Is anyone moving now?

[Sheepshanks]

skwdenyer said:

Out of interest, what would you do if your “cash” buyer turned out not to be so? Or did you actually get proof of funds at offer stage?

They supplied everything, inc proof of funds, with their offer. They were the only people at the best and final offers point to do that.

They'd sold up almost a year prior (for 2x the price of FIL's) and were in rented and were up against a deadline to get out, and, of course, had been blindsided by Covid. They had an offer in on another house but that seller couldn't find anything else, and again, everything had stalled for them due to Covid.

Despite all that, it was pretty remarkable that all the best and final offers were exactly the same amount - bang on the OIEO price. EA thought we could squeeze more out of it but the proceeds were being split 9 ways so I just wanted to get it gone, so to speak.

Edited by Sheepshanks on Sunday 26th June 21:24

[Puzzles]

There are small pockets in England which are near that, in fact some of the properties I've looked at had been listed for that and have since sold.

I've got a flat in London and the gap has been closing over the last few years.

[Puzzles]

Okay just a v quick look from what I remember

£650k 67.8sqm and the room in the loft looks terrible.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124209713#/...

~£7m and 757sqm

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/120934970#/...

4.25m and 4000sqft (tall order but I guess it only takes one person)

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124165493#/...

I saw some fancy new build flats in Worthing which were between £700 and £900 per sqft (in worthing!!!!)

I'm sure there are similar examples in popular areas like Royal Crescent in Bath etc. As has been said the most desirable areas have seen a real boost.

Edited by Puzzles on Sunday 26th June 18:52

[kingston12]

Puzzles said:

Okay just a v quick look from what I remember

£650k 67.8sqm and the room in the loft looks terrible.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124209713#/...

~£7m and 757sqm

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/120934970#/...

4.25m and 4000sqft (tall order but I guess it only takes one person)

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124165493#/...

I saw some fancy new build flats in Worthing which were between £700 and £900 per sqft (in worthing!!!!)

I'm sure there are similar examples in popular areas.

Southwold is always the one that surprises me, particularly for the smaller houses right in the centre. This one is over £1,100 per sqft if it achieved asking price:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/116818544#/...

A lot of houses that have high prices per sqft seem to be waiting for someone from London to demolish and build a far larger house in its place, but obviously not in this case!

As you said in an earlier post, it’s all about small areas - if you had £675k to spend a few miles from Southwold, you could buy something really quite significant, just not in the town itself.

I’m sure the sought after towns in Devon and Cornwall are even more extreme.

[Simir]

C70R said:

Puzzles said:

C70R said:

At 800k it's almost £1000/sqft. That's a very expensive flat by any definition. I'm sure some flats in the area sell for that money, but the market isn't going to be huge. I'd have expected it to takea while to sell on that basis.

Outside London is really catching up

Where are you seeing property approaching £1000/sqft outside of London?

Bath perhaps? £4.65m for 676.9 sqft, £6,869/sqft.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/e...

Prices in and around the most desirable places in the UK such as the Cotswolds have also rocketed for the past 2 years, an influx of people from the ghastly South East has driven the hyperinflation.

[skwdenyer]

leef44 said:

skwdenyer said:

Out of interest, what would you do if your “cash” buyer turned out not to be so? Or did you actually get proof of funds at offer stage?

I do wonder how some buyers end up not being cash buyers. Is this down to the integrity of the EA (or lack of)?

When I made an offer on a purchase the Estate Agent would not issue a Memo of Sale agreement nor take the house of the market until he had confirmed my financial details. To do this, he needed a confirmation from my solicitor.

For my solicitor to confirm which they need to do for anti-laundering purposes anyway, there was a detailed review of my finances for proof of funds (third party statements, fund manager statement, bank statements, salary slips etc.)

I’m asking because I just missed out on a house I wanted. Went to B&F on Friday. Form asked if cash or not, but no proof of funds requested. Vendor accepted the other offer at the same price as ours, allegedly a cash buyer - but, with no proof of funds requested, it’s hard for me to wonder whether they just ticked “cash” to give themselves an advantage

As a wise man once told me, with property just assume everyone is lying…

[leef44]

skwdenyer said:

I’m asking because I just missed out on a house I wanted. Went to B&F on Friday. Form asked if cash or not, but no proof of funds requested. Vendor accepted the other offer at the same price as ours, allegedly a cash buyer - but, with no proof of funds requested, it’s hard for me to wonder whether they just ticked “cash” to give themselves an advantage

As a wise man once told me, with property just assume everyone is lying…

Is that property now marked as Sold STC?

I wonder whether they need to show proof of funds before they actually take it off the market

[skwdenyer]

leef44 said:

skwdenyer said:

I’m asking because I just missed out on a house I wanted. Went to B&F on Friday. Form asked if cash or not, but no proof of funds requested. Vendor accepted the other offer at the same price as ours, allegedly a cash buyer - but, with no proof of funds requested, it’s hard for me to wonder whether they just ticked “cash” to give themselves an advantage

As a wise man once told me, with property just assume everyone is lying…

Is that property now marked as Sold STC?

I wonder whether they need to show proof of funds before they actually take it off the market

Decision made on Saturday morning. Website not updated, no. But they told us on Saturday the vendor had accepted the other offer and therefore we should look elsewhere.

