Would you accept help from a relative?

QTPie · 13 February 2009 at 2:18PM

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Many others will disagree and I can only speak about my local market, but there have been more viewings/offers in the last week than the whole of the last year put together.

Odd, but true - there DO seem to be some motivated buyers out there.

Our house was on the market from beginning of November until early December (5 weeks). During that time we only had two viewings, but one offer (which we accepted, but later fell through :rolleyes: ).

We put ythe hous eback on the market two weeks ago last Monday (at a slightly reduced price). Not a peep for just over two weeks

Then on Wednesday a phone call for a viewing for this Saturday

. Email Thursday/yesterday morning saying that viewing was cancelled - the people had just had an offer accepted on another property (What? They didn't want to see mine first?

). THEN, yesterday lunchtime phone call from estate agent with proceedable buyer infront of her - could he view at 3.15pm that day! :eek: I rushed around the house to tidy and let him view. That evening get a phonecall from the estate agent - viewer has made a good (93.5% of the current asking price) CASH offer :eek:

(of course, you never know, COULD fall through... :rolleyes: ).

So there are some ODD things going on at the moment. I think that the EA has been playing you off against another buyer (who may well exist or maybe not - hard to tell, dangerous game if they don't!).

Good luck with the other house. Things ARE more competitive at the moment (at least for reasonably priced houses). It may well be a blip, but...

QT

kunekune · 14 February 2009 at 9:16PM

The house isn't showing as SSTC on rightmove yet ...

But we'll not go back if it 'falls through'. I am NOT going to be complicit in silly games. We suspect the seller just didn't want us to be the purchasers, but not sure why she might go to these lengths.

Paranoia? Not me!!! We just continue, and offer elsewhere (as we have done already).

Palm_Centro · 15 February 2009 at 10:23AM

£185k doesn't seem too cheeky on a £205k asking price (that has been in place for 9 months).

kunekune · 16 February 2009 at 9:07AM

Palm Centro, no, it wasn't really very cheeky but we'd worked out the sellers were distinctly unmotivated, so we didn't expect them to take our offer.

General update: after our 171K offer on the 180K house was turned down, and they said they'd take 173K, we took the weekend to mull it over. I've decided that 173K is a good 5K too much. My OH thinks it's 10K too much. Given that the house isn't perfect (no walk in shower and no garage) I'm going to call the EA back and say we won't go to 173K. In a rising market that might be petty and I have every expectation that he'll claim this IS now a rising market again, but of course, he's almost certainly wrong.

And we'll keep looking. There must be some good deals out there, if not now, in a few months. I am not going to be pressured into paying above the odds for a house just because there's a shortgage of decent properties on the market: we have somewhere to live, it's not urgent.

QTPie · 16 February 2009 at 10:17AM

kunekune wrote: »

General update: after our 171K offer on the 180K house was turned down, and they said they'd take 173K, we took the weekend to mull it over. I've decided that 173K is a good 5K too much. My OH thinks it's 10K too much. Given that the house isn't perfect (no walk in shower and no garage) I'm going to call the EA back and say we won't go to 173K. In a rising market that might be petty and I have every expectation that he'll claim this IS now a rising market again, but of course, he's almost certainly wrong.

And we'll keep looking. There must be some good deals out there, if not now, in a few months. I am not going to be pressured into paying above the odds for a house just because there's a shortgage of decent properties on the market: we have somewhere to live, it's not urgent.

Sounds very reasonable

If you (both) are not completely happy with a house, then it is probably the wrong decision to make...

I definitely think that there are compromises to be made when you buy a house (unless you buy a perfect plot and build your own

), BUT you have to be happy with those compromises and be very prepared to live with them or be able to work around them (like redo the bathroom). If you are not sure, then it is best not to go through and buy it

Rising market again...? Don't it any time hugely soon... Hopefully we are seeing a bit more stability and movement, whether it will last is anyone's guess... I doubt things will shoot up again fast. But like any "money market" it is all speculation and risk...

You might well find that vendor is back or more receptive in a few months, BUT - by then - you may well have seen something you love a LOT more...

Good luck
QT

kunekune · 17 February 2009 at 9:05AM

Oooo errrrr.

Well I spent yesterday thinking: actually, that was a mistake. We do want to live in this house, the 'things wrong' are small, and we also want to move within the next year, preferably late spring/early summer when I have time (my job is quite cyclical). So I went back to the EA and said that we'd decided we couldn't go to 173 but the 171 stood. He went back to the sellers, and they said they could do 172 but with some extras including a very nice bulkhead wardrobe that they had been planning to take away with them. We did a deal.

I slept well, which is a good sign. OH didn't, which I expected, but by the morning he'd concluded that he wouldn't feel any better about the market in 6 months, he likes the house, and we're not going to pull out within hours of being accepted! This morning I found that almost all the other houses we've liked also sold over the weekend. THey are all four bedroom semis in the catchment of a popular secondary. They all will have sold for prices around the same as we're paying - between 172 and 175. There is only one other 4 bedder with a garden left in the under 200k category and that's more expensive and has only been on the market for a week. Local demand!

silvercar · 17 February 2009 at 5:02PM

Sounds like you are happy with the decision. well done!

kunekune · 17 February 2009 at 7:58PM

Thanks silvercar (you've been in this for the longterm, congrats!). Yes, I slept better last night than for a long time, which is quite a good clue to being happy with the decision. And, if you recall the particular issues we have, this house is over two floors, has a downstairs toilet and a large kitchen. It will work quite well when OH reaches the stage of needing help to get around. I have a good feeling about it (but won't post any pic, because of a vague vestigial superstitiousness).

Strapped · 19 February 2009 at 2:04PM

So, what's the latest kunekune...are you sticking with your decision?

kunekune · 19 February 2009 at 6:55PM

Good question, LOL, but yes. We've started the stage of applying for the mortgage formally. DH always panics when we have an offer accepted (this is not our first or even our fourth house) and he's coping ok!