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Property/DIY

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Original poster

Fei's frustrated house hunters thread, come and join

30 replies

Feierabend · 15/02/2010 12:02

So we have recently started house hunting in earnest and there is nothing, absolutely nothing on the market, and the few houses that we've seen have either been in a shit state or hideously overpriced. Estate agents keep promising me that they know of a perfect house for us that will come on the market 'next week', as they have just valued it etc. etc. and then the house in question never materialises. I am getting fed up already. Anyone in the same boat, come and join the rant!

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Original poster

Feierabend · 15/02/2010 12:03

Actually, let me reword that. They were in a shit state AND hideously overpriced.

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thighsmadeofcheddar · 15/02/2010 12:07

Oh yes this is us. I've been looking for ages. Literally nothing on the market. Everything tiny or miles from transport links or schools Argh!

Original poster

Feierabend · 15/02/2010 12:13

And then you get all that crap from the estate agents about how because there are so few houses on the market, you should expect to have to offer really close to the asking price? Or even ABOVE!???

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spiralqueen · 15/02/2010 12:40

Fei - so it's not just us then getting worn down by it. We've sold our place and ready desperate to move The agents keep telling us that all their mythical just about to come onto the market, perfect for us houses are being held up by waiting for the HIP to be done. Ours took 2 days but they are claiming it takes 3 weeks.

Getting very hacked off with having to do all the leg work ourselves and agents just trying to palm us off with the houses we know have been on the market for well over a year but whose owners are insisting on maintaining the original asking price or putting it on with a new agent at a higher price.

Is it me or are agents now sticking houses that aren't moving onto Rightmove as if they were new to the market? Seen loads lately pop up in my alerts which have been lingering around unsold for months.

...and I may just do some damage to the next agent who tries to tell me that 8x6 is a generous size for a single bedroom. Or 7'3 x 6'10 is a good sized dining room. Grrr.

Original poster

Feierabend · 15/02/2010 12:52

Aaaah yes the ones that don't sell! I had one agent excitedly telling me about this fantastic house right in the village, lovely garden etc. I was supposed to see it today. When I phoned up to find out where exactly it was (they hadn't been able to tell me previously because it was 'only just coming on the market on Monday') it turned out it had sold, through another agent, and when I insisted on them telling me which road it was on it turned out it was one that had been on the market with another agent since at least November. For a good reason, it's on a really busy road. So it was a new instruction for this agent but errrr, not so new after all.

Then on Saturday we saw one that needed 'a bit of cosmetic work here and there'. Yep. There are sockets and ceiling lights dangerously hanging out of walls, with exposed cables everywhere. We've got small children fgs. The painted floors were totally chipped and the owners hadn't even bothered tidying or cleaning the place. In fact they clearly hadn't cleaned their window frames for years, there was black grime everywhere. And this house is supposedly 'in fantastic condition and will sell really quickly', and it's about 50k above what it SHOULD cost in our opinion!

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Original poster

Feierabend · 15/02/2010 12:56

Oh and all those perfect for us houses (I've been told about at least 4 of them and have been waiting to see them since January) - the owners are 'just getting the house ready to sell' or 'the son has just moved in for a couple of weeks and as soon as he moves out it will go on the market' or yes, indeed 'they are just waiting to get the HIP done'. I bet these houses don't even exist!

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thighsmadeofcheddar · 15/02/2010 13:34

And the other thing driving me mental, all the houses on Rightmove that are sold or subject to contract. Take them off quickly you w*nkers. I ring up excitedly and then "oh no, that's gone". Of course it is, it was the only decent one.

Original poster

Feierabend · 15/02/2010 13:37

Aaaah I've had that too! Why is it still displayed as available then?!

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Original poster

Feierabend · 16/02/2010 12:29

Viewing today. Had to wait a few minutes outside the house for the estate agent to arrive. Noticed I could hear the A3 very loud indeed, so house no good. Mentioned the traffic noise to the EA, who put on an innnocent face and pretended she didn't even know that the A3 was nearby.

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Strawberrycornetto · 16/02/2010 13:29

How frustrating. We are in the opposite position. My lovely house has been on the market for nearly 3 weeks and not sold yet. It is not in a shite state and we had the ssame valuation from 3 agents. Do you think agents are all overvaluing at the moment because there's not much around?

Original poster

Feierabend · 16/02/2010 13:31

Oh I am in THAT situation too Our house has been on the market for two weekends now (really viewings only happen on Saturdays don't they) and we haven't even heard what the feedback from the 4 viewings was? Have we chosen a really lazy estate agent? I have already left 2 messages with him today and not been called back!

