| Feeling rather gutted and a little down 19:11 - Mar 22 with 5059 views | tonybied |
We've been saving for a house for what feels like forever. We're first time buyers and my mother recently has very kindly offered to top up our deposit so we can start looking sooner rather than later. Since Christmas we've been scrimping and saving to make our finances look spick and span, ready for us to make our mortgage application once we find somewhere.
Our eyes have been peeled on Zoopla, Rightmove etc since Christmas, and earlier this week, what looked and felt like the perfect property popped up! It's been a whirlwind end to the week since then. I found a well respected, local mortgage broker, we got an AIP in place, all the documents sorted. We went for a viewing of the property yesterday afternoon and we loved it. We tried our best not to fall in love with it, as we know stuff frequently happens when trying to buy property, but that's easier said than done!
The estate agent said he would call us this morning for feedback and to gauge our interest. Got the call this morning, asked a couple more questions that had been forgotten at the viewing and informed the agent that were happy to go ahead with an offer at the guide price. The agent said there had been quite a few viewings and plenty of interest, they were going to speak to all interested parties and that the vendors would make a decision on if they wanted to accept any offers by close of play today. Cue another call early in the afternoon, stating that they don't want a bidding war but there's a few offers on the table, they asked that we make our best and final offers. I told him we could stretch to another 5k and was told that he would speak to the other parties and then a final decision would be made. 2 1/2 hours of furious nail chewing ensued and the phone rings...sorry, close but no cigar! Vendor chose a higher offer.
Nothing else is available currently that seems to come remotely close, I think it may take a little time to find something else that we'll be happy to consider!
It was just our first attempt, and we know others will come along (possibly with more bumps in the road too) but the speed of it all initially and the emotion it stirred has been rather a shock to the system. It's really knocked me about a bit. It's really surprised me how some bricks and mortar I stared at for less than half an hour has affected me! I feel a little silly!
Apologies, there wasn't too much point to this rather long-winded waffle but it feels better just to get it off the chest!
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| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 12:10 - Mar 23 with 1156 views | Ryorry |
| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 09:49 - Mar 23 by tonybied |
Thanks for the tips, it's all appreciated and being added to the bank of knowledge, that currently holds a rather meagre balance! [Post edited 23 Mar 10:04]
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You’re probably already doing this, but just in case - do drive-bys at all sorts of times and days to see if there are any problems with antisocial neighbours, pubs turning out etc.
There’s a pub a few miles away that gets descended on by hundreds of bikers at lunchtime on summer Sundays. I quite like seeing them, some are vintage etc., but the noise and traffic on narrow lanes wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea! |  |
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| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 12:38 - Mar 23 with 1124 views | tonybied |
| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 12:10 - Mar 23 by Ryorry |
You’re probably already doing this, but just in case - do drive-bys at all sorts of times and days to see if there are any problems with antisocial neighbours, pubs turning out etc.
There’s a pub a few miles away that gets descended on by hundreds of bikers at lunchtime on summer Sundays. I quite like seeing them, some are vintage etc., but the noise and traffic on narrow lanes wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea! |
That's what we've done with our morning today, we had a nosey at 3 houses we'll probably contact agent in mind to viewing this week. None have that wow factor but it'll give us more viewing experience and put us on the radar of more agents in the hope they may contact us early when something suitable comes in. | | | |
| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 13:03 - Mar 23 with 1096 views | Lord_Lucan |
| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 12:38 - Mar 23 by tonybied |
That's what we've done with our morning today, we had a nosey at 3 houses we'll probably contact agent in mind to viewing this week. None have that wow factor but it'll give us more viewing experience and put us on the radar of more agents in the hope they may contact us early when something suitable comes in. |
I'm no expert but I don't think it's the sellers market that it recently was.
.......I would be tempted to look at things which are technically over your price range and make a silly offer. You never know, they might have to sell in a hurry.
I think you were unlucky to face heavy competition last time.
One more thing, if you have kids then take them round with you on any second viewing. Sellers like to think that a family is going to occupy their home - even if only subconsciously |  |
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| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 21:19 - Mar 23 with 1009 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
House buying is always stressful but ultimately you will end up with a place that is right for you. Going through the process is difficult but try to remember that one day it will be all done and forgotten. |  |
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| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 22:10 - Mar 23 with 985 views | CBBlue |
| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 20:11 - Mar 22 by Ryorry |
Similar story - vendors upped price by £70k on day of supposed exchange of contracts.
