First Time Buyers - Disillusioned

yorkshire_terrier_owner

Having sold my previous house after nearly 18 months on the market and numerous price drops, I agree that the sensibly priced properties sell fairly fast. However, what I will say (and risk getting shot down in flames) is that as a seller, once I had got my property to a price where I had viewers streaming through the doors, I chatted to a number of FTB's who came to view who's expectations about what they would get for their money and the real world were not the same.

Yes, no-one is denying that property is cheaper than it was, and I'm not here to argue about whether it is still too expensive or we are about to experience a new bubble, but I met some FTB's who thought they should get a 3 bed semi with garage, in good condition, for the prices that 2 bed houses and flats were selling for in my area. Having met one of them again professionally a couple of weeks ago she is still looking (and has been for nearly a year now) just as overpriced properties will sit on the market for a long time.

I have to say that I also got fed up of potential buyers who came to view, loved the house, then it turned out put in stupidly low offers because they simply couldn't get a mortgage for the amount I was willing to accept (because I couldn't afford to accept any less). Why, why, why view properties they would never be able to afford and waste my time in the process?

As disillusioned as buyers may be with sellers, I can guarantee sellers are just as disillusioned with buyers.

And before anyone jumps up and down about it........ this is just my experience of some of the FTB's I met, not any comment on the OP....

Now I shall reel my neck back in and put my head back below the parapet......

DRP

yorkshire_terrier_owner wrote: »

Having sold my previous house after nearly 18 months on the market and numerous price drops, I agree that the sensibly priced properties sell fairly fast. However, what I will say (and risk getting shot down in flames) is that as a seller, once I had got my property to a price where I had viewers streaming through the doors, I chatted to a number of FTB's who came to view who's expectations about what they would get for their money and the real world were not the same.

Yes, no-one is denying that property is cheaper than it was, and I'm not here to argue about whether it is still too expensive or we are about to experience a new bubble, but I met some FTB's who thought they should get a 3 bed semi with garage, in good condition, for the prices that 2 bed houses and flats were selling for in my area. Having met one of them again professionally a couple of weeks ago she is still looking (and has been for nearly a year now) just as overpriced properties will sit on the market for a long time.

I have to say that I also got fed up of potential buyers who came to view, loved the house, then it turned out put in stupidly low offers because they simply couldn't get a mortgage for the amount I was willing to accept (because I couldn't afford to accept any less). Why, why, why view properties they would never be able to afford and waste my time in the process?

As disillusioned as buyers may be with sellers, I can guarantee sellers are just as disillusioned with buyers.

And before anyone jumps up and down about it........ this is just my experience of some of the FTB's I met, not any comment on the OP....

Now I shall reel my neck back in and put my head back below the parapet......

That sounds fair enough. In my area, house prices (asking & sold) are definitely UP and have been rising the last 3 years, so there's even more of a disconnect between what buyers see as a bargain and what vendors want to achieve...

The fact is in the vast majority of cases, a house will see many viewers and a viewer will see many houses before any deal can be struck, so there will always be these tales of woe ...

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

joujou wrote: »

Is there an easy way of finding out asking price vs accepted price information !

The latest Hometrack report shows that the average percentage of asking price achieved by sellers has been increasing for some time, and is now at 94%.

So offering 20% below is likely to get you laughed out the door in most areas.

James_N

Come on, do it. We could all do with the info. Oh you won't? Why's that then? Doesn't it make for pleasant reading?
Fact is - your crash never happened, and you are the only one on "strike". Happy renting Brit.

kmmr

lessonlearned wrote: »

My feeling is - we are on "the cusp" of what may well turn out to be the next "bubble".
.....
Too early to say however it is certainly the case that there are pockets around the country where sales are brisk and property values are rising.

I agree that something is starting, but you have to know your area. I believe my area is hugely overpriced, and I'm getting itchy feet to sell as it just can't continue. I am in Hammersmith and Fulham, and according to the land registry prices are UP 20% from the previous peak in 2007, and up 44% from the lows in 2008.

(Brit, I appreciate you may not like that)

MangoStan

Hi joujou,

You have my sympathies, it must be frustrating to have so many near misses!

