Ever feel you will never get to buy your own place

alchemist.1

TrickyTree83 wrote: »

In that case I'd get yourself on the books of the local estate agents, they will likely inform you when properties are presented to them for sale, before the boards go up, before the rightmove ad's go up, etc...

And then they will spam you with all the properties no-one actually wants.
They won't bother with anything that sells quickly/ garners interest quickly.

wullie

And when the bubble bursts your problem will be the best time to buy in a falling market. :rotfl:

RIPironman

We've had the same problems although never even managed to find a house to put an offer in on. I know someone in one of the EA's and she told me some houses in the more desirable areas are selling within days. We got so sick, we're ended up buying a new build. Not my first choice but it means no competition from anyone else, fixed price (albeit inflated of course) and a few incentives.

I never thought for a second that we would have this problem when buying a house!

robatwork

Do you have a road in mind where houses are selling at your budget?

It's a few £ to produce and print leaflets and just post them through every door, saying you're a private buyer looking for a house in that street and are they interested in selling.

Can't hurt and you may end up in a private sale without a bidding war....

Thorson

Thanks robatwork, I mentioned doing this to my other half and he wasn't too sure regarding the private sale situation.

Wouldn't most people want to go through an estate agent for the protection side of things, I know it's a silly thing to say, im just not sure as estate agents are the done thing.

I suppose a nicely worded leaflet with a mobile number or email address would be ok and won't cost much in the grand scheme of things.

Thanks for the idea

Cakeguts

Thorson wrote: »

Hi Rjw4,

I'm not too far from you really (Romford). Glad that It's not just me that's struggling I think the market round this way is just silly.

Like you said the good places are being taken before I can even book a viewing sometimes and you know when a property isn't any good ad it just sits on the market for ages and doesn't sell!

Hope you find something soon too

The only reason why something sits on the market for a long time is because the price is too high.

nubbins

Thorson wrote: »

Thanks robatwork, I mentioned doing this to my other half and he wasn't too sure regarding the private sale situation.

Wouldn't most people want to go through an estate agent for the protection side of things, I know it's a silly thing to say, im just not sure as estate agents are the done thing.

I suppose a nicely worded leaflet with a mobile number or email address would be ok and won't cost much in the grand scheme of things.

Thanks for the idea

Just one word of warning on this. Most people want the best possible price for their property. You go round with a leaflet, You show interest, seller runs off to an EA for a valuation , EA convinces seller best to put it on the open market. Or seller has a good idea of price, you agree a deal, seller then decides to test the market because you have offered near what they were asking.Some people will have a price they are happy with others will think another 10k will get me a car and/or holiday. You are basically trying to find someone who wants to sell their house without an EA and is true to their word, rare breed imo. Its worth a try but be careful.

Davesnave

Yes, I felt as if I would never get my own place, in the sense that the property I bought was very much someone else's.

It's taken 7 years of hard work to approach the state where I can begin to call it mine, and there will be another 3 years of graft before it gets there completely.

That's what happens when you want something many others also want, but you can't quite finance it. You think outside the box, you take on extra hassle/work, move to a less convenient location, or whatever it takes.

Or you give up and settle for something of lesser desirability.

System

If rising prices concern you, perhaps try a property fund isa so you ride the market with the money you do have