Houses

[newfox1]

17 hours ago, Rob1742 said:

A lot of agents are poor. There are a few good ones, but some very poor.

 

I remember asking for house details once years ago and nothing. Three times I contacted them and nothing.

 

I saw a house last month. Agent called me after asking my thoughts. 

 

I said I need a few more days. They insisted on a price of 300k

 

I sent a polite email late at night explaining that I'm interested but not at the price they want and if it reduces, just let me know.

 

First thing day after, got a call asking me my thoughts. Just depends how in demand a property is. More demand, they won't bother. If they really need to sell , they will get in touch. 

 

[FoyleFox]

One of the floor plans I requested was added to the property listing today.

 

If we were in more of a position to progress I'd be hassling the agents. It's just frustrating not being able to judge if a property is suitable.

[newfox1]

3 hours ago, FoyleFox said:

One of the floor plans I requested was added to the property listing today.

 

If we were in more of a position to progress I'd be hassling the agents. It's just frustrating not being able to judge if a property is suitable.

Have you actually viewed the place?

[ajthefox]

On 26/08/2020 at 15:47, Leicester_Loyal said:

Seems to have slowed down a lot in the past couple of weeks, hardly any new houses coming onto the market in the areas I'm looking. My agreement in principle expires in about 30 days, so it looks like I may have to start the whole process again. My mortgage broker said there won't be anymore fees regardless because I've already paid him, so that's good news I suppose.

Same thing happened to me in May.

 

Minimum deposit has gone up to 15% for most lenders but other than that I don't think much has changed. I'm getting mine re-done now and that is the only thing (so far) that my advisor has mentioned.

[Wolfox]

I now have two offers…. Both acceptable…. Which is great

 

I offered asking on the onward property and still no effing response…. Three interested parties (according to them)…. Just a complete shower of shite

 

Apparently they want any potential purchaser to be patient as they’ve not actually viewed anything yet…

 

The one who has offered closest on mine what’s to be in by Xmas and has suggested we go into rented!!!

 

The joys of crap estate agents, impatient pillocks  and a monumentally large chain awaits…. Nothing else on the market floats my boat at the moment… 

 

Grrrhhh

Edited 27 August 2020 by Wolfox

[Leicester_Loyal]

42 minutes ago, ajthefox said:

Same thing happened to me in May.

 

Minimum deposit has gone up to 15% for most lenders but other than that I don't think much has changed. I'm getting mine re-done now and that is the only thing (so far) that my advisor has mentioned.

Glad I'm not the only one in this situation! Yeah minimum deposit up from 5% a few months ago to 15-20% now for most lenders. Thankfully I have 20% already!

 

2 minutes ago, Wolfox said:

I now have two offers…. Both acceptable…. Which is great

 

I offered asking on the onward property and still no effing response…. Three interested parties (according to them)…. Just a complete shower of shite

 

Apparently they want any potential purchaser to be patient as they’ve not actually viewed anything yet…

 

The joys of crap estate agents and a monumentally large chain awaits…. Nothing else on the market floats my boat at the moment… 

 

Grrrhhh

There's nothing worse than estate agents dragging their feet, it's bloody annoying.

 

Goodluck!

[FoyleFox]

2 hours ago, newfox1 said:

Have you actually viewed the place?

We're not in England so not able to actually view properties. We can only create a shortlist of potentials via online information, hence needing all of the information about the property.

[newfox1]

22 minutes ago, FoyleFox said:

We're not in England so not able to actually view properties. We can only create a shortlist of potentials via online information, hence needing all of the information about the property.

hmmm. I was in a similar position as lived abroad for several years.

 

Didn't even bother looking then as needed to know what an area is like during different times of the day and night. Might be worth renting for a few months when you come down and move?

 

Also, a house I was following os back on the market after buyer pulled out. Stc within 3 days. 

 

Worth popping a polite note through the door asking about the home? EA said vendor don't want to budge on price? What you reckon?

Edited 27 August 2020 by newfox1

[FoyleFox]

We're moving back to an area we used to live so are generally familiar with, or we've friends and family there. When we're able to actually view properties we'll have time to visit at various times,  check out the neighbours and local facilities. Renting isn't really an option we want to consider.

 

If the house you like is back on the market why can't you just contact the agent? I'd direct any enquiries received on our house to the agent. 

[newfox1]

6 hours ago, FoyleFox said:

 

 

If the house you like is back on the market why can't you just contact the agent? I'd direct any enquiries received on our house to the agent. 

I viewed the house first time around and put in an offer. But wasn't accepted. 

