Nothing suitable is coming on the market!!!

penguingirl

pinky28 wrote: »

How do you get an EA to take notice though? I have 1 who is brilliant. Tells me every house in my area coming on even if they aren't suitable. Another one never tells me till 2 days after they are on Rightmove!!!

Someone on here suggested ringing them every Friday afternoon to ask if they're doing valuations on anything suitable, got anything coming up etc.

pinkteapot

First step: Check that what you want is realistic. Can you get the house you want for the price you want? Look at recent asking prices and sold prices to check your searching in the right price range. Also try looking at the houses a bit over your budget on Rightmove to double-check that all the things you love aren't in that band!

Assuming you're realistic, it's just a waiting game and it depends what you're willing to compromise on. We wanted a house on one specific estate where people very rarely sell. We had to wait for about a year for ours. Two came up that were overpriced. Not a little bit but to the point that they didn't sell, even though houses on our estate normally sell in days. Then one came up that sold before we could even get round to view it. Then ours came up and we managed to get it.

If we'd been desperate to move we might have had to compromise on location and settle for something else. As it was, we couldn't be too fussy on the house because we were so set on location. My only absolute no would have been a north-facing garden. Anything else that came to the market we'd probably have gone for!

Dollyrockerz

Yep, I feel your pain, we have looked at over a dozen properties so far and they're all unsuitable. What really hacks me off is that the estate agents go to such lengths to make the properties look like something they're not that you're instantly disappointed the minute you walk through the door.

We are moving in with in laws as soon as our sale completes which is not ideal but it's definitely an incentive to look at everything that comes on the market on the off chance it's better than it first appears!

Jhoney_2

nutshell82 wrote: »

Why don't you try leaflet dropping on houses/streets that meet your criteria. Explain you have a buyer lined up. There might be people who are thinking about putting their house on the market who will be keen to do a deal and cut out your estate agent fees as you have a buyer in place.

I was thinking of trying this as not much coming up in my area of choice, but I must admit i'm flummoxed as to how to approach the conversation. Sounds a bit silly, but obviously you can't just say what's your best price!

I want to put together a shortlist of questions that give me the information I need and I just cannot.

One in particular has been on/off the market, under offer but still not sold etc for a while. Could be buyer mortgage issues or its the house.

How to broach that is tricky but on paper it ticks all my boxes. It's also overpriced but it still went under offer twice so it's not necessarily the price that has it still on the market.

Any suggestions anyone

nutshell82

Jhoney wrote: »

I was thinking of trying this as not much coming up in my area of choice, but I must admit i'm flummoxed as to how to approach the conversation. Sounds a bit silly, but obviously you can't just say what's your best price!

What about something like this:

Dear Sir/Madame,

We are looking to find a long term family home in this area, however there is nothing suitable currently on the market which meets our needs. We are dropping leaflets in the xx area to try and find the right property.

We currently have a buyer lined up and could be a position to move at your convenience. We also have a solicitor and finances in place so can move quickly. We would be happy to deal with you directly or through an estate agent if you prefer.

If you might be interested in selling your house, or you know someone in this area with an xxx bedroom house with xxx and xxx (insert criteria here) that might be interested in selling, then I would be grateful if you could either call us on xxx or email us at xxx to discuss this further.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

*sign name*

You don't have to mention price at this point, but obviously need to be mindful that you only target houses that are in the region of your price bracket.

jstiff

I feel your pain. We are potentially in a similar position, we sold our house last month and moved into the inlaws while we waited for our new purchase to complete. Well that now looks like it is falling through and looking on Rightmove shows nothing of any interest at all.

claire_mc_2

Same here! :-(

I posted here last week about the same issue. We are FTB and really want to get things moving but we haven't even managed to view anything yet. We have 1 open house (which I hate) lined up next Saturday, but I don't think it's going to be the right place for us.

Really hoping the market will wake up soon and things will start coming through!

cloo

It took us ages to see anything suitable as well... a lot of the size we wanted was being marketed at £1m or more round where we are (well out of our budget, and a lot of it was total rubbish). Found one place, lost that place... in the process of buying a place we saw months ago which i liked but my husband wasn't sure about at the time and has come round to!

Jhoney_2

nutshell82 wrote: »

What about something like this:

Dear Sir/Madame,

We are looking to find a long term family home in this area, however there is nothing suitable currently on the market which meets our needs. We are dropping leaflets in the xx area to try and find the right property.

We currently have a buyer lined up and could be a position to move at your convenience. We also have a solicitor and finances in place so can move quickly. We would be happy to deal with you directly or through an estate agent if you prefer.

If you might be interested in selling your house, or you know someone in this area with an xxx bedroom house with xxx and xxx (insert criteria here) that might be interested in selling, then I would be grateful if you could either call us on xxx or email us at xxx to discuss this further.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

*sign name*

You don't have to mention price at this point, but obviously need to be mindful that you only target houses that are in the region of your price bracket.

Thanks for that, but I have done the letter - I meant the next stage. Sorry I wasn't clear. So if I am lucky enough to get a reply - particularly the house not selling vendor, what do I say to get knowledge of whether to proceed ?
This one ticks boxes, right location but 2 sales have fallen through and I want to establish why.

My aim is to get to grips with what they actually need financially to move on, and what I can accept structurally so that we can come to an agreement. I am not a game player when it comes to buying property and I don't want to get involved with that. Happy to pay a fair price which is doable in the area am looking.

ReadingTim

Jhoney wrote: »

Thanks for that, but I have done the letter - I meant the next stage. Sorry I wasn't clear. So if I am lucky enough to get a reply - particularly the house not selling vendor, what do I say to get knowledge of whether to proceed ?
This one ticks boxes, right location but 2 sales have fallen through and I want to establish why.

My aim is to get to grips with what they actually need financially to move on, and what I can accept structurally so that we can come to an agreement. I am not a game player when it comes to buying property and I don't want to get involved with that. Happy to pay a fair price which is doable in the area am looking.

The only relevant factor in previous sales falling through would be if there was some issue with the property that would prevent a mortgage company lending on it (and you needed a mortgage of course!). The rest is historical irrelevance so trying to establish why is a waste of your time.

As for price, you're just going to have to overcome the British reserve and give the figure you're happy to pay. If you're "not a game player", this won't be a problem, will it? Just come out with it; they'll either accept or they won't.

However, given most people expect a bit of 'negotiation', even if it is something of a farcical dance, then you could enquire what sort of price they're hoping to achieve, whilst suggesting that you're looking to pay an amount several percent / thousand below what you're actually willing/able to pay. Repeat until a compromise is achieved, or a stalemate ensues and you drop out.