Currently buying/selling a house? How is it going? READ MOD NOTE POST #1

GrumPy

GrumPy wrote: »

Our mortgage is set to drawdown tomorrow, we should have keys for Friday. There were final checks completed today, and one question raised to verify the loan amount with solicitor, but it was handled quickly.

Still so much anxiety until we get keys, I won't believe it to be true until then.

So we got drawdown just before KBCs 14:30 daily deadline. But not without a last minute document request at 12:30...
Money in solicitors account. But, (there's always a but) contract is missing a signature on a page, so won't be sorted until tomorrow. Keys on Friday becoming less and less likely!

goingagain

We finally got the last document we were waiting on so we’re all on track for closing on Friday.

hao123

Any idea how many days is the least to be between snagging and closing? is it okay moving in just 3 days after snagging (provided no fatal issues)? Thanks.

cubatahavana

hao123 wrote: »

Any idea how many days is the least to be between snagging and closing? is it okay moving in just 3 days after snagging (provided no fatal issues)? Thanks.

We moved two weeks after snagging and still had some issues to sort. They’re slowly doing them now. Make sure that they’ll be sorted and/or if you care. Sometimes the builders come in to fix one thing and they break another due to carelessness

cojomo2

Sweetaure wrote: »

If the construction sector can reopen on March 5th, will physical viewings be allowed? I presume they will...

I hope so. Its on the papers this morning that current level 5 restrictions will be extended to Easter:(

I hope sense prevails and they allow viewings to start again next month but I'm not hopeful...

Rusky rusky

cojomo2 wrote: »

I hope so. Its on the papers this morning that current level 5 restrictions will be extended to Easter:(

I hope sense prevails and they allow viewings to start again next month but I'm not hopeful...

I hope they will allow viewings of occupied houses. We’re sale agreed on a house and put our own house for sale this week. But we’re unable to sell our house until the viewings are resumed. Although we think the sellers won’t pull the plug for now as their house is also occupied, this is still not good! It’s a joke at this point.

DataDude

Hi all, new to forum and have spent a bit of time trying to find others who have asked the same question but there's a lot of posts! Apologies if this has been answered before!

We are potentially looking to buy a house in the coming weeks/months, with mortgage approval in place. We're FTB'ers so not involved in a chain but also not cash buyers. The segment we are looking in is the €900k - €1.2m range which I have been told before is heavily stacked with cash buyers. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge as to whether we are likely to lose out to cash buyers offering less than us purely because the seller doesn't want to wait on all the additional requirements/delays come with a mortgage purchase (especially in COVID times)? I'm assuming the answer to the above is yes, and if so, would be interested in any anecdotes on whether this is a problem that can be solved with an additional ~€10k or is it much bigger than that?

JimmyVik

Strange thing just happened.
I closed on a house couple of months ago.
i havent moved in yet as I got the walls injected with insulation and I just havent got the time to paint the place and move my stuff in.

So this morning the estate agent I bought it with called me and said he had an offer for me from someone who approached him and offered to buy the house now. They offered 15% more than I paid for it + extra for my legal fees and commission to the EA. Im actually tempted.

DataDude

JimmyVik wrote: »

Strange thing just happened.
I closed on a house couple of months ago.
i havent moved in yet as I got the walls injected with insulation and I just havent got the time to paint the place and move my stuff in.

So this morning the estate agent I bought it with called me and said he had an offer for me from someone who approached him and offered to buy the house now. They offered 15% more than I paid for it + extra for my legal fees and commission to the EA. Im actually tempted.

Any idea on the CGT implications of this? Suspect your intention was for it to be your PPR, but not sure if this is likely to be affected by fact you've never actually lived in it! Doubt there's much guidance/precedent on this as it sounds like a fairly unique situation but might be worth considering whether 33% of the gains you're mentally banking might be taken away!

aquinn

DataDude wrote: »

Hi all, new to forum and have spent a bit of time trying to find others who have asked the same question but there's a lot of posts! Apologies if this has been answered before!

