| House/flat buying advice please 12:45 - Sep 5 with 6251 views | johann28 |
Spending the 'international break' weekend looking at flats to buy, and am increasingly noticing the agents putting 'offers over...' on their bumf, which I find even more irritating than 'guide price'. Does this actually mean that they won't accept an offer below the price stated or is it just agents' spin? |  | | |  |
| House/flat buying advice please on 12:51 - Sep 5 with 4961 views | eastside_r |
It's agent spin mate.
It's their not so subtle way of insinuating that the market prices are on the rise.
Remember when being shown around a flat always remember to shake the agent's hand afterwards.
Then count your fingers! |  | | |
| House/flat buying advice please on 12:56 - Sep 5 with 4944 views | BrianMcCarthy |
Ignore it, Johann. Bid at least 5% under for anything you're interested in, I'd bid 10% under myself but that's a personal choice. Then wait. And wait. And wait. Don't answer the estate agent's every call. Don't reply immediately. Pretend this is just another deal for you. Be polite but unpredictable. Don't get excited about any flat. Remember there are thousands of 'dream homes'. |  |
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| House/flat buying advice please on 12:58 - Sep 5 with 4939 views | A40Bosh |
| House/flat buying advice please on 12:51 - Sep 5 by eastside_r |
It's agent spin mate.
It's their not so subtle way of insinuating that the market prices are on the rise.
Remember when being shown around a flat always remember to shake the agent's hand afterwards.
Then count your fingers! |
Something I learned over the years is to try and get later viewings as many agents can't be arsed staying on late and then you have to be shown around by the seller. If you like the look of the place, then you have the opportunity to "talk turkey" with the seller there and then out of earshot of the agent and sometimes agree a price between you and then you can go back and tell the agent it is sorted and he has to process the offer. Agents hate it when you do this, but it can often suit the seller to talk direct to a potential buyer if they are eager to sell as agents will often player buyers and sellers off each other to drive up their own cut of the fees. |  |
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| House/flat buying advice please on 13:00 - Sep 5 with 4927 views | BrianMcCarthy |
| House/flat buying advice please on 12:58 - Sep 5 by A40Bosh |
Something I learned over the years is to try and get later viewings as many agents can't be arsed staying on late and then you have to be shown around by the seller. If you like the look of the place, then you have the opportunity to "talk turkey" with the seller there and then out of earshot of the agent and sometimes agree a price between you and then you can go back and tell the agent it is sorted and he has to process the offer. Agents hate it when you do this, but it can often suit the seller to talk direct to a potential buyer if they are eager to sell as agents will often player buyers and sellers off each other to drive up their own cut of the fees. |
Good advice, Bosh. Never thought of that. I have, however, knocked on doors before and arranged a private viewing and cut the estate agent out of the transaction altogether! | |
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| House/flat buying advice please on 13:07 - Sep 5 with 4915 views | Phildo |
Depends - London is flying at the moment and things are selling very quickly.
The agent is not a honest broker - he is the agent of the seller and should be getting the best deal for a seller not a buyer.
Look for value and trust your own instinct- there is a program i think called bumblebee you can download to work with the right move site which will show you how long a property has been on the market. |  | | |
| House/flat buying advice please on 13:13 - Sep 5 with 4897 views | Juzzie |
Propery agents are like football agents, out for what they can get for themselves under the pretence of doing their best for who they represent.
As said above try and talk turkey with the seller. I know people selling who were happy with what was offered by the potential buyer but then unbeknown to them the agent tried to get more and actually scuppered the deal. |  | | |
| House/flat buying advice please on 13:45 - Sep 5 with 4853 views | Nov77 |
Anyone notice they don't sell 'flats' anymore. They're called 'luxury lifestyle apartments' now.
