House hunting and feeling dejected

[TrashPandas]

I'm trying to buy my first house in Scotland and getting so dejected. Everything is going for well over the valuation/home report price, and I don't have £30k sitting in the bank to offer over and above the mortgage deposit. The last place I offered on went for a full £45k above valuation.

It's looking like the only way I'll get something is if it's in a horrible area, or it's so run down that it needs £££s of repairs. And again, once I've put down a deposit I won't have all that cash for home improvements. I don't care if the place is horribly decorated or outdated, but even properties in full 70s decor are going for above valuation.

Is there any hope of the market cooling down soon?

No do it as soon as you can (now). You can still offer as you do have your mortgage in principle from a bank but you can probably get a better deal (and they can talk you through deposits). Tell them you’re in Scotland first off because England is different.

and no worries, I had to learn pretty much the hard way but I hope you are happy now you know you can be in the running. Don’t forget you will need some money to pay your solicitor which I think can’t be in the Lisa but get the rest of your savings into it for the bonus!

John Charcol website used to be good.

Now you're sorted with your mortgage, have you looked at properties in Ayrshire? Prices are going up but there are still loads in your range.

Fwiw, definitely cooling where I am, stuff (not overpriced!) staying on the market for weeks and weeks and one local to me dropped the price by 20% within a week of it going to market! Stuff is no longer being sold unseen to “London money”.

What size house are you looking for? Garden flats in Cardonald (2-3 bedrooms), with garden, decent but not glamorous location (although decent school catchment) are "only" c£100k.

A relative's garden flat (needs some refurbishment albeit it has a new shower room and a new, albeit tiny, kitchen off the lounge) has just sold for just over £105k. The home report was £95k.

HirplesWithHaggis The one I just offered on is in Ayr! It's very nice.

fudfootedfannybangle Whereabouts are you, if you don't mind sharing?

fudfootedfannybangle I need 2 bedrooms. I also need a home office so I'm looking at 3 beds too, though lots of 2 bedroom places have some kind of extra room (conservatory, garage, etc) that I could use.

I would buy a new build, then you don't need to worry about offering over. I never wanted one previously, having lived in a tenement and loving period properties. But we couldn't afford to put down much over the value. Best thing we ever did, zero decoration cost, 10 year warranty, brand new everything. We bought in 2018 and our house is now worth £80k more than we paid for it.

Also, if the house is already built they will normally throw in extras as an incentive.

You are looking very very close to me then! I’ll tell you what I think of the house if you want???

I’m excited for you.

@TrashPandas - the house (garden flat) I was talking about in Cardonald had 2/3 bedrooms (2 bedrooms to the front plus a decent sized room off the lounge). Patio doors from lounge onto decent sized garden. As a garden flat, there's one flat above and I think there are 6 in the block.

Market is quite hot though - there were 7 offers at the closing date.

I didn't get the house, unsurprisingly.

SadieAdler Where would I look for new builds? I have alerts on Zoopla and RightMove so I get an email when new houses come up, but I've never seen a new build on there in two years. Do I need to look at developers' websites?

Probably yes

Drive round and look for new build estates

There is an option on rightmove to search for new builds. I think if you hover over the buy tab?

I'm sure that not every single one is on there so driving around or going on to some of the building companies own websites would also be good.

www.rightmove.co.uk/new-homes-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E550&minBedrooms=2&maxPrice=160000&radius=20.0&sortType=1&propertyTypes=&includeSSTC=false&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=

Thank you Bin! I'm looking in such a big area that I haven't registered with individual agents, but I can sign up with the big developers.

I found a great house today. Home report was looking great. Then I got to the bit about it being Dorran construction... sigh. I spoke to L&C as recommended and they're seeing if I could get a mortgage for it, but it sounds like the interest rate would be ridiculous.

I'm a first time buyer and feeling quite dejected too, although I suppose I'm doing better than most. My current rental situation is fairly good and I don't have children, so there's no great urgency to buy a property. I'm not getting younger though, so I still want to get my own place asap because I don't want to be saddled with paying off a mortgage well into my retirement!!

A housing crash would be amazing and maybe there will be a slight dip nearer the referendum, but overall it seems unlikely the market will cool down given the lengths the government (both UK and Scotland) will go to to prop it up with all kinds of schemes.

I've been saving into both a LISA and savings account, but the prices where I live are crazy. I barely have enough for a 5% deposit plus 10% over home report and most places seem to go for more than that. Even grubby old houses are going for a lot. I don't know how people can afford all the repairs on top of such steep selling prices. How do people have so much money lying around? I've been saving for years.

I'd recommend getting a solicitor asap. Get quotes from several of them and go with the one that you feel suits you best. I had to upload all kinds of financial paperwork and ID when I picked mine, so better to get it done and out of the way so that you're not rushing around at the last minute if you have an offer accepted.

My solicitor said most places are going for about 10% over the home report, but I've come across higher.
I've read property newsletters that say 3 bedroom properties are the hottest on the market because many people are also looking for that extra 'working from home' space so demand is higher than pre-pandemic levels. Therefore you might find stiff competition for those kinds of properties.

Good luck in the house hunting! I hope you find a great place soon.

Oh I forgot to add, make sure you also have some money set aside to cover other expenses like your solicitor fees, the cost of moving to a new home, buying some new furniture or appliances if necessary etc. That can't come out of the LISA so will need to be kept separate from it.

It's nice to have a buddy Nonny, even though I'm sorry you're having the same problems! Have you made any offers? I'm one of those people who needs a WFH space so yep, competing for those three-bed places.

I don't understand where all this money comes from either. One place I bid on went for £50k over asking. Who the hell has £70k+ lying around in a bank account? Inheritance, maybe?

The L&C broker turned out to be useless but my friend put me in touch with another one who has been incredibly helpful. He might have found me a mortgage for the Dorran house, and if we get the green light this could be a real chance - not very likely that one will go for over asking price. Of course it will also be much harder to sell on, but I plan to live in it for a good long while.

I've only made 2 offers so far, TrashPandas. The second property I offered on was really lovely, so not surprised there were a lot of bids for it. I offered the absolute max I could afford and came fourth, so clearly it went for a lot more.

I've viewed loads of properties though. Even the ones that need lots of repairs are snapped up quickly. I wonder if it's very rich property investors who have all this money sloshing around and they can afford to buy places up, renovate them cheaply and then flog them back onto the market?

Fingers crossed for you that you get the Dorran house!
I can't wait to have my own home and settle down with a cup of tea with my cats in the garden. 😆 That's the dream lol.

How much does it usually cost to renovate and modernise old council housing properties? Do you do it all yourself or do you know tradesmen who do a great job at reasonable prices?

I'm making another offer, closing date tomorrow. Wish me luck!

OOh good luck, I hope you get it!

Fingers and toes crossed for you! Good luck!

Hoping you get a congratulatory call at 2.00pm

Good luck! Keeping everything crossed for you.

I'm not sure some of the advice on this thread has been totally correct (unless I've read it wrong).

The mortgage company will only lend to you based on the purchase price or the valuation, whichever is LOWER. So any property selling over the HR valuation has to be funded by you and not from the mortgage.

5-15% over the valuation is standard in most popular places. 20% or significantly more over is common in some parts of Edinburgh and very desirable places.

i do think the extreme heat has come out of the market in the past few months but there is still a massive undersupply of certain types of property and they will still sell very quickly and for large amounts.

We are going to sit tight and see if the market cools further, but we've been looking for a long, long time (2.5 years) already.