Thread 3: "Anyone not being picky - and STILL can't find anything?"

[RidingMyBike]

Thread 3 ready to go.
Link to thread 2:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/4450168-Thread-2-Anyone-not-being-picky-and-STILL-cant-find-anything?pg=1

Going thru building survey to turn into prioritised spreadsheet of what we need to do [how is your Saturday morning going?!].

There are pics of completion certificates included. All of them dated Feb 2022, ie just before house went on market. Does it matter that the completion certificates weren't done when the work was done (years before?). I suppose the point is that they exist at all?

Had a call from an agent. Would we like to book a viewing for a property that’s not on rightmove yet. Top of our budget but in our preferred postcode area and has 3 bedrooms plus off road parking. Apparently doesn’t need loads of work. I’ve booked in for next week but no idea what it looks like . No doubt it will sell over asking. They said they expect to have a lot of interest in it. I am sure they will. But slightly interesting that they are calling people already registered with them before putting it straight on the open market on rightmove. Haven’t seen any agent do this in the last year we’ve been looking. I wonder if the tide is starting to turn.

We've viewed a couple like that @Paddingtonthebear - be prepared to jump very quickly if you do want it. We got ours taken off the market before they could get other viewings in .

The only thing we did find was that what the EA said didn't quite match up with what we wanted, which we could have worked out from photos/floorplan if they'd been available. Eg what we were told was a third reception room turning out to be an odd tiny lean-to thing.

Yeah they’ve arranged two days of viewing slots and it goes on RM on Monday I think so they have filled the first few slots with people already on their books. I suspect we will go, like it,then get outbid and then be disappointed

This is now the new way of selling properties. A lot of agents are no longer advertising with Rightmove due to the hike in prices.

Oh it’s going on rightmove, they just don’t have the photos until Monday but first viewings are not until Friday and Saturday next week

I’m 40ish miles outside London, and new property coming onto the market is still very scarce.

The EAs talk such bullshit, that I’ve given up trying to have any kind of sensible conversation with them.

However, I did call a local property search consultant who told me that everything is going for between 5-10% over the Guide price. A 3 bedroom property on the ‘wrong’ side of town here would be in the region of £500k…as a starting point.

And yes, I have a viewing for a house on Tuesday, and all the agents could do is give me an address!

With the price of diesel, I’m reluctant to do a 40 min round trip, so have resorted to Google street view.

Ridiculous.

Guys, found the new thread. Nothing to report here. My offer accepted end of Feb. I have done everything on my side. Still waiting for vendors to find something. I am calling the EA every 2 weeks to get an update, I feel like I am chasing, but I need to know where I stand. My mortgage offer lasts six months, and I am a month in already. Panicking a bit but it is honestly out of my control. Last house I was buying (last Summer) was chain free, and i pulled out of that so I know that "chain free" is not the "panacea". But anyway, keep plodding on. Not allowing myself to daydream about the house. I really do want to move out from my parents though, been here 9 months....!

giraffe it's so delicate isn't it. You don't want to push in case anyone gets annoyed and pulls out. How do you cope at your olds?

I am rather wishing I hadn't told mum I might be moving, she is really clinging to it to cheer her up.Some of you might have seen my thread about her A&E experience. She is home now and I am looking after her.

So I have decided if anything goes wrong with my purchase, I will move in with her. It won't be easy for me but she'll be thrilled, though of course she'd rather the purchase was successful.

It is hard not to dream about it after you have told others, she was asking about whether I'll get new furniture etc while I'm trying not to plan that.

Have you all seen the £20million pound house someone posted?

@ByeByeMissAmericanPie

And yes, I have a viewing for a house on Tuesday, and all the agents could do is give me an address!

With the price of diesel, I’m reluctant to do a 40 min round trip, so have resorted to Google street view.

Ridiculous.

Did you view the house?

Two viewings this week. Well into double figures on house viewings now, hoping one of these will be “the one”

@EmmaH2022 - yes, I did, and the house itself was lovely. However, they’d extended into the garden that there was almost no garden left as a result. Ho hum. The search continues…

Viewed a house today. First day of viewings and they’ve already had a full asking price offer. We were the last viewing for today and the agent said they vendor will prob make a decision on Monday, or schedule another round of viewings next week.

