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.

We've just viewed a property today in Gloucestershire. It was our ideal house on paper....... the reality was a fecking horror story. It was a 60s build that everything was original in, and there was an elderly man living in it until recently . We couldn't make head nor tail of what we'd do with so many tiny rooms, and sods law every internal wall was brick so not a simple case of ripping stud walls out. The garden and paddock was so overgrown that it would take a tree surgeon and at least £20k to clear it..... the septic tank needed sorting, and to add insult to injury, all you could hear was road noise. The house wasn't habitable, in honesty. And all for nearly £800k

We've also driven to see a nearby barn conversion that's gorgeous on paper......... but reality is that it's shoehorned between two massive barns like a poor relation and there's no parking. Again for nearly £850k.

It has to crash, surely to god. We've been viewing for 2 years and have taken ours off in disgust as I'm not renting unless we have to.

@randomkey123 which part of Gloucestershire are you looking in? Are you moving from afar or know the area quite well?

We’re looking to
Go from Gloucestershire to Herefordshire (Ross-on-wye) but there’s just nothing on the market and what does come up has either no garden, no parking or is severely dated/needs updating or renovating.

We just want to find a habitable house that we can buy and move into pretty stat 😭

Interesting that houses that need full renovation, but are the same price as already done ones, are the norm across the country.

I was talking to someone about this who works in building industry and they said don’t get involved with something that needs loads of work as there is issues with building supplies and prices are going through the roof. Bit of an unknown at the moment how much things are going to cost in that respect apparently.
Not sure if this has been discussed but it’s made those houses look even worse to me now as you would be possibly getting involved with renovation a bit of a nightmare currently. Hate the whole thing!

[quote julyjulyjuly]@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![/quote]
It's not Peckham or surrounds?

I haven't looked much at SE, but it does seem to be the last affordable part of London.

I've found that's true @Outonmyear. We need a few fence panels done and a couple of other minor building things done in our house before we sell and apparently the limited supplies means it can't be done for 18 weeks!

@TheRedHat

I've found that's true *@Outonmyear*. We need a few fence panels done and a couple of other minor building things done in our house before we sell and apparently the limited supplies means it can't be done for 18 weeks!

Wow really!

Heard similar about getting concrete and roof tiles.

If we are staying here I want to get the floors done but I was told not to open a can of worms right now in terms of getting the timber if any boards or joists needed sorting. 😬

@Outonmyear I was just reading about that this morning! www.theguardian.com/business/2021/may/15/building-crisis-looms-as-dwindling-supplies-bring-sites-grinding-to-a-halt

That is another problem. Sometimes I see a gem of a project come about and I immediately dream up my extension plans but builders and architects and everyone else are very busy and no doubt putting their prices up and a lot of these houses are still at top prices.

@randomkey123 I feel your pain. Been there too.

@24GinDrinkingOnceTheKidsInBed we're looking in between Tewkesbury and Glouceter, along the river preferably. We live in the area already but the village we're in has suffered from massive over development in the last 2 years and they're about to add another 42 homes . It's ruined the place, so we're trying to find somewhere quieter on the outskirts of somewhere. It's a nightmare.

@randomkey123 agh yes, there few areas left that are genuinely considered ‘peaceful’

The town I live in is about to undergo a huge new development of houses, there must be hundreds of houses being built this time, not long after a big development had already taken place!

It’s such a shame, it would be so bad if the houses they were building were a few, had space to park more than a tricycle outside and more than an arms width away from the next!

Good luck with your search!

Another miserable article in The Times today. I'll share screenshots (not sure if they'll post in the correct order).

Here you go

And the rest

can I ask your opinion on something? we are selling 2 places and moving (hopefully) into one bigger house in London

the one in oxfordshire has sold and is aiming to complete before 30 june

we have a small place in London on a street which is v popular - 2 houses have sold in the last month without even hitting the market. This place has been lived in for a long long time and is quite cluttered. Also there are patches on the walls where my kids stuck posters up and then over time the paint has come off. It's not massively noticeable but it would definitely need touching up.

