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Buying a House
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Me and my boyfriend are looking to buy a house. At the moment we're renting and our contract is up in a couple of months. We've got a mortgage arranged so now all we need is somewhere to buy.
We've called all the local estate agents to tell them we're looking and we check rightmove.co.uk every day for new properties. We've asked to view 4 houses so far (since 3rd January) and to date we haven't viewed any. The agents keep telling us that they can't get in touch with the vendors (sellers) to arrange viewings. Is this because they've all gone on holiday? Do the vendors not want to sell their homes or something? Three of the four we want to view have disappeared from rightmove.co.uk which suggests they're now sold or off the market which is very frustrating as we haven't been told anything.
As first time buyers with a large sum of cash to buy we thought we would have no trouble at all.
Has anyone else had trouble buying a house? We're not getting any joy whatsoever from estate agents and it is getting us down a little bit now!
We've called all the local estate agents to tell them we're looking and we check rightmove.co.uk every day for new properties. We've asked to view 4 houses so far (since 3rd January) and to date we haven't viewed any. The agents keep telling us that they can't get in touch with the vendors (sellers) to arrange viewings. Is this because they've all gone on holiday? Do the vendors not want to sell their homes or something? Three of the four we want to view have disappeared from rightmove.co.uk which suggests they're now sold or off the market which is very frustrating as we haven't been told anything.
As first time buyers with a large sum of cash to buy we thought we would have no trouble at all.
Has anyone else had trouble buying a house? We're not getting any joy whatsoever from estate agents and it is getting us down a little bit now!
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Comments
As for why the agents can't get you into the house it does seem a bit odd to me - usually if the seller isn't living there or on holiday they will leave the keys with the EA to arrange viewings on their behalf......what reasons have they given you? FWIW I wouldn't buy right now unless you get a really good deal and you're not stretching yourself to pay the mortgage, interest rates are rising so it may be worth waiting a few months to see what the market's doing....just my 2p, good luck though.
Though I don't know much of anything, if interest rates are going up, wouldn't she want to get a fixed rate for 2 years thus be paying back less than she would if she waited 2 months. My mum was lucky and I think is paying interest at half the current rate or something.
But again, I'm no expert. Bumblebee, all Ic an advise is perseverence, try more than one estate agent if possible as it widens your avenues, oh and best of luck with the new house
yes you can usually sign up to a fixed rate term for a few years, so if you bought a few years back when base rates were about 3.5% you will be paying well below current rates, until your fixed term runs out anyways....people coming off their fixed rates in the near future will be hurt by the 50% rise since September last year, the 0.25% rise a few days ago was a bit of a shock, and while not much in itself it is the trend that is more worrying....the inflation figures are due out next week which could explain the MPC's decision, and the money markets have already priced in future rises so i would say these are interesting times....
bottom line is buying a house in today's environment just isn't that straightforward, it's worth doing your own research before you jump in...
What I think is frustrating is the thousands of people who own several homes and buy them to join the buy to let market. So many people are doing it now it's forced house prices up - especially out of the range of most first time buyers. Just goes with the income figures for the UK these days - the gap is wider now between the rich and poor (something to do with a gini coeffecient) than anytime in the last 30/40 years.
Good luck with it
The agent will usually say that they will try and get in touch with the vendor and that they will call you back. Well I always used to call them if they hadn't called by x time. In any case you could call them every couple of days to find out if there are any new properties on the market and remind them that your still looking. I also dealt usually with one person from each agency so when I called I could ask for "John" and be friendly "hi how are you, hows the search for properties going have you got any viewings lined up for us this weekend, we contacted x,y and z agencies this morning and we are viewing properties every evening this week."
Some agencies ask you to come in for a meeting prior to viewing the property and want to do credit checks etc, you really don't have to do that, so don't let them put any pressure on you having to do that before viewing the houses.
Any way good luck!
The only reasons we have been given is that they cannot get in touch with the vendor! As for not buying now, we have too because, as I said, the contract on our place is up at the end of March. We've secured a fixed rate for a fair few years and we're happy we have a good deal.
I've got my fingers crossed for you because I know what a pain in the ass moving house is. My other half looks viewing houses but I absolutely hated it, especially on the occasions when it was the actual vendor that showed us around.
My only advice is ... keep looking, register at all the estate agents and tell them what you're looking for, and make lots of viewings, even for houses that you don't think that you're gonna like - often you'll be pleasantly surprised.
That's very good advice and worked for us when we were buying. If you're friendly with a particular agent, they'll think of you first. We were actually shown quite a few properties before they were advertised because of this.
January is a very quiet time for looking for a house; people don't want to move around Christmas, and the new-build market (which drives completions in November and December as builders look to finalise completions before year end) isn't driving completions forward.
As for timsecales, I think March is going to be optimistic to move out, to be quite honest. I deal with straightforward first-time-buyer conveyancing at the minute and it usually takes about 6-8 weeks from when we are instructed, and that's if there is no chain. A chain can delay things more.
If you haven't yet done so you should have a look at finding a firm of solicitors to deal with the conveyancing, get a few quotes. Don't just use the solicitor recommended by the agent, as the agent is usually getting a kickback from the recommendation and the recommended firm is not always the best or the cheapest. That said, we're the recommended firm for Your Move (north east) and Pattinson, and we're pretty good (even if I say so myself), if a bit on the pricey side.
I don't think the market is going to change much, and I do think that interest rates are going to rise some more. It depends on the mortgage deal, really, mine's a cracker of a deal with Coventry Building Society and I'm laughing all the way with my 4.85% fixed rate until 2010
But, we got there in the end - just go with your gut instincts and as long as you don't mind putting a bit of cosmetic work into a property you should b fine. Good luck!