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

cnocbui

When you have the keys.

woodchuck

cnocbui wrote: »

When you have the keys.

If we wait until we have the keys though, the clock for the 84 days notice will only start ticking then. So we'll be on the hook for nearly 3 months rent - which is nearly 5k!

Or do people have experience of management companies being more reasonable and if they can get another tenant in quickly we won't have to pay rent for an extra 84 days once we have the keys to our own house?

awec

We gave notice about 3 months in advance of our date when we moved, and we had to extend 3 times if I remember right due to delays. We ended up moving about 2 months behind schedule. We were lucky though that our landlord was one of the big REITs, so they were super flexible on the dates.

I would speak to the management company and see what they say.

cnocbui

With my previous house, settlement day arrived and the sellers said they couldn't move because the wife was 'in hospital'. And of course we had given notice on the house we were renting. Then there was another week added and then there was another two days. Fortunately our private landlord was accommodating and allowed us to stay and pay rent for the overflow period.

Will Yam

Paris123 wrote: »

Would the EA allow you to match a bid that's currently in for a house?
We are chain free so would be able to move fast.

Any advice is welcomed.

I was outbid in February for a house, having dropped out at €20k above asking price. Turns out the winning bidder couldn’t close (despite all having to prove we could produce the funds).

House back on market but having revisited it decided it’s not for us.

Now looking seriously at another one. But if I get to the point of offering asking price plus, I will make such an offer conditional on the house being taken off the market. Thus if it’s not accepted it can’t be described as an offer. (I think).

Housebuying

woodchuck wrote: »

We've gone sale agreed on a property and have had the surveyor out. We have approval in principle and we're currently waiting on the loan offer from the bank.

The proposed closing date is the end of August. However we're currently renting an apartment and need to give 84 days written notice to terminate the tenancy (brings us to early - mid October!)

On the one hand, if things go smoothly with the sale, I think we should give our notice right now so that we're not continuing to pay rent for longer than absolutely necessary. As it is, I think we could end up paying rent for an extra month or two unnecessarily But on the other hand, we're conscious that things could get delayed or even fall through with the sale.

So at what point do people think we should hand in our notice? My OH thinks we should talk to the management company about our situation, as they might be able to get new tenants in quicker or be flexible on the date we move out. However it's hard for us to give an exact day we'll be moving out, so I don't know if they'll entertain us when we have such a wishy washy timeline atm! Any thoughts at all please? Do management companies ever provide flexibility on this or will it just be a hard 84 days as per the tenancy agreement?

Not before you sign the contracts unless you are sure you can find somewhere else to live relatively easily. You can ask for a longer closing date if you don't want to pay mortgage and rent. A lot can go wrong between now and contracts.

I would speak to them though, I doubt they need 84 days notice.

Housebuying

I'm sale agreed again. I pulled out of a house at the start of Covid and I've now found a similar house for about 60k less. The houses are not exactly the same so it's difficult to measure precisely.

The house was up for sale for year but here we are 3 weeks on waiting for contracts. How can people not have their paperwork ready to go?

Conrad83

awec wrote: »

We gave notice about 3 months in advance of our date when we moved, and we had to extend 3 times if I remember right due to delays. We ended up moving about 2 months behind schedule. We were lucky though that our landlord was one of the big REITs, so they were super flexible on the dates.

I would speak to the management company and see what they say.

We are in the same boat. Have bought a new build due to be completed mid October and have a months notice on our lease. Problem is neither of our parents live in Dublin so we dont really have anywhere to go if timing doesnt go to plan, which undoubtedly it wont. Wouldnt mind a crossover of a week or 2 but couldnt afford a month. We are dealing with an agency rather then the landlord directly. Hoping they would allow us give 2 weeks but couldnt see it.

lenny4545

Conrad83 wrote: »

We are in the same boat. Have bought a new build due to be completed mid October and have a months notice on our lease. Problem is neither of our parents live in Dublin so we dont really have anywhere to go if timing doesnt go to plan, which undoubtedly it wont. Wouldnt mind a crossover of a week or 2 but couldnt afford a month. We are dealing with an agency rather then the landlord directly. Hoping they would allow us give 2 weeks but couldnt see it.