I refused, found much nicer and better house shortly afterwards (where I’m still very happy) - and it took vendors of original house another 2 years to sell that, when apparently they were all packed up ready to go, they were so sure I’d cave in 😂 |
Yes the vendors of the house we'd had an offer accepted and detailed survey done on decided to put it back on the market after our 2nd buyer pulled out as they wanted to move quickly. Gave me great satisfaction that it was still up for sale well after we had moved into our new (and better) home. |  |
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| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 22:21 - Mar 23 with 981 views | MaySixth |
Hope you feel a little better now mate - it's important to share.
You sound like you have your head screwed on and playing this the right way.
This house was just not meant to be, another will come along that will be. |  |
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| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 07:41 - Mar 24 with 907 views | peterleeblue |
| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 09:39 - Mar 23 by Churchman |
Lots of good responses in this thread.
House buying is one of the most stressful thing you will ever do. It isn’t just the costly, should have been reformed decades ago, process, it’s also that you are dealing with people who will probably not have the same standards of behaviour as you. So are certain key points in my view:
1. Don’t get disheartened, keep going. You will get what you want in the end. Persistence is everything
2. The Estate Agent is acting for the vendor, not you. But against this he wants his commission. For a property in demand, his job is easy. When times are slow, it’s difficult and the agent will work harder for the buyer to ultimately get his crust.
3. While looking, keep your discipline and keep saving! Don’t let the house buying process consume you so try and switch off from it when not actively engaged with it - if only to watch us lose at home again.
4. This is a personal thing, but in my limited dealings with this I’ve always made it clear to Agents, buyers and sellers I am not going to be messed around with. If my offer is accepted I expect it to be honoured. Have people tried it on? Yes, but I’ve stuck with that principle.
5. My word is everything to me, as is being straight with people. No bidding wars, last minute price hikes, being played off. Any of that stuff and I’m out. There are some right bits of sht out there and accepting that is important. You don’t have to be them.
6. Research and legwork. Houses, area, transport links, height above sea level, you name it. Got to be done. The internet saves visiting estate agents offices as much as you used to have to and you can filter, search etc as you have found out. But boots on the ground, meeting people, making a pest of yourself, looking at places - there’s no substitute for hard work.
7. Try not to be disappointed if things don’t go right. You are treading the same well worn path as just about everyone that’s tried to buy or sell a property.
You will get there, however down you feel. Just view it as ‘wasn’t the one’, ‘dodged a bullet’, ‘I will find a better one’ etc. |
100%....
Sadly everything you say is correct. In 3 house moves I have never had a clean move. Generally always over paying and under selling mine to get the deal done
The problem is the getting out bit once you have spent good money on Searches, Solicitor fees etc.
We were supposedly 6 days from completion and then all of a sudden "best and final offer" was required by the sellers solicitor. To our knowledge from our solicitor contacts were signed.
That was 10 years ago. The property I subsequently bought had spray foam insulation in the roof which along with other repairs has set me back a pretty penny but ultimately recovered its market value. Had to push back my retirement a few years to fund the project. Frustrating but I was lucky I had that option.
Home ownership is fraught with issues. See the positives and make the best of what you have. |  | | |
| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 09:53 - Mar 24 with 876 views | soupytwist |
You can take estate agents and some of the faffing about out of the process by asking people who don't actively have their house up for sale if they'd consider selling. I know a couple of people who have been successful with the nicely worded letter posted through the door approach recently. If there's a street or area you'd like to live in, identify the house(s) you like and drop a note through the relevant doors.
Set up a specific email address or mobile number to be contacted on and see what happens. You might find a gem. |  | | |
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| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 10:24 - Mar 24 with 836 views | Zx1988 |
There's a decent Chrome add-on for Rightmove that will show you the price history of a property, which may well give you a good steer towards properties that have been languishing for some time, and might be vulnerable to a cheeky under-bid.
Similarly, if you can, keep an eye out for properties that come back to the market following a fall-through, as those vendors may be keen to get any sort of sale agreed in order to keep their onward purchase alive. An acquaintance managed to bag a property for about £70k under it's original asking price by doing this. | |
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| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 10:49 - Mar 24 with 814 views | tivo |
Do you want to buy my house? :))
My sellers pulled out as their AIP was a load of BS and they couldn't get what they needed. | | | |
| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 12:07 - Mar 24 with 784 views | LeBlue |
It will work out just fine, I'm sure of it.
We had an offer accepted on a house about 7 years ago (full asking price). Estate Agent called us a few days later to say someone else had outbid us by £10k and did I want to go back in with a higher offer. I told them to sling their hook, I can be quite principled about these things and am really don't like being messed around.
