Houses

[Adster]

1 minute ago, Manini said:

Yes. What questions do you have? No tips per-say, it’s just the same as buying any other house (I’ve only bought this one tbf) i imagine, but you don’t need to worry about the upward chain. Actually a good tip is see if there’s a site service charge, and if so how much is it, and who is in charge of looking after that. I’d imagine the site won’t have been adopted by the local council so you pay in to a sink fund and a pot to pay for maintenance and repairs. Needless to say it’s a complete ****ing con, but once building has finished you can come together as residents and get them moved on. There may already be agreements in place with the council to adopt all of/parts of the site anyway. For reference ours is about £140 a year so it’s not the end of the world but still something to consider. 

I'll DM you, thanks mate

[Kopic]

Tried to view our first house today. Seems to have been on the market for a while, and advertised by 3 different estate agents. Photos looked alright, area we wanted, it is top end of our price range but thought we best have a look. Phoned the estate agent, informed us the owner is "a bit weird" and will only do viewings between 5 and 6. Worked for us so booked for 5. Turned up, rang the agents and told us the owner would be showing us around. I know its not abnormal but would really rather an agent show us round, but nevermind. Knock on the door, no answer. Wait a bit. Phone agent, they say they will get hold of them. Wait til 25 past, ring again, they can't get hold of him. Wait til 25 to and decide to sack it off. Shame really, wanted to get our first viewing done, almost like a practice.

 

I wonder why it's been on the market so long whilst others seem to sell the day they are advertised...

 

Hopefully was just a bad start and things get better from here.

Edited 28 June 2021 by Kopic

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

10 minutes ago, Kopic said:

Tried to view our first house today. Seems to have been on the market for a while, and advertised by 3 different estate agents. Photos looked alright, area we wanted, it is top end of our price range but thought we best have a look. Phoned the estate agent, informed us the owner is "a bit weird" and will only do viewings between 5 and 6. Worked for us so booked for 5. Turned up, rang the agents and told us the owner would be showing us around. I know its not abnormal but would really rather an agent show us round, but nevermind. Knock on the door, no answer. Wait a bit. Phone agent, they say they will get hold of them. Wait til 25 past, ring again, they can't get hold of him. Wait til 25 to and decide to sack it off. Shame really, wanted to get our first viewing done, almost like a practice.

 

I wonder why it's been on the market so long whilst others seem to sell the day they are advertised...

 

Hopefully was just a bad start and things get better from here.

 

Frustrating, but if it's been on the market a while already it probably needs more work than the photos on the listing are letting on

[Izzy]

2 hours ago, Kopic said:

Tried to view our first house today. Seems to have been on the market for a while, and advertised by 3 different estate agents. Photos looked alright, area we wanted, it is top end of our price range but thought we best have a look. Phoned the estate agent, informed us the owner is "a bit weird" and will only do viewings between 5 and 6. Worked for us so booked for 5. Turned up, rang the agents and told us the owner would be showing us around. I know its not abnormal but would really rather an agent show us round, but nevermind. Knock on the door, no answer. Wait a bit. Phone agent, they say they will get hold of them. Wait til 25 past, ring again, they can't get hold of him. Wait til 25 to and decide to sack it off. Shame really, wanted to get our first viewing done, almost like a practice.

 

I wonder why it's been on the market so long whilst others seem to sell the day they are advertised...

 

Hopefully was just a bad start and things get better from here.

Might just be me, but I thinks that's totally unprofessional. 

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

3 minutes ago, Izzy said:

Might just be me, but I thinks that's totally unprofessional. 

 

Maybe, but someone listing their house with 3 estate agents (i.e. very keen to sell) and then not even bothering to answer the phone or door for a scheduled viewing sounds plenty weird. If they only do 1-hour slot viewings and had to leave the house during that hour, the decent thing to do would have been to leave a note on the door and inform the agent. I would have thought they've probably had comments/complaints from other people interested in the house for them to mention it to people before viewings now

[Izzy]

6 minutes ago, Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo said:

 

Maybe, but someone listing their house with 3 estate agents (i.e. very keen to sell) and then not even bothering to answer the phone or door for a scheduled viewing sounds plenty weird. If they only do 1-hour slot viewings and had to leave the house during that hour, the decent thing to do would have been to leave a note on the door and inform the agent. I would have thought they've probably had comments/complaints from other people interested in the house for them to mention it to people before viewings now

Oh I agree the seller isn't helping themselves - totally. But if I'm the seller (a potential customer of the agent) I'd be pretty pissed if I knew they were calling me 'weird' to potential buyers.

[Leicester_Loyal]

2 hours ago, Izzy said:

Oh I agree the seller isn't helping themselves - totally. But if I'm the seller (a potential customer of the agent) I'd be pretty pissed if I knew they were calling me 'weird' to potential buyers.

*weirdo alert*

[Adster]

Our house has sold for a good price. Ridiculous demand wasn't expecting to do over 14 viewings at a weekend. 

