Diary of a House Search

jibbyboo

Congratulations!! Hope it goes through smoothly!

lessonlearned

Update

Pre-contract enquiries done, survey instructed, mortgage applied for, all in 5 working days.

I just love it when people are focussed and efficient:D.

The EA is fab too - really on the ball.

We have arranged a meeting with the Vendors on Friday. They want to meet with us to explain about the restoration work that has been done.

I think they just want to reassure themselves that we will be the "right" kind of owners and that we won't start mucking about and spoiling it. As if.........

They have also done a lot of research into the history of the house and are going to tell us all about it.

Fingers crossed it doesn't have a ghost:eek: Although as long as it's friendly I won't mind.:rotfl:

Contessa

That's really good news-well done!

Davesnave

All sounds good. Fingers crossed re survey.....:)

lessonlearned

Had a call from broker today, Halifax still not made an appointment for access for survey. Said they were waiting for our instructions.

They were paid and instructed 10 days ago. :mad:

This evening we met with the vendors at the house, luckily I was able to explain the delay and they were very understanding.

We have exchanged phone numbers so we can keep each other informed of progress and can chivvy people like Halifax along if necessary.

They were lovely people and took great delight in talking us through the renovation work they have done and also sharing their knowledge of the building's history.

We first visited the house just a couple of weeks ago and today we were astonished at how the garden has come on. It is so pretty (a tad overgrown) but there are some wonderful plants in there. No Japanese knotweed:rotfl:

As we were leaving I couldn't help but fasten some trailing honeysuckle onto it's trellis to encourage it to grow up the wall.. The lady was delighted at my gesture of ownership.

Our Vendors also own the cottage next door which they are currently renting out - slightly smaller than ours. I shall be asking for first refusal as and when they come to sell:D

DS1 thinks that would be perfect - Granny on tap for babysitting.

Only one problem - he hasn't even got a girlfriend yet........

lessonlearned

Had to chase Halifax again yesterday because they still hadn't booked a survey. Got my broker on the case and it's now finally booked for Tuesday.

Just a little tip from me. I know this is an MSE site and it's all about saving money. However there are times when I think investing money in some professional help pays dividends.

Paying an estate agent can be a good investment if you find a good one. The £3K I spent on my last one was worth every penny.

A good broker is worth their weight in gold. Not only will they shop around for you to get you the very best deal, they often have access to deals that are not available on the high street.
However, where they really score is that they have "muscle". They can push deals through quickly, hence them chasing Halifax for me .

There is a thread over on the Mortgage board about this very problem. Apparently Halifax are really dragging their heels at the moment. Delays of 5 weeks just to get a survey are not uncommon.

So far Halifax have used the excuse that the property market is "hot" at the moment and that the delays are also due to the fact that they have such good deals on at the moment........

My broker's fee is £299, payable on completion. Absolute bargain!!!

DS2 and I have now found his diamond in the rough. We made a verbal offer to the Agent last night - fingers crossed.;)

lessonlearned

DS2 house purchase - offer in, just playing a waiting game.

Lots of competition on this one so not sure how it will pan out.

Not sure how much we can trust the Vendors. It's a probate house and the family strike me as being greedy and money grabbing. Whatever happens I will not be dragged into a bidding war.

I loathe greedy and money grabbing vendors and I have often found that families/wills/property etc make for uneasy bedfellows. I find families squabbling over their parent's estate extremely distasteful and consider such behaviour disrespectful to their memory.

I also loathe greedy and money grabbing purchasers too of course.

Seen plenty of both in my career........

As for the Agents in this one. I don't trust this lot an inch. They are not well loved in our city. Our broker has advised caution and told my son to keep his wits about him.

We'll just wait and see what this week brings.

lessonlearned

DS2 had his offer accepted today.

Thebestmumalive

I would love some advice on how to get my offers on probate houses accepted. I'm a cash buyer, having sold my house and now living in rented. I found a house which was suitable at the time, estate agents said there was lots of interest and it would be sealed bids only. I made a good offer, pointing out the fact that I was a true cash buyer. The EA rang to say I was slightly below the best offer and was I prepared to offer more. I asked if they were cash buyers - no they were FTB's and needed a mortgage. So I said no, I wouldn't get into an auction. They went with the other buyers. I did get a call 8 weeks later saying that the sale had fallen through and was I still interested. By then, my circumstances had changed (new job) so I was quite glad I hadn't bought it.
Anyway, last week found another house that was suitable at £255K. I offered £250K but again the vendors have gone with a FTB needing a mortgage - and they offered about £260K! ie above the asking.
Both of these houses were probate sales.
What am I doing wrong?

lessonlearned

bestmumalive (love it)

From where I'm sitting I would say that you are doing nothing wrong.

Rather it would appear that you have had the misfortune to be dealing with two unrealistic and dare I say it greedy families.

It would also appear that the EA's in question have not given their clients "best advice".

Your second attempt at the £255k house is a classic.

You offered £250K - entirely reasonable and acceptable - especially given the SDT rules. The house was probably marketed in such a way as to accept £250k anyway.

Then along comes a FTB obviously desperate to buy and pitches in at £260K to secure the property. I wonder if they are truly aware of the impact of SDT - maybe not.

At any rate - their offer has Red Flags all over it. I would be very surprised if this sale goes through. Just keep an eye on it, tell the EA that your offer remains on the table. Keep the door open - you never know.

In both the cases you quote I would have strongly advised my clients to take the offer from the cash buyer for the very reason that they are probate houses. They were good offers - no strings attached - no mortgage pitfalls.

Probate houses - by definition - usually require some remedial works in addition to cosmetic changes. They often do not survey too well.

The average FTB does not normally have either the experience to sniff out damp or look for dodgy wiring, clapped out boilers etc and so are not forewarned about any potential pitfalls.

FTB are usually stretched to the limit with their finances and don't normally have sufficient contingency to meet the demands of a lender who insists on retaining some funds until remedial works have been carried out.

The FTB then often have to try and renegotiate or back out of the sale, unless they can borrow the money from family to get the work done.

This happens time and time again. An experienced EA should know this and should be advising the Vendor to think carefully. Often they don't and the Vendor is blinded by a seemingly "better" offer.

The "better" offer is not always the highest.

You might still get this house yet.