First time buyers buying our first ever house

[Ladywithacat]

Hello ladies,

Please help as I have spent the whole week in anxious panic mode… (I guess it comes with ever house purchase regardless if its a first of 10th property you buy)

My and my hubby took decision at the start of the year that we have to buy our first property. Very soon we are realised we are little tiny fish floating around big sharks. After being massively outbid on all the properties we have finally found one that landlord showed it to us himself. After a heart to heart conversation we offered his asking price of 230k and he accepted our offer. At this stage we were finally in this over the moon moment. I started to arrange our mortgage application with our broker. He quickly advised mortgage is agreed subject to house valuation.

Thats when I went in to panic mode that bank will under value are house. We have saved hard for our 10% deposit and we are putting ever penny in to it, therefore if they under value it we will be back to square 0 again..

Could you please share with me your experiences with banks and their valuations? My husband keeps trying to calm me down as we viewed so many new builds very little houses that asked for over 230k and he is certain bank would agree its worth that, but I am just very scared….
Its a 3 bedroom semi detached, approximately 75 square meters size with a very big garden and decent drive way.

Please share your thoughts and experiences with me

Its a 3 bedroom semi detached, approximately 75 square meters size with a very big garden and decent drive way.

This doesn't really tell us anything as location is a big factor in house prices. It could be worth £500k here on the outskirts of London, or £100k in another area.

Agood option is to go on rightmove.co.uk, go to the sold house prices section and see what comparable houses nearby have sold for. You could also look at the asking prices of other houses for sale in the vicinity.

Agree look at the local sold prices. If your survey values lower then you may be able to negotiate.

I've never gone into "anxious panic mode" when buying a house. I'm saying this gently, but it's not normal. Do you get anxiety in other areas of your life?

We are buying ours in Swindon area. I wonder if they look at the road house is on or the whole area.

I do go in to overthink and stress myself out in many situations, its just the way I am…

I'm going through this at the moment, but my anxiety is more will the bank decline the morgage now we have submitted all the paper work.
I'm in the same position as you that all my money is going into the deposit.
Bank is coming round Tuesday to do valuation so just one more hurdle to jump.
I suppose you can renegotiate asking price if bank values for less.

@xXwhenwillitendXx

I'm going through this at the moment, but my anxiety is more will the bank decline the morgage now we have submitted all the paper work. I'm in the same position as you that all my money is going into the deposit. Bank is coming round Tuesday to do valuation so just one more hurdle to jump. I suppose you can renegotiate asking price if bank values for less.

Good luck, hope it runs smoothly for you! Its very stressful these days to get a house especially first one when deposit is very limited and its literally all we have which we saved for long time

@Ladywithacat

We are buying ours in Swindon area. I wonder if they look at the road house is on or the whole area.

I do go in to overthink and stress myself out in many situations, its just the way I am…

Both, but they will look at the house itself too. How old is it?

House is build in 1930, there is only one house which is 4 bedrooms sold on that road last year in Jnuary for 214k, the rest no one seem to be selling and are happy living in.

We kind of got thrown into it as its our LL selling us the house we ate renting. We have 5% deposit and that's with me having to sell my car.
I'm just so stressed atm, the mortgage brokers keep sending documents back and asking for something different such as car receipts for proof of something or other.
I don't have a clue what solicitors are on about and me and my DH are constantly at each others throats. if I'm honest I'm on the verge of just saying forget the whole thing but then we wouldn't have nowhere to live. So for us it's this or move I move into my dads with DD and DH moves back in with his parents with DSD

Why valuation does Zoopla give it? Can you be a helpful but very rough guide

Do you know how much the landlord bought it for and when? Rightmove/Zoopla will often tell you.

If so, you can use this to see what it’s likely to be valued at now

www.nationwide.co.uk/house-price-index/

@Ladywithacat

We are buying ours in Swindon area. I wonder if they look at the road house is on or the whole area.

I do go in to overthink and stress myself out in many situations, its just the way I am…

Put in the postcode and look at prices within ½ of a mile.

But surely putting in the postcode and door number on to House price index or even zoopla or Rightmove will give you an idea, as will sold prices etc around it?

Zoopla gives valuation of 185-215k, houses sold within 1/2 miles are about 230-260k. So fingers crossed bank will value it at our accepted offer and our sale can proceed smoothly as it can.

Current market is very strange, this is the only one they accepted asking price offer, everywhere else it was bidding wars where cash buyers used to sweep us off even the slightest thought of buying properties…

Current market is very strange, this is the only one they accepted asking price offer, everywhere else it was bidding wars

Are you buying it with vacant possession? I'd also suggest getting a thorough survey.

Are there similar properties ie. Estate of 3 beds to same design which are a more specific comparison. Did you not do this research prior to offering?

If the valuation does come in under you may be able to renegotiate with the vendor

Thank you all for your advise! I think its just one of those things where we will keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best, hopefully we have valuation soon.

Mortgage valuation came back at £0, I guess my mind was not playing games with me and I just somehow had a feeling it might be bad…
They advised “Spray foam has been applied to internal roof surfaces” therefore they value it at zero and are unwilling to lend.

We are back to rightmove I guess 😭

Wow the seller must have knew it. Lol I don’t get why people do this…. Banks aren’t stupid these days.

Well we think so, as he owns it since 2004… he didn’t bother to board it so wouldn't be visible. I just so fed up with this whole house hunting war thing that is going on and thought we found house and its over for us ☹️ But it seems we will have to search again