Finding a property isn't as easy as I thought

cymruchris

I'm sold subject to contract on a house in South Wales, and looking to move up to Manchester. I've been shortlisting recently added properties on all the usual websites, and have the email alerts for every new listing, and started calling estate agents yesterday to get a feel for the market and ask a few questions about those I'd 'favourited'.

- Sorry that one's sold...
- That one's got 15 viewings booked in for Saturday... (Yes! 15!)
- That one's sold too....
- That one's already got 4 offers...
- That one's sold...

You get the picture....

I totally understand the mortgage challenges ahead for those coming off fixed rates, and the cost of living being what it is, but am a bit surprised that so many recently listed properties are either sold, nearly sold, or have a stack of viewings lined up... And having watched prices for quite some time, they don't appear to be moving down in general (Yes there are a few reductions I've noted, but on properties that looked fairly overpriced to start with - and I'm not wanting to discuss prices - more availability and how to find a property that you want)

I'm sure there'll be regional differences - and this definitely isn't a discussion around house prices (as I know that's not permitted) - but interested to know that as mortgage deals are currently challenging to obtain decent value - how there's still such a rush to buy. I know there's an element of demand and supply - so it could be my price range is one of the more popular sweet spots that people target.

For those that have recently bought, or are in the process of buying - how are you finding availability of properties that fall within your budget? Are you seeing more/less or generally the same level of choice? It feels challenging buying in a different area of the country when you're not exactly around the corner. I was planning on trying to get a few viewings over a couple of days while staying in a travelodge or something similar - but feels like that might not be the best idea at the moment. Has anyone else moved fairly long distance? How did you approach it? What worked for you?

(I'm hoping this is within the 'guidelines' of what can be discussed - as I'm finding it a bit of a struggle to get a foot in the door - and would like to hear people's experiences and maybe pick up a few tips)

MultiFuelBurner

Good, well presented properties, priced well are selling. 

Are you looking in a particularly popular area within what could be classed a sweet spot price for that area?

If you are sold subject to contract you should be shouting this from the rooftops to all estate agents in your chosen area👍

Jonboy_1984

We had this last year. 

One national chain beginning with C are very good at leaving up houses as a rolling advert, some they wouldn’t let us view as SSTC in March 2022 are still up now….

It boiled down to being on the various agents direct mailing lists, contacting immediately to arrange a viewing that an email or property alert was received (the wife was getting home from work and finding out what properties we were seeing) and generally being persistent. 

We ultimately ended up getting s second chance offer on one we had lost out on, due to the first buyer not working out.

propertyrental

Been on the market for 6 months.
Changed agent once.
Reduced the price 3 times.
5 viewings initially from a home-made board outside (local noseys?)
3 viewings via EAs in total.........

donutandbeer

We sold our previous house and bought our current house last year. When we were viewing (around March to August), most of the time if you didn’t get to view a house in the first week or two it’s on, then there’s not much chance to view it at all - most places would have gone SSTC after a week or two. Having 20+ viewing on the open day was the norms. Our old house had 35 viewings on the open day and about 10 offers. Obviously it had a lot to do with area/prices .etc and the market must have changed a bit since then, although in the area we were looking (and now living in), it seems that there isn’t much reduction, but definitely fewer houses on the market. 

Tinkertonian

I sympathise with you OP. We are in a similar position in that we are SSTC but can’t find our next house. However, it sounds like you just can’t get your foot in the door to arrange viewings, whereas we just have almost no houses even coming onto the market here. It seems really slow at the moment, and our buyers have been waiting patiently since April so I just hope that continues to be the case while we keep looking. 

I would echo the advice, above, re. contacting agents and being really proactive about getting onto mailing lists, asking if they have recently valued anything suitable or are about to list any new properties. We’ve managed to see a couple of houses where we arranged the viewing on the basis of a description over the phone, before there were any photos on rightmove. 

Keep looking… I hope we both find something soon! I know it must be even harder when you’re not local though. 

