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

I am selling to my letting house under market value. No guarantee I would have got more, no guarantee it wouldn’t have been on the market for some time running up marketing expenses etc. money is due to come through from their account this coming week.

Started looking to move house in April. Talked to broker who gave us an idea what we could afford mortgage wise. Talked to a few EAs about what we could expect to sell for, they all agreed about the same asking price as a starting point which matched a valuation we had done a few years ago for a mortgage switch.

Got the house ready for sale and started viewing properties. The second weekend of viewings we found a house we liked and started bidding, within a week we were sale agreed about 7% over asking even though we explained to EA we weren't sale agreed on our house yet. Have had a couple of viewings on our house and there isn't much interest for some reason, not many are viewing and bids are below asking. We don't think it's overpriced but there is a lot of much older, smaller and cheaper houses for sale in the area in the last few months which may be attracting the first time buyers we expect to be interested in our house. EA is saying hold strong, the right buyers will come soon. I'm stressing though because vendor for the house we're sale agreed on wants contracts signed soon and we need a least asking price for ours to cover works needed on the house we're looking to move to.

I really thought when starting this process that selling our house was going to be the easy part 😅

Yeah Dublin. We're lucky in the sense that if we need to we can move in with in-laws after selling our house and before getting keys to our next house. I'd really rather not though as it's so risky even after signing contracts it's not 100% guaranteed our purchase will go through. That's a worry for the future though, need to actually get our house sale agreed first

In my opinion you should not have put a bid on another house until your own was sold. You are in a good place as you can move in with in-laws. As a buyer free of a chain (once your own is sold) you are in a much better negotiating position. My house is for sale at the moment and I'm dying to view other houses to buy but I'm not allowing myself until mine is sold so I can negotiate, walk away and not be at the mercy of any estate agent.

Currently it's a Buyers Market over here (in Edinburgh anyway) so many properties are not "going to closing" at all but being sold to a specific buyer by direct negotiation. I'm in this process right now as a buyer and have managed to agree a price just a little bit over the Valuation, and the property is now formally under offer 🤞🏻. It was just myself negotiating with no-one else in the mix, and the sellers were keen to get on with their own move.

In normal times, when the marker is hotter, the usual thing is that a closing date is set and the sealed bids are submitted. It tends to generate a lot of competitiveness, and there will be significant uprate from the Valuation price … in some hot areas this has been above 15% in recent years. However, it does seem a bit less exploitative/cruel than the Dublin thing where the Agency runs back and forth from buyer to buyer getting them to increase their offers.

Looking at a house in a new development and the annual service charge they are stating as €1.2k per annum? Seems oddly high to me as I've no idea what it includes. Presume cutting grass.

I must get into the grass cutting business then

That sounds cheap!! A lot of places are around 3k

Hi all, first time buyer here. Started the process last year (building up savings, being careful with spending etc). Got approval in principle in September 2023. Viewed a few houses and was outbid on all of them.

Finally went sale agreed on a lovely house back in April. Everything is done from my end, contracts signed, mortgage protection and house insurance in place. Signed contracts about 4 weeks ago and hoped to get keys last week but now the vendors solicitor have informed my solicitor that they are waiting for formal consent from their bank to the sale.

I know I’m lucky to be this far into the process as a lot of people struggle. But it’s so frustrating that this is being delayed. I would’ve assumed they should’ve had this consent prior to issuing contracts. My solicitor doesn’t seem too worried but I can’t help but be worried.

I understand

i paid 350 bucks cash..pm me if u want details