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| House/flat buying advice please on 13:52 - Sep 5 with 4830 views | BrianMcCarthy |
I've just moved into a handy-sized one-bedroom flat in Dublin. I referred to it as a flat to my awl' neighbour woman who told me haughtily that I lived in an 'upawrtment blawk'. I told her that was grand but that in the middle of that block is the place where I live, and it's definitely a flat. | |
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| House/flat buying advice please on 14:25 - Sep 5 with 4776 views | Juzzie |
| House/flat buying advice please on 13:45 - Sep 5 by Nov77 |
Anyone notice they don't sell 'flats' anymore. They're called 'luxury lifestyle apartments' now.
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I grew up in a basement. We called it a basement, everyone called it a basement, mainly because it was a basement.
Now they're called "garden flats". | | | |
| House/flat buying advice please on 14:43 - Sep 5 with 4744 views | johann28 |
Thanks, all. Most helpful | | | |
| House/flat buying advice please on 14:53 - Sep 5 with 4721 views | danehoop |
Rent. The UK market is unfeasibly hyped up at the moment and becoming an unsustainable bubble that will fall just after the next election. If you do buy, take a 5 year fixed rate mortgage.
If you have to |  |
| Never knowingly understood |
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| House/flat buying advice please on 14:55 - Sep 5 with 4719 views | Toast_R |
At the end of the day a property is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. ATAF.
I got lucky with mine, some older couple desperate to sell to move nearer their Children and grand kids, had their original sale go belly up at the last minute.
Disheartended they dropped below the 250k mark to entice those who couldnt afford the stamp duty. There were quite a few offers on it but having already sold my old place and living with my Brother-Inlaw spare bedroom for the last 6 months (no chain), I was ready to do the deal there with 10k knocked off the asking price. To save a possible repeat of their first fall through, they took my offer.
Lovely House. |  | | |
| House/flat buying advice please on 15:02 - Sep 5 with 4701 views | Juzzie |
| House/flat buying advice please on 14:53 - Sep 5 by danehoop |
Rent. The UK market is unfeasibly hyped up at the moment and becoming an unsustainable bubble that will fall just after the next election. If you do buy, take a 5 year fixed rate mortgage.
If you have to |
Difficult to predict though. Property prices dropped in 2008/2009 but have been growing rapidly the last year or so.
IMO house/flat prices are dictated more by demand rather than other influences such as elections etc. The only thing that might put people off is high interest rates but they're not going to go up for a long time yet.
Demand for property is increasing all the time the population grows. Tight building regulations means new property cannot keep up with demand = rising prices.
It's all a bit of a gamble really, I don't think anyone truely knows what will happen in 3-5+ years. Some people will get it right, others won't be so lucky. I was lucky when I bought in 1999.
edit: rental prices are very high too and it's a total-loss system, you don't get anything back. [Post edited 5 Sep 2013 15:06]
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| House/flat buying advice please on 15:08 - Sep 5 with 4687 views | Hook |
| House/flat buying advice please on 14:25 - Sep 5 by Juzzie |
I grew up in a basement. We called it a basement, everyone called it a basement, mainly because it was a basement.
Now they're called "garden flats". |
Same with me.
Now I'm in a Dead End Street top floor flat.
Which is apparently described by local Estate Agents as
"A Spacious split level Penthouse Apartment with far reaching panoramic views in a sort after quiet Cul-de sac location". |  | | |
| House/flat buying advice please on 15:24 - Sep 5 with 4646 views | Juzzie |
| House/flat buying advice please on 15:08 - Sep 5 by Hook |
Same with me.
Now I'm in a Dead End Street top floor flat.
Which is apparently described by local Estate Agents as
"A Spacious split level Penthouse Apartment with far reaching panoramic views in a sort after quiet Cul-de sac location". |
Doesn't surprise me. The type of people that use "going forward" and "reach out to...".
Thing is, we just have to look through the bull and see the reality.
Is that copied and pasted off their own website? If it is, tell me who they are and I'll never use them if they can't spell 'sought' correctly.
