No houses for sale where I want to buy

blt

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice. Basically I have seen the dream road for me - geeky I know. Unfortunately houses rarely come up for sale. After research I have found that just 3 have come up in the last 5 years.

My DH and I are living in his house and have our heart set on this one specific location for lots of reasons. As yet, we haven't put our house on the market.

I was going to go around all the estate agents with our details and the name of the road, just in case anything came up. Do you think it would also be worthwhile doing a letter for people who live on that road. Basically saying we are looking to buy in the area etc etc. I thought if someone was tthinking of selling they might like saving a few grand in estate agents fees!

So, any thoughts. ideas much appreciated.

Thanks everyone:o

Pupnik

I think popping letters through doors is a great idea- after all, what have you got to lose? I often get them through my door from various estate agents. You never know, someone may be thinking of selling but has not bothered due to the climate for sellers right now.

PasturesNew

If it's just one road then it's pointless contacting the agents as they'd just leaflet the road and take a cut.

Leaflet the road yourself.

But - you should have your house on the market first - and be prepared to sell and rent to be ready/willing/able to proceed if/when one in that road comes up.

blt

Thanks for your replies. Yes, we get those EA leaflets too and I always just think it's a 'general' marketing ploy. It would be different for me if someone actually wanting to buy got in touch!

I was worried about putting the house on though in case we sold with nowhere to move too. Rental prices in our area are twice what we're paying on our mortgage so that's not really an option with a baby on the way... We did have it on last year but took it off as (and I know this sounds daft), we had too many interested parties. At the time we also had my old house to sell and the thought of selling the home we're in to move to my old one was depressing. And too much of a commute to work.

evansmummy

blt wrote: »

I was worried about putting the house on though in case we sold with nowhere to move too. Rental prices in our area are twice what we're paying on our mortgage so that's not really an option with a baby on the way... We did have it on last year but took it off as (and I know this sounds daft), we had too many interested parties. At the time we also had my old house to sell and the thought of selling the home we're in to move to my old one was depressing. And too much of a commute to work.

We have the same thing happening and I wouldn't even bother leafleting until your in a position to move i.e have sold your house as if a call does come through you've wasted their time and they could sell it on the open market to everyone else to pick over and you've lost it.
Even if you do sell your place, as awful as it sounds, you can pull out up to completion.

PasturesNew

You can't hope to sell your house at the same time as buying the house of your dreams.... while you're still finding a buyer another buyer might snap up one that comes to market, so something has to give.

If you WANT a house in that road only, you have to be prepared to make short term sacrifices to achieve that.

At least put your house on the market, then leaflet once you've had an offer on yours.... but if nobody responds to the leaflet, you can't pull out of the sale - maybe 2 weeks after you did that one would get in touch with you and say "I have your leaflet here, I kept it...."