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The 'We want to buy a house' support group

245 replies

fruitstick · 16/09/2009 22:55

For like minded souls who are having trouble buying a house even though the property market is supposed to be on its knees.

We've had a vendor pull our, been gazumped and are horrified by the complete lack of any houses for sale at all.

So come share your woes here.

OP posts:
Wigeon · 17/10/2009 22:41

We got the house!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now we are on a tight timescale to move before Christmas as our buyers' landlord wants them out by 31 Dec. And given we have had lots of good luck with this so far I am fully expecting something to go horribly wrong any minute.

Househunting - that sounds annoying - don't landlords make you sign up for a minimum 6 months or something though?

frightstick · 17/10/2009 22:45

Congrats Goldenpeach and Househunting (Goldenpeach, when is your lease up).

We went to see a house today which was £150k over budget. Was perfect for us (as always) but even the EA said it was overpriced and they had valued it at 70k less! Sellers are downsizing and thought they would put in on the market to see what happens.

We are going to offer £150k under the asking price. We will be turned down!

I'm passed caring.

HouseHunting · 18/10/2009 17:48

That is fab news Wigeon, I am so chuffed for you!! Will be great if you are in this side of Christmas. You must be as excited as we are Did you buy one of the townhouses?

We are going to get the professional removal people to pack our stuff up & store it for a couple of weeks whilst we go into holiday let barns closeby for the duration. Then when we get the keys to the new pad we will have the carpets steam cleaned on that day & clean it from top to bottom. The next day the removal comany will move us in.

Thank you fruitstick - fingers crossed for you in yor house search journey...wowzers £150k below the asking price although I am pleased you know you will probably be turned down, but at least your offer may make the vendors realise they are being mammothly unrealistic & hopefelly reduce the price. All the best

goldenpeach · 18/10/2009 19:25

Frightstick, I am on short term let, so only a month's notice, we don't even mind bridging to find a damn place.

Congrats to all who managed to sell and find somewhere else.

Sanguine? I think I'm past stress, there is so much stress/anger I can handle. I don't want crazy because of a house!

goldenpeach · 18/10/2009 19:26

Frightstick, I am on short term let, so only a month's notice, we don't even mind bridging to find a damn place.

Congrats to all who managed to sell and find somewhere else.

Sanguine? I think I'm past stress, there is so much stress/anger I can handle. I don't want to get crazy because of a house!

jenniepanda · 18/10/2009 21:23

Oooo, I'm so jealous, I wish I was in a position to be looking for somewhere. Good lucj to you all. There's still not a sniff of a viewing for us. One of the 4 other houses on our estate for sale has been marked as STC on Right Move, but it was on for 25k less than ours :-( At least we've only got 3 others to compete with now and they're all priced within a few thousand of ours.

abgirl · 19/10/2009 15:10

Yay! We exchanged on Friday and are moving next Monday - I have A LOT of packing to do. Good luck everyone else...

DebiTheScot · 19/10/2009 18:26

yay abgirl, good luck with the packing. How long has it taken to get to this point?

After changing solicitors and having to fill the forms out again the forms are finally in the post (and have been sent special delivery). Lets hope they all hurry up and do their jobs now as if we're not moved by Christmas I will scream. And we might lose our buyers with the stamp duty threashold being reduced again in Jan.

abgirl · 22/10/2009 13:47

Debi, we first put our house on the market in April 08 - we spent 12 months on the market without any offers, took it off for 3 months and then sold it to someone who'd seen it months before. Have then spent 3 months trying to buy with 2 houses falling through before finding this one and moving to completion within 5 weeks since offer! Really can't wait to be moved and able to get on with life as we have felt a bit in limbo ever since it went on the market...

Fizzylemonade · 22/10/2009 14:59

Well done again Wigeon, and everyone else.

We had a viewing! Was all nervous as it was my first one, and normally I can talk a hind leg off a donkey but somehow managed to stutter and stumble my way through

I think we were a reality check (like on Location Location) ie they live in an area that is much cheaper than ours and our location makes our houses more expensive than the equivalent in their area because of our amazing local school.

Their children are already in a school so that won't sway them. I don't think she will be back.

But we have a cash buyer about to view. I will roll out the red carpet, sprinkle rose petals in their path, offer them my first born

Fingers crossed, will update you next week when it has all happened.

HouseHunting · 22/10/2009 15:04

Good luck fizzy, am keeping everything crossed for you

Fizzylemonade · 22/10/2009 17:47

not your legs though, have a bit of fun in the bedroom

I can't this weekend as sharing a hotel room with my two children!

Wigeon · 22/10/2009 22:14

I knew it was all going too well! Our vendor has just said that actually he's changed his mind, he's not moving into rented and then emigrating after all, he wants to buy. And suddenly he's managed to find a place, currently negotiating on the offer, and doesn't want to move before Christmas because his wife is heavily pregnant.

So all the talk of him being able to move out immediately was basically a complete lie, he probably knew this was what he was going to do all along, and it's not as if his wife has suddenly become heavily pregnant in the last week!

All is not necessarily lost though - we have done a bit of veiled threatening to pull out, and might move to actually threatening to pull out if he continues.