[C70R]

Simir said:

C70R said:

Puzzles said:

C70R said:

At 800k it's almost £1000/sqft. That's a very expensive flat by any definition. I'm sure some flats in the area sell for that money, but the market isn't going to be huge. I'd have expected it to takea while to sell on that basis.

Outside London is really catching up

Where are you seeing property approaching £1000/sqft outside of London?

Bath perhaps? £4.65m for 676.9 sqft, £6,869/sqft.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/e...

Prices in and around the most desirable places in the UK such as the Cotswolds have also rocketed for the past 2 years, an influx of people from the ghastly South East has driven the hyperinflation.

Even with that inflation, property approaching £1000/sqft is exceptionally rare in the Cotswolds.

No idea why you needed a swipe at the South East.

[Flooble]

Sheepshanks said:

...
Despite all that, it was pretty remarkable that all the best and final offers were exactly the same amount - bang on the OIEO price. EA thought we could squeeze more out of it but the proceeds were being split 9 ways so I just wanted to get it gone, so to speak.

I find that interesting. It had an "OIEO" but everybody offered below ...

[beanoir78]

kingston12 said:

Southwold is always the one that surprises me, particularly for the smaller houses right in the centre. This one is over £1,100 per sqft if it achieved asking price:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/116818544#/...

A lot of houses that have high prices per sqft seem to be waiting for someone from London to demolish and build a far larger house in its place, but obviously not in this case!

As you said in an earlier post, it’s all about small areas - if you had £675k to spend a few miles from Southwold, you could buy something really quite significant, just not in the town itself.

I’m sure the sought after towns in Devon and Cornwall are even more extreme.

I don’t think it’s that extreme, Southwold is a fairly sought after spot, not that I find it appealing mind.

That would be considered good value in Lymington.

[GT3Manthey]

Flooble said:

I find that interesting. It had an "OIEO" but everybody offered below ...

I’ve seen some “OIEO” being removed and replaced with “guide price”

Area dependant I guess but talk today of retirees cashing in ahead of cost of living rises

[Flooble]

GT3Manthey said:

Flooble said:

I find that interesting. It had an "OIEO" but everybody offered below ...

I’ve seen some “OIEO” being removed and replaced with “guide price”

Area dependant I guess but talk today of retirees cashing in ahead of cost of living rises

I've never really decoded Estate Agent speak. As far as I have ever been able to tell it was something like

• Price: 10% over what we expect to get, so you think you got a deal
• Guide Price (with a band, e.g. 365-385): Vendor wants 385 but we think it's not worth that and need to get people in to view the place to manage the vendor's expectations, if we're lucky we may get a bidding war anyway
• OIRO: We're a bit desperate but the vendor won't drop their asking price
• OIEO/Offers Over: We've put up the minimum the vendor will take

[Calza]

So while looking at our target area / price, should we be assuming everything goes over asking (unless reduced)?

I.e looking at our upper budget is actually pointless?

[Toaster Pilot]

Flooble said:

I've never really decoded Estate Agent speak. As far as I have ever been able to tell it was something like

• Price: 10% over what we expect to get, so you think you got a deal
• Guide Price (with a band, e.g. 365-385): Vendor wants 385 but we think it's not worth that and need to get people in to view the place to manage the vendor's expectations, if we're lucky we may get a bidding war anyway
• OIRO: We're a bit desperate but the vendor won't drop their asking price
• OIEO/Offers Over: We've put up the minimum the vendor will take

Sounds about right to me - apart from in Scotland where the offers over thing is just nuts.

[edc]

Calza said:

So while looking at our target area / price, should we be assuming everything goes over asking (unless reduced)?

I.e looking at our upper budget is actually pointless?

If you have been monitoring the area for some time then you can compare list price Vs land registry sold price, analyse how quickly listings go, talk to the local agents. Don't assume anything but get as much info as you can to make as I formed a decision as possible.

[GreatGranny]

33q said:

We have accepted an offer on our cottage that we have rented out for many years.

Went to see our solicitor to pass over documents and work through the details. She said that sales are going through really slowly and it could take 20 weeks! I was hoping for 12 to 14 at max.

How long are people taking to complete after going SSTC?

Our change is quite short. Investor buying our buyer's property. We have no onward chain.

Took just over 5 months for our BTL.

Buyer in rented, BTL vacant about 2 months after it sold.

Their solicitor very slow, ours ok.

[C70R]

edc said:

Calza said:

So while looking at our target area / price, should we be assuming everything goes over asking (unless reduced)?

I.e looking at our upper budget is actually pointless?

If you have been monitoring the area for some time then you can compare list price Vs land registry sold price, analyse how quickly listings go, talk to the local agents. Don't assume anything but get as much info as you can to make as I formed a decision as possible.

This. Without land registry data, it's impossible for anyone to answer that question.

[Calza]

Fair enough - so best to start taking note of some sold one's and then checking when the sale goes through.

Typically how long does land registry take to go through?

[C70R]

Calza said:

Fair enough - so best to start taking note of some sold one's and then checking when the sale goes through.

Typically how long does land registry take to go through?

Frustratingly, it's probably not going to help you because there's typically a lag of up to 6mths (in the area I'm buying) between a sale being agreed and he price appearing on the land registry.

Your best bet is to try and get it out of the agents you're speaking to, but just remember to treat everything with a pinch of salt.

My advice to you - if you have a finite budget, set it and stick to it. The right house will come along eventually.

(I'm a massive hypocrite, because we blew our loose budget by almost 40% to get the place we're in the process of buying)