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Original poster

OMG the housing market in Somerset

44 replies

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 19/07/2021 11:27

The market here is so outrageous here in Somerset the estate agents will not let you view a property unless your house is sold!!
You have to be in a position where your house is actually sold and then they take best offers. Leaving you pretty much at risk of homelessness, at risk of being gazumped over your limit, some are pricing them really low then selling to the highest bidder sometimes £50-100k plus over the asking price.
My DS, daughter in law and I want to move in together with me in an annexe because they can't get on the housing ladder on their own.
It's hard enough finding a house with an annexe let alone competing with 10 other people in a price war. Every single house on the market has had several offers.
I'm going to have to let them down and we're going to have to wait at least another year.
I work full time in the NHS and don't need this kind of stress on top of my job. We all have pets and you can't get a rental round here with pets, the last time I moved I had to rent a caravan in a holiday park so I could keep my cat and it was unbelievably expensive. Luckily it was only 3 months but even so.
If you have to sell your house, give notice on your rental or have any kind of complications you are basically stuffed.
They would have to move up here and in with me, put all their stuff in storage then we'd have to start looking with my house sold. It would be a nightmare.
Locals (Somerset) are being priced right out of the market.
Its not worth even looking until the market calms down and/or there is a recession.

OP posts:

ThisIsStartingToBoreMe · 19/07/2021 11:29

Try approaching the sellers direct. Otherwise yes wait till it all calms down

Pogacar · 19/07/2021 11:37

I’m not really seeing the issue here. I wouldn’t ever allow people to view ours unless they’d already sold - it would be a total waste of my time to be honest. If people are outbidding you then perhaps you can afford less than you think you can right now. The housing market is very hot around most places in the UK right now - you’ll have to either adjust your expectations to those that meet with reality (the same as all other buyers are doing) or just wait it out. Your job has nothing to do with your house move

Original poster

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 19/07/2021 11:57

Where do you live though Pogacar, when I bought my place here in Somerset 18 months ago - moved up from south east houses were on the market for sometimes years! This place had been on the market for over two years and the price had been dropped by £50k by the time I came along. Now they are being snapped up before they are on rightmove and for well over the asking place.
I can't cope with my job at the moment and a fast market like this, it's manic where I work because of the rise in covid patients, I have to request any day off 8 weeks in advance and I'm not allowed to use the phone or personal email while at work. I'm always in PPE and you can't just bugger off to take a phone call mid shift.
It's not normally like this at work, but it's impossible to organise a house move with all this going on. I've already had all my annual leave cancelled again.

OP posts:

umbel · 19/07/2021 12:23

@Shehasadiamondinthesky It’s still pretty mad everywhere at the moment. Very stressful. If you are able to, I think taking a step back for a while is a good idea, especially given what you are dealing with at work (thank you!)

When you say ‘sold’ though, surely they just mean you’ve accepted an offer, not that you’ve actually completed the sale and moved out? We ‘sold’ in February but we are still in our home as we cannot find anywhere/keep getting outbid. We have decided to complete the sale and move into rented, to put us in a better position, but we don’t HAVE to do that, we could just withdraw from our sale and stay here.

Orangemochafrappacino · 19/07/2021 12:31

I'm in Somerset too and it was like this when we sold and bought last year. Our house had to be under offer before the seller of the house we wanted would accept our offer.

It does make sense though and I wasnt willing to accept any offers on ours from anyone who hadn't even marketed their place yet - what if they never sold? The flip side of this is that it shouldn't take you log to sell in such a hot market!

You have my sympathies though it's a nightmare time to be trying to move!

BridgetInHerBravery · 19/07/2021 12:33

It has always been the case that you need to be under offer on your own sale before most sellers will accept an offer.

I can understand why sellers don't want to take risks having viewings from people who are not proceedable.

It does sound like you need to re-frame your searches as clearly what you want is out of budget.

I don't think any of this is peculiar to Somerset.

PersonaNonGarter · 19/07/2021 12:33

This is the natural result of every fucking NIMBY planning objection.

Original poster

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 19/07/2021 12:42

I can afford what I want as the kids get get a mortgage for top up just not as big as they want but I don't have the wherewithall to deal with all the gazumping right now. Houses are being put on for say £400k then after the frenzy they are going for £450k.
I think I'm definitely going to wait and get my ducks in a row for a less frenetic market.

OP posts:

Cattenberg · 19/07/2021 12:47

Prices have increased a lot in Somerset. I think it’s partly due to people who can WFH moving out of the South-East. Houses are more popular than flats, though - locals want more space too!

My own buyer has just tried to gazunder me at the last minute, giving a bogus reason. Given that she’s clearly trying it on AND the value of my property has increased since I accepted her offer, I’ve told her to jog on. I’m confident I’d have no trouble finding another buyer.

Bythemillpond · 19/07/2021 12:49

We are in the south east and I have found a buyer and will probably exchange and complete within a few days.
We can’t rent because we have pets coupled with the fact we don’t have a regular income.

Anything that is a possibility is gone before we can view. We have waited 4 months to get to this stage as the mortgage company our buyers have gone with took so long to get their act together that all the forms and paperwork my buyers sent to them got too old and they had to start again.
Now everything looks like it has gone up £50,000 in the meantime.

I have gone as far as thinking we might buy a very very cheap house somewhere miles away that can be bought for cash and completed within a few weeks and renting a room down in London for work for us all.

It is just ridiculous at the moment

DobbyTheHouseElk · 19/07/2021 12:57

This was the case a couple,of years ago. My friend wanted to view a house down the road, tiny place but had planning permission so impossible to see how it would look unless you stood in the garden as it’s a walled garden.