We are potentially looking to buy a house in the coming weeks/months, with mortgage approval in place. We're FTB'ers so not involved in a chain but also not cash buyers. The segment we are looking in is the €900k - €1.2m range which I have been told before is heavily stacked with cash buyers. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge as to whether we are likely to lose out to cash buyers offering less than us purely because the seller doesn't want to wait on all the additional requirements/delays come with a mortgage purchase (especially in COVID times)? I'm assuming the answer to the above is yes, and if so, would be interested in any anecdotes on whether this is a problem that can be solved with an additional ~€10k or is it much bigger than that?

We aren't FTB and found an amazing house. Weren't in a chain but they went with a higher offer and others with the chain. Turns out we lost out on it by 5k thanks to the PPR information. Really thought we were in a stronger position with no chain but just can't predict what the seller is after. House went 65k over asking.

Dick Turnip

DataDude wrote: »

Hi all, new to forum and have spent a bit of time trying to find others who have asked the same question but there's a lot of posts! Apologies if this has been answered before!

We are potentially looking to buy a house in the coming weeks/months, with mortgage approval in place. We're FTB'ers so not involved in a chain but also not cash buyers. The segment we are looking in is the €900k - €1.2m range which I have been told before is heavily stacked with cash buyers. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge as to whether we are likely to lose out to cash buyers offering less than us purely because the seller doesn't want to wait on all the additional requirements/delays come with a mortgage purchase (especially in COVID times)? I'm assuming the answer to the above is yes, and if so, would be interested in any anecdotes on whether this is a problem that can be solved with an additional ~€10k or is it much bigger than that?

You are in a completely different bracket to me, but I would have thought that €10K will make feck all difference to someone looking for €1.2M!

Also, not to pry too much but FTB with a budget >€1M?! That's quite a lot of avacado toast skipped in the last few years! :pac:

JimmyVik

DataDude wrote: »

Any idea on the CGT implications of this? Suspect your intention was for it to be your PPR, but not sure if this is likely to be affected by fact you've never actually lived in it! Doubt there's much guidance/precedent on this as it sounds like a fairly unique situation but might be worth considering whether 33% of the gains you're mentally banking might be taken away!

Dont know at all.
Totally came out of the blue.

It is my PPR and i lost my FTB status a long time ago anyway.
I have to work out if I have to move in for a while and how much I need to make up for what ive spent on buying it. The only money Ive spent refurbishing it after i closed is €1100 to get the walls injected with insulation.

Markitron

JimmyVik wrote: »

Dont know at all.
Totally came out of the blue.

It is my PPR and i lost my FTB status a long time ago anyway.
I have to work out if I have to move in for a while and how much I need to make up for what ive spent on buying it. The only money Ive spent refurbishing it after i closed is €1100 to get the walls injected with insulation.

I'm not sure what the 15% amounts to, but if I was in your position it would have to be an awful lot to tempt me, as buying a house right now is a nightmare.

DataDude

aquinn wrote: »

We aren't FTB and found an amazing house. Weren't in a chain but they went with a higher offer and others with the chain. Turns out we lost out on it by 5k thanks to the PPR information. Really thought we were in a stronger position with no chain but just can't predict what the seller is after. House went 65k over asking.

Thanks for info, and sorry you missed out! Assume the pecking order is very clear: Cash, Mortgage Only, Chain. Would be interested to know is there any rough rule on "how preferential one is to the next" in monetary terms.

I'm not so concerned (optimistic!) about underbidding a person in a chain and being successful, more pessimistic about scenario where we are the highest bidder but having EA's ringing back saying "you'll have to go a bit more as we have a cash buyer snapping at your heels"!

DataDude

Dick Turnip wrote: »

You are in a completely different bracket to me, but I would have thought that €10K will make feck all difference to someone looking for €1.2M!

