just cant view any fucking houses!

[Getyourarseofffthequattro]

We are about to put our house on the market, due to go live later this week. EA reckons it will sell quick (a few houses on our street have gone within days) but this issue is there is FA to buy. We have wanted to view 3 houses, which weren't even particularly what we wanted and they have ALL sold before we could even view them. They aren't in "desirable" areas either.

I don't know what to do - EA says sell ours and then worry about it, but if there is nothing to buy we will inevitably have to pull out and i dont want to fuck anyone over particularly. Its a nightmare. I thought things would have calmed down a bit by now!

Is anyone else having the same issues?!

The market is crazy at the moment.
Booked to view a house last week, got a call back 2 hours later to say an offer had been made. Was on the market for less than 24 hours.

Yesterday I viewed 2 houses in the same street, they were only just put online. One wasn't right for us and the other (which needed a full refurbishment) had an offer put on it later that day.

Except...
I offered on a house and was told initially that the seller would go in to rental (moving 70 miles for school). So got searches and survey...then was told he wanted to find an ongoing purchase. After two and a half months gave up and started looking and two weeks later I found another, not as suitable but OK, replacement. Just got a call yesterday from original EA that first seller still hasn't found a place so is staying put. If I had been patient and held on I'd be in serious trouble now and looking at a very expensive rental in London.
If I didn't have to move I would wait until next year when things will hopefully have calmed down.

I'm moving to W Yorks and yes the market is bonkers.

And even moving into rental isn't much help, that's just as bonkers market, if not more unless you want to move into a tiny city centre flat.

Seems to be a lot of it at the moment. Easy to sell, hard to buy. Buyers getting stroppy, but then realise they can't just find anything else much anyway.

@dancingqueen345

Definitely put it on the market! I put mine on in March with very similar fears (I.e. worrying mine would sell and I'd have nothing to buy) and I was just quite open with people viewing and told them that I hadn't found anywhere yet and there wasn't anything currently on the market I liked either.

I'd say about 75% of my viewers were more than happy to wait - they also know how mad the market is and they are willing to compromise/wait provided they have an offer accepted and can lock that in (as much as possible).

Have you sold now @dancingqueen345

@HmmmmmmInteresting yes, accepted an offer a week after listing from very sympathetic buyers who were willing to wait up to 6 months for me to find something, but then went on to find one I wanted to buy anyway about 6 weeks later! Both going through at the moment.

[quote dancingqueen345]@HmmmmmmInteresting yes, accepted an offer a week after listing from very sympathetic buyers who were willing to wait up to 6 months for me to find something, but then went on to find one I wanted to buy anyway about 6 weeks later! Both going through at the moment.[/quote]
Congrats 😁

We are in similar position although I have sold my house 5 times over the past 15 months and I am so done with it all.
Buyer no. 6 is waiting on a document and then mortgage company will send round the surveyor and they want to be in by 30th June.
Plus we have no where to go and have 5 cats and can’t organise anything till they exchange.

Sometimes feel like I am going mad if I think of the enormity of it all.

Bythenillpond what do you mean sold it 5 times - did they al let you down? Or do you mean you had to pull out 4 times as you couldn't find anything?? That's mad. Mine is bad but due to one dodgy buyer - took about the same tiime as your 5 provavly!

OP agree with Lumene that once you aer under offer you'll be on that list of poceedable buyers who agents phone aroumd before any viewings requests from 'public' are accepted. Even if it's not going to help, worth a try - nothing to lose really!

There’s people buying houses without viewing them in person !!

I think the agent is just trying to build up stock as there isn’t much. We’ve had an agent try that. In your shoes I would register with all agents in your area, some here will contact you about properties due to come into the market, rather than just being reactive.

Do you need to move at the moment? Conveyancing is taking ages, local authority searches taking 62 working days in some areas.

Don’t rent, will cost you and a landlord fees and not much around to rent either.

I had my flat (no outside space) on the market for a year and the only way I could get an offer was to advertise it as chain free. I'll move into my other half's apartment but its far from convenient - he lives in Norwich and I work in London! There's absolutely no houses going on the market where we want to buy (Sevenoaks). Literally a house will come on maybe every 2 or 3 weeks which is in our price range - and it goes for way over asking.

At first I thought I'd be in a good position having sold already, but now I'm worried about being out of the market and having to pay rent (he's only in Norwich until December). It's a tricky one. I suppose at the end of the day we only live once and I don't want to be stuck in a tiny flat for the rest of my life.

