Nice people thread 2 - now even nicer

lostinrates

Lydia, its not bout letting people down. My ideology hasn't changed because our situation has...we were looking the whole time I was here and I still think everything is screwed up..but like you we found a suitable place for us at a suitable price. you must do what is right for you and your family. You are in a secure position and it makes sense to take advantage of that.

LydiaJ

Thank you for your kind wishes, everyone.

I suppose the thing is that I feel a true bear would have driven a harder bargain. When they dropped it another £20k on Friday (a week ago), I offered £20k below that. I increased it by £5k when they said they'd had a whole lot of building work done since I had my survey done in January (long story). They came down another £5k, and I've agreed to it. I could have spent longer going up in smaller increments and I might have been able to beat them down a bit further. But then again I might not. Or someone else might have bought it. Likewise if I'd waited a few more months they probably would have dropped it further - but they might have taken it off the market or someone else might have bought it.

My Dad asked me "Do you want to risk losing the house for the sake of £5k" and I found that my answer was "no". If there were plenty of other available houses that would meet my family's needs, I would have bargained much harder. But there aren't, so I haven't.

I don't feel guilty as such. I'm quite certain that I'm doing the right thing for me. But I'm uneasily aware of those who feel that people who don't wait for bigger falls are contributing to the problem and propping up an unrealistic market. So I think that's what I meant by saying sorry.

Meanwhile, I am happy. It feels slightly unreal that I have actually got the house after such a long time of watching it from a distance, but in another sense it feels natural and obvious that I am buying it, as though this was always meant to be.

Unlike two other houses that I have tried to buy over the last year, this one is already big enough for what I want, so I am not planning to do an extension, and they have already had the flat roof (over the existing extension) completely replaced so it now has a 20 year guarantee, and they've done the other repairs to the pitched roof that the surveyor recommended. However, the electrics and heating need replacing, and some parts of the house have single skin walls so I am going to have extra insulation added. The plan is to get all that done while I am still in my rented house. I have a builder who will do the insulation and project manage the electrics and heating so that everything gets done in the right order.

dopester

LydiaJ wrote: »

Meanwhile, I am happy. It feels slightly unreal that I have actually got the house after such a long time of watching it from a distance, but in another sense it feels natural and obvious that I am buying it, as though this was always meant to be.

Now I feel guilty for making you feel guilty for us perma-bears for "breaking rank" when it should be all about your happiness in your decision to buy. Sorry. I sense Lir is slightly annoyed you explained it to me (and other perma-bears reading), and she's right. It should be all about you.

For all I know, with all the intervention (QE and 500 year low interests rates), at this rate I could still be a saddo waiting and living with my Mum till I'm 40 still, still waiting for my interpretation of value.. and I don't want that. Can't hold out that long myself either, even if it's buying a lesser house than I have in mind now, of which I can't comfortably afford at the moment.

A time comes you've got to make a decision for your own quality of life, whatever the market holds, if you can comfortably afford it. That is how your situation looks to me Lydia.

At the risk of annoying you and others though.. I've got to ask.. was this the house where they took it off the market and then brought it back on at a massive increase in asking price? If so I hope the price agreed is more towards what they put it on at originally. Although a nice £20K drop followed by a very worthwhile £5K negotiating. And significant building works done by them since your survey.

lostinrates

dopester,I'm sure neither you nor lydia could ever annoy me.


what is annoying me is that my thanks button isn't working.

carolt

Yes, me too, still.

Like a weird thanks virus.

So just to sum up, I'd like to add my thanks to every single post on the thread since I last posted, a kid of visual touch on the arm, "Mmmm", or smile of agreement, really.

But as I can't, I have to write a stupidly long post.

Anyway, you lot, count yourselves duly "thanked".

vivatifosi

And don't take it as gloating, just thanking some posts...

LydiaJ

dopester wrote: »

Now I feel guilty for making you feel guilty for us perma-bears for "breaking rank" when it should be all about your happiness in your decision to buy. Sorry. I sense Lir is slightly annoyed you explained it to me (and other perma-bears reading), and she's right. It should be all about you.

For all I know, with all the intervention (QE and 500 year low interests rates), at this rate I could still be a saddo waiting and living with my Mum till I'm 40 still, still waiting for my interpretation of value.. and I don't want that. Can't hold out that long myself either, even if it's buying a lesser house than I have in mind now, of which I can't comfortably afford at the moment.

A time comes you've got to make a decision for your own quality of life, whatever the market holds, if you can comfortably afford it. That is how your situation looks to me Lydia.

At the risk of annoying you and others though.. I've got to ask.. was this the house where they took it off the market and then brought it back on at a massive increase in asking price? If so I hope the price agreed is more towards what they put it on at originally. Although a nice £20K drop followed by a very worthwhile £5K negotiating. And significant building works done by them since your survey.

Don't feel bad. I've really appreciated your care and concern for me and my family and our finances.

Yes, it's the same house. I am paying £30k more than they were asking for it at the very bottom of the market in the winter of 2008/9, but on the other hand I am paying £45k less than their highest asking price just less than a year ago. And they've done significant work - the extension has a flat roof and they've had the entire thing replaced (not just recovered) so it now has a 20 year guarantee. They've fixed the chimney pointing, loose roof tiles and damaged lead flashing on the original house too.

It's not the greatest bargain the world has ever seen, but I'm satisfied it's a fair price. I've looked at other houses I didn't like as much that would have cost me more, and it's only £15k more than one I saw the other week - which had its upstairs not as conveniently laid out, and only one reception room downstairs rather than the three that I'm actually getting.

Malcolm.

lostinrates wrote: »

dopester,I'm sure neither you nor lydia could ever annoy me.


what is annoying me is that my thanks button isn't working.

Change to the newer version of viewing the forum and thanking will work again. It's somewhere under options.

lostinrates

Malcolm. wrote: »

Change to the newer version of viewing the forum and thanking will work again. It's somewhere under options.

testing?

seems to have worked...and its less offensive thn I remember AND I have the spam button back.


Do any of the nice people have boats...or maybe caravans...? This is leading somewhere ..I need info...:D

misskool

I have a friend who lives in a house boat but not sure if that's helpful