We are also in same boat. Bought new build that was meant to be ready mid August but will be couple of weeks behind so emailed management company we deal with asking for 1 month extension as we had already handed in our 2 month notice and they said it was no problem.

Pivot Eoin

brisan wrote: »

Bid 100% did come in
You have to ask yourself WHO put the bid in

This is exactly it. I don't doubt there was a bid, I have big questions about where it came from.

I just can't for the life of me fathom an OPENING bid of an inflated asking price on a house that 100% needs work structurally, without having a second viewing. We were the first people to view the house on Saturday - so there's no way they had 2 viewings.

I have my second viewing on Thursday with a Surveyor, will be interesting to hear the updates from the EA.

In terms of the bidding, I know for a fact they haven't vetted anyone for bids - no funding check to allow me to bid

Will Yam

woodchuck wrote: »

We've gone sale agreed on a property and have had the surveyor out. We have approval in principle and we're currently waiting on the loan offer from the bank.

The proposed closing date is the end of August. However we're currently renting an apartment and need to give 84 days written notice to terminate the tenancy (brings us to early - mid October!)

On the one hand, if things go smoothly with the sale, I think we should give our notice right now so that we're not continuing to pay rent for longer than absolutely necessary. As it is, I think we could end up paying rent for an extra month or two unnecessarily But on the other hand, we're conscious that things could get delayed or even fall through with the sale.

So at what point do people think we should hand in our notice? My OH thinks we should talk to the management company about our situation, as they might be able to get new tenants in quicker or be flexible on the date we move out. However it's hard for us to give an exact day we'll be moving out, so I don't know if they'll entertain us when we have such a wishy washy timeline atm! Any thoughts at all please? Do management companies ever provide flexibility on this or will it just be a hard 84 days as per the tenancy agreement?

Seems to me you have nothing to lose by engagement with the management co.

The worst that can happen is they may stick you to the 84 days. But they may be more flexible. You wont know till you go!

woodchuck

Thanks a million guys. Yeah I think we just need to talk to the management company and see what they say I was afraid we might be shooting ourselves in the foot somehow by potentially engaging with them too soon, but hopefully an informal chat will help.

Also when we do hand in our notice, I know it's meant to be "in writing". Does anyone know if this has to be an actual hard copy letter put in the post? Or would a scanned signed letter sent as an email attachment count? Not sure I'd trust the management company to answer this one in case they tell us by phone that a soft copy is ok, but then when it comes to the crunch they could tell us that the notice wasn't valid as it wasn't in hard copy.

Will Yam

Pivot Eoin wrote: »

This is exactly it. I don't doubt there was a bid, I have big questions about where it came from.

I just can't for the life of me fathom an OPENING bid of an inflated asking price on a house that 100% needs work structurally, without having a second viewing. We were the first people to view the house on Saturday - so there's no way they had 2 viewings.

I have my second viewing on Thursday with a Surveyor, will be interesting to hear the updates from the EA.

In terms of the bidding, I know for a fact they haven't vetted anyone for bids - no funding check to allow me to bid

The problem with the property is you never really know what’s going on.

The situation you describe is unusual for sure, but if there was someone around with a lot of cash, maybe they decided to come in with a killer bid to scare off everybody else?

Pivot Eoin

Will Yam wrote: »

The problem with the property is you never really know what’s going on.

The situation you describe is unusual for sure, but if there was someone around with a lot of cash, maybe they decided to come in with a killer bid to scare off everybody else?

Yes, that is a potential scenario, I'm not saying it is 100% a phoney/untrustworthy bid. I'm just saying the bid has pretty much all the ingredients of a potential phoney bid.

The bid/asking price is right on a mark where you could really start looking at buying a similarly good property in the market above. It hasnt changed my thoughts regardless on my own top price for this property, with it needing another 70-80k put into it, you'd probably be better off just trying to buy something 100% turnkey at 2020 levels of finish/decor.

