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Buying and selling houses
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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Anyone else really struggling with the housing market at the moment?!
I've got within a week or so of exchanging and everything has gone to shit - chain falling apart, my buyers demanding a massive drop in price, mortgage rates shooting up. I have a stressful job but this house selling stuff is a whole new level of headache!
There isn't anything "wrong" with my house, I just wanted a change really. Should I shelve selling for a year or 3 and see if the market picks up/settles? Or persevere with trying again?
Any advice welcome, or share your tales of woe and we can handhold each other  It is so frustrating! |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Apparently house prices are still rising and so is rent prices.
The problem is also that many rates that were fixed during covid are now ending so people are now getting much higher rates than they were. No one knows or will say which way they think the market will go.
That said if the housing market slows or crashes then financially we are in a far worse place than we are currently. Good for people wanting to get on but crap for those on and there’s a fear people will just hand the keys back and say we can’t afford it.
Also banks are not agreeing with market values and won’t lend to that amount wanted
Look at it the other way. Now the only people who can buy are the more serious buyers. Those that have the cash or equity to buy. So the people who look out of being nosey, or are just thinking about it or whatever reason are not on the market. When I brought mine recently I had to either prove cash or that mine had sold and I had a buyer.
For me that’s the better way. Yes there will be more people through the door but those that are, are the more serious.
Just remember though yes you may be buying at a higher price but you’re also selling at a higher price so it’s all comparable |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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That's a good point you make that people viewing now are more likely to be serious buyers with cash/equity and in a good position to move forward. Rather than window shoppers. I just need to decide if I have the energy to start again I guess! |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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For me it’s down to the estate agents and time for them to earn their commission.
Vet the potential purchasers, explain the market place, give your house a realistic price, make sure they have the funds or means to the funds.
Ask the agent if they have people on their books looking for a house like yours
When I sold mine I had a great estate agent. I had 3 viewers and 2 of them wanted it. I had no problem paying them the extra quarter of a percent over the rest of the agents for that |
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By *illis92Man
over a year ago
little town by the river |
I think the market is going to fall on its arse id sit tight for a while see whats happening with mortgage rates and stuff i build new builds and its starteed to slow down a little |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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The change of offer will be due to the bank not valuing the house as the estate agent did.
You can ask the bank to do a valuation as it stands. That will guide you to the banks value. So the buyers may need a bigger cash deposit.
It costs, I think, about £200 but is worth it |
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In this area at least house prices are dropping and fast. We've been keeping an eye on s property that's dropped £30 k in the last month. New similar properties are coming on at a lower price than that.
I reckon that prices still have some way to fall due to interest rates either increasing or remaining at their current level. This makes first time buyers hesitant or unable to progress and slows the market.
If I was you I'd wait it out until things pick up. I certainly wouldn't give in to the demands if my buyer unless the house you're buying drops in price too.
It's so stressful to buy and sell, last time we did it I swore never to do it again.
Good luck whatever you decide  |
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"Anyone else really struggling with the housing market at the moment?!
I've got within a week or so of exchanging and everything has gone to shit - chain falling apart, my buyers demanding a massive drop in price, mortgage rates shooting up. I have a stressful job but this house selling stuff is a whole new level of headache!
There isn't anything "wrong" with my house, I just wanted a change really. Should I shelve selling for a year or 3 and see if the market picks up/settles? Or persevere with trying again?
Any advice welcome, or share your tales of woe and we can handhold each other It is so frustrating!"
Your buyer is playing silly buggers.
They wait to the point that they think you’re to far committed to pull out and reduce their offer.
Some people I know had the same, two weeks later the buyer was back offering the original price but my friends told them they weren’t interested in selling to them anymore.
Don’t let people play you, walk away and stay put if you aren’t in a position of having to sell. |
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By *rHotNottsMan
over a year ago
Dubai & Nottingham |
Remember all the seminars and Facebook stuff about BTL, B2R , covert to multi occupancy etc. all the people making a fortune flipping houses…
Mostly a load of crap yes, but I went to a couple and actually learnt sone invaluable stuff the agents and solicitors never tell you.
1/ you can legally do DIY conveyancing in the UK saving money and speeding up the process.
2/ each transaction is unique , know your buyers and sellers situation and work directly with them on a solution. It’s just a transaction and TR5 filing , there’s very few rules.