Many people may pay above what is considered good value simply because they fall in love with the place and would rather sacrifice the money than give up their 'dream home'. There are also plenty of people who regret this, so don't feel too bad about missing out - if they've over-stretched themselves, the sale may just fall through anyway. Missing out on what may seem like a good property at the time is better than getting a mortgage you can't afford

Personally, I would just try to hold out for what you really want, if your priorities are reasonable. You will probably need to consider carefully what is essential on your list of wants and what are deal-breakers - it's worth getting right as this is (for most of us!) the biggest spend you'll ever encounter in your life. On the other hand, as some others have previously said, some times you just need to be quick off the mark if you see something you're interested in. Hence, it's probably best you clearly set out with your OH what are the boxes the place must tick. If it's, say, 4 out of 5, it's time to express interest to the EA!

For what it's worth, I hope my experience is encouraging to you as with my first property, we knocked masses off the price because the place was in such a state and was on the market at far too high a price. It's ex-LA and the block was due some refurbs which any potential buyer would have had to foot the bill for, so we used these factors as bargaining leverage to knock down the price. We did up the place with the money we saved and after 4 years in residence, have just agreed a sale of about 50% increase on what we originally paid (including the refurb works). Mind you, this is in London, so I have no idea about Manchester.

Another thing is perhaps to make yourself seem like an attractive buyer. As I mentioned about people putting in offers they then can't uphold, I think it's admirable that you have sorted your mortgage first. No need to say what exactly it's worth, but make that clear to the EA/vendor when you put in an offer that you are serious, organised and will not give them gyp when you buy - maybe you need to get pally with the EA, as unappealing as that may seem :P
A reliable buyer, even with a lower offer, is always going to be more valuable to a vendor than a higher offer that just falls through later on. In terms of finding what is good value, I personally find mouseprice.com the best for comparing sales and areas.

All the best with your search - try to keep level-headed about it all and you'll most likely find a place and price you won't regret

harpoboy

joujou wrote: »

Note to sellers - buyers check the area, if you're asking for 20% more than the the same house down the street then I'm going to offer no more than 20% less. 18% if I'm generous. Stop wasting everyone's time. I'm just not desperate enough to buy for 10% or 20% more than what my prospective neighbours did.

Perhaps I should lower my expectations as to how long the process will take, and just be more patient?

If you keep going in with offers at 20% below asking, you will quickly make a fool of yourself with the local EAs.

This is probably why you are missing out on the better properties - you are viewed (quite rightly) as a time waster.

As others have pointed out we are (unfortunately) in the foothills of a major boom. If you keep mucking about with low ball offers, you may need to get used to a lifetime of renting.

harpoboy

brit1234 wrote: »

Joujou you have also got your timing wrong.

At present we have had the spring bounce propaganda campaign on mass in the media. Sellers all think prices are going to increase despite of reality. Your best time to start looking to buy is about late July as we go into the holidays. Sellers will become more realistic/disillusioned then. Its also only matter of time before we get some more bad economic news which will effect seller sentiment.

Avoid September (mini bounce in asking prices) and start looking Mid October up to Christmas. Next January will be bad if 2nd part of Help to buy comes in but hopefully it will be scrapped.

In the mean time just keep saving and stop showing your hand to estate agents.;)

In terms of timing any investment, I dont think you are in any position to offer advice:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=55395731&postcount=117

From August 2012:

By the way I cashed in my shares last week. If the FTSE rises well over 5800 in the next few months I would be wrong but I don't think that will happen. 5300 here we come.

FTSE100 at the time of writing is 6,780.

Ouch!


:rotfl::rotfl:

grifferz

harpoboy wrote: »

In terms of timing any investment, I dont think you are in any position to offer advice

I recently read through the whole of the "shared ownership is a scam" thread since it appeared on the front page, and while I do think that brit1234 does a good job injecting a hint of caution to people's decisions, I do have to agree that if you followed all brit1234's advice over the years you would likely be very much worse off by now!

Constantly warning people off getting on the housing ladder really isn't helpful.

OffGridLiving

grifferz wrote: »

I recently read through the whole of the "shared ownership is a scam" thread since it appeared on the front page, and while I do think that brit1234 does a good job injecting a hint of caution to people's decisions, I do have to agree that if you followed all brit1234's advice over the years you would likely be very much worse off by now!

Constantly warning people off getting on the housing ladder really isn't helpful.

I think it's good to have a balanced view on forums. Too much of the same opinion and you end up with confirmation bias similar to that found on smaller niche forums.