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First time buyer - competing with other buyers

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Comments

  • mouthscradle
    mouthscradle Posts: 1,007 Forumite
    I imagine you're more likely to be competing with investors/cash buyers if you're looking at properties that need renovation.
    Mother, wife, scientist, analyst.
  • LadyL2013
    LadyL2013 Posts: 191 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    mouthscradle wrote: »
    I imagine you're more likely to be competing with investors/cash buyers if you're looking at properties that need renovation.

    Not the case where I live at all. Everything from projects to showhouse standard starter homes get snatched up by investors.
  • Cakeguts
    Cakeguts Posts: 7,627 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    You won't get much in the way of a 3 bed house for £160k in that area. It makes me think that you are trying to do something that is impossible. A nice house in a nice area that needs work is likely to be more expensive than you can afford. So you must be looking at houses in not so good areas that need work which would bring you into competition with investors. What I would suggest is that you look for a small house in a much better area. Unless you can find a house that is too expensive for an investor to make a profit on you are going to always be competing with them.
  • KiKi
    KiKi Posts: 5,377 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary
    bobsy852 wrote: »
    I thought being a first time buyer without a chain would leave us in an advantageous position, but it seems like an impossible task.

    I wondered if anyone could offer any advice on how we get on this ladder? I thought raising the deposit would be the hard part!!

    I know how frustrating it can be, but "impossible task" because of two incidents?! You were outbid on one property by a cash buyer (will happen to anyone, not just FTBs) and the mortgage company didn't value the other as high (unlucky, but perhaps saved you overpaying).

    Best advice: don't get down over two things. Because once you find somewhere and it gets going it will continue to be frustrating!
    ' <-- See that? It's called an apostrophe. It does not mean "hey, look out, here comes an S".
  • Lauralou79
    Lauralou79 Posts: 268 Forumite
    We lost out on two properties as we were outbid on the first. The second the vendors wanted more than we thought it was worth. However another came up that was the best one by far which I liked instantly just from photos, and we are now nearing completion. They actually accepted us over slightly higher offers as we were FTB with no chain etc. So it can help in some circumstances. Keep saving and looking it will happen!
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
    Holiday Haggler
    Cakeguts wrote: »
    You won't get much in the way of a 3 bed house for £160k in that area. It makes me think that you are trying to do something that is impossible. A nice house in a nice area that needs work is likely to be more expensive than you can afford. So you must be looking at houses in not so good areas that need work which would bring you into competition with investors. What I would suggest is that you look for a small house in a much better area. Unless you can find a house that is too expensive for an investor to make a profit on you are going to always be competing with them.

    Not impossible

    Here's one for doing up!

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48030309.html

    The OP never said they had a £160k budget either - I guess that's based on the £16k deposit? It is a small deposit and I hope they've got some extra for moving costs.
  • marliepanda
    marliepanda Posts: 7,186 Forumite
    ringo_24601 wrote: »
    Not impossible

    Here's one for doing up!

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48030309.html

    The OP never said they had a £160k budget either - I guess that's based on the £16k deposit? It is a small deposit and I hope they've got some extra for moving costs.

    If 16k MAX gives them 10% deposit, then £160k would be their budget...
  • sulphate
    sulphate Posts: 1,235 Forumite
    Our house is sold stc and almost everyone who viewed it was a first time buyer, which meant that none of them had an advantage over others in terms of position.

    I notice you say you have found "big" properties so I agree that you might need to revise your expectations downwards. When we were ftb-ers we bought a 50 square metre 2 bed terrace (the one we are now selling) and almost everyone I know bought similar for their first property. The ones that bought larger properties had huge deposits, high salaries, were buying in an inexpensive area of the country, or a combination of the above.
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