The last house I bought in the uk I paid the guys mortgage and lived in the house for two months while we did the transaction ourselves and saved myself nearly 20K on the purchase and fees. |
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By *a LunaWoman
over a year ago
South Wales |
"Remember all the seminars and Facebook stuff about BTL, B2R , covert to multi occupancy etc. all the people making a fortune flipping houses…
Mostly a load of crap yes, but I went to a couple and actually learnt sone invaluable stuff the agents and solicitors never tell you.
1/ you can legally do DIY conveyancing in the UK saving money and speeding up the process.
2/ each transaction is unique , know your buyers and sellers situation and work directly with them on a solution. It’s just a transaction and TR5 filing , there’s very few rules.
The last house I bought in the uk I paid the guys mortgage and lived in the house for two months while we did the transaction ourselves and saved myself nearly 20K on the purchase and fees."
As a former legal secretary I would not advise anyone to do this!
Most mortgage companies prefer you use a Solicitor because conveyancing CAN be extremely complicated process and you need to ensure all the relevant searches for your area have been completed (to make sure your house isn’t sat on top of an old mining route etc) and they need to protect themselves. Also Solicitors are covered in case something goes tits up and you have a form of recourse.
Not every buying/selling process is simple. Especially if Leasehold.
Please use people who know what they’re doing. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"
Your buyer is playing silly buggers.
They wait to the point that they think you’re to far committed to pull out and reduce their offer.
Some people I know had the same, two weeks later the buyer was back offering the original price but my friends told them they weren’t interested in selling to them anymore.
Don’t let people play you, walk away and stay put if you aren’t in a position of having to sell. "
Silly buggers is an understatement. My buyers are now saying they want me to replace the windows too, along with a drop of 15% of their offer price.
I don't particularly need to move, I've renovated my whole house so it's very comfortable and meets our needs just fine, I think staying put a few more years may be the way forward. |
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By *izzy.Woman
over a year ago
Stoke area |
My son is an Estate Agent and things are very difficult in the housing market. Many chains are collapsing as people find that they can't afford the mortgage and bills of the house they planned to buy. There's also lots of houses coming on to the market, because people can't afford the mortgages of the houses they currently live in. They need to sell quickly and so are willing to sell at a lower price to avoid getting in to a financial mess.
If you have done work to your house and don't need to move now, I'd definitely stay put. |
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"
Your buyer is playing silly buggers.
They wait to the point that they think you’re to far committed to pull out and reduce their offer.
Some people I know had the same, two weeks later the buyer was back offering the original price but my friends told them they weren’t interested in selling to them anymore.
Don’t let people play you, walk away and stay put if you aren’t in a position of having to sell.
Silly buggers is an understatement. My buyers are now saying they want me to replace the windows too, along with a drop of 15% of their offer price.
I don't particularly need to move, I've renovated my whole house so it's very comfortable and meets our needs just fine, I think staying put a few more years may be the way forward."
 honestly, who on earth do they think they are! |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"
Your buyer is playing silly buggers.
They wait to the point that they think you’re to far committed to pull out and reduce their offer.
Some people I know had the same, two weeks later the buyer was back offering the original price but my friends told them they weren’t interested in selling to them anymore.
Don’t let people play you, walk away and stay put if you aren’t in a position of having to sell.
Silly buggers is an understatement. My buyers are now saying they want me to replace the windows too, along with a drop of 15% of their offer price.
I don't particularly need to move, I've renovated my whole house so it's very comfortable and meets our needs just fine, I think staying put a few more years may be the way forward."
Tell the cheeky sods to get in the bin! |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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The buyers also wanted me to rip out the fitted bedroom furniture before completion to save them the hassle of doing it. Along with new windows throughout and fixing a slightly cracked fence panel in the back garden.
Yep, I think telling them to fuck right off is appropriate and I shall say and enjoy my nice house (with the fitted bedrooms still intact!) for a while longer! |
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"The buyers also wanted me to rip out the fitted bedroom furniture before completion to save them the hassle of doing it. Along with new windows throughout and fixing a slightly cracked fence panel in the back garden.
Yep, I think telling them to fuck right off is appropriate and I shall say and enjoy my nice house (with the fitted bedrooms still intact!) for a while longer!"
You do get this kind of thing when the balance moves towards the buyer. We know of someone who was asked to remove a large tree or reduce the house by the amount it would cost the buyer to do it. The vendor reduced the price accordingly, four years later the tree is still there. |
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"The buyers also wanted me to rip out the fitted bedroom furniture before completion to save them the hassle of doing it. Along with new windows throughout and fixing a slightly cracked fence panel in the back garden.
