Does anyone want to join me waiting to find a house to buy?

what-a-save · 10 September 2016 at 10:06PM

Quite a few people making comments in relation to the direction the garden is facing at potential properties they intend to view.

A web site i found called 'SunCalc' is really useful, put the post code or road name in and it provides details of sunrise and sunset, and you can also view the position of the sun at various times of the day.
Hope it helps

copperjar · 12 September 2016 at 1:01PM

Thanks what-a-save, that's a great app!
Great news about the garden Bonfire!!

We are dithering. The house we had a second viewing on ticks most of the boxes and there's no reason why we wouldn't go for it. So why haven't we?! It's not our dream house but I don't think we can afford what our dream is. I think we need a reality check.

I have spoken to the EA as well today about our buyers expectations. He's going to ring them today and ask how they are feeling about waiting. We had an agreement of end of Sept and then I think they expect us to go into rented. And we don't like that idea having seen prices continue to rise and the lack of property about.

Feeling really fed up today!

copperjar · 12 September 2016 at 2:14PM

One good thing about this dithering is that we don't have that panic about desperately waiting for vendors to get back to us. The one house we did offer on last week the EA has come back and asked if we would like to up out offer (to £10k under asking...last week they wouldn't go less than £5k under!). Fascinating watching the process unfold. But not so great when we are still undecided about what we want!

startingout2016 · 12 September 2016 at 3:17PM

Back on the hunt again for a 2 or 3 bed house in Hertfordshire.

Got a healthy budget, but nothing out there at the moment. Fingers crossed something comes up soon...

copperjar · 12 September 2016 at 5:01PM

Good luck startingout2016.

We have offered on the house in same village as we live now. Declined but EA (and we!) think it's a good offer. They've had 8 viewings since it went on market last week, we're the only offer. Will leave it a few days and see if they come back to us. The EA has pretty much said he will call us if any other offers are revived so we're happy to wait it out a bit!

MeandO · 12 September 2016 at 7:45PM

Sorry to hear the viewings at the weekend weren't as positive as you'd hoped Copperjar. If the other house ticks most of the boxes though, is there any way you could turn it into your dream house?

Mine is long gone unfortunately. Probably sold and new owners moved in by now.

Still nothing new on the market, so have booked to see one that has been for sale for a few weeks now. It's at the top of my budget, doesn't fill me with delight or even excitement and the dated d!cor will need money and time thrown at it, but the garden looks a good size, it's detached and has parking.

Not enthusiastic - can you tell?!

copperjar · 12 September 2016 at 7:59PM

Haha MeandO, you sound exactly like me! I've visited so many places with about the same enthusiasm as that! But you never know, it might be the one! Did you put the leaflets through? I'm still considering that!

House that ticks most boxes could probably be made into something we want. The problem is, the vendors have "renovated" it to their style so are wanting a premium for doing the work. But we would probably change a lot of things so it seems a bit over priced. Maybe they will come back to us if they get no other offers.

Spoke to the EA today because I was getting anxious that my buyers will be getting worried at the lack of progress. They said they were buying the house for their son (who never came to view it!) so I've been a bit dubious about that, think they are probably just regular investors. Anyway, they have offered us to rent the house back off them if we have not found anything before everything goes through. My initial reaction is NO! it's my house, I don't want to pay rent, can pay off the mortgage and get more money towards the new house, but is that just ridiculous? Could solve some problems I suppose. I'm just worried we'll never find anything though!

MeandO · 13 September 2016 at 3:34PM

Hmmm, that's a difficult one Copperjar, but at least you won't have to put anything in storage and save the expense of moving twice and risk being in a lengthy rental agreement. I guess it depends on how much rent they would be asking. Maybe make enquiries as to a ballpark figure.
As for the other house you have viewed, maybe say to the EA that you appreciate they have renovated it, but as it's not to your style, you will need to spend some money making it so. Not worth paying more than you want for it by the sounds of it.

A new house has come onto the market in my preferred area today. Again, there is residents parking only, but this is less of an issue for this house and it is more open and spacious, with houses less cramped together. Minus points are the garden is much smaller than I would have liked, the house isn't huge (but perfectly ample), and it's on busy(ish) road. The plus points are that it is £55K under my budget and I would have lots of cash leftover to reduce my mortgage significantly (less than half of what it is now) and to put a really nice new kitchen in to my taste. The one in there is 'fine', but really not my style. The house also looks like it has been renovated recently and is in good condition.

So, I shall view that tomorrow, and the top of the budget one, then I am going to see the private sale one again on Friday - to have another look at the house and to see if I can live with the parking arrangement.

copperjar · 14 September 2016 at 9:34AM

How did you get on MeandO?

We're contemplating upping our offer on the property I mentioned above. When we offered first, the EA said we were "not a million miles away" then said they hadn't given a counter offer. My parter wants us to go up another £5k today, I feel like waiting for a bit because I think we have given a good offer and they obviously haven't had any others despite several viewings. Trying to decide if it's worth the extra £5k with all the work we would want to do.

psychological · 14 September 2016 at 10:49AM

psychological wrote: »

We're fairly geeky so have put together a list of "must-haves" and "would-likes" and have been ticking them off for each viewing we've had.

The property we have just put an offer on ticks EVERY box but one (proximity to a station - it's about a 10min drive away).

With so many others ticked - we've gone for it (and slightly over the top offer we had planned for), the vendor is considering so just waiting for a response now.

This is nerve-wracking.

Good luck to everyone in here on their respective searches!

Quick update, our offer was accepted which is fantastic. And mortgage agreed in principle.

Now waiting (not particularly patiently) for the rest of the chain to sort itself out. We're at the bottom as FTBs.

Still nerve-wracking but we're at least a few steps closer.

Fingers crossed. How is everyone else getting on?

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Does anyone want to join me waiting to find a house to buy?

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