Also, not to pry too much but FTB with a budget >€1M?! That's quite a lot of avacado toast skipped in the last few years! :pac:

Yeah you're probably right which is my big fear. I don't think I could stomach paying €50K+ more than the next highest bidder just to comfort the poor seller worried about my mortgage taking too long...but perhaps that's the reality we will face. Time will tell.

Have always hated Avocado - I think that is the secret to this house buying game

JimmyVik

aquinn wrote: »

We aren't FTB and found an amazing house. Weren't in a chain but they went with a higher offer and others with the chain. Turns out we lost out on it by 5k thanks to the PPR information. Really thought we were in a stronger position with no chain but just can't predict what the seller is after. House went 65k over asking.

I really dont think a chain matters anymore.
What seems to happen now is the buyer makes an offer and its accepted.
Then nearer closing the buyer comes out and says their offer is lower because of x, y and z.
When I was buying the EA told me not to start any of that stuff or the vendor would just say next please.
They told me that not being in a chain made no difference at all.
It might in rare circumstances, but not the last few years. That vendors these days were more concerned about people trying to renegotiate than chains.

hao123

cubatahavana wrote: »

We moved two weeks after snagging and still had some issues to sort. They’re slowly doing them now. Make sure that they’ll be sorted and/or if you care. Sometimes the builders come in to fix one thing and they break another due to carelessness

Thanks cubatahavana. Just the foreman suggested us to do the snagging after flooring done, which will shorten the gap of snagging and original closing to 1 or 2 days. It seems like we have to postpone the closing date and live in Airbnb for a while.

omicron

First time buyer here, sale agreed since late October, and contracts signed mid December subject to the vendors purchase of another house going through.
Since then estimated closing date has been pushed back from early February initially to now saying mid to late April, due to the next house in the chain not being ready. (Not a new build, minor renovations which are apparently still on going despite lockdown) .
Anything I can do to try speed the whole process up or is it just a case of sit tight and hope it all goes through?
Annoyingly from the initial viewing and bidding until after we had engineers survey done we were led to believe it was an uncomplicated quick sale.

houseyhouse

omicron wrote: »

First time buyer here, sale agreed since late October, and contracts signed mid December subject to the vendors purchase of another house going through.
Since then estimated closing date has been pushed back from early February initially to now saying mid to late April, due to the next house in the chain not being ready. (Not a new build, minor renovations which are apparently still on going despite lockdown) .
Anything I can do to try speed the whole process up or is it just a case of sit tight and hope it all goes through?
Annoyingly from the initial viewing and bidding until after we had engineers survey done we were led to believe it was an uncomplicated quick sale.

Have you spoken to your solicitor about it? If you've signed with that as a condition, it seems like you could be in a difficult spot. At the same time, it's not reasonable to expect you to wait indefinitely. Lots of people couldn't wait that long, e.g. if AIP was running out.

seenn00J

Rang an estate agent this morning about a house we were interested in (and thought we could afford) , 4-bed semi-D in settled part of Dublin (PM me for daft link if interested, don't want to post publicly). Asking price is 450k, current offer 506k with virtual viewings only and AIP required. I'm thinking the bidders are slowing down because 506k is a strange amount - probably incrementing by 1-2k to outbid each other. Either EAs are undervaluing properties with the asking prices or the market is going completely out of control.
Edit - it's actually a new ad updated end of January, but was originally listed before Christmas.

Markitron

seenn00J wrote: »

Either EAs are undervaluing properties with the asking prices or the market is going completely out of control.

Its a bit of both but mostly the second one.

random_banter

Markitron wrote: »

Its a bit of both but mostly the second one.

I'd agree with this too. So little supply, so many people extra desperate to get a home. Seeing similar in South Side Dublin. Incredibly disheartening. We had thoughts we'd be in our new home at this stage and we don't even have any prospects any more as have been totally outbid. We know what we want and what these houses were going for in 2018/early 19, and we were prepared to pay that, but we won't be paying a 70-100k pandemic premium on something that needs even work than the pre pandemic equivalent.

