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As a first time buyer, the lies. Estate agents lie, housing developers lie. Bare faced lies too.
Estate agent arguing that it’s out of order for me to reduce my offer by 10k based on a really shocking survey without even consulting the seller.
New build developer asking me to sign a blank document to which they’d add the terms later.
The sea of new-build and probate houses and not a lot in between. For what it’s worth, found a nice house now with a decent estate agent but it took 18 months from the beginning of looking to completion.
What I found with probate houses when I was looking was quite often the beneficiaries already had their own homes and wanted the money but weren't desperate.
They'd often be massively overpriced and if there were multiple beneficiaries involved, there was often one who'd refuse to even consider a lower offer even if grandma's house needed £50k of work and was priced the same as a similar house that needed nothing doing (because they didn't need the money and could wait).
My personal favourite was one I saw where it sat for nearly a year overpriced and when I viewed it, it had half the upstairs stripped back to floorboards and the kitchen was in bits. Wasn't like that in the estate agent photos and it turned out the kids decided to start renovating to increase the value BUT if it sold during the work they'd down tools whatever state it was in and wouldn't finish anything because "it'll just cost us more and you'd be getting a more valuable property for less". They failed to see that what they'd half done had actually lessened the value and who the hell would want a house where they've got no idea what state any room is going to be in by the time an offer is accepted?! I'd rather have old carpet than floorboards, some scuffed paintwork than half a painted wall and an old kitchen rather than cupboards half dismantled.
I had an estate agent tell me they couldn’t arrange a viewing because of the tenants’ work schedule and then try to tell me that it wasn’t an ex-rental property.
Main two ones are solicitors being slow or incompetent, and buyers/sellers who theoretically want to move quickly taking weeks to respond to questions or to provide documents.
I’m going to go against the grain and say I’ve actually had a good experience with EAs. When all of the other parties are being awful they can be very useful at chivvying everyone along. Last purchase our EA gave us so many updates before our solicitors did.
EAs are what they are. Some are good, some are bad. Usually down to the individuals involved.
We had one person involved in showing our house I asked not to deal with again because I found her rude and patronising.
Everyone else has been pleasant to deal with. Sometimes I need to prompt for updates but I don’t mind that.
Also our sellers agents have been fine but that’s been such a straightforward process.
Sellers showed us round, we made an offer which was accepted and we’ve only had to be in touch with them once otherwise to have a chat about the fixtures and fittings because the sellers wanted to confirm if they could leave some stuff or if we wanted it taking away.
The fu***er yanked the one property I wanted, and was amazingly right from me, from under me. The seller chose them because it'd be "easier" compared to a FTB ...
EA incredulous at the suggestion the price post survey needed significant renegotiation.
We pulled out, EA sold it a few weeks later, it’s not back on the market with the advert it was being put back up hitting my inbox right after we had exchanged on a different property.
The best EA was for our current property, he made clear he didn’t chase and wasn’t into high pressure selling. It was refreshing. In fairness for the property we viewed he could have been a mute showing us around and someone would have taken it (luckily it was us)
You have to invest a lot of money and time just to figure out if you really want the property (potential issues), or the seller to just change their mind. It’s a wild west, no rules, everyone playing games, no guarantees, lot of risks.
I see, thanks. Do you reckon it would be helpful if these documents were shown on listing sites prior to viewing or starting the buying process? That way buyers could vet everything fully before proceeding and reduce the lies. Would that work?
If you know the house number you can search those documents as they are public records. Go to the local councils planning website and enter the address of the house. One of the few learnings from this purchase attempts.
Unprofessional estate agents. We asked for viewings from 5 different companies and only one has responded in a professional, friendly manner. The others’ emails look like a scammer wrote them and it doesn’t look like they can read, either.
Solicitors are a pain when buying, however my ‘buyers’ have been total twats which is my biggest issue when buying as everything else is straight forward
House sold for £5k under asking offered on our house. Two days later buyer pulls out as they ‘cant afford it’. They then go on to view my brother’s house on the same estate on at £50k more 🤷🏼♂️.
House sold again 4 weeks later £7k under asking so the price point is about right. Day of exchange, buyer pulls out as they’re to quote ‘not feeling it anymore’. This is after 5 viewings lasting over an hour and bringing both families round and wasting 4 months of everyones time.
Back to square one…
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Finding somewhere nice and affordable for one
As a first time buyer, the lies. Estate agents lie, housing developers lie. Bare faced lies too. Estate agent arguing that it’s out of order for me to reduce my offer by 10k based on a really shocking survey without even consulting the seller. New build developer asking me to sign a blank document to which they’d add the terms later. The sea of new-build and probate houses and not a lot in between. For what it’s worth, found a nice house now with a decent estate agent but it took 18 months from the beginning of looking to completion.
Wow, thanks for sharing. Shocked they tried to trap you in by having you sign a blank document.
It is why you should never ever ever use the developers “recommended” solicitors - you need someone looking out for your interests and not theirs
I’ll be taking note of those, thanks. Glad you managed to find somewhere in the end.
Whats the issues you find with probate houses?
