Why is buying a house so hard?

[housethatbuiltme]

I'm a first time cash buyer, no mortgage or anything to worry about, don't need to sell anything so should be straight forward (just find a house and buy it) and have been struggling for over a YEAR. We are looking at houses below our budget so we aren't making silly offers or being cheeky etc...

First house we liked offer was accepted before our viewing.

Second house we liked the EA refused to show us and where really rude as we didn't have a mortgage (despite showing them we are cash buyers and the house was well under the amount we have). They insisted we had to use their recommended mortgage advisor (which they get money from, although they didn't disclose that either which is illegal).

Third house our offer was rejected.

Fourth was a private sale and the seller messed us about for 6 months, then tried to rush it after the roof blew off in a storm (so we pulled out).

Fifth we have been STC for 6 months (paid for surveys and everything) and recently found out probate STILL hasn't been applied for by the seller. They are saying they can't apply for probate now.

There is no other houses even remotely suitable on the market (its dead at the moment) and we are running out of time quickly. I know they say buying a house is the most stressful thing you can do but surely it shouldn't be THIS hard? People keep saying we have just been 'unlucky' but how can two houses fall through after 6 months.

I don't think you've been particularly unfortunate. Your first and third house, that's totally normal. Second is a bit ridiculous. Fourth, lucky escape. And fifth, I would never offer unless probate had been granted.

I hear you theres barley any houses out there or none of them are worth buying, we found a house after 6 months of searching, finally got our offer accepted on one and it’s currently going through the mortgage application we’re first time buyers and currently still waiting for mortgage approval 😬 it would kill me to have it declined and go house hunting again!

Having just sold/bought last month, you have my sympathies. The process is unbearably awful, even with a straightforward situation. Why are you running out of time? Can you change your situation so you aren't under the pressure of a time limit? Because you really can't change the timeline of a house purchase. It takes as long as it takes, and is dependent on so many factors outside of your control.

Buy a new house if possible.

Failing that, offer on a house on condition that the sale goes through within 6 weeks. If a seller starts messing about, be prepared to pull out.

On my last house move we had a exchange date set and the seller asked to change it, which I did. Afterwards, they tried to change the second date because they had booked a holiday - I mean, who books a holiday in the middle of a house sale. I stated that I had moved the date back once to accommodate them and that I wasn't prepared to move it back again and that they had to rearrange their holiday, not my house sale, or I would pull out.

They didn't rearrange, they had their holiday and the house is still on the market 8 months late.

Absolutely agree. We sold to a FTB and bought an empty house. It still took near on 9 months.

Try auction. Thats how we bought our house. We were also first time cash buyer that had our offers rejected in the traditional setup. There is a lot of stigma associated with auctions but like any business transactions you go in with your eyes wide open and do your own due diligence.

Sellers are definitely motivated and because of the timeline imposed most deals work only for cash buyers, which does eliminate a lot of competition and mean prices tend to be below market. The supply will be less than high street listings. But no harm expanding the search.

I believe you don't need probate to sell a house. That's the experience of 2 friends recently.

Don't buy a new a house.

I was a cash buyer. Offered, surveys done, conveyancing, exchanged and completed on the same day. Four weeks after viewing.

It can be done.

That's interesting. How did that happen? I know that you don't need probate if the house has been put into a trust before death. But I think that's quite a rare thing these days (at least for any will written in the last 15-20 years).

I'd be interested to hear about what the situation was.

As a buyer I think it helps to do a lot of preparation e.g. check if probate has been granted before you make an offer (you can check online), speak to agents before you reach the stage of offering about what their requirements are in terms of what you need to provide them with when you make an offer. And if logistically possible, make the first possible appointment to view.

However, you still have to contend with unpredictable sellers and useless EAs.

Having recently bought one after 2 years of active search, I sympathize...
We also went through 3 STCs and paid quite a lot of £££ for conveyancing, solicitors etc etc.

At least you are a cash buyer, we have mortgage and once made a mistake of paying the product fees upfront, couldn't get it back after the house sale fell through (the sellers changed their mind!), in our third successful purchase, we added it to the mortgage incase it fails again, we don't lose the money

My advice is...that you need to be patient and try to find out all red flags before you make an offer (which is nearly impossible esp where it is competitive).
For me the ones I always made sure to ask both sellers/agents was if there was a chain (and really understand this), if there was subsidence / Japanese knotweed / damp or anything egregious, any neighbour issues, any major developments in the area

Good luck!

We actually tried an auction this morning.

It was the great 'bones' of house but needed full renovation and not in the location we wanted but figured something would be sacrificed. However it went for double its guide price.

From research of the past local auctions I expected it to go for anywhere from its guide price to at a push 140% of the guide (we could go up to 150%) but did not expect it to go double. Two people just started fighting over it and it shot up, I wonder if they even realized how much work it needs doing to it.