We had had an agreement and the sellers had broken that.
Fast forward 2 weeks and the same design of house on the same road came on the market. Same price as the original price but this one had a proper extension rather than a conservatory that the first one had. Bought it and still allow myself a smug grin today every time I walk past the first house knowing I got a better house for a lower price.
Keep the faith. |  | | |
| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 12:27 - Mar 24 with 744 views | hype313 |
| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 09:44 - Mar 23 by tonybied |
To be honest, I think the guide price was a little low on the property. We've seen nothing with all the "extras" this had since we started keeping an eye on things in December. We've seen quite a few houses that ticked all our "musts", and a few of our "wants" but nothing that ticks pretty much all those and more. |
One bit of advice I have is that you'll never tick all the boxes, compromises need to be done on every house, if you can look at a room and think workable, but not ideal, then you'll find a lot more properties.
The perfect house doesn't exist, unless you have a spare £5m and build it yourself, so make sure you don't discount things out of hand, even if a few snags might not be ideal. |  |
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| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 13:50 - Mar 24 with 670 views | Parsley |
Hard not to get your heart set on a place by the time you get to the point of making an offer, you'll have imagined yourself living there. Once you do get somewhere though you'll find yourself remembering all the flaws of this one and I'm sure you'll get there even if it feels like it's taking forever at the moment. |  | | |
| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 14:17 - Mar 24 with 641 views | itfcjoe |
| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 19:57 - Mar 22 by Swansea_Blue |
The whole process sucks. I’ve been there both in your shoes and on the other side. Neither’s nice. There’s something to be said for the Scottish sealed bids approach. Once it gets to a negotiation it just causes grief. We had one where a were nearly at exchange of contract and the buyer pulled out because they said they wanted more more (it still hadn’t sold by the time we found another place, so fk ‘em lol).
We missed out on a couple of ‘ideal’ homes when we were looking for our family home. In hindsight it did us a favour and we ended up somewhere I now couldn’t imagine not living in. It took us about 15 months to find it, so keep going, try not to worry too much about it all and I’m sure you’ll find somewhere eventually. |
Heard of a number of cases recently when people are doing this basically at exchange, a couple around the Cambridge area and one local in Ipswich.
One of them, which happened to a guy who does all our groundworks, is just the guy at the top of the chain (4 below him) deciding on the day of exchange he wanted another £40k on top of the agreed price and wouldn't sell unless he got it.
The 4 below him after spending a day frantically sorting it managed to all agree to put another £6k in at every stage of the chain to give him £24k extra, he still refused and said it's £40k* more or no deal - it was no deal and the whole chain fell apart an hour ahead of exchange
*These figures may not be exactly right, but can't remember with total accuracy but it was these, or very close, to these figures |  |
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| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 17:00 - Mar 24 with 560 views | Churchman |
| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 14:17 - Mar 24 by itfcjoe |
Heard of a number of cases recently when people are doing this basically at exchange, a couple around the Cambridge area and one local in Ipswich.
One of them, which happened to a guy who does all our groundworks, is just the guy at the top of the chain (4 below him) deciding on the day of exchange he wanted another £40k on top of the agreed price and wouldn't sell unless he got it.
The 4 below him after spending a day frantically sorting it managed to all agree to put another £6k in at every stage of the chain to give him £24k extra, he still refused and said it's £40k* more or no deal - it was no deal and the whole chain fell apart an hour ahead of exchange
*These figures may not be exactly right, but can't remember with total accuracy but it was these, or very close, to these figures |
Some people are scum. I’d not have paid a penny more than the agreed price. This is just fleecing people.
Had a situation in reverse when we sold Mrs Cs deceased aunt’s house. The place was in an awful state of repair and not in the best area of Leicester.
We put it on the market and made it clear to the agent that while it was clearly going to be sold to a developer we were not going to be messed around. Well, the bits of scum certainly tried. We eventually agreed a deal with one ahole, got near to exchange and then he tried it on lunchtime the day before.
I told him that against my better judgement I was giving him until 4pm to decide yes or no at the agreed price. I’d made it clear from the off how I was doing business and what made him think I was going to allow myself to be pssed about? He tried to string it out beyond 4pm with the agent encouraging me to give him more time (he wanted his fee), but nope I told him it was off and to do one.
We had a series of jokers over time who tried it all, pointing out this that and the other in search of a bargain. I resolved it by paying out for an independent full structural survey. The exact condition of this awful property laid out and a guide to its value.
