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

408 replies

RidingMyBike · 02/04/2022 10:31

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

OP posts:
KimCheese · 05/05/2022 08:17

@TheLadyDIdGood a good mortgage is worth their weight in gold. They'll know who to try and will be honest with you about your chances of getting what you want.

KimCheese · 05/05/2022 08:17

*mortgage broker

Paddingtonthebear · 06/05/2022 16:08

Things have moved swiftly here since our offer was accepted on Wednesday. Mortgage valuation already booked for early next week. Place your bets now on whether it gets down valued or not 🤔

Applebeee · 06/05/2022 16:16

Paddingtonthebear · 06/05/2022 16:08

Things have moved swiftly here since our offer was accepted on Wednesday. Mortgage valuation already booked for early next week. Place your bets now on whether it gets down valued or not 🤔

Good luck! I'm viewing 3 tomorrow.

Non of them tick all the boxes but they are all ok. Not finding the enthusiasm to over bid.

dubyalass · 06/05/2022 18:41

Got a viewing tomorrow but I almost can't be bothered - I know it will be too small, I've already seen the other side (it's a semi). It will probably go to best and final. I feel jaded.

Applebeee · 06/05/2022 18:45

dubyalass · 06/05/2022 18:41

Got a viewing tomorrow but I almost can't be bothered - I know it will be too small, I've already seen the other side (it's a semi). It will probably go to best and final. I feel jaded.

Have you heard back on your offer from earlier this week?

dubyalass · 06/05/2022 22:20

@Applebeee thanks for asking :) one was declined - they wanted closer to the asking price (I offered £10k under, it's been on for over a month). Offer left on the table. No news from the other but suspect they'll go with someone else who's offered more or decide not to move - they put it on the market last year and then withdrew. I'm less keen on the location of that one, but it's a lovely house and I think I'd be very happy there.

Hope you have some success with your viewings tomorrow! Are you particularly keen on any of them?

EmmaH2022 · 06/05/2022 22:51

Hi all
Sorry to hear it's all still a mare
fingers crossed for offers and valuations.

I was hesitating about posting this because it is an over privileged problem to have....

Really interested to hear advice though.

I am absolutely flummoxed at how long my purchase is taking. We are literally going round in circles with apparent problems related to form filling. It would take too long to explain and be quite outing so I can't explain, but it is making me suspicious.

my sense of "is this the right thing" is increasing. Like what's being hidden...also, I am wondering if the universe is trying to tell me something. I wish it would just come out and say it!

Also, after this I have to sell my flat, which I increasingly feel is too shabby to go on the market as it is. So that means redecorating costs, quite major. The Instagram factor is very big now, I think. I genuinely think it affects prices.

Then I think the building is getting a bad reputation with recent thefts from the car park etc. This might be true all over London though.

So I've got work, an elderly mother....is buying a flat that seems riddled with issues a good idea? I can't keep helping mum and do any decorating myself. There's just not enough time...or am I lazy?

i'm borrowing from family for this as well.

I just can't figure out what to do. This should have been so straightforward. These delays can't just be laziness. Something must be up.

Interested to hear what others think.

ByeByeMissAmericanPie · 06/05/2022 23:30

@EmmaH2022 - if your spidey senses are on high alert, then there could be something afoot. Is your conveyancing solicitor contactable? What’s the situation wrt the sellers of your property? Do they have somewhere to go? Those details are worth throwing in the mix.

Re your flat. I would hesitate to spend £££ on decorating. Can you just whitewash the walls, or get a few mates round for a day, and promise them a slap up takeaway if they do a room or two?

CamoTeaLaLa · 07/05/2022 06:25

@EmmaH2022 I have literally just composed a draft of a note to our vendor to send today to see wtf is going on!

Our solicitor says theirs hasn’t responded to queries, and we sense it’s the sols, not the vendors themselves… but maybe it is? It could be that they just can’t find the buildings regs certificate… or it could be that their purchase has fallen through and they are madly scrabbling. Could be they think it’s all in hand and are spending the weekend decluttering, same as us, and are blissfully unaware! But we won’t know until we make contact.

Fortunately, we are renting and can sit here if they need to find a new house. Lucky us, but there is nothing else out there. Looking on RM at all the shit gaffs gives me the willies 🫣

RidingMyBike · 07/05/2022 08:27

I've been following up with both solicitor and EA to make sure they're both in the loop and pushing. We're waiting for probate so at least I know what the delay is! Solicitor had said he'd have some stuff to send us this week but nothing has materialised yet!

If the delay is something like missing building regs, they can just get those done (assuming there's nothing actually out of order!). The building regs for our purchase were almost all dated a week before the house went on the market, despite the actual work being done years earlier!

I wouldn't redecorate unless there is something really off putting. We had a crack on the wall in a bedroom in the house we sold. We'd had it checked out and knew it wasn't subsidence but it was right opposite the bedroom door and very obvious so redecorating in there made sense! If the decor is just a bit tired I'd leave it.

OP posts:
RidingMyBike · 07/05/2022 08:43

Yikes just had email from a different EA - a house we wanted to view in Jan is back on the market, for the SECOND time! Both previous times it's gone SSTC within days.

It does need a lot of work but the timing makes me wonder whether it's survey related or being downvalued for the mortgage?

OP posts:
EmmaH2022 · 07/05/2022 08:55

Thanks for replies

Bye there is no onward chain. It's a probate puchase and I sense the vendor is having trouble letting go. Probate was granted before they put it on the market.

Re my flat - I barely have friends at the mo, certainly none who could help. I admit, being so down about everything could be colouring my perception of how bad the situation is.

Camo my solicitor is great. She is also very puzzled at how filling in a couple of forms can be holding things back. She had concerns about this from the start and has been careful about what work she does so I am not faced with the biggest possible bill in cae it falls through.