If it was just typed in, then I apologise for being picky lol! [Post edited 5 Sep 2013 17:52]
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| House/flat buying advice please on 15:31 - Sep 5 with 4636 views | stowmarketrange |
| House/flat buying advice please on 12:58 - Sep 5 by A40Bosh |
Something I learned over the years is to try and get later viewings as many agents can't be arsed staying on late and then you have to be shown around by the seller. If you like the look of the place, then you have the opportunity to "talk turkey" with the seller there and then out of earshot of the agent and sometimes agree a price between you and then you can go back and tell the agent it is sorted and he has to process the offer. Agents hate it when you do this, but it can often suit the seller to talk direct to a potential buyer if they are eager to sell as agents will often player buyers and sellers off each other to drive up their own cut of the fees. |
We came unstuck with private viewings when we sold our house in Mitcham in 1995.One African family came round on an official visit with the estate agent.He then came round on his own to say that he couldn't deal with the agent and that he wanted to buy the house privately.Unfortunately we agreed to his demands or risked losing the sale.
We still had to pay the estate agents fees when they found out,and we had to go to Croydon court to get the money that he owed us because he didn't have all the money at the time of sale.
And the bastard turned up with his family as we were still loading up the removal van.
Be very careful people,there can be a lot to lose by not doing things officially. [Post edited 5 Sep 2013 15:32]
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| House/flat buying advice please on 15:58 - Sep 5 with 4600 views | Clive_Anderson |
| House/flat buying advice please on 14:53 - Sep 5 by danehoop |
Rent. The UK market is unfeasibly hyped up at the moment and becoming an unsustainable bubble that will fall just after the next election. If you do buy, take a 5 year fixed rate mortgage.
If you have to |
Yep. They're desperately struggling to prevent house prices falls before the election. It's totally unsustainable, but they've managed to keep it going far longer than I thought possible.
Even if they don't fall do you really want to spend hundreds of grand on a couple of rooms? |  | | |
| House/flat buying advice please on 16:25 - Sep 5 with 4558 views | stevec |
| House/flat buying advice please on 15:58 - Sep 5 by Clive_Anderson |
Yep. They're desperately struggling to prevent house prices falls before the election. It's totally unsustainable, but they've managed to keep it going far longer than I thought possible.
Even if they don't fall do you really want to spend hundreds of grand on a couple of rooms? |
They're keeping it going by not building houses.
Some day, some Government is going to have to be brave enough to build on green belt, until that happens nothing will change. Really don't care if my house fell by half in value if it meant my kids had a chance to get on the property ladder at a price they could afford. |  | | |
| House/flat buying advice please on 16:27 - Sep 5 with 4553 views | blacky200 |
Don't rely on websites to see if property is moving. Rightmove & Haart websites has my old property listed for sale and I sold and moved months ago. I would start at 10% below asking price. |  | | |
| House/flat buying advice please on 16:37 - Sep 5 with 4531 views | A40Bosh |
| House/flat buying advice please on 15:31 - Sep 5 by stowmarketrange |
We came unstuck with private viewings when we sold our house in Mitcham in 1995.One African family came round on an official visit with the estate agent.He then came round on his own to say that he couldn't deal with the agent and that he wanted to buy the house privately.Unfortunately we agreed to his demands or risked losing the sale.
We still had to pay the estate agents fees when they found out,and we had to go to Croydon court to get the money that he owed us because he didn't have all the money at the time of sale.
And the bastard turned up with his family as we were still loading up the removal van.
Be very careful people,there can be a lot to lose by not doing things officially. [Post edited 5 Sep 2013 15:32]
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I was not talking about cutting the agent out of the sale, I was specifically referring to instances where you are still using the Estate Agent services, but just talk turkey direct to the seller when you like a house/flat and agree the price there and then and then tell the agent after that you are putting in an official offer through him that you have discussed with and agreed with the seller. The Agent then has to put the offer to the seller who then agrees to it. The agent does not like it but he then takes over and earns his crust by processing the buyer and checking out his legit position to buy etc.
I know agents who will say they are waiting on a response from the seller on an offer and have not even bothered to let the seller know there is an offer on the table. They sit on a couple of days and then ring the prospective buyer back and tell them it was rejected and that there are other better offers now on the table etc.
