The nervous wait to exchange....

[ash_scotland88]

We're finding maybe one property a month of every 1.5months we like enough to put an offer in. Been looking since last October, some seller agents seem put off by ours not even being on the market but why we would list and sell and have nowhere to go?

 

[Bug One]

To summarise ive had two roughly similar. Seems reasonable? (2.5k of that price is if i buy a 550k house

Sounds OK. I think we're paying a bit more. Compared to the cost of the house a few hundred here or there really isn't that significant - especially since our original quote included 18500 of stamp duty.

I'd rather have a recommended, experienced local firm than save a few pennies and end up with a bad solicitor.

 

[Buffman]

We're finding maybe one property a month of every 1.5months we like enough to put an offer in. Been looking since last October, some seller agents seem put off by ours not even being on the market but why we would list and sell and have nowhere to go?

Its because they dont think "youre in a position to proceed" a lot of vendors wont let you view properties around me unless they are sold

 

[Buffman]

Sounds OK. I think we're paying a bit more. Compared to the cost of the house a few hundred here or there really isn't that significant - especially since our original quote included 18500 of stamp duty.

I'd rather have a recommended, experienced local firm than save a few pennies and end up with a bad solicitor.

Agreed! Just checking it isn't way out.

 

[ash_scotland88]

Its because they dont think "youre in a position to proceed" a lot of vendors wont let you view properties around me unless they are sold

I've only bought one house as a FTB (didn't even move house as a child) but I get the impressions chains, and hold ups of chains cause someone can't find a house aren't a thing here in Scotland.
We have a solictor, estate agent lined up and given a time scale of a working week to list, which depending on demand for photographer surveyor etc could be even less.

 

[fastwunz]

I've only bought one house as a FTB (didn't even move house as a child) but I get the impressions chains, and hold ups of chains cause someone can't find a house aren't a thing here in Scotland.
We have a solictor, estate agent lined up and given a time scale of a working week to list, which depending on demand for photographer surveyor etc could be even less.

Its like going into a car garage and saying - 'ill buy that one please. Now take it off the market and dont sell it to anyone else until i have the money to do so - oh and by the way, that money is entirely dependent on me securing a buyer for my old car which isnt even for sale yet'.

I really dont understand the amount of people in this thread that find this confusing. Unless you actually have someone who wants to buy your house (the sale of which you are entirely financially dependent on in terms of your onward purchase), then why on earth would the owner of the house you have offered on accept your offer??? You could be waiting weeks or months for a buyer for your own place! The owner may aswell thank you for your interest but keep marketing it as in all likelihood, someone who has a buyer for their own place or ready funds will come along who can actually proceed.

 

[ash_scotland88]

Its like going into a car garage and saying - 'ill buy that one please. Now take it off the market and dont sell it to anyone else until i have the money to do so - oh and by the way, that money is entirely dependent on me securing a buyer for my old car which isnt even for sale yet'.

I really dont understand the amount of people in this thread that find this confusing. Unless you actually have someone who wants to buy your house (the sale of which you are entirely financially dependent on in terms of your onward purchase), then why on earth would the owner of the house you have offered on accept your offer??? You could be waiting weeks or months for a buyer for your own place! The owner may aswell thank you for your interest but keep marketing it as in all likelihood, someone who has a buyer for their own place or ready funds will come along who can actually proceed.

When you put it that way it does sound a bit silly.
But i have also bought cars before where could only pay for them through a personal loan, and again I didn't want that sitting in my account gaining interest without having a car, so the garage had to wait a few days till the loan came through into my account etc.

While we would need to sell ours to finance a new place we don't need a new or increased mortgage, any difference is made up of savings and would be a simple port over to the new property. Just after lock down was over houses in the surrounding streets could be listed on monday and under offer by the end of the week. Even before that we're in a popular area if open viewings were allowed to happen we'd probably have the traditional sunday slot then a midweek evening and an offer accepted by the beginning of the following week.

I know buyers can be put off offering a place where a seller hasn't found a house (we were/are) and keeping a house on the market without selling will only ever decrease the value over time as it makes new to the market buyers query what's wrong.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Sounds like you want the process to work around you and it doesn’t really work like that. If you have particular requirements but want to move, sell you house, rent somewhere and take your time to buy the right place for you. You of course risk not finding a place or that your requirements don’t exist within your budget but property buying is pretty risky in the grand scheme for of buying things.

