Excessive proofs required to view house?

Mahsroh

lookstraightahead said:

Mahsroh said:

Sandtree said:

I've only come across it once but it was the sort of property that I'd still be short of the deposit if I sold all of my organs. 

Interesting point this. I know someone who worked for a Central London EA who only sold properties for 7 figures or more.... most very high end. I asked the question out of curiosity as to what was required paperwork wise to view a property to stop the time wasters / people wanting to have a nosy round an expensive house and her response was shockingly.....nothing! If they got a call to say "i'd like to arrange a viewing of that £10m property in Knightsbridge please" the answer was usually "of course" with no questions asked! This was pre pandemic and in a different type of market, but still. 

Much better marketing to have a few timewasters than to turn people away because you insist on rubbish bits of paper.

reminds me of pretty woman in that shop with the pompous sales assistant. People are too quick to stereotype.

What about all those timewaster vendors who tell you lies about everything 

Oh I absolutely agree. I'm not saying that I disagree, just that it surprised me! I had just assumed that to view a £10m property you'd have to provide some sort of proof to the EA that you are a serious buyer... but i'm not saying I would've agreed with that stance. 

Heard a similar story to the "pretty woman" one from a BMW salesman who told me all his colleagues laughed when a young lad about 19 or 20 turned up at the showroom on a push bike, and he spent half an hour with him showing him various cars in the showroom. He left and all his colleagues asked why he wasted his time...... the young lad came back later than day with his dad who paid bought his son a £50k car! 

lookstraightahead

comeandgo said:

zzzt said:

caprikid1 said:

"because it's the sellers who LIE with their pictures"

Not sure how a picture can lie but I will bow to your greater wisdom.

I drove over an hour to view a property which looked lovely. I imagined it would be my dream home and was planning on making an offer immediately.

It turns out, it was extremely dated. It had the original oven from 30 years ago (never seen such a thing since the 80s). The dated wallpaper had stains all over it and was peeling off. The carpets were in a terrible state in the corners.

You can change an oven, wallpaper and carpets for a few thousand pounds.  When you mention that you had to pull out as the mortgage valuation came in lower than your offer it suggests you have no wiggle room so maybe look at houses a bit under your total spend so you will have extra to use.

The mortgage valuation suggests the house isn't worth what was being asked for it.

Sandtree

Mahsroh said:
 If they got a call to say "i'd like to arrange a viewing of that £10m property in Knightsbridge please" the answer was usually "of course" with no questions asked!

Well you would be looking at a studio apartment they aren't going to go too OTT. 

The only time I was asked more questions was spending more than £10m and not in the sort of place where everything costs that.

Mahsroh

Sandtree said:

Mahsroh said:
 If they got a call to say "i'd like to arrange a viewing of that £10m property in Knightsbridge please" the answer was usually "of course" with no questions asked!

Well you would be looking at a studio apartment they aren't going to go too OTT. 

The only time I was asked more questions was spending more than £10m and not in the sort of place where everything costs that.

One of the things I love about this forum is when you use a throwaway example and someone always comes along and takes it literally to pick holes in it! LOL.

Okay, point taken.... change that example from "Knightsbridge" to "somewhere reasonably nice in zone 1" and change "£10m" to "£30m". 

You get the idea..... 

comeandgo

zzzt said:

comeandgo said:

You can change an oven, wallpaper and carpets for a few thousand pounds.  When you mention that you had to pull out as the mortgage valuation came in lower than your offer it suggests you have no wiggle room so maybe look at houses a bit under your total spend so you will have extra to use.

First of all, the entire house needed gutting and replacing. It was a fixer upper, which is not what I'm looking for. I am allowed to buy the house that I want, rather than buy one that I don't want.

Second of all, I am looking lower than I can afford. The house that I had the offer accepted on was 15k lower than the maximum I can borrow already. But the bank's valuation came back 15k lower than the agreed price (so 30k lower than the max I could buy).

It doesn't matter that I can borrow more - the bank will only lend based on what they think the house is worth, so I would have to make up the 15k difference. What you've said suggests you don't understand how it works.

I understand exactly how it works, you did not have enough loose change to buy the property.