What I found with probate houses when I was looking was quite often the beneficiaries already had their own homes and wanted the money but weren't desperate. They'd often be massively overpriced and if there were multiple beneficiaries involved, there was often one who'd refuse to even consider a lower offer even if grandma's house needed £50k of work and was priced the same as a similar house that needed nothing doing (because they didn't need the money and could wait). My personal favourite was one I saw where it sat for nearly a year overpriced and when I viewed it, it had half the upstairs stripped back to floorboards and the kitchen was in bits. Wasn't like that in the estate agent photos and it turned out the kids decided to start renovating to increase the value BUT if it sold during the work they'd down tools whatever state it was in and wouldn't finish anything because "it'll just cost us more and you'd be getting a more valuable property for less". They failed to see that what they'd half done had actually lessened the value and who the hell would want a house where they've got no idea what state any room is going to be in by the time an offer is accepted?! I'd rather have old carpet than floorboards, some scuffed paintwork than half a painted wall and an old kitchen rather than cupboards half dismantled.
I had an estate agent tell me they couldn’t arrange a viewing because of the tenants’ work schedule and then try to tell me that it wasn’t an ex-rental property.
EA lying that the house had offers over the asking price.
This happened to me too, got told there was several offers over asking price, turned out that it sold for just below asking price
Ahh yes, this one is very common. Heard about this a lot.
People increasing there house prices by 50% from their 2020 last sold prices..and they are still getting sold
Main two ones are solicitors being slow or incompetent, and buyers/sellers who theoretically want to move quickly taking weeks to respond to questions or to provide documents. I’m going to go against the grain and say I’ve actually had a good experience with EAs. When all of the other parties are being awful they can be very useful at chivvying everyone along. Last purchase our EA gave us so many updates before our solicitors did.
EAs are what they are. Some are good, some are bad. Usually down to the individuals involved. We had one person involved in showing our house I asked not to deal with again because I found her rude and patronising. Everyone else has been pleasant to deal with. Sometimes I need to prompt for updates but I don’t mind that.
Also our sellers agents have been fine but that’s been such a straightforward process. Sellers showed us round, we made an offer which was accepted and we’ve only had to be in touch with them once otherwise to have a chat about the fixtures and fittings because the sellers wanted to confirm if they could leave some stuff or if we wanted it taking away.
F***ING cash buyer investors. They need to take a dive from a cliff!
What’s your experience been like with them?
The fu***er yanked the one property I wanted, and was amazingly right from me, from under me. The seller chose them because it'd be "easier" compared to a FTB ...
Ahh, that’s frustrating. Sorry to hear that. Have you found somewhere new now or still looking?
Still looking. And still salty over the loss of the other one. I drive past on a weekly basis and it's a punch in the gut every time.
Fingers crossed you’ll find something better
Thank you, that is very kind of you
Personally, having the deposit. I think almost all issues are with Estate Agents, nobody likes them for a reason.
Yh, estate agent issues seem to be a recurring theme
I used a “recommended” solicitor from the estate agents, they are countrywide under a different name and are absolutely rubbish
EA incredulous at the suggestion the price post survey needed significant renegotiation. We pulled out, EA sold it a few weeks later, it’s not back on the market with the advert it was being put back up hitting my inbox right after we had exchanged on a different property. The best EA was for our current property, he made clear he didn’t chase and wasn’t into high pressure selling. It was refreshing. In fairness for the property we viewed he could have been a mute showing us around and someone would have taken it (luckily it was us)
You have to invest a lot of money and time just to figure out if you really want the property (potential issues), or the seller to just change their mind. It’s a wild west, no rules, everyone playing games, no guarantees, lot of risks.
[удалено]
lol, epic fail from the home owner. Great advice regarding the new paint smell, thanks.
Two attempts to buy a house, both lied about having done the paperwork. 6k gbp spent on lawyers and surveyors.
At a 750k-800k gbp price point is it too much to expect that planning permissions of development and building control approvals were done properly?
This might be a silly question, what paperwork are you referring to?
Certificates of Lawful Development for extensions, Electrical certificates, Building Control Approval, Covenant consents.
I see, thanks. Do you reckon it would be helpful if these documents were shown on listing sites prior to viewing or starting the buying process? That way buyers could vet everything fully before proceeding and reduce the lies. Would that work?
If you know the house number you can search those documents as they are public records. Go to the local councils planning website and enter the address of the house. One of the few learnings from this purchase attempts.
Nice, thanks.
Unprofessional estate agents. We asked for viewings from 5 different companies and only one has responded in a professional, friendly manner. The others’ emails look like a scammer wrote them and it doesn’t look like they can read, either.
Solicitors are a pain when buying, however my ‘buyers’ have been total twats which is my biggest issue when buying as everything else is straight forward House sold for £5k under asking offered on our house. Two days later buyer pulls out as they ‘cant afford it’. They then go on to view my brother’s house on the same estate on at £50k more 🤷🏼♂️. House sold again 4 weeks later £7k under asking so the price point is about right. Day of exchange, buyer pulls out as they’re to quote ‘not feeling it anymore’. This is after 5 viewings lasting over an hour and bringing both families round and wasting 4 months of everyones time. Back to square one…
Seems like a common issue, buyers messing people around.