(For context, Semi D's in need of modernisation in Dundrum/Clonskeagh/Goatstown between 550-650 asking going for 70-100k over asking, which was 100% not happening pre-pandemic. I am GLUED to the PPR and historical listings.).

Edit: I called an EA about a listing in Goatstown a few weeks ago, which has been there a long time, asking 625k and needs a huge amount of work. In v poor condition. Houses around it asking a good bit less but with better condition. EA mentioned the sale had fallen through a number of times with one of the SA prices at 690. Sellers waiting to meet that offer again. I nearly fell off my chair.

Markitron

random_banter wrote: »

I am GLUED to the PPR and historical listings.).

I won't pretend to be some expert on buying houses, I have been sale agreed for 3 weeks on the first house I ever viewed. That's about the extent of my experience, but the best thing I ever did was to stop checking daft and PPR every day as it was just stressing me out.

random_banter

Markitron wrote: »

I won't pretend to be some expert on buying houses, I have been sale agreed for 3 weeks on the first house I ever viewed. That's about the extent of my experience, but the best thing I ever did was to stop checking daft and PPR every day as it was just stressing me out.

You're right about this. I've stayed away from it in the last few weeks after months of hanging on for every new listing, every update on the PPR because there have been lots of let downs and it was definitely affecting my relationship.

I am a little bit more relaxed now to be fair and some of that has come from my acceptance that it would be wiser to wait until the pandemic stabilises a bit (I admit that we are lucky because we can afford to wait and have somewhere to live, not everybody is...)

Congrats on your new home, do you mind if I ask whereabouts you bought? SA at first house viewed is more common than I thought, some friends also have done this in the last year.

Markitron

random_banter wrote: »

You're right about this. I've stayed away from it in the last few weeks after months of hanging on for every new listing, every update on the PPR because there have been lots of let downs and it was definitely affecting my relationship.

I am a little bit more relaxed now to be fair and some of that has come from my acceptance that it would be wiser to wait until the pandemic stabilises a bit (I admit that we are lucky because we can afford to wait and have somewhere to live, not everybody is...)

Congrats on your new home, do you mind if I ask whereabouts you bought? SA at first house viewed is more common than I thought, some friends also have done this in the last year.

It is in the midlands, so yea I never got involved in the Dublin madness. Saying that, whilst not as extreme, that madness has extended out there too.

peckerhead

SA at first house viewed is more common than I thought, some friends also have done this in the last year.

Nearly did the same myself, except the bidding went too far North - like, 15% above asking. I actually suspected the agent was filling me full of s*** about the counter-bidder, so called his bluff (as I thought) and said my last offer was the highest I could go.

Congrats, Markitron.

Markitron

peckerhead wrote: »

Congrats, Markitron.

Thanks, long way to go yet though.

Gael23

Are viewings likely not going to happen until after Easter now?

Dick Turnip

whiskeyman wrote: »

Do you know the sellers situation?
Are they in a chain?
They could be stalling / haven't found anywhere to move yet given the current restrictions and mightnt want to say in case to scare you off if you can't wait.

Apparently they have a place to move to, not in a chain waiting for it to close. Although they are going to be looking to buy.

The thought did cross my mind that they are stalling alright.

Anyway, my solicitor has been on theirs to chase. Their solicitor sent an email to bank yesterday but it is meant to be calling them today. So at least they're giving the impression that they're chasing it at least.

Padre_Pio

Gael23 wrote: »

Are viewings likely not going to happen until after Easter now?

Not officially. Another month of things on hold and half a million people on PUP.
I don't know how demand could be high right now.

Between furloughs, emigration, no immigration, higher than usual deaths among the elderly, banks tightening up on mortgages etc, building still going ahead in most cases.