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

Welcome to the thread @Stevie77 . When you say things aren't selling, did they go up at the end of last year? Winter selling is pretty dead but I think January things will be flying off like they were in the summer

@EmmaH2022 there is the option to stay for the time being, but within 10 years we will need to move due to the steps up to the house. We both have knee issues that aren't bad enough for replacement but are painful.

@Momniscient that is exactly how I am feeling atm. I was all set to go until we had this issue with the buyer and now it is has unsettled me and I am conflicted.

Thanks @Momniscient. Some went up in the autumn and winter (Oct-Dec) and a very small number of properties went up since Boxing Day. There is little to no movement - there are three detached houses up for sale on my road, none have sold. Another one has just gone up and it’s so hugely overpriced compared to the others and its condition 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ours went on Boxing Day and we’ve accepted an over asking price offer already. But the initial interest has died off so if we’d have had no offers it doesn’t look like we’ll be having non-stop viewings either.

@Stevie77 I think you need to essentially discount most of December for calculating how long some places have been on for. Ours went up at the end of October and the majority of houses we viewed at the time (newly listed also in November and on have only just sold, or are still on the market. Great houses, nice areas etc, but things reeeeeally slow down around Christmas.

@CheltenhamLady I have found keeping a list of "things I'm looking forward to once we've moved" is helpful. Gets me focusing on why we're moving in the first place, rather than how good this place is.

I think it's similar to when people are in awful relationships but don't want to leave because then they'd be single. Even if the relationship has no future it seems better to be in any relationship. Even though that's false logic because you're closer to a good relationship when you're single than when in a poor relationship because you're ready to go...

@Momniscient I also keep a list of things im excited for in the new house! Massively helpful for when struggling to find a property, or when things have got particularly stressful.

Would defo recommend anyone else getting 'rose tinted glasses' over your current property gives it a go!

There is so little [nothing] coming on the market I'm actually considering looking at a six bedroom HMO currently let to students! It's a semi with 4 bedrooms upstairs plus 3 reception rooms. So lots of space.

They're selling it as an fully furnished HMO but I suppose it could be turned into a family house?! Presumably the students would be in until the summer but then their tenancy agreement would end? We have our rental until September so we wouldn't need to move in until end Aug/early Sept.

Is this totally crazy?!

Riding I would just be cautious about a property with tenants. If they are students they may move on when the tenancy ends but it would be worth checking this. Student accommodation is scarce in some areas so they might not go as quickly as you think if still have terms to complete at uni. Six bedrooms is a lot, if rooms are let on individual basis there may be people living there who are not students.

@RidingMyBike

There is so little [nothing] coming on the market I'm actually considering looking at a six bedroom HMO currently let to students! It's a semi with 4 bedrooms upstairs plus 3 reception rooms. So lots of space.

They're selling it as an fully furnished HMO but I suppose it could be turned into a family house?! Presumably the students would be in until the summer but then their tenancy agreement would end? We have our rental until September so we wouldn't need to move in until end Aug/early Sept.

Is this totally crazy?!

Has this come on the market today? I've seen it if so and had a similar thought, although only in theory, as it's not the area we want to be!

I'd want to see the contracts to know when the students were due to move out - it could be that they're thinking of being there for more than one year.

An I too late to join, we rented after selling as it was a quick sale and we couldn't immediately find anything.
15 months later we are still here, it's not a great rental either but we thought we could stomach it for a few months face

Yes it's very new on market. There is also only one photo of it (external!) and a floor plan. So it could be awful inside! The location is great from our POV - easy walk to DD's school and it appears to be outside the area of concern on the flood risk map.

I have a feeling AST weren't a thing when I was a student - we rented a house for an entire year (July - June) as a group and split the rent between us. A lot would depend on what the tenancy arrangements are and what condition it's in. The ex-student house we viewed was quite good inside - far better than any student house I lived in (we certainly didn't have dishwasher etc ). I've been a landlord before (relocated south for work and rented out house I left behind) and I wouldn't consider a tenanted house now but at least students normally leave after a year.

@Ihopeyourcakeisshit

An I too late to join, we rented after selling as it was a quick sale and we couldn't immediately find anything. 15 months later we are still here, it's not a great rental either but we thought we could stomach it for a few months face

Welcome! Sorry you're not finding anything...the emails are trickling in though, I'm finding....

Interesting username, especially as a neighbour gave me a mahousive chocolate brownie today....it's too good and I'm trying to save it. It's about 2.5 times one portion!

Saw three flats today...well, one was a second viewing of the one I really liked at the weekend.

Will make some tea and post later!

@RidingMyBike definitely check with the agent. From memory, student lets are sorted in January for the following September. So it might be that as it's on the market in January there isn't anyone due to start a new tenancy, but it would be best to be certain

Welcome @Ihopeyourcakeisshit - I'll be right where you are pretty soon by the looks of it! I'm holding positive for the much-promised Spring property rush...

OMG I was wondering why the old thread was quiet...
So, nothing happening here either. Still here, still staying at folks after completing my Sale last August. Still not much on market. I have a viewing on Saturday (have taken a 6 week break) and am already fed up of speaking to EA's (first call today, ha ha ha). It is a house I wanted to view last Spring but couldn't as they accepted an offer, obvs things have fallen through, but EA didn't tell me why. They looked at notes and said "we have written here that you cancelled viewing as you drove past and didn't like it". Erm, actually they cancelled my viewing as vendor accepted an offer. Idiots.

