a property before we can breath. I'm not comfortable putting an offer on the second a property reaches the market and yet if I don't it appears we won't ever be able to move. Just so depressed about it all. Any indications the market might slow down?
Sorry for such a depressing post but have people really benefitted from the stamp duty relief? We seem to now have to mortgage up on the extreme price increases instead of making any savings.

I'm in the Midlands, but I'm not really relieved that it's slowing... more worried that nothing will come on now and we'll have nowhere to move to.

Things still seem to be selling quickly when they are listed, and for asking price or more, but there's just less coming on.

@TakeYourFinalPosition - I can't be sure, but wonder whether you are just one step behind London.

We went through this slowing, with nothing on the market a couple of weeks ago. At that point the little that was coming onto the market was being snapped up - nice places especially.

But now more houses are coming onto the market - and most stuff is sticking/being reduced. Loads of houses are bouncing back on. I imagine that chains are collapsing etc

So - here its slowing down in a good/helpful way. Be patient. Hopefully the ripple effect will mean that the rest of the country also slows down in a good way soon.

We are relocating for work so have no choice - have to move. I've been watching Rightmove like a hawk. Finally, FINALLY, decent properties in my price range are coming on... and not always being snapped up instantly. Many are now being reduced, some for the third time! Properties are hanging around longer, and some are reappearing after what I assume was a collapsed chain. So from my perspective, things are looking up. This was a terrible time for us to sell/buy (we are upsizing) but there is hope at least!

Finally, finally, I've found a couple of properties that I can view, although they have their issues.

One seems to have been trying to sell the place for about 3 years, but doesn't seem to get any takers. It's priced about right for the location, so I can only think there must be issues with the survey as I've seen it go on, go under offer/sold, then come back with a different agent. I'll ask the history see if this new agent is able to give a plausible backstory.

The second one is £80k over my budget, however in my view it's vastly overpriced for its location and condition, and would be the most expensive house on the street by far, so there's probably a significant reduction to be had. I'm not even convinced I want to pay my top budget for it, but will view and think about whether the numbers stack up.

Can I join - I have now offered on two properties, both of which ended up going over the asking price. I really feel like I can't take part in the rollercoaster until things are calmer. These are just bog standard 3 bed semis, nothing spectacular about them.
When will this madness end?!

We're trying to move 300 miles and it's basically impossible. Our house has been valued by local agents and is (so we are told) very desirable, mostly due to high demand for this sort of property in location so should sell quickly.

But there's very little coming up in our (rural) target location (or around) and that which does seems to sell in days with dozens of viewings, going to best and final offers before we even get a chance to arrange childcare and drive 5 hours to see it.

We can't (won't) move into rented as there's even fewer rental options coming up. So we're stuck. I don't want to put our house on the market and then annoy a buyer by taking forever to find a suitable place, because that's a recipe for broken chains and gazundering.

In the meantime I have to devote myself to deep desk research of every property that comes up to figure out whether it's worth dropping everything and dashing hundreds of miles.

I am becoming very good at discovering which adjacent fields have planning permission for a new build development, and which properties flooded in 2015. Depressing, really.

I saw an ‘off the market’ flat today having made it to the EA special list. It’s quite nice, big, on a good road, but it’s in an area that’s very popular with family’s and schools are a hot topic. I did some searches and this flat is not in catchment for any of the local primary or secondary schools (all very oversubscribed and with catchments under 0.5 mile). It’s not an issue for us, but I’m worried that it would seriously limit resale.
Maybe I’m over thinking, but it’s a lot of money for a flat so I don’t want to go wrong.
Also the owners haven’t started looking and want to moved to the south west near the sea, which I imagine is quite a hot market.
I’m feeling so under pressure and pissed off.
I have noticed a few houses sticking, and flats not moving, so maybe I should wait it out a bit. Looking in North London.

@ProtocolHarum you might find that some estate agents won’t let you view if your house isn’t on the market or under offer if where you are looking is very desirable.
Mind you I also think if you are staying in the same area that doesn’t always apply, as I think some agents will let you view if you then agree to let them become your selling agent.
I’ve viewed 2 properties where the seller had already found somewhere with the agent they were selling with,I think this is happening because agents are desperate for new homes to sell.

[quote Itscoldouthere]@ProtocolHarum you might find that some estate agents won’t let you view if your house isn’t on the market or under offer if where you are looking is very desirable.
Mind you I also think if you are staying in the same area that doesn’t always apply, as I think some agents will let you view if you then agree to let them become your selling agent.
I’ve viewed 2 properties where the seller had already found somewhere with the agent they were selling with,I think this is happening because agents are desperate for new homes to sell.[/quote]
We've signed with an agent who has us "on the books" but not listed yet. So if we find the right thing I can call him up and say "GO GO GO" and he can activate the hot list he has of people who specifically want houses like ours in our street. I'm confident we could go from not on the market to under offer within 48 hours if needed, though the quality of the offer and whether the chain would hold are up for debate.

The thing is, I've been in the position of a buyer hanging around for someone relocating to find the perfect place and it's miserable, so I don't want to kick the whole engine off before the market in our target area starts improving (more stock).

Anyone looking south west of England?

About to make the decision to put out house on the market 😂

@24GinDrinkingOnceTheKidsInBed where exactly in the SW?

@DeathWinsAGolfish Gloucestershire

It’s been madness in my part of London - about 10 houses have been bought and sold on my street alone, most within a matter of days. One took a few weeks to sell and that seemed like an age! We got an agent round to value ours recently and he said that one of these houses had 25 viewings, 14 offers and went for £30k over the asking price.

