This House market is exhausting and frustrating

Trynsave2

impatient2020 said:

@Gavin83 oh yeah hindsight and knowing the market since, I would have told the buyer to stuff it, unfortunately at that time it was the same week estate agents came back to work, the market had stalled and pulling out would have meant losing our purchase (which at the time was going through quickly) so it was the best decision at the time with the info I had to hand. 

I don’t look back bitter at all, the property completed and I had the money in the bank rather than starting all over again. 

Hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing. However, for once fortune was on our side. After a very tough few years the opportunity to move away and start afresh arose and we offered on a property in February 2020. This was BEFORE property mayhem ensued, but we still had to queue up on the one viewing day the estate agent decided on. The property had 10 viewings that day and went to best and final. We offered £30k over asking ie 10% as it was our dream (with work) home. Our offer was thankfully accepted, but this practice has not been invented by Covid, neither will it go away. Yes, a bit of panic buying may have caused people to up their offers, but a house is worth what someone will pay for it. No more, no less. If you want to wait it out for prices to drop a bit, and they may well do as people recover their lives and have other things to think about, but there are also a lot of people in that situation, watching the market and ready to pounce. Therefore I can't see any dramatic fall happening any time soon.

scrooge2008

I have bought four properties in the last year, in Fife.  The first three were straight after the first and second lockdown, offering 10% under asking price and got them all with no competition.  The forth was a completely different scenario, bought it on Monday and had to pay 25% over offer to secure it, with multiple sealed bid offers.  Lawyer and estate agent said the market is fiercer than they have ever seen it, with no sign of let-up.

arrows123

I think the other thing that cannot be underestimated is that we’ve all been through a lot over the last 18months. Most people have had a period of re-evaluating their lives with the conclusion being that life is too short and we all don’t know what’s around the corner. 

Yes some people will have been sucked into the bidding war process and maybe paid more than they wanted to but I think most are of the opinion that if they can get a mortgage for that amount and they love the property then they don’t care about whether it’s over the asking price or not. It’s time to move on and start living life again, for some that involves a new start in a new area, an extra bedroom or a garden. Most people will make it work. 

Thrugelmir

arrows123 said:

I think the other thing that cannot be underestimated is that we’ve all been through a lot over the last 18months. Most people have had a period of re-evaluating their lives with the conclusion being that life is too short and we all don’t know what’s around the corner. 

Yes some people will have been sucked into the bidding war process and maybe paid more than they wanted to but I think most are of the opinion that if they can get a mortgage for that amount and they love the property then they don’t care about whether it’s over the asking price or not. It’s time to move on and start living life again, for some that involves a new start in a new area, an extra bedroom or a garden. Most people will make it work. 

When you look at prices in some areas. Hardly surprising that people can bid up to buy their dream rural property. Probably have money left over as well...........

Ashworks

Hang in there, it is possible. We've just had an offer accepted 25k below asking because the original buyer who offered substantially over pulled out. We were just about to exchange and our sellers decided they would accept less money for genuine local people in a good position. They could easily have put the house back on the market and got more, but they didn't want the hassle of huge numbers of viewings. So it is possible OP!

graeme16

The housing market here (specifically Wetherby) is unbelievable. New build house bought in 2018 for £360k has just sold for in excess of £475k (30%+ in 3 years). Many houses not even making it onto Rightmove before being sold. Viewings cancelled because the house has sold before we can even see it. 2 bed bungalow for offers over £525k had 30 people lined up to see it when we enquired. Estate agents told us this morning a house has just gone for £90k over the asking price on a home advertised at £750k. Estate agents seemed just as fed up as us . . . 

greensalad

MobileSaver said:

lookstraightahead said:

Sebo027 said:

I wonder how many people are splashing "COVID cash" on properties that they won't be able to keep up payments with. 

Lots of people. They have no idea what they're doing.

On the contrary, I think those people know exactly what they are doing.

They are the ones getting on with their lives while others moan and complain about how unfair the housing market is. They are the ones enjoying their new homes while others continue to live in unsuitable properties and/or keep paying their landlord's mortgage instead of their own.

As for "keeping up with payments" you are forgetting that for years now lenders have had to apply ever stricter affordability checks to make sure that home owners can afford their mortgage payments even if things change significantly; the days of mass repossessions are long gone.

I'm also not sure what "COVID cash" is or why it'd affect a mortgage?

I understand that a lot of people have found it easier to save in this time. We certainly have. The pandemic brought our deposit goal forward probably only a few months, but I also got furloughed and reduced pay so that didn't help. 

However that was the deposit. And now it's saved it's saved. We are "splashing COVID cash" I guess you could say on our deposit, but that hasn't changed our affordability. We won't be in any different position from what we've existed through the pandemic on... so it seems odd to say that people are somehow going to be unable to afford their mortgages when this is over. Surely if people can afford mortgages during the pandemic it's more likely they'll have more cash afterwards?

Flick85

graeme16 said:

The housing market here (specifically Wetherby) is unbelievable. New build house bought in 2018 for £360k has just sold for in excess of £475k (30%+ in 3 years). Many houses not even making it onto Rightmove before being sold. Viewings cancelled because the house has sold before we can even see it. 2 bed bungalow for offers over £525k had 30 people lined up to see it when we enquired. Estate agents told us this morning a house has just gone for £90k over the asking price on a home advertised at £750k. Estate agents seemed just as fed up as us . . . 

Yup, I’m finding that properties in the Yorkshire triangle are ridiculous at the moment. In my ideal world, I’d live in that region but it’s just not feasible right now so I’m now looking in East Riding of Yorkshire instead. Even there it’s either a choice of new build at sensible prices, or existing properties with same square footage for at least 50k more 🤷‍♀️

badger09

graeme16 said:

The housing market here (specifically Wetherby) is unbelievable. New build house bought in 2018 for £360k has just sold for in excess of £475k (30%+ in 3 years). Many houses not even making it onto Rightmove before being sold. Viewings cancelled because the house has sold before we can even see it. 2 bed bungalow for offers over £525k had 30 people lined up to see it when we enquired. Estate agents told us this morning a house has just gone for £90k over the asking price on a home advertised at £750k. Estate agents seemed just as fed up as us . . . 

Why on earth would Estate agents be as fed up as you?

Assuming those offering way over asking price can actually afford to proceed (& I accept that is a big assumption), EAs will be generating higher commission with no additional work to do. Multiple viewings in short timeframe and a pool of back up buyers if needed.

Newnoel

The issue is that the government and BOE are quite happen to let inflation run free for the forseeable future to inflate away some of the public debt that has built up over during Covid. 

All asset prices, including house prices, are likely to be a lot more expensive in a few years time.

No point getting despondent... the longer you leave it, the more house prices will rise.