 

When it came back on the market, I immediately contacted the agent and they said the vendor will not budge on the asking (I offered 4% below asking).

 

So the vendor/seller has already been stung as the buyer pulled out but won't consider anything else? Maybe the agent is pulling a fast one. Hence a polite note through the post?

 

FYI, been on the market for exactly two months now.

[Footballwipe]

20 hours ago, ketteringscott said:

The solicitors can make an application to have the application expedited if it is holding up another transaction. Have they done this? The Land Registry will require proof of the sale and will normally complete the application within ten days once this has been done. I had to make a similar request on one where the Land Registry had been sitting on the application for a while and they completed it within a few days.

Luckily it's come back now.

 

Things are motoring with the searches, contracts have been issued. We're just v jumpy as (understandably) the people buying our house have been very patient up until now, and that's starting to waver.

 

Hoping to get things wrapped up ASAP, this has been horrendous overall.

[Leicester_Loyal]

Put another offer in on a house today, was told they'd ring me back to confirm it had been made, nothing... I ring up again later and ask what's going on, they said yes it's been made etc. You'll know by the end of the day, come 5:30pm, nothing again.

 

Both houses I've bid for so far have been like this, where they said a decision would be made by a certain deadline, but it goes past that by 2 or 3 days. Are estate agents that busy? Or is it a tactic to try and make you sweat, increase your bid etc.? I'm in no rush so I won't be ringing them back, even if it takes days for them to come back to me. I imagine they're probably playing us all off against each other to try and get higher bids?

Edited 1 September 2020 by Leicester_Loyal

[newfox1]

2 hours ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Put another offer in on a house today, was told they'd ring me back to confirm it had been made, nothing... I ring up again later and ask what's going on, they said yes it's been made etc. You'll know by the end of the day, come 5:30pm, nothing again.

 

Both houses I've bid for so far have been like this, where they said a decision would be made by a certain deadline, but it goes past that by 2 or 3 days. Are estate agents that busy? Or is it a tactic to try and make you sweat, increase your bid etc.? I'm in no rush so I won't be ringing them back, even if it takes days for them to come back to me. I imagine they're probably playing us all off against each other to try and get higher bids?

I prefer to email so I have a log of all communications with EA. Yea, agents play hard or outright lie. 

 

I was about to pop in a note in a home  I really like but was sold today! That's why I like purple bricks as their app allows you to contact the owner directly. 

[Innovindil]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53995878

 

House prices continued their post-lockdown recovery in August, notching up their highest monthly rise in more than 16 years, says the Nationwide.

 

"House prices have now reversed the losses recorded in May and June and are at a new all-time high," said its chief economist, Robert Gardner.

 

Prices rose by 2% last month, it said, taking the average price to £224,123.

 

The Nationwide said the recovery in housing market activity had been "unexpectedly rapid".

 

It said the increase in August was the highest since February 2004, when house prices rose by 2.7%.

 

As a result, annual house price growth accelerated to 3.7%, from 1.5% in July.

 

 

[FoyleFox]

Mortgage approvals also increased but there's still uncertainty in the lending market.

 

https://propertyindustryeye.com/mortgage-approvals-up-by-two-thirds-in-one-month-since-stamp-duty-holiday-launched/

[davieG]

2 hours ago, Innovindil said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53995878

 

House prices continued their post-lockdown recovery in August, notching up their highest monthly rise in more than 16 years, says the Nationwide.

 

"House prices have now reversed the losses recorded in May and June and are at a new all-time high," said its chief economist, Robert Gardner.

 

Prices rose by 2% last month, it said, taking the average price to £224,123.

 

The Nationwide said the recovery in housing market activity had been "unexpectedly rapid".

 

It said the increase in August was the highest since February 2004, when house prices rose by 2.7%.

 

As a result, annual house price growth accelerated to 3.7%, from 1.5% in July.

 

 

But are they actually selling, I've seen a lot come on the market and then be reduced by quite a lot and few even being withdrawn after a month or so.

 

We have ours on the market and have had 7 views but they've all got houses to sell.

[Innovindil]

7 minutes ago, davieG said:

But are they actually selling, I've seen a lot come on the market and then be reduced by quite a lot and few even being withdrawn after a month or so.

 

We have ours on the market and have had 7 views but they've all got houses to sell.

As far as I'm aware the figures are based on actual  sale prices, not what they are being advertised at. 

Edited 2 September 2020 by Innovindil

[davieG]

1 minute ago, Innovindil said:

As far as I'm aware the figures are based on actual  sale prices, not what they are being advertised at. 