TripleH

Unless photoshopped, photographs never lie. It's rhe parameters and framing when you take the photograph that misleads.

In our search, we had 30 viewings in total (sometimes just 1 of us) and offered on 3 properties.

We had a lookat 1 property that we assumed was not highly in demand because of the location but it turned out the photographs were selectively taken.

Initially we were asked for an AIP and after our first purchase fell through quite late on, we just used the mortgage offer letter selectively redacted on future viewings as proof of affordability. We've never been asked for evidence of solicitors until we had put a successful offer in. If you have a firm in mind to use, yes most I'd say is 'we'll use xyz legal LLP' as until you have an offer accepted there is little reason to officially appoint a conveyancer. I can understand them asking to make sure you have an idea of who to use (as opposed to scrabbling round for 6 weeks trying to find a firm) or it might be a way to recommend their 'friendly conveyancer friend' who pays a generous signing on bonus to them from your fees.

lookstraightahead

Mahsroh said:

lookstraightahead said:

Mahsroh said:

Sandtree said:

I've only come across it once but it was the sort of property that I'd still be short of the deposit if I sold all of my organs. 

Interesting point this. I know someone who worked for a Central London EA who only sold properties for 7 figures or more.... most very high end. I asked the question out of curiosity as to what was required paperwork wise to view a property to stop the time wasters / people wanting to have a nosy round an expensive house and her response was shockingly.....nothing! If they got a call to say "i'd like to arrange a viewing of that £10m property in Knightsbridge please" the answer was usually "of course" with no questions asked! This was pre pandemic and in a different type of market, but still. 

Much better marketing to have a few timewasters than to turn people away because you insist on rubbish bits of paper.

reminds me of pretty woman in that shop with the pompous sales assistant. People are too quick to stereotype.

What about all those timewaster vendors who tell you lies about everything 

Oh I absolutely agree. I'm not saying that I disagree, just that it surprised me! I had just assumed that to view a £10m property you'd have to provide some sort of proof to the EA that you are a serious buyer... but i'm not saying I would've agreed with that stance. 

Heard a similar story to the "pretty woman" one from a BMW salesman who told me all his colleagues laughed when a young lad about 19 or 20 turned up at the showroom on a push bike, and he spent half an hour with him showing him various cars in the showroom. He left and all his colleagues asked why he wasted his time...... the young lad came back later than day with his dad who paid bought his son a £50k car! 

Love that story. I hate inverted snobbery as much as snobbery.

You get that a lot with house selling.

newsgroupmonkey_

zzzt said:

comeandgo said:

You can change an oven, wallpaper and carpets for a few thousand pounds.  When you mention that you had to pull out as the mortgage valuation came in lower than your offer it suggests you have no wiggle room so maybe look at houses a bit under your total spend so you will have extra to use.

First of all, the entire house needed gutting and replacing. It was a fixer upper, which is not what I'm looking for. I am allowed to buy the house that I want, rather than buy one that I don't want.

Second of all, I am looking lower than I can afford. The house that I had the offer accepted on was 15k lower than the maximum I can borrow already. But the bank's valuation came back 15k lower than the agreed price (so 30k lower than the max I could buy).

It doesn't matter that I can borrow more - the bank will only lend based on what they think the house is worth, so I would have to make up the 15k difference. What you've said suggests you don't understand how it works.

Quite honestly, I don't think you understand how this sellers market works.

It's not like the last time you bought a house. Right now, the sellers can demand whatever they want. In most areas, the average house gets involved in more than one offer.

I was talking to someone the other day who put their house on the market. They allowed viewings over a weekend (24 in all). 5 offers over the asking price, fully accepting that they'll have to make up the shortfall because it's likely to be downvalued.

People are being honest with you. Calling them names isn't going to make you popular. You come across as quite arrogant.

boxer234

I’ve been asked if I have an AIP but no one has looked at it until I made an offer. I’ve viewed loads of houses often it’s gone to offers over before my foot is in the door.  It’s a nightmare out there. 

Flugelhorn

problem is that most of these sellers are going to be buyers in a few days and run into the same problems, they aren't really in charge of the market - the only people who are, are those selling a chain free property eg probate or surplus to requirements