What to expect when buying first house.

hunnibee_2

Hi everyone,

I'm really shocked at how different everyone's experience is when buying a house for the first time.

As I work in sales myself, I expected alot better service from Estate Agents for a start, I'm receiving such bad service that I wish I could tell the vendors what is happening - one even tried to put me off viewing a house so much so that I cancelled the viewing - weeks later it is still not sold.

I've been lied to (proven by a colleague telling me something entirely different)
I've been laughed at (grandfather advised me to put a cheeky offer in)

I'm a first time buyer, MIP ready to go, deposit ready but I feel like the Estate Agents really don't care what position I'm in.

How do you win Estate Agents around to helping you as a buyer?

Only one I have found has been very helpful, but no properties atm.

As a seller - wouldn't you want your agents to be giving great service to your potential buyers while keeping your interests at heart?

eddddy

hunnibee wrote: »

How do you win Estate Agents around to helping you as a buyer?

Estate agents approaches to selling can wary widely. Realistically, you just have to take them as you find them - and decide the best way to deal with each one on a case by case basis.

What help are you looking for from the EAs?

fromtheshires

Heres what to expect:

1) Being lied to by Estate Agents, Solicitors, Vendors if in contact with them
2) People working at their own paces with disregard to everyone else in the chain
3) Stress
4) Delays
5) Wishing that people answered their phones / emails within 24 hours

To counteract some of this:
1) Find a local solicitor who has a branch that you can pop inot and have a dedicated person - DO NOT USE ONLINE / EA SOLICITORS. I cannot state this enough.
2) Reply promptly to everything and chase every week for an update from all parties once the initial flurry of paperwork has subsided. If you are on the ball and annoying them they will get it sorted so they dont have to speak to you anymore
3) If someone says something, get it in writing if it relates to the house in any way

Just wait until you are trying to buy and sell at the same time. Purchasing will seem like a walk in the park. You need to be hard nosed and have balls of steel on protery transactions

eddddy

fromtheshires wrote: »

3) If someone says something, get it in writing if it relates to the house in any way

TBH, that won't really help you much, if you buy the house.

Anything the EA or seller writes will be 'subject to contract' (i.e. it won't form part of the contract), so you can't rely on it.

fromtheshires

eddddy wrote: »

TBH, that won't really help you much, if you buy the house.

Anything the EA or seller writes will be 'subject to contract' (i.e. it won't form part of the contract), so you can't rely on it.

I know what you mean, however it is still useful information to have when bargaining.

Speak to the EA and they say the owners are throwing in the lights. When the property form comes along with no lights included and optional extras, you can then query it and if necessary make amendments to the offer price as your thought your were purchasing X but are actually purchasing Y.

This is a financial transaction and if things are in writing, people are more likely to back down if you are serious about pressing issues / reducing costs.

verybigchris

Some estate agents are only interested in selling to buyers who will also use their in-house broker, in-house conveyencer, in-house surveyor, etc. I've even been sat in an estate agent office waiting for a meeting and overheard a manager having a go at the staff for not pushing through enough referrals.

If you play the game and pretend you're interested, they become a lot more helpful. Then once you've had an offer accepted you can politely decline their services and take a more MSE approach.

theartfullodger

hunnibee wrote: »

What to expect when buying first house.......

The buying bit is the easy, short part: What comes after is more "challenging" usually.

Disappointment, decades of paying mortgage(s), interest rate increases, possible economic collapse (? Brexit?) and house price drops, hopefully may go up later: Unexpected repair bills.

The myth that house prices always go up is just that, a myth:

Good luck!

Artful: (1st property bought late 1970's... Lived through that fun time when Bank of England interest rates hit 17% - Thatcher in case anyone wondered..)

hunnibee_2

Thank you all for the advice and for not treating me like an idiot!

I've been having a real mare trying to get these agents to take me seriously!
I attended one of their brokers - the broker was the person who put me off the property.
I've called and tried to arrange viewings for before my work (start at 10 was asking for 9am) they refused to allow me to view as they don't do viewings at that time. I'm unable to attend later as I work until 8 pm. I'm having to wait 8 days to view a property (my next day off!)

It seems crazy to me. Like I said I work in sales & bend over backwards to get the customer to buy. I don't understand why they would be any different!

All this before I've even found a house !!!55357;!!!56869;

Candyapple

hunnibee wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I'm really shocked at how different everyone's experience is when buying a house for the first time.

As I work in sales myself, I expected alot better service from Estate Agents for a start, I'm receiving such bad service that I wish I could tell the vendors what is happening - one even tried to put me off viewing a house so much so that I cancelled the viewing - weeks later it is still not sold.

I've been lied to (proven by a colleague telling me something entirely different)
I've been laughed at (grandfather advised me to put a cheeky offer in)

I'm a first time buyer, MIP ready to go, deposit ready but I feel like the Estate Agents really don't care what position I'm in.

How do you win Estate Agents around to helping you as a buyer?

Only one I have found has been very helpful, but no properties atm.

As a seller - wouldn't you want your agents to be giving great service to your potential buyers while keeping your interests at heart?

I've had the same experience as you.

How do you win EAs round? You don't. I just made sure I utilised Rightmove and earmarked properties I wanted to view for my next day off then I would collate a list of them and ring up to book appointments in time slots. I used to ignore their sales calls as 9 times out of 10 they wanted to tell me about properties that a) were not in the area I was looking and b) did not meet my requirements e.g. needed to have driveway for parking or ability to get one c) trying to tell me about properties that were already on Rightmove and I had seen and disregarded due to point b.

It's difficult when they refuse to be reasonable and understand that a) most people work full-time and can't go to viewings on a weekday during the day b) not everyone works a 9-5 c) not everyone lives within 5 mins of the property they may be looking to buy.

Unfortunately there's nothing you can do about those EAs who try and make things harder for you than necessary and just persevere with the ones that actually seem interested in selling a property.

The real ball ache I'm finding now is dealing with solicitors and trying to keep the ball rolling. If you thought the first stage was bad, wait until you've put an offer in and it's been accepted.....

shortcrust

EAs love to sell houses so they must have easier buyers to sell to!

The MIP and deposit are fine, but everyone will have those so they don't make you stand out. Being very limited in when you can view will make you stand out, but not in a good way, as will not having a house in mind. I think at the FTB end of the market EAs no longer do the 'personal shopping' bit.

dawyldthing

hunnibee wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I'm really shocked at how different everyone's experience is when buying a house for the first time.

As I work in sales myself, I expected alot better service from Estate Agents for a start, I'm receiving such bad service that I wish I could tell the vendors what is happening - one even tried to put me off viewing a house so much so that I cancelled the viewing - weeks later it is still not sold.

I've been lied to (proven by a colleague telling me something entirely different)
I've been laughed at (grandfather advised me to put a cheeky offer in)

I'm a first time buyer, MIP ready to go, deposit ready but I feel like the Estate Agents really don't care what position I'm in.

How do you win Estate Agents around to helping you as a buyer?

Only one I have found has been very helpful, but no properties atm.

As a seller - wouldn't you want your agents to be giving great service to your potential buyers while keeping your interests at heart?

I found ones like this appeared to want to eventually rent the houses out. I know when I was buying it was awful. Never stopped being judged, looked down on, they weren't interested if you weren't using their mortgage providers/ solicitors. Then there's the actual 'auctions' they try, the fantom bidders. Best thing is to just look round and decide for yourself what you want, don't be bid up (just leave it a few days between bids if needed, play them at their own game)