To those BUYING in these difficult times....

spend_thrift

spend_thrift wrote: »

I checked the listing and it was only put on last month, so if it was on last year they used a different advert.

The thing is, the pictures look quite different to how the place looks now, and the EA wouldn't tell me when they were taken, so it could be quite likely that it was on the market last year as well.

Found an older ad for the same house on Zoopla - it was listed in October 2010, and in all that time has come down in price by a grand total of £5k.

Thefunkygibbons

Having sold, I am now allowed in this tread

Have a second viewing tomorrow on favoured place

CheeseCat

So today is completion day for me - just had a phone call from the solicitor to say we've completed. I don't know if that means the EA has the keys yet?

I can't go til after work anyway. I dont think I will be excited until I make the mad dash to the EA and actually have the keys in my hand

silverchair

I've been viewing properties for the last few months. Every weekend.
I'm getting quite impatient now. Things like viewing houses which are advertised as 2 bedrooms when in fact you cant actually fit a bed in the second bedroom. It just feels like a waste of time.
I don't blame sellers for trying to get the most money they can. But seriously when they have bought in 2007, done absolutely nothing with the property, not even painted a room & then put it on the market for "offers over" 20K more than they've paid for the place.

One particular occasion I tried to arrange a viewing for a particular property, was told that they were fully booked on that day. I was the one who had to suggest showing people in twos or threes. Jeez

This one thing particularly had me puzzled. I was told by the estate agents that when I put in an offer for a house I was required to see their financial adviser to check that I was financially able. I then told them that I had a mortgage in principle, but was told that their policy is that anyone who makes an offer is to see their financial adviser???? Surely they would have an unfair advantage knowing my finances when negotiating.

spend_thrift

silverchair wrote: »

This one thing particularly had me puzzled. I was told by the estate agents that when I put in an offer for a house I was required to see their financial adviser to check that I was financially able. I then told them that I had a mortgage in principle, but was told that their policy is that anyone who makes an offer is to see their financial adviser???? Surely they would have an unfair advantage knowing my finances when negotiating.

I've experienced something similar, Silverchair. Every time I register with an EA they want me to come in and see their financial advisor. It doesn't bother them that I already have an AIP - they always say I should come in to get a second opinion.

It's strange that they should insist you see their financial advisor just to make an offer though. They might just be trying their luck - try pushing back and telling them again that you have an AIP and you're happy with the deal you have. If they're trying to bully you they should back off if you insist.

The_Drama_Llama

Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhh! Seller's solicitor is refusing to purchase indemnity policy for windows which have no FENSA certificates. !!!!!!, I'm paying the asking price, in this market and they're quibbling about £200?

The mind bloody boggles...oh, and they're still nagging me to complete on 15th June, when they didn't issue the correct form of contract for 3 weeks!

My plan is to play hardball and see who blinks first.

Grrrrr....

erghblah

Hello everyone, thought I'd give an update on our house buying adventure as things have taken an interesting turn.

We've just had an offer accepted on a place we like and managed to negotiate the price down a bit (not as much as we had hoped but less then they had paid for it and they've upgraded the kitchen/bathroom).

The fun bit is we're on a rolling month by month tenancy currently which would normally be great... except our landlord has decided to put our flat up on the market. We're hoping that there won't be too much interest as it's high priced for the size although the location is great. Needless to say we're going to take things as they come and keep fingers crossed that they do not sell quickly as otherwise it makes our completing on a property even more stressful then it should be! They'd still need to give us two months notice to move but not a nice one to think about too much as we're at the bottom of a chain (how big a chain remains to be seen).

We've got our paperwork for a mortgage and have instructed solicitor (offer was accepted on Thursday) so hoping it will be a speedy one, however, will keep people updated as I'm sure if the worst does happen, I'll be on here much more often!

Best of luck everyone x

Grimbal

erghblah: don't forget that you don't have to allow viewings for potential buyers - that may slow things down a bit (as long as you're sure that the LL won't immediately serve you your 2 months notice!)

erghblah

Thanks Grimbal. We're aware of this so treading carefully- the two months notice we mean. Last thing we need is to have two months to rent again and try to find somewhere with short tenancy.

I think that in this market for them to sale immediately would be extremely unlucky for us and for them to complete so quickly even more so (but it does feel like a race against time!). I've given our mobile numbers so their EA can contact us and if it's over the weekend at unreasonable hours we will say no... what can I say, I need my sleep and so does my partner! Our LL is lovely though and kept us up to speed with their plans, we just didn't think (over the last few weeks) that they'd get a value anywhere near what they had paid for back in 2007. It's all a matter of time but one factor we hadn't counted for in this crazy thing called buying.

Skint_Catt

Possibly a really silly question BUT...

How do you all arrange your viewings? My problem is that my hubby & I need to buy somewhere fairly quickly - 1st born due in October & need to be in by then. We're trying to see as many properties as possible on Saturday/Sunday's but seeing as it takes some EA/vendor's three days to come back to us , I'm only arranging one at a time at the moment so we don't have timing clashes.

So you dictate what time you want to see something (i.e. EA1 gets 12pm or 1pm, EA2 gets 2pm or 3pm) , or do we really have to wait for each one to come back to us?

Hope that makes sense