We know there is a queue of people wanting to buy these houses. I can deal with the clutter over the course of this week and the major noticeable issues (like it needs a new gate out the back, the dog has chewed the skirting boards but I can touch those up) but I won't have time to do the paint touching up and I know hiring someone here to do it is nearby impossible at the moment.

Do you think it's worth waiting till we've done all the little jobs that need doing or put it on as is to take advantage of the fact that we know people want to buy these houses and there are people waiting.

we don't have anywhere else lined up to move but really need an idea of selling price anyway before we know what the budget is for new place

Most posters agree that there is no difference at the moment between the prices achieved for finished homes and doer uppers. I wouldn’t bother worrying about doing anything more than you have the time to do yourself.

I always prefer seeing houses where I can do the work myself so it wouldn’t put me off.

I’ve seen and offered over asking on houses in terrible condition over the past 6 months. Not that I succeeded in buying any of them!

I agree. With the market as it is I wouldn't bother doing any cosmetic work.

Thanks all - will aim to shove all the kids crap out by the weekend and get it on asap!

Cosmetic work only puts me off if it adds to a general ambiance of “this place has been neglected”. If it’s just a few scratches, I’d just get it straight on market, if any appealing buyer says it’s put them off you can just say you’ll fix it prior to exchange.

I’m so despondent today I could weep. We viewed a beautiful house on Saturday afternoon. Outside of where we were hoping to be but otherwise a wonderful fit and definitely a very doable compromise. The viewing was very rushed - like trailing round a National Trust property with people in front and behind, even though the house was empty. We were in and out in 15 mins and most of that was waiting for other people to move out of rooms. We messaged the EA as soon as we got home to say we loved the house and wanted to put an offer in but asking if it was possible to view again first. Thought that was reasonable. Had a call this morning to say they have already taken 4 offers over the asking price. We asked if they would accept and offer from us even without a second viewing but were told the vendor would probably accept one of the offers already on the table rather than going to best and final, so we couldn’t even put in an offer! Honestly, I feel this is now pointless.

I’d concur with not doing the cosmetic work unless it’s major.

Our new estate agent has a photographer here taking photos and doing a video tour today. I’m currently locked out the front so he can film it... I’m really hoping that the market for flats is recovering a bit but I suspect not 😬

Although a load of new ones have flooded Rightmove over the weekend... maybe they know something I don’t?!

We’ve found a contender that we’d offer on if we can find a buyer. It’s well over priced, but it’s been on for ages so they probably know that by now.... if that goes, there’s nothing for us at the moment.

I’ve never known selling to be so stressful. There’s usually FTB and students desperate to live around here, and we used to get weekly letters from landlords offering to buy. I’m regretting not moving before now!

@umbel it sounds horrendous. How stressful that you can't even have the time to think and put in an offer 🤷🏻‍♀️. We have put in as asking price offer for a house we viewed on Saturday. We were the second people to see it and they have more viewings this week so who knows what will happen. I hate waiting 😒. If it goes to best and final I'm not sure I can be bothered. It's too stressful.

We are seeing one tonight that needs a lot of work

Are you all outside London? It's definitely not as mad in parts here as you are all experiencing. The one we are seeing tonight has been on since last November

@umbel, so sorry, it is such a rollercoaster. I’m finding they’re not going to best and final either, so the approach of putting in an initial offer as a starting point doesn’t work. But it’s crazy to just offer in high straight away! I do think the London market is slowing though.

@TheRedHat Yeah I’ve heard London has one of the slowest markets right now.

I’m in the Midlands. Houses are moving like CRAZY. Most are still gone within 48 hours of being listed... flats and apartments aren’t moving at all, though, despite usually being popular.

Aue Umbel. Same here, I've put in an offer from Saturday's rushed viewing. Apparently they've been inundated the 'offers over' price was 20k over the ceiling for that area and my offer over that was quite modest. Oscillate between fears building material shortages are going to push up the market and fears it's all going to collapse in the autumn/winter