 

Done a few viewings of houses around Hinckley, nothing too nice coming up on the market at the moment. Waiting on those Rightmove instant alerts (that are certainly not "Instant"). 

[Ian Nacho]

Will be in a position to get a mortgage towards buying my first home in around a year. Any words of advice?

[Happy Fox]

36 minutes ago, Adster said:

Our house has sold for a good price. Ridiculous demand wasn't expecting to do over 14 viewings at a weekend. 

 

Done a few viewings of houses around Hinckley, nothing too nice coming up on the market at the moment. Waiting on those Rightmove instant alerts (that are certainly not "Instant"). 

Are you set in stone on Hinckley? Nice properties in the surrounding areas.

[Milo]

14 minutes ago, Ian Nacho said:

Will be in a position to get a mortgage towards buying my first home in around a year. Any words of advice?

Be squeaky clean with your bank transactions. No gambling sites, etc. I’d also work hard on building up your credit score over the next year. 
 

Dull, but probably useful in the long run!! 
 

 

[Christoph]

49 minutes ago, Ian Nacho said:

Will be in a position to get a mortgage towards buying my first home in around a year. Any words of advice?

 

Save as much money as possible lol. 

[Trumpet]

1 hour ago, Ian Nacho said:

Will be in a position to get a mortgage towards buying my first home in around a year. Any words of advice?

Be mindful of what appears on your statements in the 3 months before you apply. Maybe extend it to 6 months. Things like depositing to gambling sites can go against you.

[rachhere]

4 hours ago, Adster said:

Our house has sold for a good price. Ridiculous demand wasn't expecting to do over 14 viewings at a weekend. 

 

Done a few viewings of houses around Hinckley, nothing too nice coming up on the market at the moment. Waiting on those Rightmove instant alerts (that are certainly not "Instant"). 

Make friends with the local estate agents so they can give you advanced notice of properties coming on the market 

[Adster]

4 hours ago, Happy Fox said:

Are you set in stone on Hinckley? Nice properties in the surrounding areas.

Looking at Houses in Hinckley, Burbage, Sapcote and Stanton

 

No offence to anyone who lives in other areas but my partner and I rule out Nuneaton, Earl Shilton and Barwell 

 

44 minutes ago, rachhere said:

Make friends with the local estate agents so they can give you advanced notice of properties coming on the market 

Did that today, started to get some properties a few hours before they go on rightmove, good stuff

[Rain King]

Just now, Adster said:

Looking at Houses in Hinckley, Burbage, Sapcote and Stanton

 

No offence to anyone who lives in other areas but my partner and I rule out Nuneaton, Earl Shilton and Barwell 

 

Did that today, started to get some properties a few hours before they go on rightmove, good stuff

Really like Sapcote. Family member recently moved there and I'd like to also.

[Adster]

3 hours ago, Trumpet said:

Be mindful of what appears on your statements in the 3 months before you apply. Maybe extend it to 6 months. Things like depositing to gambling sites can go against you.

I second this, one of my friends didn't take this advice and ran into problems with their mortgage application as deposits from Casino ATM's went against him

 

Also get a @Ian Nacho if you haven't already get yourself a credit card and if you can just set it to pay off in full at the end of each month. A year before we applied I got one and just used it to top up petrol only and paid it off in full and it boosted my credit score. Every little helps! 

[Adster]

Just now, Rain King said:

Really like Sapcote. Family member recently moved there and I'd like to also.

Agreed, lovely and peaceful area a few of my relatives live in Sapcote and Stanton and they're lovely villages. 

 

Shame not a lot of nice houses come up in my price range in those areas. Especially Burbage 

[Leicester_Loyal]

5 hours ago, Adster said:

Our house has sold for a good price. Ridiculous demand wasn't expecting to do over 14 viewings at a weekend. 

 

Done a few viewings of houses around Hinckley, nothing too nice coming up on the market at the moment. Waiting on those Rightmove instant alerts (that are certainly not "Instant"). 

Check yourself on Rightmove every hour or two, that's what I ended up doing. By the time you get the alert there's probably already about 6 viewings arranged for the property.

5 hours ago, Ian Nacho said:

Will be in a position to get a mortgage towards buying my first home in around a year. Any words of advice?

Have 6 months or 12 months of saving almost everything possible, helped me massively, think I must have saved about 85% of my wages.

 

I lived at home though and we was in lockdown, so obviously this isn't as easy for everyone.

[RonnieTodger]

Completed! Was actually a couple of days ago, but have had a load to do since. 

 

Got the keys, but move into the house properly on Tuesday. Got a shit-ton to sort out at our rented flat in the meantime, but I can't wait.

 

Started looking in March and got really downbeat about the whole shitty process. Gazumped, offers made then houses taken off the market, 20 houses viewed. That said, our mortage advisor, sellers and solicitors have all been great for this house.

Glad we made it in time for the sellers to avoid paying stamp duty too.