Makes you wonder if EA are telling certain buyers (their clients) about certain houses before they hit the open market?

our house still isnt live yet estate agents said it would be on "very quickly" but not yet..... aghhhhhh.

I do think EA's must be prioritizing their own clients who have sold which does make sense..!

Just hoping all the stars align and we sell and find something we like.... so hard!

I dont partcularly want to rent, worried about getting priced out and all the upheaval for my child!

I sold mine first in Bucks because it was too much hassle going to viewings where we wanted to move. But we saw one last minute and our solicitor (not conveyancer; they’re rubbish) offered to approach our buyers with a short term tenancy request. We chose not to take it but you could ask yours if something is available?

CatAndHisKit

It wasn’t me pulling out. I have answered 5 lots of solicitors questions, had 5 surveys (all fine) 5 lots of waiting whilst paperwork is in place.
I had a couple of buyers who lost their jobs just before exchange, one who tried their luck with a massive underbid, one who decided to stay put and one who lost their buyer

This is the 6 th buyer and I am so done

Could you not rent somewhere temporarily if you sell before you find somewhere. That way you could take longer to get your perfect house instead of settling for 2nd or 3rd best

Five surveys?? What a nightmare, that's at least 2.5K in costs - if it's not a large house that is!
Is there any way to recoup survey costs, like get some of the cost back from the next buyers of same house, I wonder.
I'm about to pay for my survey on purchase(500) and worry that if anything falls through I will ose that - that's my biggets fear as I really don't hav more than 500 set aside for surveys, lots of other expenses atm.

@CatAndHisKit

Five surveys?? What a nightmare, that's at least 2.5K in costs - if it's not a large house that is! Is there any way to recoup survey costs, like get some of the cost back from the next buyers of same house, I wonder. I'm about to pay for my survey on purchase(500) and worry that if anything falls through I will ose that - that's my biggets fear as I really don't hav more than 500 set aside for surveys, lots of other expenses atm.

In non-legal speak, as far as I understood from my conveyancer is that the survey belongs to whoever commissioned it in terms of any comeback against the surveyor.

So you could in theory 'buy' the survey from a previous buyer, but if the survey has missed anything then you wouldn't have any claim against the surveyor as you are not their customer. So useful for information only kind of thing.

I was asking my conveyancer about same thing (house i'm purchasing had chain collapse prior to exchange) and she said she would advise against it and just instruct your own survey.

Have you contacted all your local estate agents and let them know your requirements? They will then contact you before things go on the market, however their vendors will take priority

We are staying put for this reason , there is nothing to rent either so no good selling and renting . I think we would sell ok , fed up of EA trying to persuade us to sell but I am not moving into something I like less than this .

It is crazy at the moment - a combination of the stamp duty holiday and pent-up demand from the past year. We listed ours in April,got the first viewing booked five minutes after it went live and an offer within a week. We could not view any houses before that too...it was a bit hairy! On the plus side, it has meant less competition when making the offer and we are looking at completion now, so it does work in your favour during the sake process.

If you don't have to move immediately, I would wait for things to calm down a bit. Sadly, we have not seen the full impact of the coronovirus in the economy. When furlough ends in September, there's likely to be more churn in the housing market and potentially more rental properties available, too. At present everyone is sitting tight and landlords need to give 6months notice for vacant possession. This has put the brakes on housing stock (for better and for worse).

On the plus side, it has meant less competition when making the offer

Sadly that doesn’t seem to the the case here , so much stuff is going to ‘best and final’ or sealed bids. We are about 1.5 hours from London and the market is swamped by people offering silly money after selling,or in some cases not even selling, from London, one house recently went for 50% over the asking price and I have just spotted a barn conversion off plan only two beds and a cupboard, open plan smallish kitchen diner on market for over £650k . Two years ago you would have been lucky to get £450k as a second home

We listed Saturday afternoon and we've got 9 viewings booked tomorrow. One couple have said they're happy to offer full asking without having viewed it but ea told them to view it tomorrow anyway.

Have registered interest with ea. We are "lucky" in that we are happy to buy a doer upper so it doesn't have to be nicer than our house which is good because I agree there is nothing I think is nicer than mine up at the moment (for what we want an can afford and area wise! There are plenty of lovely spendy houses ha!)

Also not found less competition here either.
It's all sealed bids and 10's of thousands above asking price, absolutely bonkers.