Making offers on houses

[marty21]

I'm trying to buy a flat at the moment.

The first one I made an offer on was on for £200k. I offered £230k as did 35 other people. They gave it to a cash buyer.

I haven't seen one go for less than asking price, yet.

Usually there is between 6 hours and 3 days to get your offer in, before the flat is gone.

I'd hate to buy at the moment, it seemed mega stressful in 1996 when we were buying, must be mega+++++ stressful now

 

[MBV]

I'm trying to buy a flat at the moment.

The first one I made an offer on was on for £200k. I offered £230k as did 35 other people. They gave it to a cash buyer.

I haven't seen one go for less than asking price, yet.

Usually there is between 6 hours and 3 days to get your offer in, before the flat is gone.

Is that in London? Sounds fun.

 

[joustmaster]

Is that in London? Sounds fun.

yup.
its a bit crackers.

thats for a small one bedroom place with no outdoor space, too.

 

[sheothebudworths]

I'm only on urban for the maths, tbf, marty :-|

 

[Shirl]

I put an offer on a house on Saturday. There was a lot of interest and now it's down to last and final offers on Friday at noon.
I really want it but as we still have a place to sell, I think even if I put in the highest offer they may go for the one who can complete first
Bloody buying/selling houses is stressful shit

 

[joustmaster]

I put an offer on a house on Saturday. There was a lot of interest and now it's down to last and final offers on Friday at noon.
I really want it but as we still have a place to sell, I think even if I put in the highest offer they may go for the one who can complete first
Bloody buying/selling houses is stressful shit

Over half of the places i have seen's owners are temporarily moving to rented flats to avoid this.

good luck, though!

 

[Shirl]

Over half of the places i have seen's owners are temporarily moving to rented flats to avoid this.

good luck, though!

I think we may end up doing that

 

[MBV]

I saw four houses yesterday. Two of which I have discounted. Of the two I liked, one requires a fair bit of work inside including a new front window(!) and a new bathroom. The second is in a better condition and I prefer the upstairs layout.

It could be argued the first is in a better road despite only being a stones throw from the second house. If anyone is familiar with the west side of Birmingham please PM me as I'd appreciate your thoughts on the roads the houses are in.

It was a tiring day.

 

[MBV]

Made an offer which was rejected. Someone else made a higher offer. Stress.

 

[Manter]

Made an offer which was rejected. Someone else made a higher offer. Stress.

We had stress and hassle and stress until the house we have now where it all fell into place. It's a roller coaster, it isn't easy, but it will all fall into place. Eventually

 

[MBV]

Seems to be a balance between head and heart especially with another buyer involved.

 

[bubblesmcgrath]

I've always found house-buying a little weird tbh. Go in, have a look around, agree to stump up a vast sum of money that you will spend the rest of your working life paying off. Even with a second visit, it's still a ridiculously short time to decide on somewhere to live for the forseeable future.
I spend more time standing in the supermarket deciding which brand of laundry detergent to buy.

When I was a kid my summer holidays were spent visiting houses that were for sale ....sometimes the same house twice. My dad would put in offers every summer on a house..sometimes on three houses lol.... Every year he'd say "I'll offer what it's worth" .. it was like a bug. First sign of sunny weather and we were off...
Happy days lol

 

[StoneRoad]

Assuming that other buyer is not a *figment of the imagination* by an estate agent / vendor ........... which happened to me quite a few years ago ! (I found out by a roundabout route well after I had agreed to buy somewhere else)

 

[MBV]

Assuming that other buyer is not a *figment of the imagination* by an estate agent / vendor ........... which happened to me quite a few years ago ! (I found out by a roundabout route well after I had agreed to buy somewhere else)

When I was at the house for my second viewing. Someone else was viewing it for the first time. I think they are the other party. Sods.

 

[MBV]

It's going to full and final offers. :-/

 

[moonsi til]

Sadly it happens..but don't let yourself be rushed. There will be lots more houses..decide what's most important then try & not to compromise too much such as semi, drive, 3 beds, good windows etc..sounds like you are ready to buy which will help things along greatly.

 

[MBV]

Got this evening to consider what it will be. Everyone cross their fingers that the people viewing it tonight don't make an offer

 

[MBV]

Offer accepted

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Now comes the stress of getting the mortgage offer, engaging solicitors and doing all the rest or the pre-move planning. All whilst hoping that no one pulls out or screws up the process.

<hijack>My offer was accepted on Tuesday as well. </hijack>

 

[MBV]

Yes, currently wrangling over the type of mortgage. Thinking fixed so I know where I am.

 

[Roadkill]

I'd go for a fixed rate. Interest rates are going to go up at some point, and possibly quite quickly. You don't suddenly want to get stung with much higher repayments.

 

[MBV]

Bob_the_lost how's your purchase going? I'm hoping to move mid October but other side's solicitors are useless.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Bob_the_lost how's your purchase going? I'm hoping to move mid October but other side's solicitors are useless.

Ours trundles on, we are waiting for their solicitors to answer some questions (god only knows what those questions are) then we can exchange.

We're hoping to have the keys this month and then get the builders in to do the central heating...

 

[maomao]

god only knows what those questions are

My move was held up for two weeks because our lawyer decided (without asking us) that it was really important to start a fight with their lawyer about whether the skylight in the completely uninhabitable loft had a fire escape certificate or not.

 

[8den]

Looking at places below the stamp duty threshold (£125K). Does it still hold that my first offer should embarrass me? Also surely sellers pricing their houses at £130K will know they will knocked down at least £5K?

dfm we were in a bidding war in house that was on the cusp of the threshold. On one of our viewings we discovered the owners were emigrating to SA. So we offered just under the asking price and 5k for the white goods (fridge, oven, washer, drier etc) `That way everyone was happy. Just a thought. Its a cheeky way to get around the threshold.

If anyone from her IR are reading this I've not been a UK resident for 5 years so

 

[Boudicca]

My move was held up for two weeks because our lawyer decided (without asking us) that it was really important to start a fight with their lawyer about whether the skylight in the completely uninhabitable loft had a fire escape certificate or not.

I had a similar one. My solicitor was very concerned that the flat did not have a front door marked on the plans.

I assured her that there really was one and even went round and took a photo for her.

 

[Chz]

Depends on the area. All my knowledge comes from property programs on the tv though.

Oh good lord, I saw an episode of L3 (why doesn't the superscript code work here?) the other day where the couple were outbid on a 1 bedroom basement flat in Brixton. It went for over half a million. Makes you want to give up and go live in a lock up.

 

[stuff_it]

Oh good lord, I saw an episode of L3 (why doesn't the superscript code work here?) the other day where the couple were outbid on a 1 bedroom basement flat in Brixton. It went for over half a million. Makes you want to give up and go live in a lock up.

Can you afford a lock-up in London?

 

[Chz]

Possibly, though I haven't really kept track of things since we bought 3 years back. I do know that the bank offered a lower mortgage rate after a year because the value of the place had shot up enough to put us into a better LTV bracket. The insanity of that did shock me a bit.

FWIW, we paid asking price on our place minus a symbolic £1000 just to say that we didn't, in fact, pay the asking price. Silly, I know.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

dfm - We just got our paperwork through so may be able to exchange shortly. How's yours going?

Obviously we won't get the keys this month but we might be in by the end of next month!