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Original poster

Feierabend · 16/02/2010 13:32

And yes to overvaluing, I am sure ours is on for at least 10-15k too much but hey you've got to try?

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Strawberrycornetto · 16/02/2010 13:36

We have had three weekends of viewings. We have had no useful feedback (viewers don't like that we are close to road(!) - not the A3, just a normal road. That is the only feedback we have had.

I also think that we are on for 10 - 15k too much. We suggested going lower but the agent said it made no difference to who she would show etc. However, I am still worried that it is putting people off.

In terms of our purchase, we have found somewhere and have had an offer accepted. It was right at the bottom of our budget so we could now afford to drop ours. We have told the agent that we would now accept a fairly low offer but I am not convinced that the message is getting thruogh.

I think that moving house is about the most stressful thing you can do. It is already making me really miserable, even just a few weeks in...

noddyholder · 16/02/2010 13:38

3.5% inflation so ecenomists predicting house prices to fall further as a second credit crunch looms so don't over pay now as prices likely to be 10% down post election

slightlystressed · 16/02/2010 13:49

We've got the same problem, we have found somewhere but its not exactly what we want, but we cant rent as still in the redemption period of mortgage. We have to move soon as coming under pressure from our buyers (even though it was their fannying around that lost us our last house...gggrrr)

noddyholder · 16/02/2010 13:53

If the redemption fee is not excessive you may recoup it by renting and waiting.House price falls virtually guaranteed soon as QE stops and interest rates have to rise.Once the banks have to start paying back all the money in Jan 2011 we will see larger falls as mortgages will once again become harder to secure.Prices atm are high we have just sold and the agents over valued imo.ther eis nothing to buy though that isn't a wreck and hugely over priced

IlanaK · 16/02/2010 13:55

I have enormous sympathy. We were looking for months after selling our place and moving out (living with my mum now). There was just nothing on the market. Anything good went for well over the asking price and we lost out on a couple.

However, we are now in the process of buying somewhere and it all appears to be going through. We should be in by the end of March.

So, there is hope!

Original poster

Feierabend · 16/02/2010 14:01

Well noddy do you think it might be worth waiting a few months or even a year then? We don't really have to move NOW...

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BigBadMummy · 16/02/2010 14:04

If you know the roads you want to live on do a leafet drop.

You can cut out the estate agent and the current owner might be desperate to move but thinking "nobody is buying so what is the point of putting it on the market".

My family did this about twenty years ago after a frustrated day of looking at stuff with an agent. They went back the next day and did a leaflet drop to the roads they really liked saying they were serious buyers and just really frustrated.

They got 11 calls, offered on one within three days and we moved in two months later.

noddyholder · 16/02/2010 14:08

I think so unless you find a dream forever home at a good price.I have started looking at rentals now.I viewed a place that was virtually derelict and the agent was winking at the woman in front of us and saying he would ring her re an invester who was interested to try and get us to panic into offering.It is still for sale.Our agent says he can already see that prices are over cooked again and lots falling through post survey.If you can wait

BigBadMummy · 16/02/2010 14:11

oh and if you think your property is overpriced then tell the agent to lower it so it is more realistic. If you are trying to attract people such as yourselves they probably all think they same as you and think you have asked for it to be over inflated.

Estate agents work on the assumption that you have had three valuations and will go with the agent that will make you the most money, ie the highest valuation.

So they will over value it.

All estate agents also have a weekly target from head office for price reductions.

So you are a double whammy a) got the instruction because your house is worth more with us blah blah bollox and then b) two weeks later "market conditions blah blah more bollox, £10K price reduction".

Christ I sound like a sodding estate agent now. I am not, I used to work for a letting agent so I know all the tricks. ANd when I bought a house for my granny recently I played hard ball and it paid off. Thankfully

Oh adn those of you that havent had feedback. That is appalling. You shouuld be called theh next day, at the latest.

I would start talking about being unhappy and going multi agent if you are in sole agency agreements, as soon as you can.

IlanaK · 16/02/2010 14:14

We leaflet dropped over 250 properties (in central London) on roads we liked and got only two responses: one was abuse from a lady accusing us of being estate agents and the other was from someone who wanted to sell his 7 bedroom multimillion pound home (not in our budget!)

IlanaK · 16/02/2010 14:14

slightlystressed · 16/02/2010 14:17

So I thought I was moving until about 5 minutes ago when we found out that our buyers buyers still havnt got a mortgage even though we were told last week that they did.

fffffffffffffffffffffffflipping hell!

Original poster

Feierabend · 16/02/2010 19:40

Oh noooooo! What now? Will your seller hang in there for a little longer?

Is anyone else finding that the longer they look, the higher their budget gets? We had a maximum that we've already moved up twice, just because we are so desperate

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