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 I don't care if the place is horribly decorated or outdated, but even properties in full 70s decor are going for above valuation.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?

Its soooo stressful but dont give up.

i got a property in a city centre for £45k under valuation recently- the property was on for ages, well over my budget but the seller was desperate and we were attractive buyers as we were renting and ready to move quickly. I couldn’t believe it when they negotiated so low.

keep an eye on properties that have been for sale longer as well as new ones- they are often reduced and sellers keen to shift them- often the thing that is putting buyers off is something easily remedied if you think outside the box.

good luck!

We have just bought a house in the USA, property market is currently nuts and works much more like Scotland than England.
We had a private sale that a school friend of dc linked us up with.
Talk to everyone about wanting to buy.

dollyblack The only one I've seen that's been on ages, and is now reduced, is a shell with no heating or electrics! Even the not-so-nice houses are being snapped up. It's just crazy.

calmlakes I will! Congrats on your new house.

Hope you find your house too OP!

I have another newbie question. I viewed one house which I really like, but the home report cites elevated moisture levels (rated 2) and you can even see a small patch of damp in one room. There is no damp survey.

My conveyancer is VERY leery about this because she says there's no telling how bad the problem is, and damp issues can be very expensive to fix. But since it's so unlikely an offer would be accepted (because all my others have been unsuccessful) I don't want to pay out for a survey - if the owner would even let it happen.

Does anyone have any advice?

I’d be very wary without knowing where the damp comes from
and thus how much it’s going to cost you fix.

We moved into a place with damp issues. Rectifying it was cheaper than we thought. Could you get a quote before offering?

To get a quote I'd have to pay for a proper survey, if the owner would even let the surveyors in.

I think I'll have to let this one go :(

Most "proper" surveys, if they identify damp, say that you'll need to get in a specialist damp proofing company to assess what they problem is and to quote for what it would cost to resolve it. So you don't need to pay for a another survey per se, you just need a (reputable) damp proof specialist.

That's what I meant by a proper survey - a damp specialist.

That wont cost you anything, though its frustrating as its the people doing the survey who are also wanting to do the work so they have it sewn up!

How is it going OP?

It’s so depressing at the moment trying to buy. The fact that people are still paying so much over Home Report valuation especially with mortgage rates up and the cost of living crisis is crazy to me! We have been looking for a long long long time and I’m close to just trying to make do where we are.

Did you get in touch with a mortgage broker? It sounds like you could really benefit from one.

We have been looking for a long long long time and I’m close to just trying to make do where we are.

This is kind of where I am for the moment. I'm hearing from multiple sources (including posters here) that prices will probably drop towards the end of the year, so there's hope for us!

I saw the most beautiful house come up yesterday, and of course it was another bloody non-traditional construction that is practically unmortgageable. I seem to be attracted to those precast houses.

I did appoint a mortgage broker on the recommendation of a friend. He's very helpful, so when I finally get an offer accepted I'm confident he'll find me the right mortgage.

My ds is at the early stages of thinking of buying a flat. He's only just graduated (but his grandfather (my dad) will help him with a deposit, as will we, and also ds has been saving into the Help to Buy ISA for a few years - I opened it just before the scheme closed, with a £1,000 "advance" from the money we were going to be getting from his gran's my MIL's estate she'd just died but we're only close to distributing the estate, nearly 2 years later ) so he's just looking and for the next year will save as hard as he can while he lives with us.

So I'm going to watch this thread with interest about how the market is moving - although I think ds is going to be fussier than you about where he looks

So many extras for him to think about - and save for - like white goods, carpets, curtains (which won't necessarily probably won't be included), furniture, solicitors' fees, factors' fees, home/contents insurance (while he was at Uni I'd extended ours to cover him)..... it all adds up

A lot of damp is due to easily fixable things eg a broken gutter or down pipe meaning the wall is constantly wet, or a badly fitted window frame allowing moisture in.
Glasgow has a high rainfall so it’s important these things are working properly. If you could find a trusted builder to take with you , you could book another viewing and do it that way. If the seller is refusing a damp survey it would ring a few alarm bells

Placemarking

Any advice for when the home report mentions the possibility of artex / asbestos in decorative finishes? Pretty much every home report I look at mentions it.
I can only afford slightly older properties - and many appear to need some level of modernisation, even if not immediately. How common is it to find asbestos in such properties and how expensive can it get to remove it?

@NonnyMouse1337 there was a whole thread on this recently- if you do a search it should come up

Thank you @Sooverthisnow ! I shall have a look.

I’ve been monitoring the market looking to buy for a while now. Unfortunately I’ve shared a similar experience to many of the posters on here when trying to buy in the south of Glasgow (Shawlands). However, I’ve noted three things which points to the market definitely shifting:

1. Far fewer properties are going to closing dates. During the pandemic, properties would be marked with ‘closing dates’ days after going on the market. Now it seems like sellers are accepting offers without dragging things to a closing date.

1. Properties are taking longer to sell and more properties are being reduced. There are several being reduced each week and just today, one well known estate agent reduced three properties in the West End. Again this was unheard of over the past 2-3 years.

3.Estate agents are more aggressively pursuing potential buyers. Before it was challenging to get an estate agent to call you back. Now I’m finding that estate agents are calling up sometimes within an hour of requesting the Home Report.

A friend of mine just had an offer agreed on a flat in a desirable pocket of Shawlands for 15% above Home Report. The seller accepted the offer without going to closing. I reckon they could have got it for around 12%.

But there is still some madness in the market. The same friend had an offer rejected for a one bedroom flat literally 1 minute walk from where they bought now. Their offer of 14% above Home Report was rejected and came in 4th out of 6th. The estate agents said it went for above 20%! Now they’ve got a two bedroom at less than what the 1 bedroom place went for a few weeks ago and literally a stone throw away!

Good luck to all searching.

The deposit doesn't go to the bank.

Lenders will only lend a %age of the value as specified in the home report or their own valuation.

For the sake of argument let's say you want to offer for a flat or house valued at £100,000 and your lender's maximum loan is 70% of value. You can borrow up to a maximum of £70,000.

What you actually offer is up to you. Depending on where the flat or house is you might have to offer at least 10% over the valuation- maybe more. You will get £70,000 from the lender and will have to top that up by at least £40,000 to be successful at a closing date.

I had some incredible news today. The sale fell through on one of the houses I bid on, and the seller will accept my original offer! It happened this afternoon so nothing signed yet, but it looks VERY hopeful.

A big part of me feels like it will go wrong somehow but I'm still very excited!

Oh wow! Keeping everything crossed for you that it goes through smoothly.

Sending you a tentive congrats.

Fingers crossed OP