Yep, I think telling them to fuck right off is appropriate and I shall say and enjoy my nice house (with the fitted bedrooms still intact!) for a while longer!"
They are taking the piss..
Bin them off and stay put..  |
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We are currently in the process of buying a new place and because of the chain we are 10 months down the line and still has not been finalised. We have even had a 1 month extension on our mortgage offer from the bank and only 2 weeks ago, our solicitor company decision to dissolve the company without telling us.
This now gives us 2 weeks to get everything finalised with a new solicitor before it goes under. |
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When I was buying the house we're in now, the sellers asked (through their solicitors) if I'd cover their costs for something or other, I politely told them to shove it as I was over their asking price.
I also got the price list of things I want to keep at the property, which included the shed for a silly price. Didn't tick it, didn't care about the shed. Moved in, and guess what the shed's still there
Some people like to just take the piss a bit I think. I'd tell your buyers to shove it, if they want work doing to the house, they can have it done when they own it 
LvM |
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"The buyers also wanted me to rip out the fitted bedroom furniture before completion to save them the hassle of doing it. Along with new windows throughout and fixing a slightly cracked fence panel in the back garden.
Yep, I think telling them to fuck right off is appropriate and I shall say and enjoy my nice house (with the fitted bedrooms still intact!) for a while longer!
You do get this kind of thing when the balance moves towards the buyer. We know of someone who was asked to remove a large tree or reduce the house by the amount it would cost the buyer to do it. The vendor reduced the price accordingly, four years later the tree is still there. "
That’s not unreasonable about the tree as trees can cause insurance problems. So it’s a negotiable point in my opinion. It’s on them though if they haven’t removed it, and as costs are rising, so will the cost of tree removal.
Problems with a property give buyers leverage for negations.
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"The buyers also wanted me to rip out the fitted bedroom furniture before completion to save them the hassle of doing it. Along with new windows throughout and fixing a slightly cracked fence panel in the back garden.
Yep, I think telling them to fuck right off is appropriate and I shall say and enjoy my nice house (with the fitted bedrooms still intact!) for a while longer!
You do get this kind of thing when the balance moves towards the buyer. We know of someone who was asked to remove a large tree or reduce the house by the amount it would cost the buyer to do it. The vendor reduced the price accordingly, four years later the tree is still there.
That’s not unreasonable about the tree as trees can cause insurance problems. So it’s a negotiable point in my opinion. It’s on them though if they haven’t removed it, and as costs are rising, so will the cost of tree removal.
Problems with a property give buyers leverage for negations.
"
I agree that if the tree was in any way a risk it wouldn't have been unreasonable. They haven't removed it because it's not a risk. The buyer was just using it to get more money off. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"We are currently in the process of buying a new place and because of the chain we are 10 months down the line and still has not been finalised. We have even had a 1 month extension on our mortgage offer from the bank and only 2 weeks ago, our solicitor company decision to dissolve the company without telling us.
This now gives us 2 weeks to get everything finalised with a new solicitor before it goes under."
What a shitshow! Sorry its all such a headache for you. Fingers crossed for a miracle, hey?! |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I think if you want to continue you need to have an estate agent who gives a shit and will work hard.
The advice I was getting from mortgage brokers and estate agents at the end of last year was they didn't foresee a crash like 80's and 2008.
How property flips and investors don't have nervous breakdowns during house sale/purchase I will never know! Good luck Op |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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We all put a “cheeky offer” in and once we have the report back use that as a point of negotiation especially if anything is structural.
To make unreasonable demands such as remove the bedroom fixed wardrobes is for me a no. Any work you identify reflects your offer and any additional work from the survey may add to a new offer.
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"We all put a “cheeky offer” in and once we have the report back use that as a point of negotiation especially if anything is structural.
To make unreasonable demands such as remove the bedroom fixed wardrobes is for me a no. Any work you identify reflects your offer and any additional work from the survey may add to a new offer.
"
Some sellers do their own current survey first so they can reflect any work that needs doing in the asking price rather than having to entertain outrageous reduction requests. Not a strategy without risk but some prefer it. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"We all put a “cheeky offer” in and once we have the report back use that as a point of negotiation especially if anything is structural.