[Kopic]

Estate agents are already pissing me off and I've only enquired about 5 houses. Saw a perfect house today, called up and they said they are starting viewings on the 10th July. They also said they are prioritising viewings for people who use the estate agent's in house mortgage broker. Is that normal? I'm so new to all this but that sounds ****ing ridiculous. But, we have spoken to a couple advisors and not actually given the go ahead to any, so we are meeting with them in order to get a viewing the same day. The house is so nice the missus wants to make an offer without even seeing it.

 

When a listing says offers over, what's normal for that? The listing says offers over 200k so wondering what to expect really.

[FoyleFox]

Unfortunately at the moment there is no normal. Agents shouldn't be allowed to prioritise viewings for people using their broker but will get away with it due to demand. 

There isn't a normal for offers over either, some properties are selling way over, we offered £25k under the offers over price, although the house hadn't had any viewings for over a month. 

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

9 hours ago, Kopic said:

When a listing says offers over, what's normal for that? The listing says offers over 200k so wondering what to expect really.

 

Depends, but with the market as it is, when it says "offers over" the property will almost certainly get offers over that amount - what I'd do if I were you would be to drive to the area and get a feel for it before the viewing (or at least do a good Google Streetview of the street and nearby area), discuss with the missus the maximum you'd be prepared to offer, then when you do the viewing really scour everything. If the area is nice, the kitchen/bathroom don't need touching, rooms are big enough for what you'd use them for*, plastering/guttering/double glazing/electrics/roofing are in good shape then discuss again with the missus and put in an offer near your top budget if you really want the house. You can always get a survey and come back with a lower offer if things are highlighted that you hadn't originally spotted. If you and the seller are being reasonable they should still accept as they'll realise other people are likely to take out a survey

 

I would definitely recommend not offering your absolute maximum budget if the house needs any sort of work - if you've never owned before and need furniture you'll be amazed how much money you can waste in the first week of moving in just buying things you hadn't even thought about (let alone actual furniture)

 

As you are a first time buyer, it's worth noting that carpets/paint are relatively cheap things to sort out so don't let those put you off if they're not in the best shape. Also if the kitchen isn't your style but is in good shape, it's pretty cheap to just replace doors/handles and redecorate. Also bear in mind if you don't think you currently need a garden and have/planning to have kids and/or dogs it's worth considering as a lot of newer builds offer very little space by way of a garden (particularly corner plots), and obviously this is one thing you won't be able to fix at a later date!

 

Is this the first house you'll be viewing?

[Big Dave]

9 hours ago, Kopic said:

When a listing says offers over, what's normal for that? The listing says offers over 200k so wondering what to expect really.

It all depends on the demand for the house.

Many houses in the Market Harborough area have been going for about 10% above asking price.

[Kopic]

46 minutes ago, Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo said:

 

Depends, but with the market as it is, when it says "offers over" the property will almost certainly get offers over that amount - what I'd do if I were you would be to drive to the area and get a feel for it before the viewing (or at least do a good Google Streetview of the street and nearby area), discuss with the missus the maximum you'd be prepared to offer, then when you do the viewing really scour everything. If the area is nice, the kitchen/bathroom don't need touching, rooms are big enough for what you'd use them for*, plastering/guttering/double glazing/electrics/roofing are in good shape then discuss again with the missus and put in an offer near your top budget if you really want the house. You can always get a survey and come back with a lower offer if things are highlighted that you hadn't originally spotted. If you and the seller are being reasonable they should still accept as they'll realise other people are likely to take out a survey

 

I would definitely recommend not offering your absolute maximum budget if the house needs any sort of work - if you've never owned before and need furniture you'll be amazed how much money you can waste in the first week of moving in just buying things you hadn't even thought about (let alone actual furniture)

 

As you are a first time buyer, it's worth noting that carpets/paint are relatively cheap things to sort out so don't let those put you off if they're not in the best shape. Also if the kitchen isn't your style but is in good shape, it's pretty cheap to just replace doors/handles and redecorate. Also bear in mind if you don't think you currently need a garden and have/planning to have kids and/or dogs it's worth considering as a lot of newer builds offer very little space by way of a garden (particularly corner plots), and obviously this is one thing you won't be able to fix at a later date!

 

Is this the first house you'll be viewing?

Fantastic, thank you! Really really helpful. The house is an older semi with quite a big garden (and a substantial home bar in a massive shed at the end (which is staying), kitchen/bathroom look relatively recently refurbished. Planning on driving to it tomorrow to have a look at it from outside but the windows look quite new as well, as does the roof. Looks like the whole place has been done up, looks like a much newer house than the one on the other side. Obviously the photos are done to make it look as good as possible so I'm not banking everything on them but it is by far the best looking we've seen so far. The only other question mark is that it is in Earl Shilton, a place I've never actually been to or know anything about despite living quite close anyway.

 

By the time we get to see it, it will be our 3rd viewing. First is this morning, smaller place, newer build, small garden, again doesn't look like it needs much work doing but 15k more than the first.