They also switched it from traditional to modern method (which seems more complex as you dont exchange on the day) the day before. I was thinking if we did auction at least it would all be done but I can't even manage having luck with that.

From above, you do need probate before you complete on the house .

2 the modern auction isn't great for buyers, it's more like buying a house on eBay.

Try selling house and buying another at the same time. It's another level of crazy.
The govt should change the process, either deposit at the offer stage / make contracts binding/provide info upfront like in Scotland. I'm from a country where you can buy a house in two weeks. US is about 4-6 wks, France similar. System is crazy.

The whole thing is a complete racket and needs an overhaul. Agree with a previous poster regarding aiming for a system like Scotland, but also there should be tighter regulation around the process-sellers should be required to provide an information pack with a standard level of survey and all the searches etc when they go to market.
All this back and forth with applying for searches and getting surveys-it should just be DONE.

If it helps we are selling currently - we were under offer and then the seller pulled a stunt to say that because it's a buyers market the moment she wanted a 40k discount (for absolutely no reason) this was right before the exchange contract's and I think pulled it because she knew we had offer accepted on our dream home and if we didn't capitulate we would break the whole chain. I was so annoyed because we had several offers on the house and chose them because they were first time buyers 😵‍💫 and said they loved the house and wanted to give a family a chance. So I told them to swing and we
politely declined and put the house back on the market and the buyer was outraged.

Now it's summer holidays so not an ideal time.

Complete faff and we lost our dream home.

It's brutal is all I can say. Bloody chancers

From memory, the Hipp packs were introduced at some point in the past. But can't remember what happened to them.
It's the endless back and from between lawyers that ask constantly stupid questions that were already answered that holds up a lot too.
We sold in Jan 22 to FTB cash buyers. They pulled out a few days before exchange because mobile phone mast is 'too close' (we are SE and they are everywhere). Back on market, sold again twice but got messed around. Still in the current house although it's now too small. Not sure I can face it again tbh.

I think that you can market a house where probate has not yet been granted but you can’t complete. It’s a risk to offer I suppose, in case there are hold ups. How many probate applications are rejected I wonder ?

Some bad luck and maybe some lucky escapes?
It took us nearly a year of looking (albeit not really seriously, waiting for something we liked) as just not much coming into the market, but it’s been a straightforward quick sale and we’ve just exchanged. Fingers crossed it works out for you soon 🤞🏻

just to add, when I was selling I was a bit nervous of cash buyers - worried they might not be as committed or try and reduce the price last minute. Maybe scaremongering online but it made me wary!

In which country can you buy a house in two weeks? @Peonies007 I really doubt that.
I do know from personal experience that in France it takes a minimum of three months to close and deposits are no longer mandatory so lots of sales take much longer ( more like 6 months). Many more fall through because the buyer does not have to commit until the day of "exchange ".
The buyer is protected and too bad for whoever is selling.

Slovakia. You view house, reserve the property. In house notary prepares documents, it goes to Land registry, 15 days turnaround.
Much less transactions so everything more efficient, for example you can get surveyor quickly.
Might take extra week with mortgage.

The problem is that sellers withhold the truth or lie just as much as buyers do. It's not a good combination.

Plus anything to do with people is tricky; priorities change, people misunderstand, life throws in curveballs.

There should be a better system.

>From memory, the Hipp packs were introduced at some point in the past. But can't remember what happened to them.

The only legacy of them as far as I know is EPCs, which are laughably bad.

One just over-measured a house I know well by 50%.

Yes, the quality varies. Ours measured our house at 48sqm. It' s well over 130sqm 🤷‍♀️.
Found this article from 2002. Quite frankly I would take 2-3 months they quote back then. It's minimum 5 months (MIL sold in January, FTB, MIL went into rental).
Should've been a simple transaction.
https://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/news/2002/05/21/the-continental/

We actually bought ours at the modern method of auction. The listing on Rightmove was made by one of those nationwide EAs. We called to arrange a viewing. And since its not a traditional auction, we could negotiate the price and do the survey. Our offer was slightly under the guide price and after survey we managed to get it lower by a token amount.

The guide price on the auction website was adjusted to reflect the new agreed level. And on the day of auction we put in our bid online. We were the only bidder.

We had to pay 10% deposit as soon as the auction was closed. Then contract exchange in 14 days. We requested to exchange at an earlier date and the seller was okay with it.

As long as you read the fine print carefully, be it traditional or modern, or high street, the core remains the same. You have done your research. So losing out in this sense is a blessing.

A friend bought an investment property at a traditional auction and ended up overpaying as there was another bidder. He just listed the house after extensive remodeling. I think he will have to drop his price by at least 10% (which will still make the house the most expensive on the street) in order to get people through the door. He will be lucky to break even.

Not quite the treasure hunt and not easy to control the psychology in an auction environment. Its worse than best and final.

Good luck to your search!