First time buyer, basic advice, finding a property.

AdrianC

pinkteapot said:

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. 

But bear in mind the EA will have called round their contacts list before putting it on RM.

Lorann_86

Check social media aswell. Agents around here are listing "exclusives" on their social media first and they go on Rightmove 2-3 weeks later. Abit of a selling tool. Their are even whatapp groups with some. I hate the idea but if it lets you see a property earlier it's worth a go. 

deFoix

Some extra general advice for what it's worth:
1. Remember when you are buying a property you are purchasing a LIABILITY as well as an ASSET. You need to understand it from a whole balance sheet point of view and understand how the property liabilities will grow over time (less of an issue if you buy freehold or so-called "share of freehold".
2. Per 1. above, get information about remaining lease time, service charges and ground rents from the EA up front. Understand the escalation terms of ground rents and service charges. A lot of EAs will try and give you the run around.
3. Read page 65 of this document https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Sector-summary-Buildings.pdf and ask yourself: Is this how the government steals property wealth of their citizenry over the next 10-20 years? Personally I wouldn't buy any property without at least an EPC C with potential for EPC B.
4. Be patient and look at as many properties as you can that are reasonable. After about 20 viewings you'll have a much better instinctive idea of what you want and what you are willing to compromise on.

James-may

Well I registered with most if my local EA, and followed them all on Facebook.
Depressingly all of their Facebook pages are full of posts of them saying they are selling most properties within 24hrs of getting them, and saying prices in the area are going through the roof.
Just what I want to hear just as I manage to get in a financial position to actually buy after a lifetime of renting.😭

cheeky-peach

You will get there OP!
We saw loads of good places advertised when we were still waiting for a buyer. Then, the day we sold ours, I went to check back and all bar one had sold. That wasn't for us anyway. 

Last Tuesday I saw an alert come up for a property I loved the look of and ticked most of the boxes. I called up and got a viewing booked in the next day. Made an offer the same day and found out on Thursday the vendor had accepted.  The EA showing me around said that they had a day of viewings booked in for Saturday so I knew I had to act fast if I wanted to offer.

Bottom line is, get a viewing as soon as possible; I had to travel over 100 miles and back in a day and work around it but it paid off.

AdrianC

James-may said:

Well I registered with most if my local EA, and followed them all on Facebook.
Depressingly all of their Facebook pages are full of posts of them saying they are selling most properties within 24hrs of getting them

Who are they selling them to?
People who they know are seriously looking for a property like that.

Why isn't your name on that list?

theoretica

When you start looking - and work through the backlog of advertised properties - you have a different experience from what you will likely have going forward.  As others have said you will now want to be in a position to view and decide as soon as something you might like is advertised or you hear about it otherwise.

Slithery

James-may said:

Well I registered with most if my local EA, and followed them all on Facebook.

You need to put more effort in, they likely have hundreds of people on their books.

The idea is to be one of the first few people that they think of when they know that they have a new property coming onto the market. Ring them 2 or 3 times a week to ask if there's anything new, keep popping into the office if possible, let them know how keen you are, book viewings even if you already know that the property isn't suitable etc etc.

The idea is to be just on the right side of annoying them so you are always forefront in their mind. All of the properties that I've bought in the past I've offered on and been accepted before they hit the open market.

MysteryMe

You really need to focus on personal contact, not just registering with EAs, signing up to alerts and following SM.  It is much more time intensive but it's what you need to do to stand the best chance of getting first dibs on new listings. I assume EAs are open now so if you are moving locally go in and talk to them and then go in regularly after that.  Good luck with your search.

jak

When I was looking I kept missing stuff on right Move. It was gone by the time I called. Once I registered with the estate agents (all of them lol) I got regular emails about New properties and managed to get in quick smart. Def call and check in a few times a week. If nothing else they’ll get fed up with you calling and be keen to get you in somewhere. I was very smiley and nice but called every two days. 😆 x