Ok but it doesn't mean a lot are selling just the ones that are have gone up in price.

[Innovindil]

8 minutes ago, davieG said:

Ok but it doesn't mean a lot are selling just the ones that are have gone up in price.

Definitely. They don't cover figures for amount sold/currently for sale. Only thing I could find in the article itself was this:

 

Lucy Pendleton, director of estate agents James Pendleton, said: "Buyers emboldened by the stamp duty holiday have been engaged in a pitched battle for property, delivering a barnstorming recovery for the market.

"A stunning proportion of properties are now going for asking price or more, and offers are flooding in. It's like lockdown was a bad dream."

[Nalis]

Know its a 'how long is a piece of string' question but are their any predictions for the future yet when the furlough scheme ends and redundancies start kicking in?

[Innovindil]

2 minutes ago, Nalis said:

Know its a 'how long is a piece of string' question but are their any predictions for the future yet when the furlough scheme ends and redundancies start kicking in?

Few pages back there were official predictions. They shot a big net and said up or down 10% over the next two years. 

 

My own prediction is there will be a slight downturn, but nothing like first timer buyers are hoping for and it shouldn't last very long at all. Lots of jobs will be lost, sure, but overall there are a lot of mitigating factors for the housing market. Job bounce back *should* be swift, most job losses will be in the lower paid bracket, where it's more likely they would be renting anyways and construction companies are still in the gutter and are even further away from hitting supply/demand. 

[FoyleFox]

9 minutes ago, Nalis said:

Know its a 'how long is a piece of string' question but are their any predictions for the future yet when the furlough scheme ends and redundancies start kicking in?

Depending on who's report you read there are various predictions, the article I posted the link to errs on the side of caution in that regard.

 

Sam Harhat, head of financial services at Andrews Property Group, was less positive.

Harhat said: “Mortgage approvals in July may have been up sharply on June but expect them to tail off again in August to reflect the significant tightening of lender criteria.

“Over the past month or so, it’s as if the property and mortgage markets have been operating in two entirely different realities.

“The demand for property is exceptionally strong, a result of pent-up demand, the low cost of borrowing and the Stamp Duty holiday, while the availability of mortgage finance has been contracting by the day.

“For 75% loan to value (LTV) mortgages and below, there is a huge amount of lender competition, but at higher LTVs finding a lender is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

“Where borrowers see opportunity, lenders see growing economic uncertainty, especially in the Autumn as the furlough scheme draws to a close.”

[Xen]

35 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

Definitely. They don't cover figures for amount sold/currently for sale. Only thing I could find in the article itself was this:

 

Lucy Pendleton, director of estate agents James Pendleton, said: "Buyers emboldened by the stamp duty holiday have been engaged in a pitched battle for property, delivering a barnstorming recovery for the market.

"A stunning proportion of properties are now going for asking price or more, and offers are flooding in. It's like lockdown was a bad dream."

That's probably the key thing.

 

The market may actually be slowing down for your average sale - less FTBs, prices not coming down etc so a lot of those sales that would normally bring the average sale price down aren't happening. The more expensive properties which would be affected by stamp duty are still being sold though as the top-end of the market is still operating and the stamp duty holiday even means some deals might be easier/cheaper than usual. All that skews the average price upwards, and that effect is weighted more heavily than usual as they'll make up a greater percentage of sales than usual.

 

Without the context of sales volume (ideally grouped within price bands) an overall average means very little.

[Wolfox]

Argh!!!!

 

We now have two offers on our house - yay!

 

We place an offer on a house that has been on the market for best part of 18 months…. 3 people competing now and i even went to full asking…. Not a word out of the estate agent for 8 days…. Find out today that the seller went with a lower offer because they met the people who viewed and got on well with them…. WTAF?!

 

I can’t see anything on the market I really want…. Absolutely gutted - I feel thoroughly depressed 

[Nalis]

2 hours ago, Wolfox said:

Argh!!!!

 

We now have two offers on our house - yay!

 

We place an offer on a house that has been on the market for best part of 18 months…. 3 people competing now and i even went to full asking…. Not a word out of the estate agent for 8 days…. Find out today that the seller went with a lower offer because they met the people who viewed and got on well with them…. WTAF?!

 

I can’t see anything on the market I really want…. Absolutely gutted - I feel thoroughly depressed 

Sorry to hear about that.

 

The seller is either an idiot, the estste agent is talking bollocks or there is something very dodgy going on.

 

Sounds like they would have been a nightmare to deal with anyway, the right place will come along.