I’m now having a real dilemma as we need to sell up and move, but there’s very little coming onto the market in our chosen locations - plus we’re looking for our forever home so we’re being extra picky. I really don’t know what to do.

@24GinDrinkingOnceTheKidsInBed sadly not far enough SW...

Can I join too? We're about to put our flat on the market but I'm getting cold feet because there are so few suitable properties coming up within our budget. We're in North London and the market's been really busy but we're also in an area that's gentrifying so there's the worry that we'll end up priced out even if prices fall overall.

Itscoldouthere, whereabouts are you looking? I'm potentially selling a two bed garden flat!

I don't understand the appeal of allowing an EA to market your property to his hot list rather than openly advertise on the commonly used portals. They will almost certainly be biased towards a buyer in one of their own stuck chains so they can move it towards completion and score some commission. In the haste to avoid too many viewings and having to do too much tidying, is no one a little bit cynical?

I think this week there have been a few more properties listed than usual, just going by the number of properties in my Rightmove alerts. This is for houses in London, pretty much all of London is within my search criteria!

I noticed yesterday that a local estate agent has listed on Rightmove an ‘off market viewings’ house. Road, number of bedrooms and type listed, along with price. No pics, no details. Has anyone seen this before? I assume it’s so you have to call for details and they can weed people out? It’s a road where houses seem to go fairly quickly.

@redavocado I need 3 beds I’m afraid, but thank you.
I’m feeling so depressed about it all, but I think it’s just exhaustion, I’ve just counted and I’ve viewed 22 properties in the last 4 weeks. I’m obviously trying to be flexible, so have had quite a wide area and have now ruled out a few areas I first looked in, but now have nothing to view and I’m waiting for new things to come on.
I’m also wondering if I should have upped our offer over asking price for the house we liked, but I was up against a full cash buyer so thought if I offered more I’d only be pushing the price up and would still be unlikely to actually get it.
We will probably offer on the flat I viewed yesterday but the sellers haven’t even started looking yet 🙄
Did any of you see the article in The Times yesterday (Bricks and Mortar) about a family trying to buy having sold their home and gone into rented?
I think I’m going to take some time out next week as I need a rest, but I’m only here for another month.

We haven’t yet found anything we want to offer on. Off to another viewing this morning and feeling quite positive about the property (though not the location). Wonder if we’ll have the experience of failing to secure a property we actually like in the near future. It feels like bad moving bingo!

@julyjulyjuly

It’s been madness in my part of London - about 10 houses have been bought and sold on my street alone, most within a matter of days. One took a few weeks to sell and that seemed like an age! We got an agent round to value ours recently and he said that one of these houses had 25 viewings, 14 offers and went for £30k over the asking price.

I’m now having a real dilemma as we need to sell up and move, but there’s very little coming onto the market in our chosen locations - plus we’re looking for our forever home so we’re being extra picky. I really don’t know what to do.

Where in London? It's quiet in my bit of SW

So in the south more properties are coming up daily now. Mostly ones that were sold at £500k and reduced now to £475 (apart from some die hards who want to hold out for full asking price who are still living in total fantasy land).

Also the very few new ones coming onto the market are priced more reasonably. Seems the crazy rush is over - everyone knows they missed stamp duty now unless they are buying a new build cash with no survey.

We’re thinking of selling and moving into rented after 6 months, 11 rejected offers (àll over asking), losing our buyers and relisting and aaaall of the stress that comes with that.

For people who are nervous of moving into rented, an EA I know (who isn’t associated with my sale at àll, different area of london, so has no vested interest) told me that most rental houses at the moment do not make it onto Rightmove.

Lots of families are moving into rented to improve their position, so when they’re within 2 months of completion they ring the local EAs and say «I need a house please». The EAs then don’t bother listing when they get a new rental on the books - they just call all the people they know are looking to rent that size of house. People are a lot less picky about rentals they’ll keep for 6 months so they can be fairly sure they’ll be snapped up without needing to bother listing.

Also another useful piece of info: the EA told me you automatically qualify for a 6 month break clause on a 12 month contract if you pay the first 6 months rent as a lump sum in advance. Super useful - who wants to be locked in for 12 months?

Maybe this is very standard knowledge but it’s new to me so I thought it might help someone!

@cosmi we’re SE, in a lovely area which seems to be ultra desirable these days (that certainly wasn’t the case when I moved in!)

To add to my woes, I also read that the place we’re looking to move to is currently one of the most popular searches on a certain property search engine My only hope is that it might encourage more people in said location to sell up, as there’s very little on the market at the moment.

That said, with the crazy state of the market and the other thread about why the OP shouldn’t leave London, I’m wondering if we shouldn’t just stay put after all and avoid all the hassle!

We are selling a house in Oxfordshire, a small house in SW London and hopefully moving to a larger house (as yet not found!) in west London.

I think the estate agent makes such a difference. We used the same estate agent we bought our property with in Oxfordshire. It's owner/managed, the guy was completely honest with us about what he thought we would get. He hosted an open day on the Saturday and then took offers on the Monday and came back to us (and got exactly the price he said).

The estate agents in London are nowhere near as good or organised! Our house there is not on the market yet - it needs a few things doing to it which we are hopefully going to get through next week then put it on the week after.

I'm starting to really worry about selling both of them, having 2 places in storage, then not finding anywhere to move! Argh!