Advice please

[Smudge2201]

We had our first viewings last weekend. And one of them made an offered yesterday. It was low, but that’s ok it’s a start and we’ve gone back to them via the EA with an idea of what we’d be looking for. Hopefully they’ll come back with something closer to that.

Only thing is they have been house hunting for a long time, years. And it’s making me cautious around taking it off the market based on their (hopefully) higher offer. Our house is just a terrace where they come on the market often. Am I overthinking it do you think?

No, you are not, necessarily.

We have also been looking for years (since Jan 22, mostly due to living in unsuitable rentals) and recently have been panic looking at anything that will basically do before mortgage rates go through the roof.

We have considered houses 200k under our maximum budget just to get out of our rental. We have considered ones that would stretch our finances to the max, even with half an acre of land and 1000 sq ft more than we need, which I neither want nor need, nor would easily be able to maintain. We have gone from one county to another to another seeking quality alongside affordability.

I don't think anything we have looked at would really truly be suitable and the chances of me getting cold feet further down the line with most of them were moderately high.

If you can afford to wait, perhaps hold out for another buyer, unless these folks seem really enthusiastic and committed.

We are now taking a backseat whilst the mortgage rates mess sorts itself out, meanwhile we will spend the next 18-24 months building up a far bigger deposit so we have more options.

If you need committed buyers, now seems to be the time to be a bit cautious.

Thank you, that’s really useful and gives me some perspective on why they may have been looking for so long. Good luck with your search and hope you find something suitable.

Renters also know that the rental market is going to get far far worse in a very short space of time, so there will be a certain proportion of FTBs who are buying anything they can just to get away from LLs who can get away with doing nothing, and increasing rents, but most importantly, a vastly reduced pool of rental properties to chose from.

Last July we had to move FIVE counties away to get a good quality house. Things have got a lot worse since then, LLs are selling up in droves.

Your EA should do some careful vetting of motivation to buy and what went before.

one of them made an offered yesterday. It was low, but that’s ok it’s a start and we’ve gone back to them via the EA with an idea of what we’d be looking for.
Slow it down.
You can appear to be engaging with them whilst still being on the market. Don't respond to things immediately, buy yourself time. If they do make an offer then say that it is subject to checking their financial status - again, it buys you more time. If nobody else has shown an interest in the meantime then you hang onto your buyer.