W**kers the lot of them. | |
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| House/flat buying advice please on 17:06 - Sep 5 with 4497 views | stowmarketrange |
| House/flat buying advice please on 16:37 - Sep 5 by A40Bosh |
I was not talking about cutting the agent out of the sale, I was specifically referring to instances where you are still using the Estate Agent services, but just talk turkey direct to the seller when you like a house/flat and agree the price there and then and then tell the agent after that you are putting in an official offer through him that you have discussed with and agreed with the seller. The Agent then has to put the offer to the seller who then agrees to it. The agent does not like it but he then takes over and earns his crust by processing the buyer and checking out his legit position to buy etc.
I know agents who will say they are waiting on a response from the seller on an offer and have not even bothered to let the seller know there is an offer on the table. They sit on a couple of days and then ring the prospective buyer back and tell them it was rejected and that there are other better offers now on the table etc.
W**kers the lot of them. |
Sorry,I was just relating our story from the sellers point of view regarding private viewings.I should not have added my post to yours. | | | |
| House/flat buying advice please on 17:19 - Sep 5 with 4484 views | Clive_Anderson |
| House/flat buying advice please on 16:25 - Sep 5 by stevec |
They're keeping it going by not building houses.
Some day, some Government is going to have to be brave enough to build on green belt, until that happens nothing will change. Really don't care if my house fell by half in value if it meant my kids had a chance to get on the property ladder at a price they could afford. |
I agree with what you're saying, the lack of house building for the young is a disgrace, people have their own houses and then vote to prevent anyone else building theirs too.
But it will change eventually and mortgages last for 25+ years. | | | |
| House/flat buying advice please on 19:39 - Sep 5 with 4407 views | GloryHunter |
| House/flat buying advice please on 13:07 - Sep 5 by Phildo |
Depends - London is flying at the moment and things are selling very quickly.
The agent is not a honest broker - he is the agent of the seller and should be getting the best deal for a seller not a buyer.
Look for value and trust your own instinct- there is a program i think called bumblebee you can download to work with the right move site which will show you how long a property has been on the market. |
It's called Property Bee, and it works on Firefox. Brilliant tool.
But just remember there's a kind of hysteria driving London property prices at the moment - stoked by the government's Help-to-Buy scheme. It might be better to wait a couple of months and see if things cool off. |  | | |
| House/flat buying advice please on 20:25 - Sep 5 with 4363 views | ted_hendrix |
A couple of weeks ago my lad looked at a new house that was in the first throes of marketing on a Friday , on the Monday he paid the deposit and by the end of the week all four houses had been sold.
Seriously undervalued I'd call that.
Westberks, if you're reading this Charlie's brother is moving into the valley of the horses. |  |
| My Father had a profound influence on me, he was a lunatic. |
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| House/flat buying advice please on 21:56 - Sep 5 with 4292 views | Devonrrr |
INteresting reading. I will come clean and admit to being an estate agent albeit in Devon where we are a different bread from the ones most of you have been dealing with. My experience of London agents is very poor and I can understand why many of you have a low opinion of them. For what its worth I do not think prices will drop in the foreseeable due to the lack of building. I advise against playing any games, just come across as a reliable buyer who agent and most importantly seller will want to deal with; offer what you think the property is worth, the information on websites like Zoopla can be helpful but also missleading, just because one property sold for £x it doesnt automatically follow the next is worth £y as there are many factors which effect the final selling price. Just automatically offering 5 or 10% less than asking price can be a guarantee to start negotiations badly, do your homework and offer what you think. I totally agree that agents hate it when sellers negotiate privately with buyers; if you decide to do this ensure anything you agree is put in writing such as fixtures and fittings or timescale etc. Do not allow anybody to pressurise you, if somebody beats you to a property then it wasnt for you, move onto the next. Corporate agents in particular will try to insist you speak to their mortgage broker and use their solicitors. You do not have to speak with their broker before they submit your offer, shop around for mortgage advise. What ever you do, never ever use the solicitors which are part of the same company as the agent, they take inemptitude to a new level. Use a local independant firm, preferably one recommended to you by a friend. Sorry to waffle on but hopefully some of this helpful. |  | | |
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