 

[Mr.Stu]

.

 

[FNG]

If you buyers pay for a specialist report you can pretty much guarantee that it will be from a company that sells damp proofing and your walls will need chemical injections etc etc. If you pay for it you can at least use a firm who's priority is to determine whether you have a damp problem. You could take a chance and say no and see how much they actually care, but only you can judge that.

 

[Mr.Stu]

Good point. It does seem critical to get an independent damp surveyor without incentives for further work. Bet they are hard to find! Will get some prices before making a call.

On one hand it seems like much fuss over nothing, no visible signs of damp, been here for a long time and never had issues. On the other hand the buyers only know what’s presented on the survey, so understandably might want re assurance.

 

[mid_gen]

Instructed solicitor on Monday. Offered to pick up the paperwork as they're 5 minutes down the road. Solicitor insisted on mail only.

A week later and it's not arrived, they insist it was posted on Monday. I hope this isn't the start of another debacle....

 

[mid_gen]

Good point. It does seem critical to get an independent damp surveyor without incentives for further work. Bet they are hard to find! Will get some prices before making a call.

On one hand it seems like much fuss over nothing, no visible signs of damp, been here for a long time and never had issues. On the other hand the buyers only know what’s presented on the survey, so understandably might want re assurance.

I've used a different surveyor for this purchase, and he had a long chat with me prior to the survey explaining that in properties of a certain age that elevated damp levels in some places are to be expected, that it's the ascertaining the source of that moisture that's important.

Buying a survey is a as much about buying an insurance policy as anything else. The surveyor is liable for remediation costs if they miss anything in their report, so they are incentivised to be thorough and point anything out of note.

 

[Mason-]

Good point. It does seem critical to get an independent damp surveyor without incentives for further work. Bet they are hard to find! Will get some prices before making a call.

On one hand it seems like much fuss over nothing, no visible signs of damp, been here for a long time and never had issues. On the other hand the buyers only know what’s presented on the survey, so understandably might want re assurance.

Those damp meters are complete ********. And if you think about how they work for longer than a minute they don't stand up to any scrutiny. Poking 2 probes against a surface, all it's doing is measuring resistance across a surface. How does the person using the device account for the different resistances that the surfaces are made from? If he put it on wood, plaster, different types of paint finish, metal? They'd all register differently. They're a complete and utter con.

Read more here: https://www.heritage-house.org/damp-and-condensation/the-ping-prong-meter-guilty-of-fraud.html

British Standards - 5250: 2011 (Code of Practise for the Control of Condensation in Buildings)

B 8: Measurement of dampness
Accurate measurements of the moisture content of brick or mortar cannot be obtained by the use of electrical moisture meters because the presence of salts increases the electrical conductance of the water, giving falsely high readings. Gravimetric methods carried out on samples taken from the fabric give the most reliable results. The use of chemical absorption type moisture meters will give a result in a short space of time and be almost as reliable.

Send them back the quote from the British Standards saying do they have any evidence other than from these fraudulent damp meters? Were there any visible signs of damp? Blown masonry? Mould? Condensation? If there's no evidence tell them to jog on.

 

[roge8014]

So our buyers are coming aorund Friday to check the house again, and I hope Bug One is right that they're just wanting to see location of sockets and positioning of all their furniture.

Been getting back all our searches on the property we are buying (I think I have them all now); two things stand out:

1. The property is *just* inside a radon area (1-3% bracket), it's more likely than not that we wouldn't be affected, but the current owners Iwho bought the house in 2018 to renovate and sell) hasn't had the test done. So I've instructed our solicitors to ask for a bond to pay for a test and any potential remedial work (better safe than sorry).

2. This one worried me more. The local authority search has highlighted that there is a public footpath that cross the bottom section of the rear garden, running from left side to right and then continues directly through the neighbours garden and through their house! Both properties were built circa 1960. Its unlikely anyone will want to use the footpath (I mean they can't actually use it as the neighours proprty blocks it), but I do know that die-hard ramblers might decide to use it in the future and find they can't! Not sure what the vendors, the solicitors or we can do about it? Even when we viewed there is no evidence of the footpath anywhere around the property or outside it.

