FTB - are we being paranoid or being messed around by the agents?

lee636

Fatenbread wrote: »

Withdraw the offer and walk away. If they come back, tell them your maximum is £190k.

:T Id go with this. You may want it but if an asking price offer is turned down something is very wrong. Retract your asking price offer, go in with an original one you was happy with (including the lease extension) and start looking elsewhere.

Maybe ask the EA (deal with a different person at that place) to start showing you other things on their books if they have any you havent already viewed.

jozbo

my gut feeling is I dont want to go through with this. I will get back to the EA at my leisure - perhaps if he calls saying they accept - and say we withdraw.
Agreed, I've been manipulated and fallen for all of it. Will be smarter on the next one!
ps since the FA has told me the rates for the lender Alliance & Leicester can I go direct to them?

macadamia_2

IMO this is one of the worst times to be a first time buyer; you are almost buying at the top (but that's another subject). Have a look at the House Price Crash website - here's an interesting thread - third month of falls from Hallifax. If you are determined to go ahead with this purchase <shudder> then you should be reducing your offer.

PS As a newish user I'm not allowed to post links. Have a look under the main HPC forum for the Hallifax figures.

jozbo

just got a voicemail from the EA saying he had good news.. so called back, told the offer was accepted (after much discussion with the vendors blah blah). but said we were not prepared to pay that and withrew the offer - needed time to think about whether we'll offer again!

we are buying because i have a large deposit (my mother died recently and her work pension is what we're using)
we've been paying 800pcm for a horrible flat for 2 years and never thought we'd be able to buy anything but because of the deposit size the mortgage payments would be around 600pcm at an IR of 4%
it may not be the best time to buy as an investment but is surely better financial sense than throwing thousands down the drain on someone else's mortgage!

Doozergirl

jozbo wrote: »

just got a voicemail from the EA saying he had good news.. so called back, told the offer was accepted (after much discussion with the vendors blah blah). but said we were not prepared to pay that and withrew the offer - needed time to think about whether we'll offer again!

we are buying because i have a large deposit (my mother died recently and her work pension is what we're using)
we've been paying 800pcm for a horrible flat for 2 years and never thought we'd be able to buy anything but because of the deposit size the mortgage payments would be around 600pcm at an IR of 4%
it may not be the best time to buy as an investment but is surely better financial sense than throwing thousands down the drain on someone else's mortgage!

I don't get why you've completely withdrawn? Were you being played or are you playing? It wasn't an asking price offer you made like some people are saying, it will cost the vendor around £10k to extend the lease so for her your offer is around £190k which is the lowest range of where the agent told you you needed to be. Yes, you're paying £200k which was asking, but you get a lovely long lease with it as well which is on top of what was offered for sale.

Were you just not that interested in it? Fair enough if not, but there's no way I'd let my personal view of an EA get between me and the house I really wanted... Fair enough even if you think it's not worth what you're paying but I genuinely don't see how the EA has done anything but find you both a compromise based on the offer that you made.

jozbo

the quote they have for extending the lease is 7k. i like the place a lot but think it's worth 195 with the lease and no more. sure we may lose this one but next time will look at cheaper places i reckon!

macadamia_2

jozbo wrote: »

it may not be the best time to buy as an investment but is surely better financial sense than throwing thousands down the drain on someone else's mortgage!

Ahh that old chestnut. There are so many variables in buying a house so if you intend staying in this flat for 10+ years because the "value" has come down and you can't trade up then may be you should go for it.

If you think it's a stepping stone to a bigger place you'd like in a couple of years then remain renting. To do anything else would be throwing money away.

jozbo

macadamia wrote: »

Ahh that old chestnut. There are so many variables in buying a house so if you intend staying in this flat for 10+ years because the "value" has come down and you can't trade up then may be you should go for it.

If you think it's a stepping stone to a bigger place you'd like in a couple of years then remain renting. To do anything else would be throwing money away.

how can that be true? we intend to stay in the flat for around 5 years. we cant save at all at the moment so how on earth will it be different in a couple of years? plus we're looking to buy in an area near the olympics and would have to go further out if we waited.

renting is genuinely throwing money away

Evilm

They should be refusing you offer in writing. If they are not doing this they are likely not contacting the vendors to ask.

I would be tempted to walk away but if you don't insist they confirm their next refusal in writing. If they won't something is wrong and you definitely need to walk away or contact the vendor directly (possibly put a note through the door?).

jozbo

thought i migt add that the current owners bought it in apr 2007 for 188, 500 - zoopla and mouseprice suggest it should have dropped 12k in value. vendors need to move on as are having a second baby.
its looking more and more tempting to buy something cheap that we do up to increase value - espec if potential to enlarge (extension, loft conversion). guess thats better than paying top of the market prices for something immaculate that we wont be able to shift.