Every buyer is different, so just plan it my own way for now.

Rosalind151

Hi lads,

Been reading this for some time. Amazing thread - thank you.

Question. You know how you're given 6 months mortgage approval. What exactly needs to happen in order to stay within that deadline? That you need to have your offer accepted (be the highest bidder)? Or sale agreed (what exactly does that mean legally?) Or does some of the solicitor/contract rigmarole have to already have happened? Tried reading how the process works exaclty on bank sites etc, but getting mixed messages.

bulmersgal

Sale agreed on an apartment and solicitor is after finding out bad news about the sinking fund. They should have 6.7m as recommended by surveyor but they only have 130k. Also they are going through legal battle with builder about the rendering. The estimated cost to replace is 26m. The apartment and duplex are 15+ years old so they should have more funds in sinking fund. Obviously this means all the service fees will increase year on year and I don't feel comfortable buying into a problem.

So think I will have to pull out which is so sad as I did love it

Graham

Run away!

Padre_Pio

Rosalind151 wrote: »

Hi lads,

Been reading this for some time. Amazing thread - thank you.

Question. You know how you're given 6 months mortgage approval. What exactly needs to happen in order to stay within that deadline? That you need to have your offer accepted (be the highest bidder)? Or sale agreed (what exactly does that mean legally?) Or does some of the solicitor/contract rigmarole have to already have happened? Tried reading how the process works exaclty on bank sites etc, but getting mixed messages.

AFAIK mortgage approval (approval in principle) is just a measure of how much the bank MAY be willing to give you. It's not guaranteed.

Most of the legwork on their side is done when you're sale agreed and ready to draw down.

I'm open to correction here, but it is perfectly legal (maybe not acceptable or ethical) to go sale agreed without ever speaking to a bank, and go through the whole application process.

whatever76

Rosalind151 wrote: »

Hi lads,

Been reading this for some time. Amazing thread - thank you.

Question. You know how you're given 6 months mortgage approval. What exactly needs to happen in order to stay within that deadline? That you need to have your offer accepted (be the highest bidder)? Or sale agreed (what exactly does that mean legally?) Or does some of the solicitor/contract rigmarole have to already have happened? Tried reading how the process works exactly on bank sites etc, but getting mixed messages.

This was my experience with BOI - I went for AIP at the very start of the process to see what I would get approved for based on FTB and 10% deposit ; just have all my details submitted an an idea what the bank were willing to offer me - thats really important for your search criteria . Once you are sale agreed and survey completed and you are happy to proceed then you contact bank go for full mortgage approval on that house with more solid plan like how much you need/ Term / LTV etc and there is also bunch of other steps in process that you will need to go through - once you are approved then you will get letter of offer ! hope this helps - best of luck !!

Graham

Mod Note

discussion of probate sales moved here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058098000#

Pomplamousse

We received the valuation report for our house (new build) today and thankfully it has been valued at purchase price. Big relief after recent media reports suggested that some valuations were being reduced by 10% since Covid-19.

There was a note however in the valuation report to say that the impact of Covid-19 on property prices is unknown at this time so any potential impact was not taken into account in the report.

Now if only ESB would hurry up and connect the power so we can get a move on with snagging!

guyfawkes5

Pomplamousse wrote: »

There was a note however in the valuation report to say that the impact of Covid-19 on property prices is unknown at this time so any potential impact was not taken into account in the report.

That was on mine too as an asterisk.

Seems like an arse covering exercise.

Alrigghtythen

Rosalind151 wrote: »

Hi lads,

Been reading this for some time. Amazing thread - thank you.

Question. You know how you're given 6 months mortgage approval. What exactly needs to happen in order to stay within that deadline? That you need to have your offer accepted (be the highest bidder)? Or sale agreed (what exactly does that mean legally?) Or does some of the solicitor/contract rigmarole have to already have happened? Tried reading how the process works exaclty on bank sites etc, but getting mixed messages.

