First time buyer and confused

[Clearlynotgettingit]

We're first time buyers looking for a family home. Aware the market is a bit crazy at the moment but wondering what things are because of the current market and what things are normal.

1. Everything is a huge hurry. House goes on Wednesday, viewings held Saturday, all offers to be in by Monday 9.30am, called and asked for best and final offer that afternoon and then that's it. No time to think, no time to view a second time. Once this was because the vendor was at risk of the whole chain collapsing, and was under a lot of pressure from their vendors estate agents, which I understood. But this weekend it was an empty probate property, still full of family belongings, where the person who inherited it lived 350 miles away. Why did that all need to be done in 2 days?

2. Everything is going to best and final offers, that's a given from before you make an offer. No, we can't know even roughly what other offers there might be. And no, you can't know the best offer even after it's been accepted. Today I asked (after hearing our offer was rejected) what was the best offer on the probate property and was told this couldn't be shared until after completion. Frustratingly, my husband by chance met someone who offered on the same property, and they were told the rough range of current offers AND what it went for? This makes no sense, why the difference? Is it worth asking? I don't want to get any individual employee in trouble.

I know ultimately we need to just offer what we're happy to pay, which is what we did. But if we're consistently offering much less than others, it would be good to know. We offered over asking this time but still £15k less than the accepted offer... Which I only know by chance.

I used to watch a lot of location location location back when the prospect of home ownership seemed an impossibility. They would ring and make an offer on a house that had been on the market 2 weeks, be told there was a better one, or even what the other offer was, then think about it sometimes overnight before offering again. Now everything seems to be secret and enormously rushed. Or is this just normal? The prices we're looking at around 250k or under so are people still hoping to get in before stamp duty holiday ends? Or is it already too late?

Are you in England or Scotland?

Hi Op, just got to the end of your post and there is no way people will get sales completed by end of September if they’re only offering now. Even as a cash buyer I don’t think you’d get a deal done in 3 weeks.

Whereabouts in the country are you? I think the market is crazy at the moment as covid has changed people’s priorities (ie wanting houses with gardens over flats) and people have sadly had to move because of losing jobs etc.

It did go a bit quiet over the summer with fewer properties coming on the market where I am (SE) but September is usually a fairly busy time in the property market anyway so it’s picked up again here.

The general consensus seems to be that the market will slow down soon though and prices will drop. Are you in a hurry to move or could you wait a month or so and see what happens?

England, East Anglia.

I thought it was too late for stamp duty holiday so don't understand the mad hurry.

Whoops posted too soon. We are going to wait. Maybe even a year or so. This process of rushing is really stressful!

Someone I know sold a house around the £1m mark in East Anglia last month and they had 10+ viewings before it went online, and same again a week or so later after it went properly online. And then was sold. But there wasn't that pressure re:timings other than the fact it was made clear it would likely sell quite quickly. Yours sounds slightly artificially enhanced by EA, especially if it's on a not great property. Hurrying people on a property with issues is a tactic as old as time of course...

Re estate agents telling people who offered about other offers - entirely seem to depend on the agent and/or the area. Where I'm looking, most agents volunteer the info about other offers over, even without asking - they just want you to make an offer higher than that or not bother - akes sense. But they don't usually tell you which offer exactly was accepted, they may give a rough idea ('just over 200K', for example).
I think the mad rush is because of the lack of properties so they have no reason to wait when they have seveal over-asking offers on the table in 2 days. It wasn't that mad before covid - I'm not sure why is that, maybe more buyer per house now as opposed to many buying flats before - especially in your budget as it's FTB territory.

I think you might be right to wait a bit, though I don't know E.Anglia market at all, I thought it was v/popular with retirees and unhurried (civilised 'grin'), steady but unlikely to rise in price much more, but I may be totally wrong.

*civilised

I've given up down here (far south west). Nothing coming on that I want to view, and everything is 'offers over' and going to best and final offers which is just further inflating the market. I'm already seeing prices reducing (and in some cases, just a few days after it going on the market) where they had clearly been greedy and were never going to get what they were asking. There are a few clearly overpriced ones that have been sitting there for months while cheaper houses (same size, type) on the same street have gone in days, so either they're holding out for a price they'll never get, or they're just not desperate to move.

It feels like 2007/8 all over again so I am minded to sit and wait until next year. Currently in rented so no great rush.

There also seems to be a lot of "I need to sell for £X to fund my onward purchase"-type wishful thinking. Er, no. Your house is only worth what someone will pay for it;

Round here the offering quickly and Best and Final seems to be the norm. We’ve offered on 3 properties recently - two B and F, both over price, and the offer we’ve had accepted was a lot of negotiation to get it taken off the market before other viewings were done.

I don’t think there’s any deadline for people to meet, it’s just there’s so little on the market everyone feels they can rush. Certainly around here, if a house hasn’t gone in a few weeks people start to question it.

Just chip away at it tbh - we viewed houses and put offers in for nearly 2 years 😭🤷‍♀️ We spent a lot of Saturdays on buses all over the place viewing houses. It was awful on lockdown as I was pregnant and had to stay out in the cold in the winter between viewings and we couldn’t even go into a bloody cafes and I was always hungry and dying for a wee 😂😂

We finally got offer accepted on 23rd December there - it really took a long time but worth it in the end sure !

Me and my partner were in the exact same position OP. FTB and shocked at how rushed the whole process is at the moment.

We viewed almost 30 places in London, bid on about 5 and missed out when they went to best and final on the Monday after the weekend.

In the end we got quite lucky and found a property where the owners were keen to get chain free buyers as they had moved to Australia during lockdown - so chose us.

Good luck and I hope you're successful!

Just writing to say I feel your pain! Everything is so rushed and everything goes to best and finals. I am in Yorkshire and there seems to be a lot of demand and not enough supply (I don't think stamp duty is an influence at this point). I am currently waiting to place a best and final on a house that has at least 10 other offers on it. The 9+ people who don't get that house will surely be my competition for the next comparable property in the area. It has been a tough time.

I think it will calm down. Properties here go relatively quickly but then they turn back up again. I've heard that up to a third are falling through as people have over committed themselves thinking that working from home and the cost saving will continue.