I need to find a solution that works for us on the second point as the radon issue is easily sorted, the property is the only one on the market in our area that suits our needs. I'm told our mortgage offer will be through this week all searches are done and our purchase is the last link in the chain (people we're buying off are moving into rented).

 

[Daaaavvveee]

We just put our house on the market, its been rented out for nearly 2 years, but we now want to get rid and buy where we currently rent ourselves......

Fingers crossed it moves quick!

just accepted an offer 5k below asking

 

[Ahleckz]

Found the perfect house.... It's offers over £225k, we could go to £230k, maybe £235k. It's hard to tell what the valuations are actually like right now though.

We have spoken about buying a house next year but I think we're happy to do that sooner. We ideally didn't want to go above £200k, but there doesn't need to be a penny spent on this place so can justify the extra albeit it is a good bit extra which is putting me off a bit.

Houses are selling stupidly quick at the minute it seems. We're in a complicated position where I own a flat I rent out, but I will be able to cover my half (7.5% of 15% deposit) with cash and savings. We want to sell her property (where we live), which has equity in it which will cover her half of the deposit and give her some left over.


Part of me thinks, there's no issue in viewing. And it doesn't cost anything to put an offer in on a property and see what's what (I suspect it'll go to a closing date anyway). However, the other part of me thinks that it's just a bit too much and I'm rushing in very quickly.

Mmmm...

We’re going to put an offer in!

Going £37k above offers over, and £27k above the home report value. Am I mad?

Trouble with Scotland is closing dates so you only get once chance to offer so we are going all out. For those that don’t know, closing date is the date all offers must be in for. It’s completely sealed so there’s no guidance about what to do, and after closing date the seller picks who they want.

Should find out on Thursday.

However we are going to have a second viewing - I want to double check windows are all fine, walls and floors are straight. Anything else to look for?

 

[ash_scotland88]

We’re going to put an offer in!

Going £37k above offers over, and £27k above the home report value. Am I mad?

Trouble with Scotland is closing dates so you only get once chance to offer so we are going all out. For those that don’t know, closing date is the date all offers must be in for. It’s completely sealed so there’s no guidance about what to do, and after closing date the seller picks who they want.

Should find out on Thursday.

However we are going to have a second viewing - I want to double check windows are all fine, walls and floors are straight. Anything else to look for?

Are you aware that anything over HR value you will have to pay?

We went 43k over asking for one house, and still didn't get it! I think our current house was only 6k above.

You can also submit offers before a closing date is set, but too late for that now. I want to say we lost out on a house as the seller acceptes an offer even after setting a closing date. Our solicitor wasn't happy about that!

 

[Ahleckz]

Are you aware that anything over HR value you will have to pay?

We went 43k over asking for one house, and still didn't get it! I think our current house was only 6k above.

You can also submit offers before a closing date is set, but too late for that now. I want to say we lost out on a house as the seller acceptes an offer even after setting a closing date. Our solicitor wasn't happy about that!

Yea I know that we need to pay the extra. We are both putting in equal deposit in terms of the LTV and then my partner is paying the extra to cover the offer over the home report. I have a property I’d sell next year (it’s tenanted atm) which once it sells I’d then add in what I’m due to bring us to 50% equal share.

They aren’t going to accept an offer if it’s going to closing date, especially as it’s gobe to a closing date so quickly.

 

[MarkeR]

Yea I know that we need to pay the extra. We are both putting in equal deposit in terms of the LTV and then my partner is paying the extra to cover the offer over the home report. I have a property I’d sell next year (it’s tenanted atm) which once it sells I’d then add in what I’m due to bring us to 50% equal share.

They aren’t going to accept an offer if it’s going to closing date, especially as it’s gobe to a closing date so quickly.

When I sold last year, a 2 bed bungalow in a cul-de-sac the OAPS were basically having a duel outside o see who would buy it !!!

It got to £18000 over asking and I instructed the EA to close the bidding and mark down as offer accepted, 4 or 5 days before the closing date. I was fed up and couldn't be bothered with it any more, I had budgeted for £10000 over asking, easy choice to make.