In my case, went sale agreed 5 months ago. Still have no idea if planning retention has gone in and thier solicitor is a useless ****. My approval is about to expire and I have to go back to the bank for an extension. No sign of contracts being signed in the near future.

Sale agreed doesnt mean much tbh. You have a deposit paid but can pull out.

The_Brood

Is it just my experience or are real estate agents very bad at getting back to you? You tell them you are mortgage approved, you ask to view a property, and someone at the number tells you they will call you back - but 70-80% of the time they never do. Very weird if they actually trying to sell a house.

Will Yam

The_Brood wrote: »

Is it just my experience or are real estate agents very bad at getting back to you? You tell them you are mortgage approved, you ask to view a property, and someone at the number tells you they will call you back - but 70-80% of the time they never do. Very weird if they actually trying to sell a house.

What i find remarkable is that they never, ever, come back with an alternative.

I’m looking for a house and viewed one recently, i told EA I wouldn’t buy it.

Much to my surprise i discovered he had another house which more suited my needs but never heard a dicky bird from him

Salanky

The_Brood wrote: »

Is it just my experience or are real estate agents very bad at getting back to you? You tell them you are mortgage approved, you ask to view a property, and someone at the number tells you they will call you back - but 70-80% of the time they never do. Very weird if they actually trying to sell a house.

I had a few take ages to get back to me about viewings even when I had bids in. One of them had taken 4 or 5 bids from the two other bidders without letting me even have the chance to update my offer. Some of them just havnt bothered getting back to me at all. The one Im dealing with at the moment is nearly bending over backwards to get the sale through as the seller is needing the money to put into a new build. I rang him friday to view it and he sorted it within two hours. There are some ramshackle sheds and an old well house on the land and hes getting the owner to get rid of them to improve it. He does want a survey done before he will officially take my offer as its gone sale agreed and fallen through twice. They arent all bad but when you only have a small budget some of them do seem to just discount you straight away.

guyfawkes5

The_Brood wrote: »

Is it just my experience or are real estate agents very bad at getting back to you? You tell them you are mortgage approved, you ask to view a property, and someone at the number tells you they will call you back - but 70-80% of the time they never do. Very weird if they actually trying to sell a house.

I've had one or two good ones where they're knowledgeable of the property and can answer questions they know and are honest when they don't but will genuinely get back to you afterwards. The rest have tended to exemplify the opposite of this where they know very little about the property, seem confused and even belligerent about any questions beyond what are the current bids, and generally do not follow up on anything not directly related to a bid. The worst EA I ever saw got the square footage of the apartment wrong and told me in a blasé way he hadn't gotten around to fixing the ad yet while I was standing with him in the apartment, and literally asked why I was asking for management company details (it's perfectly normally regardless, but in this case the management company had declared bankruptcy in the early 2010s).

Unfortunately it's a business that rewards volume rather than diligence, so EAs are racing to the next viewing rather than providing detail, and to be fair the bids will still roll in.

ebayissues

How should one pay the surveyor - directly or through escrow?

kippy

ebayissues wrote: »

How should one pay the surveyor - directly or through escrow?

Directly generally.....

holystungun9

bulmersgal wrote: »

Sale agreed on an apartment and solicitor is after finding out bad news about the sinking fund. They should have 6.7m as recommended by surveyor but they only have 130k. Also they are going through legal battle with builder about the rendering. The estimated cost to replace is 26m. The apartment and duplex are 15+ years old so they should have more funds in sinking fund. Obviously this means all the service fees will increase year on year and I don't feel comfortable buying into a problem.

So think I will have to pull out which is so sad as I did love it

m for millions? Those are colossal numbers. I doubt there is any apartment complex anywhere with a decent sinking fund. Generally the decent people willl pay their management fees and carry all those who don't. It will come back if any of them try to sell as they will have to settle their fees. Anyway, if the complex is that big to have those kind of estimates, just wait till all the lifts come of age and need major maintenance, that's another huge bill that the 130k won't' cover. I'd be very very wary.