Anyone else been in a similar position? How did you get your vendor to see sense?

treacletart · 24/10/2009 17:17

I'm being driven slowly mad down here in tumbleweed limbo. Sold our Hove maisonette within a week, but can't find anything to buy. Missed out on our perfect house by a day and now nothing else is stacking up even close. Saw 2 houses last week - one turnes out to be next door to a drug den, the other was beautiful, but backs on to a railway line and needs about £50k we haven't got to stop it falling down. I'm on first name terms with all the agents, I check rightmove 7 times a day, but anything half decent seems to sell immediately to phsycic house hunters. Don't know how long our buyer will wait, but I'm really close to giving up altogether.

mooki · 25/10/2009 03:39

Treacletart, I've felt like that several times in the past 2 weeks, we had a similar lovely house bad neighbours let down. But we added another village to our search that we weren't previously considering and now we think we may have found something. If housing is so scrace then maybe your buyer won't want to pull out as they will have just as hard a time finding something as good...?

mooki · 25/10/2009 04:38

OH wise people of housebuying experience.

If we like a house that's less money than we oringinally intended to spend, but we'd need to add an extension to it, can we get some money back from the sale of our house to use as cash for building works and borrow more instead?

Wonderstuff · 25/10/2009 06:58

Can I join? Not going to buy but selling and moving into rented. Had hoped to exchange this week (after having our house on the market for what felt like an eternity) We have a leashold flat. The freeholder has let his insurance 'lapse' and is out of the country for 7 weeks - arrgghhh

Have missed out on one lovely rented house. Have no idea when we will be able to move. Thoroughly depressed by the whole thing.

Mooki I don't see why you can't keep money back. You will need to agree it with your mortgage company/ IFA

DebiTheScot · 25/10/2009 15:11

I'm sure you can do that mooki, think it's quite normal. People often re-mortgage to get csah to do extensions.

mooki · 25/10/2009 17:56

Right, putting in an offer tomorrow then. Good luck Wigeon, I hope you can make your chap see sense, when were you hoping to move?

Wigeon · 25/10/2009 18:36

Good luck with the offer!

Welcome Wonderstuff!

Mooki - we were hoping to move by the end of the year as that's when our buyers have been given notice to leave their rented flat by. So we made the offer on the house we want to buy on the basis - promised by the estate agent - that the vendor could move out as soon as possible.

It's getting worse though - the vendor's estate agents have so far failed to return my three, increasingly cross, messages left since Thursday, and the house we are trying to buy is back on Rightmove and the agent's website, despite it being removed from the market when we made our offer a week ago (a condition of the offer, and as promised by the agents). All without a word from the agents. We are being taken for a ride! We are giving up hope on this house to be honest. Have booked in three other viewings for Tuesday in case it does officially go tits up on Monday.

Grrrrrr!

HouseHunting · 25/10/2009 21:58

Wigeon what is going on? It is so unprofessional for the EA to not return your calls. And it really peeves me off that some vendors (& some buyers to that matter) lie through their teeth about their positions. (((hugs)))

Good luck to everyone else who are trying to sell/buy.

magicalmollie · 26/10/2009 06:51

I have to join in too. Feel like I am having a nervous breakdown with all the stress. I luckily sold my house in quite a few months ago, but the house we were going to move into fell through at the last minute. And so our house sale didn't fall through, we moved anyway. Now stuck at my parents house since the beginning of Sept. All my stuff in storage which is costing the earth. Just had another house fall through last week, cos the vendor hadn't complied to planning permission. I can't find anything I like been looking forever, so depressing. Wish someone else could do it for me!!

Wonderstuff · 26/10/2009 08:48

Magicalmollie it is a nightmare isn't it. Such a massive decision. I want someone to come along and say - here is a house, you will all be happy here.

kitkatcadaverqueen · 26/10/2009 09:43

Hello, just found this thread and have a question. If you found a perfect house and your property was not even on the market would you accept a loan from a relative to buy the place cash? wwyd?? 2 weeks ago I was not even considering selling... advice needed...

mooki · 26/10/2009 10:25

Wigeon - I hope it's still ok but I know how it feels to think you've got it sorted and can stop checking rightmove for 2 minutes and then for it to be all uncertain again. As most people said to us about our one that fell through, you might be better off out of it - if they lie about one thing, what else are they concealing? But it doesn't make it any less upsetting. I find it impossible not to get emotionally attached to the places we like - we have spent this weekend looking at ikea catalogues even before we have put an offer in (just done that now).

Magicalmollie - how much does someone else's planning permission laxity affect your purchase?(clueless emoticon) Our kitchen extension was done by the last but one owner and although he got permission, he then didn't build it to regs (only 1 layer of brick thick instead of 2). It was raised in our survey but it's never been a problem for us...

kitkatcadaverqueen - I guess it depends on the relative! If my mum and dad were in a position to help, I'm sure they would and I'm sure I would take them up on it. But I'm in an area that has seen house sales hold up quite well - we accepted an offer after about 4 weeks. If you think you'd be waiting months before your place sold then would it get uncomfortable?

Get as much info about the market and your valuation as possible - see how much new stuff is coming on rightmove and use places like mouseprice and the land registry to see what other places like your s have sold for - as other people on the thread have said EAs tend to be understandably optimistic about the prospects of a sae so they might not be the best reliabe source of info.l

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