EA wouldn’t let her view as her house hadn’t sold. So they lost a sale and the house is still for sale 2 years on.

Thisisanartattack · 19/07/2021 13:02

I don’t see the issue with needing your own house to be under offer, if the market is so hot it surely won’t take long to find a buyer? Then you can look and if you really can’t find anything take your house off the market. No one can force you out. No way would I take a house off the market for someone who hadn’t even got theirs on.

Avenueofcherryblossom · 19/07/2021 13:05

Not the point of the discussion I know but I found this annoying:

Locals (Somerset) are being priced right out of the market

I bought my place here in Somerset 18 months ago - moved up from south east

Aren’t you part of your perceived problem?

They would have to move up here - where is your son moving from? The south east too?

All parts of the country which are seeing house price increases, including the south west and parts of the north are blaming people from the south east. Is the housing market in the Home Counties collapsing due to this exodus?

SweetPetrichor · 19/07/2021 13:09

The property market is nuts everywhere just now. We just had our offer accepted last week and it was only the benefit of having nothing to sell (currently renting) and being cash buyers that swung it for us. It’s a stressful time to buy and sell.

ChickenSchnitzel · 19/07/2021 13:11

@Avenueofcherryblossom

Not the point of the discussion I know but I found this annoying:

Locals (Somerset) are being priced right out of the market

I bought my place here in Somerset 18 months ago - moved up from south east

Aren’t you part of your perceived problem?

They would have to move up here - where is your son moving from? The south east too?

Yes I agree with this. The housing market has gone mad across rural UK in places seen as the ideal place to escape to.

Where I am people are buying for cash at ridiculous prices without even viewing the property. Locals don't have a hope of competing. The few rental options are being turned into holiday houses.

This is happening up and down the country, house prices have increased by 10% at least. I would wait until things die down a bit.

Fleurty · 19/07/2021 13:28

This is totally normal, why would you waste time letting someone who isn't in a position to buy your house view it? They don't mean the sale has gone through, they just mean that you have accepted an offer and are therefore proceedable buyers

name6785 · 19/07/2021 13:32

That really isn't that unusual, it's not a reflection of a mad market, Covid has potentially increased the likelihood of this happening due to wanting to reduce potentially unnecessary appointments but if I was selling my house, pandemic or not, I would limit it to proceedable people only anyway.

You will not be homeless, it's just the frustrating chicken and egg situation of our property market, it's been this way for decades, I personally always try to sell first whilst keeping an eye on the market ready to pounce when I have an offer, and have gone into rented to guarantee the sale/purchase I wanted.

Lonecatwithkitten · 19/07/2021 13:56

Having to have an offer on or be a cash buyer before you can have an offer accepted has been the has here for the best part of 20years. You can make an offer if you haven't sold, but the agents will advise against accepting it so it will just sit till you are proceedable. Never bought a house without this being the case.

Original poster

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 19/07/2021 16:36

@Avenueofcherryblossom

Not the point of the discussion I know but I found this annoying:

Locals (Somerset) are being priced right out of the market

I bought my place here in Somerset 18 months ago - moved up from south east

Aren’t you part of your perceived problem?

They would have to move up here - where is your son moving from? The south east too?

Not really, I moved back up to work full time in the NHS - they were desperate to recruit as there aren't enough clinicians to see all the patients and staffing is at critical levels. I work absolutely flat out as they have been unable to recruit anyone else since I got the job. My entire family is originally from Somerset but moved to the south east when I was a child. DS also works in NHS and DiL is disabled so has to work from home.

OP posts:

GoWalkabout · 19/07/2021 16:46

It is true that the market is mad but totally normal to not be looking or proceed able until you are sold - good luck finding something.

Rollercoaster1920 · 19/07/2021 17:11

Years of urban migration now going the other way! But yes - I've seen South West housing going crazy even in towns tourists wouldn't normally touch. I wonder if things will turn and those from the South East buying at relatively inflated prices will get burned. Only time will tell.

SpeakingFranglais · 19/07/2021 17:51

This isn’t specific to Somerset nor country living unfortunately. It’s the same in popular areas of Leeds which is a long way from Somerset and not in the country.

surreygirl1987 · 19/07/2021 18:45

You mean under offer don't you, not sold? Yeh that's the case everywhere in the country. Makes sense though, especially in a hot market- it takes forever for me to get my house ready for viewings so I'd be pretty unimpressed if my EA was letting people through the door who weren't even proceedable!

Noterook · 19/07/2021 18:54

Do you work for the NHS by any chance? You haven't mentioned it.

It's the same a lot of places at the moment, it is an odd viewpoint if you've moved from elsewhere yourself, many people will have connections to Somerset or be moving for work, and even if not, some locals will have benefited from the rising prices if they bought when reasonably priced to stay local and can now sell high.

Where do you work again?

Tealightsandd · 19/07/2021 18:56

@Rollercoaster1920

Yes. Migration going the other way for a change.

Locals in the south east - London, in particular - have been experiencing this for many years.

It's part of the problem actually. Nobody cared when it was happening to Londoners and that made it become an acceptable thing. Pricing out locals. And so when it happens elsewhere, it's already an acceptable practice, as an unchallenged precedent has already been set.

When Londoners started being priced out, they were told to suck it up and move somewhere cheaper.

You can still see it. There was a thread just the other day. Someone couldn't afford to stay in their area (not London). They were told to just move.

Either that wasn't ok and they shouldn't have to do that, or its fine and therefore fine for everywhere else too.

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