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Original poster

Anyone looking to buy?

43 replies

FanGirlX · 11/01/2022 14:48

I sold a flat last March, forward purchase of a house fell through. Went into rented for 6 months but it was so expensive I'm now back living with family.

I'm a no chain buyer with a good deposit. But nothing is coming up. When does the January rush start?

OP posts:
JennyForeigner · 11/01/2022 20:22

@Queenfool A little but we bought it for

JennyForeigner · 11/01/2022 20:24

@stuntbubbles Happy to ship it down! I always figured we could sell it brick by brick to an Ohio potato baron, but I think they would want more bathrooms.

Wendyer · 11/01/2022 20:32

My house went up for sale on Boxing Day with an open day last Saturday. We had 18 viewings booked in, 2 didn’t show, 7 couples are coming back for 2nd viewings so I really hope we’ll sell.

But - I can’t find anything at all. It’s looking likely we’ll have to rent for a while if we do sell.

MrsCremuel · 11/01/2022 21:02

We will be looking to sell in March. We have two properties to sell - a two bedroom flat in zone three London and a three bedroom semi in a Kent cathedral town (if anyone is interested!). Not feeling hopeful about the London flat which is where most our money is coming from. Also not feeling hopeful because there is so little on the market to then buy. I’m hoping others are waiting till spring like us!

RidingMyBike · 11/01/2022 21:09

** Waves
Still here. Still looking. I spent ages on Sunday registering with all 32(!!) EA listed on RM for this area. That produced a viewing for tomorrow on a house about to go on the market. It's just gone live online and I'm a bit underwhelmed now. I'd got all excited but I think it's going to be too small. DH went on foot this morning and walked the surrounding roads in rush hour to get a feel for the area.

I also had 3 calls from EA today (it was rather phone tag as I was in meetings so many voicemails were left!) to confirm our details, which basically proved there is barely anything out there!

We tried to view a semi that came up last week but it had been on the market for 2 days by the time I came across it on RM, by which point they were fully booked for viewings and wouldn't accept one from us.

In theory we aren't in a rush, as there's still 8.5 months left on our tenancy agreement and there isn't a clause in it to leave early. But the rented house is driving me mad (bolt broke on garage door last week and they still haven't fixed it, so we haven't been about to access our garage for a week!).

Oh, it is looking to be true that OnTheMarket gets some properties the day before RM. It seems to be worth keeping an eye on that late afternoon/early evening.

Original poster
FanGirlX · 11/01/2022 21:28

@areyouhavingagiraffe

Thanks *@FanGirlX*. I was expecting a massive rush also (think EA were bigging it up a little). There was a few new things on market, but many of these were old ones which had a refreshed advert. Think they were trying to be sly! But we are not stupid!
Only 3 have gone on since Boxing Day in my target area (which is quite a big area). Think the Boxing Day rush is a myth. Hopefully the market will get back to normal in the next few months.
OP posts:
Original poster
FanGirlX · 11/01/2022 21:29

@RidingMyBike

** Waves Still here. Still looking. I spent ages on Sunday registering with all 32(!!) EA listed on RM for this area. That produced a viewing for tomorrow on a house about to go on the market. It's just gone live online and I'm a bit underwhelmed now. I'd got all excited but I think it's going to be too small. DH went on foot this morning and walked the surrounding roads in rush hour to get a feel for the area.

I also had 3 calls from EA today (it was rather phone tag as I was in meetings so many voicemails were left!) to confirm our details, which basically proved there is barely anything out there!

We tried to view a semi that came up last week but it had been on the market for 2 days by the time I came across it on RM, by which point they were fully booked for viewings and wouldn't accept one from us.

In theory we aren't in a rush, as there's still 8.5 months left on our tenancy agreement and there isn't a clause in it to leave early. But the rented house is driving me mad (bolt broke on garage door last week and they still haven't fixed it, so we haven't been about to access our garage for a week!).

Oh, it is looking to be true that OnTheMarket gets some properties the day before RM. It seems to be worth keeping an eye on that late afternoon/early evening.

Hello 👋

I've reminded the better EAs that I'm still looking today. Hopefully it will bear fruit.

OP posts:
RidingMyBike · 11/01/2022 21:45

I'm attempting to be positive and use the time to chat to locals and find out more about the area - found a playground I didn't know about that way! WFH isn't helping as I don't come across colleagues as much but I had a useful conversation about local areas with a couple at church on Sunday.

