Lost a sale due to low mortgage offer for first time buyers

UK007BullDog

BettiePage wrote: »

Have you always had your head this screwed on or is it only since the mortgage lenders started to get a bit jittery? Does this attitude affect your business if you're not telling people what they want to hear?


I admire your stance though so this is not a criticism.

BettiePage, thank you very much for your comments.

Yes, I have talked myself out of business :rotfl: at times. I tell people as I see it in black and white. No vagueness on my part. I have always been like that, very much to the agro of my past manager who said I give too much info away. I scare people off a potential bad purchase I am told. But it is all down to that individual. what is bad for them could be perfect for another buyer. I especially like to educate those who come away from one of those "buy property now without money and become a millionaire within 6 months" brigade.

Some customers say I am too negative and other say they appreciate it and come back to me and refer business to me. I have up to now not had the others come back to me, maybe they did not want to hear me say "I told you so!" :rotfl:

Melissa177

UK007BullDog wrote: »

Sorry, but I do not agree with this wide sweeping statement. I know customers who borrow more than 100% and they are 100% prime. They went for the maximum they could get because they have income and bonuses to counteract any possible negative equity.

Subprime is someone who was unable to keep on top of any of their credit commitments (mortgage, loans, credit cards, debit cards, hire purchases....) and has late payments or even defaults.

To label someone as subprime just because they borrow a lot of money is not correct. I also know people with tiny mortgages of 25% but they just went mad on the old credit and store cards and hire purchases etc. and then lost the main income, and bingo they are now subprime and unable to meet their obligations.

Also a lot of BUYERS out there need to come back down to reality. Every day I see people on low incomes wanting to buy properties over £250K, just because their colleagues did. I cannot help them, so they go to a broker who will "help" them get what they want. But just wait and see what a new rate rise will do to them. Lets see and watch what will happen.

I think this is very true.

I don't understand why everyone is saying that the OP is over-valuing her house, when there is no suggestion that the house is over-valued, and that these buyers are sub-prime - they might just happen to have low incomes, and can't afford a 100K mortgage. They *might* be sub-prime, which is why banks aren't lending them bigger quantities.

The fact is, we don't know any of this, so jumping to conclusions is wrong.

This forum is turning into HPC. Lynzpower, as usual, makes a very good point about getting a mortgage agreed in principle - the buyers thought they could borrow more, but clearly can't.

macaque_2

Melissa177 wrote: »

I think this is very true.

I don't understand why everyone is saying that the OP is over-valuing her house, when there is no suggestion that the house is over-valued, and that these buyers are sub-prime - they might just happen to have low incomes, and can't afford a 100K mortgage. They *might* be sub-prime, which is why banks aren't lending them bigger quantities.

The fact is, we don't know any of this, so jumping to conclusions is wrong.

This forum is turning into HPC. Lynzpower, as usual, makes a very good point about getting a mortgage agreed in principle - the buyers thought they could borrow more, but clearly can't.

Circumstantial evidence suggests that the house might be over priced and inexperienced buyers have made a rash offer. The sensible response of a vendor in such circumstances is to invite the buyer to produce an offer letter from a lender before getting too exited. Nothing stops the home owner from keeping the property on the market.

Kez100

All things being equal of course these people love your house. It is worth 125k and everything they look at that they can afford is 100k. Yours is very likely to stand out to them. However, you won't drop (because you think your house is valued correctly) and they can't go up (because they can't afford anymore). It's just not working. Perhaps they shouldn't have looked but that's the selling game for you. Until things get going it is always difficult to tell if it will come together or fall through.

Just keep marketing it. They may find family help them out but don't bank on it.

It is a difficult market to be assuming there is a buyer at 125k.

Alan_M_2

Romani_Ite_Domum wrote: »

I don't see anyone who makes a serious offer on a house as a time waster.
A low offer to consider is better than no offer at all.

They're time wasters if they make an offer they can't afford, which it appears is exactly what has happened.

Generali

OP - Have you thought about putting the house up for auction? You should get a quick sale and by definition you get the market price (the market being made up of the bidders in the room).

<ot>PS Sub prime is a state of risk not of being. Anyone with large unsecured debts, low income, bad credit history or high LTV is sub prime. That doesn't mean they will default. It means that according to lending models they are more likely to.
</ot>

meanmachine_2

There's "no evidence" the house is overpriced?!

It's been on the market since February, for goodness sake!


To the OP - if the potential buyers have already tried lenders like Nrock and Halifax, both of which lend on the dodgy notion of "affordability", it sounds like they might have additional debts which would hamper their chances of borrowing £125K.

If your circumstances were different, you could ride out any "lull" in the market, but it sounds to me like you *need* to sell but aren't pricing the property to suit your own circumstances.

And unless you got into debt doing up the property I don'treally see how it's your house's "job" to bail you out of debt.

It's just a pile of bricks, not a rich aunt.

owsaboutthatthen

meanmachine wrote: »

And unless you got into debt doing up the property I don'treally see how it's your house's "job" to bail you out of debt.

It's just a pile of bricks, not a rich aunt.

Didn't get into debt doing up the house!

Gorgeous_George

If the house doesn't sell soon it may be Winter and sales are slow then regardless of money-market conditions. So, maybe buyers will turn up next Spring to move mid-Summer. 12 months paying the mortgage and all the other bills followed by a sale at a new price.

I think it's important to sell NOW. An auction may be a good choice. If prices fall just 10% over the next year, that's £1,000 per month and a year paying the mortgage on a house that you don't want and cannot afford.

Maybe you will get lucky. By all means, keep the house on the market for a month or so. If it hasn't sold by late September, I'd look for a Plan B.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Sorry I cannot sound more upbeat. I feel the market is on the turn.

GG

Romani_Ite_Domum

Alan_M wrote: »

They're time wasters if they make an offer they can't afford,

Agree

Alan_M wrote: »

which it appears is exactly what has happened.

No it is not. Read the post again.