To make unreasonable demands such as remove the bedroom fixed wardrobes is for me a no. Any work you identify reflects your offer and any additional work from the survey may add to a new offer.
Some sellers do their own current survey first so they can reflect any work that needs doing in the asking price rather than having to entertain outrageous reduction requests. Not a strategy without risk but some prefer it."
My last house I sold the buyer had no survey done. He was a cash buyer, said he knew the area, was a 1950s house so should be well built, I had all the certificates for work I had done such as FENSA and for my log burner and electrical work, so he was happy to proceed at a quicker pace with no survey and the survey I had done when I brought it 16 years previous
Yet the house I brought I paid for a “full survey” which didn’t really tell me much |
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By *ugby 123Couple
over a year ago
Forum Mod O o O oo |
We had sort of the same last year, our buyer had a first time buyer on theirs who had been dragging their heals over certain things. If it had been our buyer we would have pulled out as we thought something wasn't quite right..and we were proved right as he pulled out on the day we were meant to exchange with a view to moving the following week.
This meant that our buyers had 8 weeks to find another buyer and complete as their mortgage offer would run out then and as that was the time the mortgage offers were being withdrawn they were not sure how they would stand to get another at the rate they would like.
We decided we were just going to stay where we were if it was not to be, but happily they had three people wanting to buy and they took the one that could move the fastest rather than the one who offered the most money and completed with three days spare of their mortgage running out !!
For your situation, I can't stand people who take the piss and they are taking the piss thinking you will give in because it is close to the time. I would call their bluff and be prepared to stay where I was |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"We had sort of the same last year, our buyer had a first time buyer on theirs who had been dragging their heals over certain things. If it had been our buyer we would have pulled out as we thought something wasn't quite right..and we were proved right as he pulled out on the day we were meant to exchange with a view to moving the following week.
This meant that our buyers had 8 weeks to find another buyer and complete as their mortgage offer would run out then and as that was the time the mortgage offers were being withdrawn they were not sure how they would stand to get another at the rate they would like.
We decided we were just going to stay where we were if it was not to be, but happily they had three people wanting to buy and they took the one that could move the fastest rather than the one who offered the most money and completed with three days spare of their mortgage running out !!
For your situation, I can't stand people who take the piss and they are taking the piss thinking you will give in because it is close to the time. I would call their bluff and be prepared to stay where I was"
I was told, as harsh as it is, if you have more than one offer and one is from a first time buyer avoid the first time buyer.
When they get the survey they are more likely to “panic” over words like damp etc, whereas people have had houses previously will know most houses have certain areas of concerns especially when older.
I have found surveys far too generic and non committal |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I'm currently looking to sell mine and buy another but I'm worried about mine selling before I find something so I've hesitated on putting mine up for sale. It's a catch 22 |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Just tell them to fuck off it’s very simple .. if the want the house the will pay for it … the problem since just after Covid every man and his dog was selling for more than the house was actually worth so now you have people putting houses on the market that are a shit hole but wanting the same money as the one down the street that sold but was actually done up to a good standard ! So you have the greed of people thinking they deserve that price but the difference now is loads of people have moved bought and sold in the last 2 years so it’s calmed down now I was viewing houses 18 months ago and every single house had a 1 day appointment and had to have final offers on the day ! 60 /70 people were wanting each house … I’ve looked at few in the last week and there all starting to reduce the price or would except lower offers … give it a year and there will be loads of cheaper houses |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Fix the damp ?? otherwise you’re getting a lower offer a first time buyer is desperate to get on the housing ladder ! Surely someone who has had a few houses knows it’s actually a pain in the arse to sort all that out so just go in with a low ball offer |
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By *ugby 123Couple
over a year ago
Forum Mod O o O oo |
"
I was told, as harsh as it is, if you have more than one offer and one is from a first time buyer avoid the first time buyer.
When they get the survey they are more likely to “panic” over words like damp etc, whereas people have had houses previously will know most houses have certain areas of concerns especially when older.
I have found surveys far too generic and non committal "
Poor first time buyers. They sold to another first time buyer and completed in just over 7 weeks so this one was fine |
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By *eah BabyCouple
over a year ago
Cheshire, Windermere ,Cumbria |
A few problems lie with the mortgage in principle, people are told they can have x amount so go to view houses in that price range but then the mortgage rate goes up and the bank say no to the mortgage, happened twice with us last year, very annoying, the estate agents said it was very common. |
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