Is the current market sucking the joy out of moving?

SilverSix

FlyMeSomewhere79 said:

Thanks, we've secured our next property via letter drop and have really good communication with the seller and are looking to get in to a proceed-able position as quickly as possible, considering every avenue possible.

I'm torn as most people will look at RightMove and I feel the agent is working hard but just not really producing results, I'm unsure if it's the supply of buyers. I feel price is fine and that it might just need us to be patient.

The lack of enquiries, interest or viewings is unusual though.

I know that feeling well, by the beginning of October last year I had given up on selling ours til spring because it has dried up so much. Then the market picked up a bit and a few viewings brought me an offer in Halloween which I was over the moon bit at the same time wishing it had been earlier because then we didn't know if we'd be moving on the doorstep of Christmas or if it would stop a two week trip of south east Asia we had long since booked for the end of last month. Luckily none of that happened but it's been a frustrating week or two thanks to the incompetence of my buyers solicitors but allegedly the exchange should be today or tomorrow!!

I'm at that really weary stage now where I just want and end to it - this buying and selling is just so many months of worry and limbo! 

Low and behold, 45 minutes later we have interest and two viewings tomorrow (one still to be booked in). As I thought definitely not the advert or price but rather the market.

Absolutely desperate for this all to work out as our sellers are such lovely people and being super flexible, its one of those 'forever' homes and will make such a good story!

Hoenir

BobT36 said:

Hoenir said:

77588p said:

When I look online, no 4 bed properties in my area are moving at all. Only 3 bed semis etc around 220-250 get snapped up. 

Higher the price the slower the market. £110k more for being detached and an extra bedroom is a sizable jump for people to make.  With the increase in interest rates makes it less palatable to take on that extra borrowing. 

And salaries have gone up what, £10k in about 20 years? lol. 

And hahahaha at the £850k one, that better be an almost mansion. Who's got nearly a million quid these days? All cause what, a few years passed and someone decided it was now worth a gazillion. 

Check out this one: 

Back in a 1996 a lot of people could have bought that with CASH (salaries weren't that much different), but now? AND with massive (proportionally to the prices!) interest rates, no chance. 

1996 the year that the Bradford and Bingley imported the concept of Residential Backed Mortgage Securities (RMBS) to the UK finance industry. Sparked the BTL industry as we know it today. An idea that the Northern Rock Building Society then took to the ultimate extremes.  Both eventually collapsed and were nationalised. Today years after the GFC was concluded the consequences are still yet to be unwound.  

annetheman

p00hsticks said:

Has there ever been any 'joy in moving' ? (other than perhaps for first time buyers taking their first step on the ladder) 

For me I've always viewed the whole moving process  as a complete pain, but a necessary evil to get me where I wanted to be....

My first time selling, second time buying. Short chain (FTB - me - ex-BTL), now broken at the bottom.

Once this is over, I'm never doing it again.

Bigphil1474

I'm with you on that. I'm in my 50's and technically I've never bought a house as my partner owned this house before I moved in. We've been here 20 odd years. The whole buying and selling house system seems to be  aimed at making money for other people, not the actual seller and buyer. I'll be glad when we've moved into our new house and hopefully I will die in it (many years down the line of course!).

77588p

Whats peoples views on Rightmove Premium? Is it just a way of Rightmove making more money? Are buyers less likely to click my advert vs another property because they are premium and we just have a basic advert?

RHemmings

77588p said:

Whats peoples views on Rightmove Premium? Is it just a way of Rightmove making more money? Are buyers less likely to click my advert vs another property because they are premium and we just have a basic advert?

I can only speak for myself, but I ignored any property being Rightmove Premium. Does it make it more likely that it will pop up as a 'featured property'? I found it annoying that those appeared at the top of my search rather than just giving me what I was searching for in the order that I searched for. 

Slinky

FlyMeSomewhere79 said:

ManuelG said:

Is there joy in moving? One of the most stressful experiences of my life!