Not sure what I think about it. It was… ok-ish. Pros - bigger than what we’ve seen so far, lots of light coming in, big garden, road ok, not overlooked in the garden, big garage and off road parking out front. Cons - really dirty and tired, has an extension that is pointless as creates an awkward long room that is only 6 foot wide. It’s also situated right next to a school entrance so could be rammed outside twice a day. And the biggest issue is it needs quite a lot doing to it from top to bottom. But it’s a liveable project - could move in once the bathroom and kitchen have had a thorough professional deep clean 😝.

ByeBye that's a shame.

Paddington the biggest issue for me would be the school entrance.

Hmm yes, it’s an infants school not junior or secondary. But still plenty of opportunity for terrible parking and noise

I had at least had 3 to view last week. The first was much smaller than it looked and was right next to a busy junction. The second was way over budget and although beautiful was on the main road. The third one had some land that hadn't been fenced off and was being used as a public footpath. The search continues. I ring 20 estate agents every week.

@Coffeesnob11 - I’ve taken to visiting the EAs in my local town. Try and put an extra hour on the car park, and pop my head round the door. I think they get so sick of being on the phone and putting a face to a name helps.

I’ve also picked up stuff to see as a result of this.

Obviously this doesn’t work if you’re buying out of area.

Hey, I'm new to this thread but not new to trying to find a place. It's a nightmare isn't it? I'm not sure how much over the asking price/valuation to go for. It's just mad right now. I just found out we were the lowest bid in the latest place we went for.

Welcome to my club @DancingBarefootOnIce. Missed out on 3 this way…

Of course, no feedback from the agents as to quite HOW MUCH I’ve been under. It’s a guessing game.

I’m in the SE and I think 10%+++ over the guide Price.

Keep to odd numbers. Don’t offer £200k. Offer £201.76k

That’s my take on it!

Good luck

I think it isn't quite so bad in some places. We've been looking since November and just had an offer accepted at asking price for a place in the Midlands. I had some advice of "only offer what makes sense to you, instead of offering what you need to win the bid" and that changed my perspective on what to offer.

While mum was ill, much paperwork arrived

Just looking it through now

Hopefully a sign of progress! Still some really vital stuff not through yet.

Wonky good advice.

The place I'm hopefully buying is much less than the places where I was outbid.

But that's allegedly because those are "better" areas. I think they are counted as better because of schools, which I don't need, and stuff like shops and restaurants, which I don't use much. Also proximity to Central London - I'm happy to be further away!

At the start, I foolishly went to see a place beyond my price limit but I thought things were still going a bit lower.

I'm still concerned about noise but I haven't seen anywhere that you don't have to worry about that. I am vaguely acquainted with a saxophone player, as in, that's his job. You can hear him practising as soon as you enter the street and he's a fair way down it.

I actually can't believe that's permitted, I can't imagine how his neighbours cope.

Can I join please?

We’ve sold our house well over a month ago - and our buyer has sold to first time buyers, but we just can’t find anything. Our budget is £575k (in Midlands) which is so much money but it appears not!!!

I’ve got visions of losing our buyers - there is new build estate awaiting reserved matters planning permission in our desired area and wonder whether we just take it off the market, lose our buyers and then just wait for the new builds to be released.

We are wanting to move purely for school catchment area reasons and the schools in our desired area are excellent (where we currently live, the senior school has never had better than “requires improvement” )

But seems £575k doesn’t buy you much, but am concerned that if we get a house for a lot less - we are settling, and feel like we are going backwards. We are looking for a sideways move really. But there’s just nothing. Lots of really dated houses that you know will just cost a fortune in materials and work, if you can even get someone in.

Feeling really quite despondent, our buyers are going to start getting twitchy at some point. There doesn’t even really seem to be much coming on to the market either

The house we failed to get a viewing on in January (as they had far too many viewings already booked by the time we tried two days after it went on market!) has suddenly reappeared back on at the same price.

Weird. The house we're now in the middle of buying is in a much better location so glad the way it turned out. But there do seem to be more reductions or houses that sold coming back on the market now.