Does anyone want to join me waiting to find a house to buy?

LKRDN_Morgan

Me! I've been stalking rightmove for years and now that we're finally in a position to buy there doesn't seem to be anything out there. It's so frustrating.

2 viewings though tomorrow night. 1 is asking for offers over our top budget but it's been on a while so no harm in viewing. The other my husband doesn't particularly like but I'm dragging him there anyway

hazyjo

Getting my house valued in just over a week. I know the value anyway - followed the market for probably longer than most of the local EAs!

Still absolutely zilch on the market I want! Well, the one house that's coming back on the market in April. If it's meant to be, it'll be. Cannot believe there has not been one house I've liked/wanted since that one!

Was going to use an online agent - have been banging on about it for ages - but think I may go with local due to knowledge about my street, the houses and the location, and the fact I have a lot of faith in one in particular, and I think I may be able to squeeze a bit more out of a buyer with a local agent! Not 100% decided.

Jx

Slinky

We're still looking, not found anything we want to offer on since pulling out of a purchase in October. We've been looking for over a year now. Have widened our search to a similar but larger market town, problem with this one being really good schools push up the prices and stuff moves quickly. We don't have children so not bothered about the schools. Living away from the target areas mean it's hard to just drop everything to go and take a look, especially as OH is working away from our current home.

kilby_007

Slinky wrote: »

We're still looking, not found anything we want to offer on since pulling out of a purchase in October. We've been looking for over a year now. Have widened our search to a similar but larger market town, problem with this one being really good schools push up the prices and stuff moves quickly. We don't have children so not bothered about the schools. Living away from the target areas mean it's hard to just drop everything to go and take a look, especially as OH is working away from our current home.

I know exactly how you feel. 1 year, 4 months searching. YAWN!!!!

I'M SICK OF IT! SICK OF IT!!!

My wife and I are veterans of trying to buy a house now. We've probably viewed about 40, and offered on 7 or 8. Of those we've offered on and reached an agreeable price (5 I think) you can pick any or all of the problems below:

Subsidence (x3) YES THREE HOUSES WE'VE TRIED TO BUY HAD SUBSIDENCE!
Sulphate attack.
Previously flooded or flood risk zone 3 / insurance through the roof.
Right of way/public footpaths.
Unreasonable vendors.
Gazumped.
Vendors changed their minds about selling or re-marketed at a higher price.

The one thing that riles me the most now about looking for a house now is bl**&y "informal tender" or "offers over" nonsense!

Anyway, we're going to look at one tonight with cracks in the walls (doh!) and another tomorrow that looks fairly promising, but I won't jinx it.

kilby_007

Well, we saw the other house (the one with the cracks outside) today and can't find any cracks internally so it might not be subsidence and might be worth getting a survey done.

We're faced with two completely different options:-

House 1 £170K:-
Large (considering how many bedrooms) 2 bed house (1350 Sq. Ft) with a large plot (about 0.25 acres) on a main road into a nice village. Needs a lot of work including extension to give us another 2 beds and double garage (total cost approx 80K).

House 2 £325K:-
Good sized 4 bed house (1600 Sq. Ft) with a double garage, on an average plot for it's size (about 0.15 acres). Cul de sac location in a quiet village. Would need to drive everywhere as there's no shops or anything in the village. Needs modernising but no building works other than a kitchen/diner wall knocking out which will cost around £900 for a builder to put in support and make good, plus the renovation costs.

kilby_007

So another option (House 3) has just come back on the market (one we'd missed a few months ago). 250K. 1600 Sq Ft. Doesn't need any work. Next to an outstanding school and closer to the village centre (although still on a main road). No brainer? I'll have to find out why the sale fell through and arrange a booking. Crikey, after waiting so long and only just today having a good whinge we've now got 3 options on the table.

Slinky

Good luck kilby

Fonque

Another newbie FTB.

I've been looking around for a flat since about mid-Jan and thought I'd found one I liked but I decided against it as the lease was really short and I'd want to extend it (which would mean I would have to break into my piggybank) and the Landlord appeared difficult to get hold of and I was concerned that there were no service charges (and therefore possibly no buildings insurance), it was all a bit dodgy.

However I went to view a lovely little purpose built flat (2 bed) which is in a great location for me, I could move straight in as it has been refurbished, painted and laid with new carpets as the previous renting tenant left it in a state and the landlord has decided to sell the lease. It also has a fantastically long lease at 148 years remaning (so I wouldn't have to worry about extending the lease any time soon) with very reasonable service charges and a peppercorn ground rent. I'd have use of a communal area with washing lines (a minor item but I like drying my washing outside as it's free!). Also because it is a newer build it should prove more economical to run, it's not huge but it's not poky.

In short, I love it! but it is marginally outside of my upper price limit of 90k.

The initial asking price was 105k in November but the price has been reduced to 97,500 and enquired of the EA if there was any movement in the price and he said the vendor would consider 95k.

So for the last 24 hours I'm not sure if I've been trying to talk myself into it (the flats great!) or out of it (its more than I planned for!) plus the usual low level anxiety purchasing a property for this first time and the ongoing costs.

Quite honestly I feel that stretching that little more on this property would actually save me in the long run because of the above mentioned points (mainly the lease and the running costs) and I think that I shall aim to meet the vendors price for 95k, as I think it is a reasonable price.

I'm going to scrape another 9k into my deposit without wiping out my savings ISA ( I want to feel a bit financially secure in a new property so I 've made sure I have a little money in reserve and to invest). I'm going to view the property again on Thursday (my next available day off) and then see my mortgage broker to arrange an AIP and put the offer in, if someone else goes for it I won't be putting in another bid as 95k is my absolute limit.

In the mean time I hope that no-one else puts an offer in and I don't want anyone to gazump me. Maybe I should hire someone to put off other prospective buyers by playing loud music, parking badly and asking potential buyers if they're also in the market to buy some wacky baccy...

Thanks for reading my long post, I think i just needed to clarify my thoughts.

kilby_007

So, 2 out of the 3 places we're viewing have had chains fall through because both of their buyers had "mortgage issues" but they wouldn't elaborate on that. I wonder if mortgage valuations are coming back lower. I have heard a few stories of it happening locally recently.

We saw house 2 today. Bit disappointed. The garden is smaller than we thought it was, all of the windows are single glazed, the boiler, radiators and electrics are all original (1970's) and there's a lot of work to do in renovation terms. On reflection I think it'll cost more like 45K to do the work including changing the window units for double glazed. Also, the lady sold off most of her house to an equity release company, which might or might not work in our favour as apparently the company are dealing with the sale and want all offers on the table by Monday. The EA did hint (in a round about way) that they might not necessarily take the highest offer if the other offers have chains behind them. Going to put 295K on the table as best and final offer. Someone else will probably pay more, but that's what it's worth to us for the effort and costs involved.

kilby_007

Oh, and whilst we were viewing house 2 today I got an email about a similar house (now House 4) around the corner which is another one with the buyer withdrawing due to "finance issues"! Going to see that Monday.