England lockdown 2 - house buying

paul82uk

So with lockdown coming on Thursday for a month any advice from those who hit this hurdle first time around?

- can it be used to a buyers advantage to negotiate a lower price
- can it give sellers cold feet or they demand higher price
- make seller less willing to negotiate 

what is the impact to valuations from mortgage provider?
are surveys slowed down?

be good to share experiences, suggestions or predictions 

hazyjo

You want to drop the price? Why? Is it worth less than it was before the announcement?

As far as I would be concerned, nothing has changed if you're buying or selling.

castle96

but will solicitors/valuers/B socys be working during the next month??

youth_leader

My solicitor worked through the first lockdown - and now I'm purchasing hope he'll work through this one.

castle96

yes but what about the 'other' solicit, the valuers/B Socy... etc

OldMusicGuy

castle96 said:

but will solicitors/valuers/B socys be working during the next month??

Unless they get COVID, they will. We bought during first lockdown (which was far more stringent) and it didn't impact the buying process at all. Both solicitors operated as normal through lockdown (just couldn't go and physically see them). 

We offered 6% under asking on a property just before lockdown 1 (we were cash buyers, no chain). Seller not interested, wanted full asking. Property sold soon after that and still showing as sold. So I assume they got more than we were offering.

paul82uk

I was thinking if a process has started will sellers become more agreeable to negotiate drop in offer price as they may be worried less buyers.

or will buyers feel they can’t negotiate or ask for a compromise. Lots put offers in just on what they see and when a professional survey comes back they may be scared to negotiate.

jimbog

paul82uk said:

So with lockdown coming on Thursday for a month any advice from those who hit this hurdle first time around?

- can it be used to a buyers advantage to negotiate a lower price
- can it give sellers cold feet or they demand higher price

 

Not sure why you are only asking those who 'hit the hurdle' last time as we all know now after the event what happened to house prices since the last lockdown

NameUnavailable

I don't see how or why it should make any difference to sales going though already.

I think it may delay the expected drop in the market, as we have another month of 'nothing' and extended furlough, so kicking the can down the road for those businesses who are going to have to lay staff off eventually. So, a stagnant market for the next month as buyers can't view but exisitng sales will continue to proceed.

annetheman

Honest Bob Jenrick has tweeted the state of things wrt house purchases/rentals and all is continuing "as normal" with additional safety measures being followed, although I haven't seen anything "official".

- can it be used to a buyers advantage to negotiate a lower price
I doubt it. We saw house price increases continue during lockdown 1, I don't see why this is any different; people will still be scrambling to complete before stamp duty threshold returns to normal on 31st March '21 so definitely not.

- can it give sellers cold feet or they demand higher price
Can you give an example of why this would be the case? I can't think of a single reason why you'd pull out or ask for a higher asking price just because we're entering national lockdown 2.

- make seller less willing to negotiate 
Same as above.

what is the impact to valuations from mortgage provider?
Jenrick says valuations/surveys and other housebuying shenanigans will continue.

are surveys slowed down?
Probably not, no. Maybe some more desktop ones will take place than normal, I suppose. Unlike during lockdown 1, apparently surveys can continue as normal this time around.

coachman12

paul82uk said:

So with lockdown coming on Thursday for a month any advice from those who hit this hurdle first time around?

- can it be used to a buyers advantage to negotiate a lower price
- can it give sellers cold feet or they demand higher price
- make seller less willing to negotiate 

what is the impact to valuations from mortgage provider?
are surveys slowed down?

be good to share experiences, suggestions or predictions 

Although Estate Agents may still be working by phone ( but not opening their office doors) and "may" be willing to let someone visit to take photos of houses, there is little enthusiasm for anyone to venture out during what is a crucial lockdown, a reluctance for people to let "outsiders" into their homes and a reluctance for prospective buyers to actually want to go inside a home to view. 
After all the overall Government rules are : 

• From 00:01 GMT on Thursday 5 November, the following rules are planned:
• People will be told to stay at home except for specific reasons including education, work (if it can't be done from home), exercise and recreation, medical reasons, food and other essential shopping and to provide care.
• Households will not be allowed to mix indoors or outdoors in private gardens.
• People will be allowed to meet one other person from another household outside in a public place.

So who really wants to make an exception for the housing market?
In addition, solicitors will not be working at full capacity. Who on earth would want to take on all the hassles of house buying/selling during the most dangerous winter we will ever have seen ?
As for after Covid is brought to heel by introduction of a vaccine, I expect a lot of housing market activity-----and for those who can wait, that sounds a lot more promising than what we face during the next 6 months.