Thread 2: "Anyone not being picky - and STILL can't find anything?"

[Momniscient]

Just spotted the first one is full so have set up thread two so we can keep talking with minimal delay. Hoping that tagging works regardless ...

RightMove addicts, and serial refreshers of other property websites, share your troubles!

Posters from last two pages in the thread and OP:
@PessimisticOptimist
@Eastie77Returns
@RidingMyBike
@beguilingeyes
@DanisEndo
@EmmaH2022
@dubyalass
@BennyBean
@ByeByeMissAmericanPie
@areyouhavingagiraffe
@CheltenhamLady
@doubleraspberry
@YukoandHiro
@TulipsfromAmsterdam
@MummyJ12
@starseeking
@GoinSouth
@MiracleBaby2022

Original thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/4346330-Anyone-not-being-picky-and-STILL-cant-find-anything

@EmmaH2022, my boiler went kaput a week before we were due to complete. I was stressing so much over it (can you tell I am a drama queen!). Anyway, it was fine, needed a new circuit board and was fixed, so don't worry

Today is the final day of viewings on the house I offered on last week. Then it's the anxious wait for the vendor's decision. I fully expect them to go with someone else so am mentally preparing for that, and for the search to continue. But equally I've been thinking about what I'd do to the house, potential decor etc - can't help myself! Here's hoping for more coming on after half term!

I was told yesterday that the number of buyers in London has massively gone up since last year - people desperate to upgrade from flats to houses with gardens. Presumably the rush to get out of the city has died down a bit.

My BiL was telling me yesterday that his company announced formally a year ago that people would only need to be in the office once a month, and then last week decided in fact it would be three days a fortnight. Playing silly buggers like that must have horrified a few people who've moved a long way away.

giraffe that's genuinely a very stressful thing to happen. The boilers are nearly twenty years old here so it wouldn't surprise me at all if it went kaput.

Houses I saw on the market last year & then withdrawn have returned to the market with at least a £100k increase. This is madness, I thought prices would settle after the stamp duty break but it's still increasing.

Ugh. House has gone to best and final, as expected. I can go up a bit but I'm inclined to not increase my offer by much because I'm in a good position and if all else fails, I'm happy to keep looking.

Fingers crossed for you @dubyalass

Go with your gut @dubyalass

Thanks both - I expect it will go to a higher bidder but c'est la vie!

Best and final here offers too. We submitted our final offer (£10k than asking) more yesterday and the vendors are still deciding apparently

@dubyalass

Ugh. House has gone to best and final, as expected. I can go up a bit but I'm inclined to not increase my offer by much because I'm in a good position and if all else fails, I'm happy to keep looking.

I think you have to submit what you would not be upset to pay for the house, if that makes sense. So if the results come back and say the person who got it offered £5k, would you have been prepared to pay £6k? You have to go with making the offer that you feel is your best foot forward, and not dwell on how much lower the competition may be.

Not sure about you DubyaLass, but we are slightly wary of bidding too much and not getting through a mortgage valuation, which happened to us last year (£25k down valuation!). On this latest house we’ve got £10k over asking and I suspect so have the other people if they vendors still haven’t decided. We could offer £20k more than we have but we don’t think the house is worth more than that and worry about the mortgage valuation.

On a best and final waiting game here too. Ours had a long deadline so we won't hear until next week Not too worried about mortgage valuation as we think it was undervalued to begin with.

Ps I don't think we've gone high enough for our offer to be competitive but we're limited on finances if we had more money we'd be looking at bigger houses! No idea what we'd do if we had the opportunity to choose but hey ho nice problem to have. Best of luck everyone else biting their nails like me haha

Commiserations to those of you in best and final purgatory and keeping fingers crossed for you all. Everyone has already said this but the system in this country needs to change. There is so little transparency.

My solicitor's assistant suddenly emerged today and suggested Friday 25th could work if we want to Complete then. However she then followed up to say she'd need to request mortgage funds by the 18th and does not want to request funds until we've exchanged. So this would mean we'd have to exchange within the next 3 days. I have no idea if this is possible. There's apparently still a charge on the vendor's mortgage that needs to be removed.

I've sent across my deposit in readiness for exchange and guess we'll see.

Eastie crossing everything for you.

They should be able to tell you if exchange is possible in three days?

Good luck for the 18th and 25th @Eastie77Returns!

Ugh, I'm sorry that so many of us are in best and final misery! I am also wary of offering too much (mine is offers over), although I can cover the extra if the mortgage company say it's not worth what I'm offering. I think it's more likely that someone will go well over, probably a developer or someone with £££ because there's lots of scope to add value. The irony is that the agent said they were discouraging excessive offers because of lenders downvaluing, yet here we are - the vendor has requested best and final.

I'm going to increase mine slightly but not by much. The form also asks what you intend to do with the house, so I'm going to mention a few things I like and say it's for me, I'm local etc. And then it's out of my hands.

And good luck Eastie!

Crossing everything for everyone!

Thanks everyone…it still all feels very much up in the air. The only thing I know with any certainty is that there is only one date this month the vendor can move so I can only complete after that date (her moving date is on a weekend so we can’t complete on the day itself)

Emma the solicitor’s assistant was vague and unsure as to whether or not Exchange could take place within 3 days. My actual solicitor has gone to ground and hasn’t responded to me for some time so I seem to be in the hands of a trainee assistant.

Dubya I didn’t realise the best and final process included having to explain what you’ll do with the property. In an ideal scenario this would be because the owners don’t want it to go to developers and your plans give you an advantage.

I think as starseeking said you can only offer the max amount you would be happy to pay without feeling regretful if it went to another buyer for x amount more. But it’s tricky to balance that strategy with not bidding too much/more than the property’s worth.

giraffe any more viewings planned? I have a friend currently looking in Romford (min 3 bed) and not having much luck!

Things I won't miss about this place

The sound of roadworks at 10pm (they just arrived).

I am not saying it's guaranteed not to happen at a new place but it is less likely.

We didn’t even have to put our best and final offer on email they said over the phone was fine! They also haven’t even asked for proof of mortgage or deposit 🙄

Eastie that’s what I’m hoping, that they want it to go to someone who actually wants to live in it, but I suspect it’s a standard box on this particular agent’s form (rather than something they’re using to decide who to choose) and the vendor will go for the highest and most proceedable offer because it’s a probate sale.

Dubya seems a mad question to ask. What if you said "imma party like it's 1999"? 😂

The pneumatic drill is ongoing and someone from the flats opposite has been out shouting at the workmen (he had to shout to be heard).

It's going to be a long night. I do have some sleeping pills but not sure they will work in this noise.