Bonniepurple

I think that some specific places are selling quickly- locally, the new (ish) builds are selling fast, but the ones that are likely to need work doing to them (even cosmetic) are hanging around.  That includes places which previously would have been bought for BTL.

FWIW, we’ve just agreed a slightly lower price on our probate property as the previous amount’s mortgage payments had gone silly.

simon_or

cymruchris said:

I'm sold subject to contract on a house in South Wales, and looking to move up to Manchester. I've been shortlisting recently added properties on all the usual websites, and have the email alerts for every new listing, and started calling estate agents yesterday to get a feel for the market and ask a few questions about those I'd 'favourited'.

- Sorry that one's sold...
- That one's got 15 viewings booked in for Saturday... (Yes! 15!)
- That one's sold too....
- That one's already got 4 offers...
- That one's sold...

You get the picture....

I totally understand the mortgage challenges ahead for those coming off fixed rates, and the cost of living being what it is, but am a bit surprised that so many recently listed properties are either sold, nearly sold, or have a stack of viewings lined up... And having watched prices for quite some time, they don't appear to be moving down in general (Yes there are a few reductions I've noted, but on properties that looked fairly overpriced to start with - and I'm not wanting to discuss prices - more availability and how to find a property that you want)

I'm sure there'll be regional differences - and this definitely isn't a discussion around house prices (as I know that's not permitted) - but interested to know that as mortgage deals are currently challenging to obtain decent value - how there's still such a rush to buy. I know there's an element of demand and supply - so it could be my price range is one of the more popular sweet spots that people target.

For those that have recently bought, or are in the process of buying - how are you finding availability of properties that fall within your budget? Are you seeing more/less or generally the same level of choice? It feels challenging buying in a different area of the country when you're not exactly around the corner. I was planning on trying to get a few viewings over a couple of days while staying in a travelodge or something similar - but feels like that might not be the best idea at the moment. Has anyone else moved fairly long distance? How did you approach it? What worked for you?

(I'm hoping this is within the 'guidelines' of what can be discussed - as I'm finding it a bit of a struggle to get a foot in the door - and would like to hear people's experiences and maybe pick up a few tips)

Been looking to move halfway across the country (NW to SE) for a few months now, 4/5 bed bungalow/detached/semi. Ideally want the property to have a decently sized garden big enough to build a garden-office and a downstairs that allows reconfiguring one side as a future annex for an elderly parent.

For viewings, we look on RM during the week, call the EA and book viewings over the weekend if possible, trek over early morning Saturday and then back the same day or next depending on how many viewings we have.

We had a dabble 2 years ago but it was an absolute nightmare with the frenzy of demand and EAs being an absolute pain in the behind. Lots of wasted 4 hour drives on the weekend only for the EA to cancel at the last minute. So we parked it.

Now there are plenty of properties on the market, much more so than 2 years ago, EAs are more receptive. Even then, all the best properties get snapped up in a couple of weeks for asking or above.

The rest are a mix of indecisive vendors who may or may not move and chain free probate sales. It's easy to tell the ones that need to sell as the EA keeps reducing the asking price every month or two.

As a buyer, the hardest thing I'm finding is discerning whether a vendor is serious. We had an agreed purchase fall through after 3 months as the vendor went AWOL and finally said they ain't selling.

In the large estate that I live in in a NW town, it's a mix of houses from 2 bed terraces (around 150k) to 4-5 bed detached houses (350-400k). A lot of houses have come on the market in the past year and based on that - reasonably smaller/cheaper properties are flying off the shelf while the top end properties are sticking on for longer with vendors either taking them off the market after a few months or reducing the asking in dribs and drabs.

angelasocks

Exactly same here - I'm SSTC hopefully close to exchange.  Going to lodge with a friend as the chain behind me is quite long.  Been looking for about 3 months and can't find anything. Made 2 offers in April both rejected no reason given from EA probably a higher offer or my chain position.

I think July / August tends to be more quiet holidays, kids off school.  Maybe the economic uncertainty is making folks more cautious about putting their house on the market.