to those buying in these difficult times! AKA buyers support network

54druids

Have often posted on the "to those selling in these difficult times" thread and had great support when selling my house. Now that I am buying I cannot believe how difficult it is and wondered if anyone out there was having such a hard time? We sold our property in September and since then have had 3 attempts at buying a property and are now revisiting one of the attempts a second time. In the first attempt, the seller said he would not even start packing a box until we had actually sold our property and then kept changing the date of entry(amongst many other things too tedious to mention). The second neglected to mention major planning permission for work behind the property. The third did not have a home report so we had to fork out £425 for a valuation survey (which he refused to contribute to) which came in at 15k under the asking price and he would not budge one bit. We have recently revisited the second. After looking at the planning we decided to re-offer at the same price. However, because the date of entry into his preferred property is not until March next year which is no good to us as we need to port our mortgage a month before, he would not accept our offer unless it accomodating his date as he does not want to move twice. The estate agent reckons the way around this is to buy his house and then rent it back at a reasonable rental rate (we reckon because of our huge mortgage, rental for us and council tax this would cost us £2500) but what if their sale falls through and what would the bank have to say and anyway part of me thinks "hey do you want to sell your house or what?

Hopejack

Wow what a nightmare you are having. I'm not currently buying or selling but will be doing both early next year (well trying to sell anyway!). But I know where you are coming from as my Mum has been trying to buy since July this year! She has a cash buyer for her house but it's taking forever (another story!). She's lost 4 houses in this area for one thing and another - FTB gazumping her, vendor changing his mind and pulling out of another, mine shaft in garden of another (well, technically next door!), huge electrical substation adjoining another.... the list goes on. She's not too fussy bless her but just isn't having much luck. She's now selling and moving in with me (thank god I have a spare bedroom) for a few weeks and then moving into our own property which we rent out (it's got tenants in but they are serving their notice!).

You would think buying would be easy! I can't believe how many vendors out there are v difficult - esp in this climate!

54druids

Crikey your poor Mum - and i know exactly how she feels. The thing is you think you are lucky having sold your house in these difficult times. We sold to the first buyer who came along and offered us a decent price as we thought crikey we may not get another chance. Now I think we are going to look at a stop gap as there just are not enough properties on the market to choose from ( and like your Mum I don't think we are that picky ). And furthermore, I live in Scotland where the buying process is supposed to be more simple!

pawpurrs

Imitation is the best form of flattery;)

Congratulations Lydia, hope you find your dream home soon.

Am purchasing too at the moment, have stumbled across a slight problem, that I hope to sort out today.

pie81

Can I join? We've just sold our place (exchanged yesterday ) but so far found nothing to buy... there has been nothing new on the market in our area for weeks now. Guess we'll probably be moving in with family when we complete our sale (luckily we have that option though it is definitely a temporary thing!)

54druids

Yes, if I was someone thinking of putting my house in the market and needed to sell, I wouldn't wait, I would put it on now as there seems to be alot of buyers and not alot of houses to buy (that message goes out especially to all you people in Helensburgh).

I have also noticed around here that even though prices are offers over the valuations tend to be the same as the offers over - I have to ask myself why I would actually pay over the valuation?

Our latest is we have just told the seller that we were not prepared to buy his house and rent it back to him to meet his entry date as it would end up costing too much money. However we do have a possible rental property which is coming to the end of it's rental period and the owner may sell so fingers crossed.

pawpurrs

My slight problem has been resolved and its all steam ahead again.

surreybased

Hi,

I'm having the same issues, we're in rented and our landlord will take back the house next June. We've been looking for a place to buy for several months and have had many failed attempts. 1. A house came on the market that sold in June09, 5 months later it went for £50k extra..we bid £35k over but lost it as we weren't prepared to go into a crazy bidding war. 2. We offered the asking price, but the sellers decided not to sell. 3. We offered on a house but the chain is/was really long and is still not complete as the sellers can't find a place to buy..feels like we have a vicious circle.

Can't believe how tough this is...If you want to sell your house, now is a very good time

ps we have a very large deposit and have mortgage approved..we could move in a month!!

54druids

Pawpurrs - hope you don't think I am too cheeky in starting this thread - just full of admiration (crawl crawl)

Surrey based - yep you do kind of start getting a bit desperate. I have taken to seeking out lets that may sell. Keep talking to people, you never know what you may turn up: happened to me today and waiting to hear of a perfect property for us but given our recent bad luck don't want to get my hopes up.

I am sure this thread will not need to exist after January when the market will be flooded with properties.

pawpurrs

Not at all, just jibbing! A bit of support is Great!

downshifted

My sympathies to everyone. I've just had my offer of £250k on an over valued £280k house rejected. Cash buyer, money in the bank. Looks like we will be renting for a bit longer! It is tough out there - there is not that much around to offer on. On the other hand, I don't see prices shooting up in the short term, so the right one will come along eventually. I long ago stopped falling in love with houses (although I have to really like them to want to live in them!)