There are six houses in the area we're looking that just aren't shifting. Two have been reduced but haven't gone. One now has 'refreshed' pictures - which means the living room rather than the front view first but it's still the same awkwardly shaped house!

Twiglets1 · 11/01/2022 21:50

@EL1984

We've had our central London flat in the market since September and no offers yet 😞 not many viewings either, about 2 per week.
Central London market was dead all last year. We sold in the end (2 bed flat) but it took months and sorry to say, a reduction in price
HouseIsOnFire · 11/01/2022 23:57

Very few coming up in my hunt and the ones that do are all "offers in excess of".

Feeling very down today as went to best and final, and lost out to one "substantially" more than I'd offered... but if they don't tell you the winning bid, how are you supposed to know what budget you should be looking at for the next time???

Just wish everything had a clear asking price ;(

stuntbubbles · 12/01/2022 00:04

Where is everyone looking? Or is no one willing to reveal in case we all start fighting over the same houses? Grin We’ve got our eye on Eastbourne but willing to consider all of Sussex – so long as it’s on a train line to London. At least, I am – DP wants Old Town in Eastbourne or die, and hasn’t quite caught up to the property market and that limiting your search area so narrowly AND being fussy about the house you want is unlikely to work out…

Eastie77Returns · 12/01/2022 00:08

I’m still here @FanGirlX. Good to see a new thread as the last one filled up.

I’m cautiously optimistic that I may be in a position to exchange on my never ending purchase by the end of next month. The EA called today (I froze when his number flashed up as I always assume it’s bad news if he calls..) to say he has ordered a skip for the vendor as she is now packing and getting rid of everything she cannot take to the onward purchase. So things seem to be moving but we’ll see. We are now waiting for 6 enquiries to be answered which my dreadful solicitor belatedly sent last week to the vendors solicitor (one month after receiving Searches back..).

I’ve been keeping an eye on new listings over the past few weeks and it’s also been dead here in my part of London. Lots of flats have come on but family homes are in such short supply. It’s been like this for months and there is a lot of desperation so even awful, dilapidated family properties with no kitchen/bathroom are snapped up in hours.

Happy Birthday @areyouhavingagiraffe! I hope this year brings you the house of your dreams!

RidingMyBike · 12/01/2022 07:13

Yorkshire for us. We sold in the SE last year and now in rented up here. Unfortunately we now have a limited geographical area to look in as we got DD a school place and don't really want to have to move her again. And we need to be able to walk to that school so we're looking within 1.5 miles of it.

Limited decent-sized family houses available although I have managed to convince DH to look at semis as well as detached Grin. An awful lot round here though are terraces with loft conversions or more modern townhouses, neither of which are suitable as too many stairs (we're looking for something that will last us 15-20 years).

Momniscient · 12/01/2022 08:52

Hi @FanGirlX - still around! Started the second "not being picky" thread (i.e. RightMove Addicts Anonymous) earlier this week Grin

January rush has just started here from a seller's point of view. We've had not very many viewings since December and then suddenly we have six viewings booked all this week. Haven't found anywhere to buy yet. We're going into rented for the meantime just to keep things moving along...

@stuntbubbles Selling in SE, buying Midlands (v.broad search area!). Sounds like your DH needs to watch a bit more Locationx3 with Phil's excellent "okay but there's nothing IN your area, so I expanded it a bit... just a little... just a smidge... okit's20milesBUT LOOK AT THIS HOUSE ISN'T IT GREAT Grin"

TinyTroubleMaker · 12/01/2022 08:57

Watching with interest, I'm in the same position as you OP. Hoping the prices don't keep going up this year like they did in the last 2 but that's probably naive. In the time it took for my previous sale to fall through, they went up by about £50k.

Original poster
FanGirlX · 12/01/2022 10:02

Started the second "not being picky" thread (i.e. RightMove Addicts Anonymous) earlier this week

I looked for a new thread but couldn't see it!

OP posts:
RidingMyBike · 12/01/2022 10:15

EA just sent thru a higher res copy of floor plan for today's viewing so I can actually see the sizes (WHAT is the point of putting a fuzzy one online?!).
Square metreage is almost exactly the same as house we sold down south but there are fewer rooms so I'm going to be interested to see what this means in terms of using the space.

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