Frustrated FTB in London

egoode

I'm looking in SE London as well and you really do need to be able to get to viewings as soon as it is on the market. I think you need to focus your search on just one area and try and build a closer relationship with a couple of the estate agents so they call you as soon as or before something is on the market. Also make it clear exactly what you are looking for you say you don't care but you must have some basic idea of what you do or don't want e.g. minimum room sizes etc.

I know from looking in Brockley there's a massive number of people looking for properties and have often seen the same faces at the viewings. However there's very few places on the market so the good places are going very quickly and either at or over asking price. I think you need to accept in London it's a seller's market so you need to be willing to potentially offer more than asking price for a place you really love.

I know I'm willing to take the risk of not having a second viewing before making an offer and would only look at renegotiating if there's an issue with lease length that wasn't stated when originally looking or major structural work required on the building. However you need to decide if you are also willing to do that. The other alternative is to look in other areas where the market is not as competitive for buyers.

dtsazza

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

It seems to that you need to stop making offers of less than the asking-price. At appears that vendors in London are confident of getting the asking price, and are getting it.

AlexMac wrote: »

Very interesting; a sign of recovery? Or just that good places go fast?

To get anecdotal- we were delighted that our place sold; at a great price, in 3 days 18m ago and assumed that was because it was the cheapest flat in a posh street in a desirable area. But late last year the kids' house (a very undistinguished 3 bed ex-council house in a tatty part of zone 3 in SE London) went within a few days; again at a price well over expectation. Then, last week, the brother in law sold a modest 3-bedder in a North Kent village in 2 days, so before it hit the websites.

We're also looking to buy at the moment in SE1/SW9, and have seen a similar thing.

Most of the properties that catch our eye on Rightmove are sold SSTC by the time we call the EAs to arrange a viewing. Properties seem to be moving very fast - at a recent viewing, the EA mentioned that they have more buyers than sellers at the moment, and that the market is more buoyant than they've seen in a long while. Obviously to be taken with a pinch of salt, given the agent's vested interest, but it does corroborate with the anecdotal evidence we've seen so far.

I agree that it seems to be a matter of presenting yourself to a small number of estate agents as a serious buyer, such that they call you when a relevant property comes on the market. Regardless of what the rest of the country is doing, it appears to be a seller's market in London at the moment.

<sebb>

Yep, similar position here. Looking at max £500k but preferably under £450k in the Ruislip/Eastcote area (near Pinner).

We found one place we loved which needed ALOT of work but had a lot of potential. It was on for £440k but the recent sold prices didnt support this so we offered £400k. We were told there was one offer of £410k but the buyer wasn't proceedable, and lots of offers at £375-£395k. Next thing we knew it was SSTC and were told it was a cash buyer offering near asking.

Just offered £410k on a near new build that had been on the market for 2 days. Bought for £400k 2 years ago, almost identical house bought two years ago for £395k and sold in december 2012 for £405k. This was rejected and we were told that they'd already rejected £425k. Listening to our hearts instead of our heads, we offered £430k, which was again rejected as they want £440k. We've said no chance!!

We saw a place on rightmove we felt would be perfect. We called and told no viewings were taking place and they were only taking names. Three days later its listed at SSTC and we didnt even get to see it.

We can only view at weekends so keep finding properties sold before we can even get in for a viewing.

Lizling

You have my sympathy It's all gone mental again.

I've got a friend who works at an Estate Agent in Clapham. She says in the last couple of months, people have been ignoring the stamp duty thresholds, getting into bidding wars against each other and ending up paying as much as 25% over the asking price. I think it's largely people who desperately want to invest in something 'safe', which in this case is property in areas of London where they think prices will never go down (bubble alert!). It certainly isn't your average FTB behind all this anyway.

All I can suggest is that you pick an approximaate area and get to know it thoroughly. There'll be parts that the average foreign investor will never have heard of and where some sanity might yet remain. Then, make sure that when something does come up, you are the first person a local EA calls. Even in my unfashionable area, my new flat never made it onto Rightmove and neither did half the others I looked at. (The half that were already on Rightmove are mainly still there 4 months later, lol, and with good reasons.)

Failing that, you're just going to have to play the game and offer what it'll take to get you your home rather than what you think it's worth (:eek:)

Oh yeah, and you'll probably need some right place, right time luck.

bowlhead99

meadow408 wrote: »

So I've been looking for a 3 bed property since November, I'm not fussy about layout or property features/age and as I'm not particularly tied to any London area I'm spreading my search to 3,4 areas in zone 2,3,4 both South and North

meadow408 wrote: »

My budget is max 500k as I don't want to end up in the next stamp duty bracket.
I'm looking in the South East (East/North Dulwich, Honor Oak Park, Crofton Park, Herne Hill), in the South West (Wimbledon, Merton Park, Haydon's Road) and North West (Pinner, North Harrow).

I tend to agree with others that a london-wide search makes it difficult to zero in on a place, there is a lot out there and a lot of people with more exacting requirements than you will be pretty sharp at picking out good properties in their specific 'catchment area' soon after they are out in the public domain.

While you are looking 'everywhere' (NW,SW,SE), is there a particular reason you aren't looking straight north? If you are willing to go as far as zone 4 your budget would stretch to some OK parts of N13/N14 which can be quite nice.

We were looking in the last quarter or so of last year in that area (albeit a higher price bracket) and places weren't flying off the shelves as soon as they were listed, nor going for full asking. The ones with unrealistic prices from 4 or 5 months ago are still listed, rather than just going at full price anyway. We complete this month.

Just doing a quick check near us, this place is probably a minute or two walk away from us and listed bang on 500k.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-25713315.html
It's between two piccadilly line tube stops (half a mile south to Arnos Grove via a nice bit of green space, or a bit further north to Southgate). If there's a problem with the tube line or your commute is to the east side of the city you can walk a bit further south to New Southgate overground which drops you down to Finsbury Park/Highbury & Islington/Old Street/Moorgate, or you could walk east to Palmers Green overground which is a different branch of the same line (keeps your commute options wide open if you're the sort of person that can walk 15mins for a train rather than needing it on your doorstep)

Also close to the top of the north circular for good road links. Your budget would get you a garden and a driveway and sometimes a garage. No affiliation with this particular one, it was just very close to my postcode at the right ballpark price. It is a nice estate (though I do say so myself) so might go faster than others in this neck of the woods but to be honest I don't know what's on for this budget as we were looking higher.