It really is! I'm in a small chain as I have FTB'S buying my house and the owner of the house we are buying is going into rented until they see a house they like. It's all been quite smooth until exchange date, my buyers solicitor forgot to dot various I:s and cross T's and it keeps knocking out our exchange and completion dates that we were previously assure of. We are now paying gas and electric for our new home that has a family of 5 living in it rather than just me and my partner that should have been in there by now.

You take an offer and put one in and then it's several months of constant worry and uncertainty! Even to the days you are meant to move! I'm desperate for this to end - just waiting for the buyers lender to answer a query so we can exchange and get out of this horrible limbo and living out of boxes in a shell of home. 

I wouldn't be in hurry to do any buying or selling again anytime soon - most people have a nightmare in the process somewhere!

@FlyMeSomewhere79 why - how - are you paying for utilities in a house you don't own?

FlyMeSomewhere79

Slinky said:

FlyMeSomewhere79 said:

ManuelG said:

Is there joy in moving? One of the most stressful experiences of my life!

It really is! I'm in a small chain as I have FTB'S buying my house and the owner of the house we are buying is going into rented until they see a house they like. It's all been quite smooth until exchange date, my buyers solicitor forgot to dot various I:s and cross T's and it keeps knocking out our exchange and completion dates that we were previously assure of. We are now paying gas and electric for our new home that has a family of 5 living in it rather than just me and my partner that should have been in there by now.

You take an offer and put one in and then it's several months of constant worry and uncertainty! Even to the days you are meant to move! I'm desperate for this to end - just waiting for the buyers lender to answer a query so we can exchange and get out of this horrible limbo and living out of boxes in a shell of home. 

I wouldn't be in hurry to do any buying or selling again anytime soon - most people have a nightmare in the process somewhere!

@FlyMeSomewhere79 why - how - are you paying for utilities in a house you don't own?

Because the buyers solicitor told us via our agent that ready to sign off and exchange for a planned move at the end of the week so we notified all the utilities and it turned out the solicitor told a huge lie. The gas and electric company said they couldn't reverse it because it would take 6 weeks so we have paid the bill for the last week - we exchanged yesterday and move Monday thank god!

We were put in a position where the buyers solicitor ran down the clock and realised they had missed things they'd should have done late in the day, I've had to rearrange my removal van three times in the last two weeks. The completion date was agreed a month earlier. We ended up in a horrible situation of being due to move at any time but not knowing when and you can't organise it all on the day you leave.

lincroft1710

Bigphil1474 said:

That's crazy. Our house cost £45k in 1995, and we just sold for £180k. Can't believe the jump on that one - has it been coated in liquid gold.

Just to say, we visited a lot of properties early on before our house was sold, but we realised this was a mistake as we couldn't put a proceedable offer in so even if we found the perfect house, we couldn't do anything about it. We did find a couple we'd have loved to buy, but they'd gone before we could proceed. After that, we just looked at the odd house here and there so we had an idea what we liked. When we did eventually get an acceptable offer, there wasn't a huge amount available in our price range and area so we had to look further afield.

I did see a nearly new house, been on the market for over a year, a good £50k over our budget, but when I spoke to the EA about a cheeky offer, they said no chance. I think the problem is getting enough people near the bottom of the pyramid so that the more expensive properties at £300k, £400k, £500k etc. have enough people interested who can afford to buy. Can't see a FTB getting in even at £300k in most areas (I'm in West Yorks. so I realise prices are relative - a decent 3/4 bed semi is around £300-£350k round here)

In most areas 1995 was a low point for house prices. My house, bought in 1998, when prices were rising again is also now worth about 4 times what I paid for it.

lincroft1710

Bigphil1474 said:

That's crazy. Our house cost £45k in 1995, and we just sold for £180k. Can't believe the jump on that one - has it been coated in liquid gold.

In most areas 1995 was a low point for house prices. My house, bought in 1998, when prices were rising again is also now worth about 4 times what I paid for it