No Houses For Sale!!

LadyC

Hello,

We've recently accepted an offer on our house, but have found there is really nothing we can afford to buy in the area we want to live. There are a couple of places on the market, but one we have already negotiated on and walked away from (buyer upped her asking price whilst in the middle of negotiations?!!) and we have seen another which is not yet officially on the market. We viewed it with an EA who wasn't aware the HIP hadn't been completed. We would potentially put an offer in on this property but the EA has indicated the seller won't accept low offers even though it needs a lot of work doing. Obviously he would say that as he won't want the vendor to sell too low, too quickly, but it has made us think we can't rely on being able to purchase this house.

Anyway, our sale seems to going ahead and we don't really want to hold that up, and we do have the option of staying with a relative in the short term if we desperately needed to move, but as we have an under 2 year old and a baby due end of June, this wouldn't be entirely practical - plus the relative lives a fair distance from the hospital I plan to give birth in. We'd prefer to have bought somewhere.

In essence, my question is - how receptive do you think people would be to a leaflet drop, saying we're looking to buy in the area, have up to x amount to spend, please get in contact. Would you respond if you were considering selling? Or would you think this was some sort of marketing ploy? We don't want to waste time and energy traipsing the streets we want to live in if this plan is unlikely to elicit much response.

Any thoughts/ideas welcome!! Thanks in advance.

LC

forumgrazer

We tried this in a popular area in South London last summer after we just lost out to a banker with bonus (one of the last of that bunch typical)...

handwritten (not photocopied) notes with our email contact details - less formidable we thought. Took a while but got a couple of responses from 30+ drops - they were pretty nervewracking to do but at least we felt we'd tried our best. Unfortunately there was no easy way to get to the asking price question and the one serious vendor had a figure in mind that was well over what the one we'd just missed (650k when last sale was £385). We had to politely decline and resist pointing them to nethouseprices.com to see why. They're still on the market now having only dropped 55k and still over vastly over the last comparable.

Still glad we asked as we'd always wonder otherwise and its amusing to keep an eye on them - best to broadly set out your position ie what chain etc and then wait patiently - meanwhile I'd keep looking on the usual channels as its not easy buying even when you've got a 'professional' helping with negotiations and sale progression. Also maybe a 6month rental to break the chain would free up your sale and make you more attractive buyers - not easy given the circumstances but might be worth it

Good luck!

Mr_Matey

I don't think a leaflet drop will do much.
Why not rent for 6 months to a year and something may come up?

sunshinetours

A leaflet drop is worth it as its zero cost to you and has an outside chance of throwing up something suitable

6 month rental (if you can find a suitable one) will be best option so you can keep flexible

Cannon_Fodder

Even if you find somewhere this week, the paperwork is going to delay moving in until June, so unless you want to be giving birth in amongst the packing boxes, get into rented, get settled for 6 months, and worry about buying when the new arrival has settled in too.

vet8

Cannon Fodder, can I ask why the paperwork will delay moving in until June. What on earth takes so long these days? It never used to. I see houses around here with "Sale Agreed" boards and then "Sold" boards for months and months.

What causes the hold up? It used to be possible to make an offer and reach exchange of contracts literally in a couple of weeks. I know, we did it.

Cannon_Fodder

Well, obviously there are exceptions to every generalisation !

In the past, what looked like a simple 3-person chain, aiming for pre-Xmas, ran into January, for me. No reason, 1 party thought they were waiting for everybody else, when they complained it was pointed out that everybody else was waiting for them...!

More recently, I think chains are taking a long time due to mortgage difficulties. Lots of horror stories on here about offers in place, lender pulled out, begging vendor to be patient while new AIP is arranged, etc.

Another commonly recurring theme, is "we won't look until we get an offer" - people are told that a vendor won't entertain their offer, if the buyer doesn't have their own place under offer...which just makes the whole thing long-winded and drawn out.

LadyC

We did decide not to view anything until we had an offer, after being let down by a buyer previously (when we had our hearts set on another house, which we had to let go). However, we have obviously been keeping an eye on the market online all along, it just so happens that the minute we accept an offer, no-one seems to be selling in that area!
Thanks for all the replies, I think we may try the leaflet drop – haven’t got much to lose at this stage by doing so, and thanks forumgazer for the handwritten suggestion, I agree that will be the most likely way to make people know we are genuine. A couple of replies from 30 leaflets, is encouraging.
We have considered going into rented but it would likely mean losing the mortgage deal we currently have, which is very low, so we’d like to keep that if at all possible. It just means buying somewhere!
With regards timescales, we would be looking to complete around the end of May, latest, and would make this clear to any vendor we were negotiating with. We have no reason to suspect that our end of the chain would hold things up, as things are already in motion at our end and our buyer is keen to proceed asap (she’s a FTB with her dad helping so has the benefit of his experience, hopefully). If time ran on, like I say, we have the offer of accommodation with relatives. Would be a bind with small people in tow, I agree, but I think I’d feel better about that than having to move ‘properly’ twice in 6 months, at leas if we move with relatives we can bung our stuff in storage for a very short period.
Anyway, thanks again guys, will let you know if the leaflet thingis successful!

DVardysShadow

vet8 wrote: »

Cannon Fodder, can I ask why the paperwork will delay moving in until June. What on earth takes so long these days? It never used to. I see houses around here with "Sale Agreed" boards and then "Sold" boards for months and months.

What causes the hold up? It used to be possible to make an offer and reach exchange of contracts literally in a couple of weeks. I know, we did it.

Oh, you don't get the measure of it. It is not so much delay as uncertainty. If it all goes right, they could be moved in comfortably with 6 weeks to spare before the birth. If it all goes wrong, it could be 6 weeks after. Or not at all. It is not as if it is just your Agent and Solicitor you have to control and it will all come out right. Other people have their agendas - and if someone becomes aware of a time pressure on another party they can - and will - try to use it as a bargaining chip.

I am told that giving birth is not a trivial process, either. The combination of giving birth and moving house is not good.