She does tell me that with the market as frantic as it is, she is seeing shocking standards of work so believes it could be solicitor incompetence.

I agree what's out there is shocking.

If I pull out, the main problem, apart from hating my current location, is that I spend so much time on the Tube going to mum's. That said, if mum needs more care, we'll have to get a carer.

I don't think I can face looking again. Mum has always said "it's sod's law that as soon as you move, I'll die". Don't worry, mum is generally more positive than me, lol. But she is 83 and we have to be realistic.

The market does have to cool off, I think. But I think there's too much stress in my life to keep looking. Some of you might have seen my post about mum spending 16 hours on a trolley in A&E.

The mum situation also means I could face the following - move into a place that's got something, as yet unknown, wrong with it, then be unable to sell mine, then mum passes on. 😱

mum is the most important thing in all this. I want to be nearby.

EmmaH2022 · 07/05/2022 08:57

RidingMyBike · 07/05/2022 08:43

Yikes just had email from a different EA - a house we wanted to view in Jan is back on the market, for the SECOND time! Both previous times it's gone SSTC within days.

It does need a lot of work but the timing makes me wonder whether it's survey related or being downvalued for the mortgage?

May be something strange in covenants about access etc? Happened with someone I know, stuff you only find out later. She started telling people up front about the rights of way/access etc.

CamoTeaLaLa · 07/05/2022 09:46

@EmmaH2022 Aside from the property stuff I have huge sympathy about your mum 💐 My mum declined in 2019 and died in 2021. I also had a lot of work stress and perimenopause, plus The State of the World and being 200+ miles away to deal with. It was almost insurmountable for me at the time and however much I kept on keeping on I’m not sure I could have bought a house too! Nothing useful for you, soz but a hand hold x

Applebeee · 07/05/2022 09:51

Hope you have some success with your viewings tomorrow! Are you particularly keen on any of them?

Thank you. All need some work and one is near the top end of my budget, even though it needs 50k spending on it. There's one that's a bit lower and only needs a bit of work but it is on a busy ish road and has no parking - this one is my fave but I woke up last night wondering what happens when all cars are electric, how will mine get charged up?

Applebeee · 07/05/2022 09:52

I'm waking up wondering about random things all the time.

EmmaH2022 · 07/05/2022 13:00

I have just been sent some further information which suggests a massive gap in comms between the solicitors.

There is potential for this to complete in a bonkers amount of time...with me incurring more solicitors' costs on account of the lease.

Not sure what to do. I am also thinking, my current place is a big building, there are a couple of people who could help out in emergencies etc.

Go somewhere new while currently a bit friendless...could be a disaster.

EmmaH2022 · 07/05/2022 13:01

Camo thank you and I'm sorry you had such a hard time Flowers

dubyalass · 07/05/2022 13:46

Viewing this morning - meh. Very dark inside and several offers already. Nope. Rang up about a further three - all sold but not yet marked as such on RM. Viewing booked for another house later this week but it’s not my ideal location so I’m not feeling very upbeat.

Agent this morning said that their phones were still ringing constantly for viewings - her theory was that the interest rate hikes are making people panic about securing X interest rate now.

stuntbubbles · 07/05/2022 16:42

OH GOD OH GOD I’VE FOUND THE ONE. Last viewing of the day. Of COURSE the bloody estate agent is shut by the time I step out my new the door. Roll on 9am Monday and please let everyone else hate it OH GOD.

Applebeee · 07/05/2022 17:20

One of the EAs said something interesting today. Banks are now taking increased cost of living and interest rate rises into affordability calculations. Meaning people are putting offers in and then finding out the can't actually pay the price they've offered because the bank won't let them borrow as much as they thought. This is a fairly recent development, so maybe some houses that have gone SSTC recently will come back on the market. At least it might stop the increasing prices and way over asking offers.

WoWsers16 · 07/05/2022 17:33

Hello all!
new here - we put our house on the market a month ago - within a week I had found my dream home lol- didn’t put an offer in but the people renting it took my number and kept me updated with views.
in the end over purple bricks the owners actually contacted us and said they would consider an offer even though we hadn’t sold. So we offered and they accepted and even took it off market!

we sold a week later however our buyers hadn’t sold but had 30 people making appointments to buy theirs which is happening this week with an open day - then best and final - so we are starting the process as much as we can - but it’s a wait for them to actually have an offer.

its such a stressful process. I was worried as where we wanted to live nothing was coming up - now we’ve had our offer accepted there’s been a couple come up but I’m happy with what we hopefully have!

Applebeee · 07/05/2022 17:42

WoWsers16 · 07/05/2022 17:33

Hello all!
new here - we put our house on the market a month ago - within a week I had found my dream home lol- didn’t put an offer in but the people renting it took my number and kept me updated with views.
in the end over purple bricks the owners actually contacted us and said they would consider an offer even though we hadn’t sold. So we offered and they accepted and even took it off market!

we sold a week later however our buyers hadn’t sold but had 30 people making appointments to buy theirs which is happening this week with an open day - then best and final - so we are starting the process as much as we can - but it’s a wait for them to actually have an offer.

its such a stressful process. I was worried as where we wanted to live nothing was coming up - now we’ve had our offer accepted there’s been a couple come up but I’m happy with what we hopefully have!

Have you read the title of the thread?

WonkyWheelbarrow · 07/05/2022 18:21

dubyalass · 06/05/2022 18:41

Got a viewing tomorrow but I almost can't be bothered - I know it will be too small, I've already seen the other side (it's a semi). It will probably go to best and final. I feel jaded.

Question... why did you view if you'd seen the other side of the same semi, and knew you wouldn't like it?