First time buyer, basic advice, finding a property.

James-may

I'm a first time buyer with an agreement in principle.
I spend a few days looking through, Rightmove, onthemarket, Zoopla, seeing properties I fancied, then double checking to the original estate agents site to check they were still available.
I then contacted all estate agents to arrange viewings for properties with asking prices within my max budget.
I narrowed it down to maybe 12 properties that had potential.
Upon phoning ,8 of them frustratingly had offers pending so that threw them out.
I arranged to view 4 others, due to view 2 today, had a phonecall from both estate agents this morning saying offers had been accepted on both so viewings cancelled.
That leaves me with 1 viewing today and one tomorrow.
What's annoying me is that all properties had been on the market literally months, but of course, they sell hours before I view.😂.
My question is am I going about it wrong?
Is there anything I can do to see properties as soon as they appear?
My budget is 100k, should I be viewing properties above my budget say 105k then offer say 95k then let them bid me up to 100k.
In my head I'd feel cheeky offering 95k for a 110k house, but would that be acceptable?, Then agree on 100k?
Here was me thinking I'd see somewhere available, view it and offer to buy it and that would be it😂
Anyway, any advice would be great.

Sunsaru

There is no right or wrong way to do it. In the current climate, a lot of it is luck of the draw, You could try and arrange viewings same day if your schedule can accommodate it but other than that, keep going.

One thing I would say about your offers is that no one approach will work every time. Some will allow you to offer lower and work up whilst others won't budge.

Keep the faith my friend.

thriftytracey

You need to register with estate agents so they can give you a heads up before they go on Right Move.

cheeky-peach

I know lots of people say to register with EAs directly to be on the marketing list for new properties... we did that to about 6 EAs in the area we wanted to buy and had no leads, sadly. Some of which we had viewed with previously so had actually met the EAs etc. I think properties are going so quickly that they aren't getting far down the list if they are phoning up.

I assume that you have an alert set up on Rightmove etc? Apart from being on the ball when things get listed, not sure what else you can do really. Otherwise, maybe look at areas you want to buy in and put notes through doors asking if they are looking at selling as you are looking to buy? I've read a few people on here do that and lead to a positive sale.

Personally, I would look at around 10k above my max as you never know! I do understand that these days, things are selling over asking more often than not but it may be worth a look.

Good luck!

lzzwzz

I think you are doing the right thing, just expect to keep repeating it every week/few weeks!
Sign up for email alerts on the online sites. Have a chat with estate agents in your area and get your requirements on their files, they'll call or email you with properties of interest.
Can't comment on having an offer accepted below the asking price, it'll all depend on the seller and what they are willing to accept. Nothing wrong with viewing properties above your budget as long as you're prepared to walk away if your lower offer is rejected!
I'm also a FTB, had an offer accepted last month and I started viewing properties last July.

dr0psofjupiter

I wouldn't be double checking the agent's website to make sure the property is on there as well, it's just twice the work. If you see one on Rightmove just phone the estate agent up and ask. 

purplebutterfly

FTB here as well. 

 We had been looking for almost 12 months, physically viewed over 30 properties and only just found one that we actually wanted to buy.   We offered a lot less that the vendor was hoping for but it was all we could afford and we knew we had to at least try.  We had our offer accepted last week. 

Luckily we are in area where "offers over" is exceptionally rare and the property we offered on has been on the market since January (although some other houses we looked at sold within 24 hours). 

We had a maximum budget of £140,000 but I set my Rightmove search for £150,000 because I didn't want to miss a property listed at £145,000 that might be willing to drop down. 

It's also a really good idea to use the drawn search areas on Rightmove/Zoopla so you can rule out any areas in a certain postcode that you really don't want. 

Good luck!   

Adsta

I had all the sites saved with the sorting as newest listed, basically every day I would be checking non stop... it became quite the addiction. Then call the EA the min stuff went up, it was pretty crazy.

I was quite lucky in the end I got friendly with a couple of EA's. One of them called me about a place before it went on market and I went to view. I really liked it and was in good position, vendor wanted a quick and easy sale. So I offered and got accepted before it went onto the websites. Still plodding along with sale, but all going well so far.

I'd for sure look a bit above your price and offer below, you have nothing to lose by doing so.  

AdrianC

Don't be so hung up on the web.

Get on the phone to the agents. TALK TO THEM. Explain what you're after, ask them what they've got that they think might fit the bill. If something's a "nope", tell them why. Ask them if they've got anything coming up... Ask them to keep you posted about any new instructions...

Remember, the ones that have offers had viewers. Who were those viewers? Why weren't they you?

James-may

Thanks all, really appreciated.
Registered for Rightmove alerts.
I haven't really had discussions with ea, other than to arrange viewings.
Might be an idea

pinkteapot

You can set up Rightmove alerts that will email you as soon as anything new that meets your criteria is listed (other options include saving them up for a daily/every few days digest) - worth doing in a fast market. 

It's true you can register with agents and stress that you're ready to go and try to get on their list for a call when things go on the market, but in my experience they don't do it (no matter how much you bug them) and just launch a Rightmove listing and wait for the phone to start ringing.