Although a houseboat came up for Sale yesterday and well within budget. Wouldn't even need a mortgage!

Oooh @EmmaH2022 sounds exciting! I hope it turns out to be The One for you.

@areyouhavingagiraffe

Although a houseboat came up for Sale yesterday and well within budget. Wouldn't even need a mortgage!

Ooh that sounds cold!

So, update from me
Saw two flats this morning, one within 20 mins walk of mum's which is great. I suspect it will go quickly as they mostly do...

The other one isn't for me.

Then did the second viewing of the flat I really liked from Saturday. Even more suspicious now as it seems under priced. Mentioned to EA that I felt something must be wrong.

He said the owner wasn't really his client and he'd get the relevant person to call me.
That guy called and said it's a probate sale and also, he said the bereaved person selling it is quite unsettled.

I can't explain this but I suspect the EA also has another buyer in mind who isn't me.

I also think it might go to a bidding war. Or, will the fact of it being a probate situation put people off?

The chap who called me seemed so uninterested, and I was on the verge of making an offer. Maybe the person who inherited it will keep it and rent it?

If I don't hear anything from them by the end of tomorrow, I might offer on the one near mum's...if it's still on...there were two other viewers after me this morning.

Or shall I just offer on that one tomorrow? I dunno.

@areyouhavingagiraffe

OMG I was wondering why the old thread was quiet... So, nothing happening here either. Still here, still staying at folks after completing my Sale last August. Still not much on market. I have a viewing on Saturday (have taken a 6 week break) and am already fed up of speaking to EA's (first call today, ha ha ha). It is a house I wanted to view last Spring but couldn't as they accepted an offer, obvs things have fallen through, but EA didn't tell me why. They looked at notes and said "we have written here that you cancelled viewing as you drove past and didn't like it". Erm, actually they cancelled my viewing as vendor accepted an offer. Idiots.

This is a problem isn't it

One of the agents this morning said to me "you have been on our books for ages, haven't you?"

I haven't. I do have a very unusual name and it turns out he had a client with my name a couple of years ago! I don't want him to think I'm a flake so I'm going to remind him that in case I offer on that place...I don't want him telling clients I'm a fussy flake.

The flat I really like is bugging me now. There is definitely something odd going on there.

Welcome to the new thread @areyouhavingagiraffe

Aaaaahhh my blood pressure

So, this might be me being stupid but as per my waffle yesterday, the probate flat, the one I really like, the EA gave me the impression they weren't interested in offers.

So this morning I offered on the one walking distance from mum, which is my main reason for moving, to be near mum.

They came back and said
a) they want more viewings because they think they can get full asking price

b) to take it off the market would be a £2k deposit - non refundable if I pull out, understandably

Just feels a bit OTT - and for a smaller flat than the one I really like. And there's a chain.

Then, the EA for the probate flat called, apologised for general lack of interest and said they had been under pressure with a few immediate problems on Saturday and Monday.

The offer they think the probate vendor would accept is about £20k less than the other flat, and the probate one is much bigger.

It's three Tube stops and a ten minute walk from mum.

Any thoughts? The home buyers insurance doesn't cover probate properties.

The probate one. Home Buyers Insurance (which I've never had) is probably less necessary as you're not in a chain - which is where most problems arise. You get more for your money, it's the one you prefer, and you don't have to hand over 2k that you'd never see again if you pulled out for totally reasonable reasons.

@Doubleraspberry

The probate one. Home Buyers Insurance (which I've never had) is probably less necessary as you're not in a chain - which is where most problems arise. You get more for your money, it's the one you prefer, and you don't have to hand over 2k that you'd never see again if you pulled out for totally reasonable reasons.

Thanks Double

The EA for the one where they rejected my offer

After he said about the 2k deposit to take it off the market, I asked him to give me some time to think about.

I pondered....and then I called back and said to him that I am concerned about that and I would like a couple of days to think it over, in fact.

He seemed quite shocked that I wouldn't just up my offer and agree to the 2k deposit. I wonder if he is on the defensive because he's maybe lost a chain free buyer.

Re probate, I don't really know what can go wrong in those. I suppose it's unknown quantity and that concerns me.

Probate is a pretty common way to buy a house, so don't feel too daunted.

Probate is in many ways easier as it means chain-free. Not everyone likes taking over a property from someone who has passed on, although it doesn't bother me - we'd quite like a probate property! Personally I'd go for the extra space and the cheaper price - 4 tube stops and a walk is still close to your Mum (I've just moved to be closer to mine - we're now 70 miles from her instead of 150 ).
There were some delays with probate getting granted but I'm not sure if that's still the case.

Thanks Double and Riding

Yes, the probate one really is a lot nicer and tbh - although I hope it never happens of course - if mum got really in need of care, that's still not too far away.

I know someone who spends every night with her mum, who is 99. She lives about 40 mins drive away. Her mum has a carer in during the day. Three Tube stops is still okay if we have to resort to that.

It's interesting that the EA was so shocked. I think people are probably getting full asking price quite easily. When I read through the previous thread, which I joined very late, I got the impression "brutal market" meant "everything is selling really fast and there's lots of competition"? I thought that was houses rather than flats.