Charlene's FTB - Diary 2007

CharleneUK

I hope I'm not boring anyone to tears with these updates, please let me know if I am!

Anyway, so we've seen another 3-4 properties since the last time I posted. Two have potential and are on for a reasonable price, but the first one has no back garden but a massive front garden, needs work, but is 'homely' The second one I like, it's a maisonette though, and the garden has stairs and lots of concrete which OH is concerned about because of the kids...... I have had to arrange a timetable now for all these viewings!! It's been hard going, with the kids in tow at times, or OH coming off a night shift and a little tired, but it's fun too, but stressful.

This evening, we saw an absolute state, I really don't understand how it can be going on for £204 it was just the worse piece of garbage I've ever seen! They didn't even bother cleaning it up and the ceiling was coming down and things were hanging off, it was AWFUL! The funny funny thing is, I went to view a flat conversion about 45 minutes early and both the EA and I were in hysterics cos the place was so bad! He said he isn't even showing anyone else to that flat, it was that awful, then we come across this property!! LOL (different EA though)

So anyway, the advice on here to ring ring ring has really paid off, because we are viewing a real hopeful tomorrow which the EA had just finished measuring up for, so fingers crossed please, it sounds like a palace compared to the ones we've seen today (well, two out of four of them)

I need to research about leasehold, but other than that, I'm now totally open to flat conversions provided they have a garden! So it's been a stressful week, but hopefully it'll all be worth while.

Doozergirl

You can ask away about leasehold!

Interested to hear how it's all progressing for you

icklejulez

Jut read your thread and wanted to give you some hope. My hubby and I were too struggling to find what we wanted for the price we were willing to pay and eventually got to the point where we were offering on properties thinking we wanted them when in reality it was us just getting desperate. It took us 6 months and probably 100 viewings for us to finally realise the reason the houses were all wrong is because we were viewing 50miles away from where deep down we wanted to buy... Im not saying that is the case for you but dont think you have to jump for a property immediatly the more you see the more you get to know what you can and cant buy and when a property comes on the market thatr is meant to be yours you really do just know!

Tiger_greeneyes

Keep plugging away at the viewings Charlene - the more you eliminate, the closer you'll be to finding a place that speaks to you

You're not boring us to tears, we're interested to hear how you're getting along

CharleneUK

Thanks guys! I appreciate all the replies. I need some expert advice now.

Today has been a horrid roller coaster to be honest and I'm beginning to wonder if it's really worth the stress.

So, we viewed this house which was new on the market, OH loved it, I was 'hmmm it's good enough' and after seeing what our money can buy, it's a palace!! Anyway, so we were pretty certain we wanted to put an offer in today. Vendor was there, and he was really nice and friendly.

So it's on for £205, we put an offer in for £200, the EA said 'o.k! That's a very good offer!' which made us think 'hmmm was it too high?' anyway, we were happy with it so was waiting to hear back.

She said there were another 5 viewings lined up, so she'd wait till then to get back to us, but asked about a mortgage in prinicple, which (I'll hold my hands up now!) I lied and said we had...... We only actually got the key illustration thing. So, frantically, we were on the phone to nationwide arranging one, then a big massive SNAG!! They couldn't take our tax credits into account as income, as it could stop anytime, so we could now only get £157,950!! I almost fainted!! That meant we'd have to come up with more money if we wanted to step up higher to the asking price....... Anyway, it was accepted in priniciple.

So, EA calls back, says 3/6 viewings put an offer in (including us) and that it's basically me against another potential. She said the other people had a higher offer, but the vendor liked us, plus we have nothing to sell, whereas the other people do, and the vendor wants to be out by July latest.

So........ I ask her if she had any idea what the vendor would accept, and she said it's really difficult but all she can say is, if I want to secure the house, go in for full asking, which we know we cannot do, as we already need to come up with the mortgage shortfall, so, finally, after another recalculation, we are going to go in for £201,665, and then highest offer of £202, 155. What do you guys think?

We were thinking that if he rejects it again, to maybe write a short letter saying we were sorry our offer was rejected, but hope that if he changes his mind he can get in contact? Is this a bit dodgy!? Just asking! It's not set in stone, just an idea, as I don't particularly trust the EA..... She could be saying the exact same thing to the other prospective buyers!

Tiger_greeneyes

Tomorrow is another day! You get up days and down days when you're house hunting - the fun part of it wears off after a while. When you find a place you love, however, you'll be grinning like a Cheshire cat!

As for your offer, there's not much difference between the two figures. If you put in the lower figure and the vendor accepted the other purchaser, you might wish you'd tried your maximum offer from the outset. Whatever you do, make sure the estate agent hammers home the fact that you have scraped every last penny together for the offer! It may help you if you went back for another viewing - if the vendor likes and trusts you, then that's sometimes half the battle.

What you could do is visit the EA and make your offer face to face. You want them to impress upon the vendor that you want to move fast (which is mirroring the vendors wishes).

I don't see any problem in you dropping a line to the vendor It's not the norm but I doubt it will hurt, especially as they have a date in mind to move by

Good luck if you decide to offer and I await tomorrow's installment :)

Doozergirl

I'm in total agreement with greeneyes; get back there, give it to the vendor big time and give it your best shot, your best offer and explain that having done the maths, this is it for you. (I don't know whether it's coincidence, but the 665/155 figures support that for you - but only if you do it once)

I'm, so gutted that you can't stretch it that little bit higher but you might just pull it off; you're so near! Knowing the market in those parts right now, I don't think you have much of a choice but to go for it - don't regret it for £500.

And if it doesn't pull off, take heart in the fact that you've *nearly* got there in quite a short period of time and that it won't be long before it does happen for you.

Come and move out of London! I'm selling a good sized three bed terrace with parking anda great big garden for £155,000. For your money here you'd get a lovely three bed, three storey townhouse in a nice part of town!

Tiger_greeneyes

That sounds excellent value Doozergirl! Whereabouts are you, if you don't mind me asking? I'm on the Suffolk coast in a seaside town and we've got similar priced properties here. We've also got the broads five minutes away and the beach is at the end of our road I'm so pleased to have moved out of London, I can't begin to tell you!

Charlene, you could do an awful lot worse than to escape the rat race We bought a three storey Victorian terraced house (7 bedrooms) in January - I guarantee you'd have no shortage of visitors if you lived somewhere like this! In fact, there's a 5 bed three storey semi down our road for £125k - there are definitely bargains to be had

Doozergirl

I wish I was beside the seaside!

The house I'm selling just about falls under Solihull; it is one of the cheapest 3 bed houses on the market so fingers crossed we'll sell quite quickly once it hits rightmove. I live in North Worcestershire though and I'm also really happy to have left London. It's fabulous place to visit and I do miss the choice of restaurants etc. but when you have children, it's just so much nicer to have greenery, fresh air and a choice of decent schools!

Tiger_greeneyes

I couldn't agree more - there's definitely aspects of London that I miss - I used to love popping down to Brighton for the day, for instance. I can live without that though, there's enough to do here

Worcestershire is beautiful - it's not far from my Mum (Forest of Dean) and I've a cousin in Malvern. If I was moving from here, moving to that area would be 2nd only to moving back to Aberdeen!