Presented with that, the sharks were left without leverage. Want it or not. Well, Mr Ahole came back on the scene offering more saying this that and the other. The Agent said what a great buyer he was (possibly had a quiet arrangement with him) and that we should accept, blah blah blah. I said no.
If the house had to be reduced to rubble, he wasn’t having it. He’d broken his agreement/word and tried it on. Estate Agent - very disappointed ‘we’d regret it etc’. But he got the message. I was paying him not the other way around.
The following day, we got a better offer from somebody else as long as we could exchange and complete in a fortnight and that we wouldn’t mess him about. Music to our ears and it was done. He got a good project at a fair price (he kindly sent pics when it was sorted - looked great) and we got what the property was worth. And the scumbag missed out.
Things always work out in the end.
Edit: always remember the dynamics of who is who. Be clear on how you do business, don’t accept being messed about. If somebody breaks an agreement they’ll do it again, be patient, persistent and polite. You are a buyer without a chain, the money is in your pocket - a position of strength. There are actually genuine people out there. You only need one and one house. [Post edited 24 Mar 17:04]
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| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 02:35 - Mar 25 with 486 views | Ryorry |
| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 17:00 - Mar 24 by Churchman |
Some people are scum. I’d not have paid a penny more than the agreed price. This is just fleecing people.
Had a situation in reverse when we sold Mrs Cs deceased aunt’s house. The place was in an awful state of repair and not in the best area of Leicester.
We put it on the market and made it clear to the agent that while it was clearly going to be sold to a developer we were not going to be messed around. Well, the bits of scum certainly tried. We eventually agreed a deal with one ahole, got near to exchange and then he tried it on lunchtime the day before.
I told him that against my better judgement I was giving him until 4pm to decide yes or no at the agreed price. I’d made it clear from the off how I was doing business and what made him think I was going to allow myself to be pssed about? He tried to string it out beyond 4pm with the agent encouraging me to give him more time (he wanted his fee), but nope I told him it was off and to do one.
We had a series of jokers over time who tried it all, pointing out this that and the other in search of a bargain. I resolved it by paying out for an independent full structural survey. The exact condition of this awful property laid out and a guide to its value.
Presented with that, the sharks were left without leverage. Want it or not. Well, Mr Ahole came back on the scene offering more saying this that and the other. The Agent said what a great buyer he was (possibly had a quiet arrangement with him) and that we should accept, blah blah blah. I said no.
If the house had to be reduced to rubble, he wasn’t having it. He’d broken his agreement/word and tried it on. Estate Agent - very disappointed ‘we’d regret it etc’. But he got the message. I was paying him not the other way around.
The following day, we got a better offer from somebody else as long as we could exchange and complete in a fortnight and that we wouldn’t mess him about. Music to our ears and it was done. He got a good project at a fair price (he kindly sent pics when it was sorted - looked great) and we got what the property was worth. And the scumbag missed out.
Things always work out in the end.
Edit: always remember the dynamics of who is who. Be clear on how you do business, don’t accept being messed about. If somebody breaks an agreement they’ll do it again, be patient, persistent and polite. You are a buyer without a chain, the money is in your pocket - a position of strength. There are actually genuine people out there. You only need one and one house. [Post edited 24 Mar 17:04]
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Well said.
I wonder if it would be possible to create and hold a register of verified buyers' reviews of vendors & vice versa. Volume wouldn't be much for private individuals, but at least it'd give some sort of indication for future reference as to the potential reliability of sellers/buyers, or whether they've messed others about in the past for no good reason. Could be summarised anonoymously eBay style - eg "seller rating (2) 99.5%".
If rogue vendors (esp corporate ones) knew that their shennanigans would result in low ratings, lower prices & reduced sales, maybe they'd stop trying to fleece people! | |
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| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 07:26 - Mar 25 with 420 views | Churchman |
| Feeling rather gutted and a little down on 02:35 - Mar 25 by Ryorry |
Well said.
I wonder if it would be possible to create and hold a register of verified buyers' reviews of vendors & vice versa. Volume wouldn't be much for private individuals, but at least it'd give some sort of indication for future reference as to the potential reliability of sellers/buyers, or whether they've messed others about in the past for no good reason. Could be summarised anonoymously eBay style - eg "seller rating (2) 99.5%".
If rogue vendors (esp corporate ones) knew that their shennanigans would result in low ratings, lower prices & reduced sales, maybe they'd stop trying to fleece people! |
Interesting idea. I like that. I think you could apply it to many things actually. You’d possibly need to beef up libel laws or do it a bit like the rules surrounding how you do job references but in principle why not? | | | |
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