Things I wish i knew before buying my house

Snookie12cat

I wish I had known how flaky people are! Just because they offer doesn't mean they won't just change their mind a few days later! 
Don't get your hopes up as nothing is certain. 

I am also a control freak and so I know that this process is going to be the end of my sanity. Buying one and selling two all at the same time is not going to do me any good! 

gab3x

ProDave said:

I wish I had known how dishonest estate agents were.  I was tricked by "another bidder" (who I don't believe now ever existed) into paying more for the property.

I also wish I had known more about financing a purchase.  Before I bought my first house (a new developer box on an estate) I had the chance to buy a building plot.  I tried to finance that but got the answer we won't lend to buy the plot but we will lend to build a house once you have a plot.  I wish I had tried harder then, because if my first house could have been a self build it would have been so much better.  I had to wait another 30 years to achieve my aim of self building.

I really want to self build but it would be too much for my better half.

rexmedorum

I'd wish I'd known:

• How promises of 'no chain' and 'vendor will move in with family' mean nothing.
• That things can take a while even if there's no chain
• That we'd end up wishing we had gone for a nicer area and paid more, possibly for a smaller house (no kids though!)

Brie

That sellers can be such @rses.  

First house we offered on as FTB the seller refused to let the surveyor in (thankfully as it meant a full refund).  Turned out that the seller had their house on and off the market every couple of months for a few years.  EA admitted that the couple just liked to have an excuse to have a poke around strangers' homes on the excuse that they might buy one.  

Second house offered the survey showed masses of problems so we reduced our offer price which the seller didn't accept.  Lesson learned (as pointed out by a friend who had bought and sold a few times) that a lot of the scary things in a survey are stated to reduce the surveyor's liability.  I thought that "there might be a problem with ...." meant that there definitely was a problem.   But we realised we would have hated the place when we found the great place that was the 3rd we offered on.

16 years later we needed to move (complicated) and had an offer accepted on a beautiful looking place.  We'd had an offer on our place and was waiting for things to proceed on a second property that had to be sold in order to secure the new place.  Things kept going wrong with selling this flat, people offering and then withdrawing and we told the seller there would be a delay.  So they withdrew their acceptance.  When things started moving again our side we saw that the place was still for sale at £10k less than what we offered and offered that price which they refused to accept.  Thankfully as again in retrospect the place wasn't as perfect as we first thought.  

When we did find the place we eventually purchased we were still struggling to get rid of the second property and had the most infuriating freeholders and purchaser.  So that's when I learned that freeholders and purchasers can be such @rses too.  I was so pleased when the sale went through and a short while later the a pipe burst and the flat flooded causing distress and expense to the freeholders and purchaser. (no fault of ours)

jst1986

[Deleted User] said:

What did i learn ?
Not to expect the whole process to be even remotely swift moving, that 6 months is absolutely normal.

This for sure. Plus the fact that there are often weeks where just nothing is happening (or looks to be happening!). 

babyblade41

Understanding that others are not so decisive as me , I know pretty much what I want but can't understand why others dither .

I instantly know when a house I'm looking to view will be the right one from all the due diligence I've done beforehand

 

TheJP

ProDave said:

I wish I had known how dishonest estate agents were.  I was tricked by "another bidder" (who I don't believe now ever existed) into paying more for the property.

I also wish I had known more about financing a purchase.  Before I bought my first house (a new developer box on an estate) I had the chance to buy a building plot.  I tried to finance that but got the answer we won't lend to buy the plot but we will lend to build a house once you have a plot.  I wish I had tried harder then, because if my first house could have been a self build it would have been so much better.  I had to wait another 30 years to achieve my aim of self building.

Unless you bid quite a considerable amount over then i cant see what benefit that would have been for the EA, their commission may have been fixed or on a low percentage. 

Most lenders wont lend money unless you have a plot to build on, same thing happened to my brother in law. 

gab3x

rexmedorum said:

I'd wish I'd known:

• How promises of 'no chain' and 'vendor will move in with family' mean nothing.
• That things can take a while even if there's no chain
• That we'd end up wishing we had gone for a nicer area and paid more, possibly for a smaller house (no kids though!)

I fell for 'no chain, move in with family' trick delivered so gracefully by the lovely EA last autumn when buying our amazing house we live in now. The moving goalposts and lying just made me insane as I am a control freak and I found out that they were fibbing but it was all too late in the process so I didn't want to back off.

gab3x

babyblade41 said:

Understanding that others are not so decisive as me , I know pretty much what I want but can't understand why others dither .

I instantly know when a house I'm looking to view will be the right one from all the due diligence I've done beforehand

 

We offered on the house in which we moved in this January during first viewing in 10mins time. We could do this due to the fact we knew area well and have seen many similar properties. The agent knew us so he knew we were serious. We immediately offered I highest price which was 2.5% less than asking price and we left it for the survey to shave off anything requiring urgent / unforeseen work. Turns out this was another £2.5k.

I still check every house sale in the area and in 10 months since moving I haven't seen any better property come on within our price range. All the same houses like ours sold for similar price, some for less but then their condition meant more work was needed.

Again research is everything.

walwyn1978

That using the EA’s in-house conveyancer is a short cut to opening up your wallet and inviting them to help themselves. 

Yes it was our first purchase, yes we were younger but we fell hook line and sinker for it and got landed with a mortgage that according to the independent broker I used second time around was ‘absolutely woeful’ *sigh*