How to get ahead of other buyers

JoeyJJ

I would love to buy a new house in a new estate, I have a near two year old daughter and wife however I wouldn't do that at the moment in Dublin never mind outside Dublin. The prices outside the capital will have significant reduction over the coming year as the Unemployment and Mortgage replayment problem peaks.

I will buy before the bottom I admit however it wouldn't be in an unfinished estate and I wouldn't commit to anything before the next budget settles down.

Just my two cents... I hate renting too and I want stability for my wife and child but I'm not going to plunge at this stage.

gurramok

This is a classic case of emotions taking over a well researched life decision. Always buy a finished house in a settled estate especially nowadays, this simple advice falls on deaf ears.

Oh and by the way, get the house checked for pyrite. Tens of thousands of new houses were built with dodgy pyrite and the authorities won't release the names of the estates that are affected.

Alicat

Jaden wrote: »

I think this house sounds like it is perfectly suited to the OP. I strongly suggest that you buy this house now, put a deposit down to ensure you get the exact plot you want. Do this now before the price rises, or gets sold to someone else. It's the only way to be sure it can be yours.

I'm sure the house will be perfect, and just as you want it. Nothing will go wrong, and everything will work out. There won't be issues with cost, time to build, finishing the estate, interest rate increases, neighbours, and you and your other half will live there happily. So what if there are issues anyway, I'm sure they won't be that serious.

Buy this house, if that is what you want.





Some people will always get what they deserve.

I didn't say we were definitely going to buy it, I was defending to right to chose to buy it if it's what we want.

My OP was asking how to go about buying the house. Unfortunately everyone has to have their opinion on something they weren't asked about in the first place!

Jaden

Alicat wrote: »

Allowing for some fibbing on the part of the agents/developers in regards to exactly how much interest they have in these houses, what's the best way to wriggle our way to the top of the list? On one hand I'm thinking we should be contacting the agents persistantly to make sure they know we are really really interested. On the other hand, I don't want to be too keen, resulting in them bumping up the price of the house.

Anyone have any suggestions as to how we should approach this? I really really want this house

Go to the agents with a layout of the estate and ask what size deposit would be required to secure the plot/house you want. Bring your cheque book. This is the safest way to ensure you get this house, that you really, really want. The sooner you do this, the less likely you are to miss out.

Question answered to the best of my abilities.

Raskolnikov

Alicat wrote: »

I didn't say we were definitely going to buy it, I was defending to right to chose to buy it if it's what we want.

My OP was asking how to go about buying the house. Unfortunately everyone has to have their opinion on something they weren't asked about in the first place!

Need more information.

Where is the property (just name the area), what's the asking price, what type of property is it, what kind of deposit do you have?

dory

This thread has brightened up my day! It should be thread of the day. I especially like the OP's lighthearted reaction. Far too many easily insulted people around here.

Buy if you want to buy, only you know how your own finances are (or how they may be after the budget).

The_Conductor

Alicat- my own personal thoughts on the matter aside- currently if you are in a position to get mortgage approval- as you are, you should consider yourself to be the ultimate buyer. There are hoardes of folk ready to view developments- but the simple fact of the matter is- very very few of them will qualify for a mortgage. Lending criterion have changed beyond all recognition in the past few months.

If you can get the finances together- you should consider yourself to be at the top of the list for any given property- irrespective of the relative merits of that property.

Seriously- the only reason for calling the developer or estate agent would be to seek an additional discount as a cash buyer- no other reason.

Cavehill Red

Alicat wrote: »

No of course not. I never said it was this house or nothing. Part of that answer was in response to 'warning' that my boyfriend and I 'might not be together forever.' If I'm looking to live by myself, I'll only ever be able to rent or live with mammy. We've made the decision to take the risk together. There are loads of houses we could buy, but none of them have even made me think about purchasing. I don't care if it's 'emotional', I want to like my house.

This house doesn't even exist though! It's notional. It's a fantasy, a dream, fuelled by Estate Agent BS. It might never be finished, nor the estate it's in. That's a real risk.
If you want to buy emotionally, and run the very real risk of buyer's regret, then at least buy a finished home in a mature residential area.

Alicat wrote: »

But when does it stop? I'm not hanging on for next ten or twenty years to finally buy a house.

What's the hurry to tie yourself into a mortgage? You can rent if you don't want to live with mammy. Every month you haven't bought, all houses are getting cheaper, which means less to borrow, which means less to repay, which means the house will be yours rather than the bank's that bit sooner.
I speak as a home owner when I say that I wouldn't dream of entering the housing market for at least two years. The bottom isn't even close yet. Whatever they're looking from you for this unfinished house, it'll be close to half that before we hit bottom.
There are plenty of people in exactly the position you're looking to get into - bought two or three years ago, and now the distressed developer has firesold the rest of the houses in their estate at half what they paid. How delightful will your house be, knowing that nextdoor paid half what you did for theirs?

Alicat wrote: »

It may happen to some people, but it's not going to happen to everybody so I'm not going to hold out for that option.

Then you're in frank denial of economic reality. There is vast oversupply of property in Ireland, so much so that people are selling houses for a euro and talking about knocking entire estates. Interest rates are set to climb. There are half a million unemployed and emigration is back. House prices can only go one way, and for quite some time yet. Yes, it is going to happen to everybody who buys now. Negative equity is pretty much guaranteed for anyone buying now, in everything but the very long term.
Seriously, you need to stop and talk to a professional financial advisor before you do something rash here.

Cavehill Red

Jaden wrote: »

Again, these rants don't help the OP. She has asked how best to go about securing this house without the price getting bumped up too much, as the current cost of this house is already near the maximum she can afford.
Therefore keep the thread on track, and answer the questions asked.

I resent you characterising the advice of others as ranting. And I don't recall you being made Mod.
If the OP wants to secure the house "without the price getting bumped up too much, as the current cost of this house is already near the maximum she can afford", then she should do as I suggested and wait two years minimum to ensure that the house and the estate are completed and then seek to come to agreement with the developer or the current owner.

Jaden

Read your post again, and you'll see that not only is it off topic, but it can easily be classified as a rant. I'm not a mod, but I am trying to help the OP by pointing out (as she did) that information about anything else other than how to secure this house, is surplus to requirement.

As a side, I fully agree with your advice, it's just that the OP does not want advice on the quality of her decision, merely on the mechanism of going about getting this house, without paying much more than the current asking.

If after 5 pages she doesn't get that this is a very, very bad idea, then it is not for us to continue to dissuade her.

jmayo

Tigger wrote: »

i'm a bit jagered; is it 2005 again ?

Just spotted this thread and that was my first reaction.
I double checked the date and then pinched myself.

Alicat wrote: »

Yes! I'm aware of all those things you stated. I'm also aware that the first batch of these houses, mainly the ones of a smiliar type to the ones I like, were sold extremely quickly, even with all of those things you mentioned above. So some people were obviously quite successfull in getting their mortgage! We have already discussed our mortgage with our lender and will have no problems, and I'm sure there are other people like us.

The development is unfinished, but largely because it only began a couple of months ago. The builder is right to be releasing them in phases, so he can see how well they are going to go. No point in building an estate that's going to be two thirds empty. But the first phase has flown. The next phase will only be released in about six months, giving lots of people time to view the estate and build up a good interest. People who missed out on this phase will surely be looking to the next one, seeing as it is only mere months away. The only two other properties similar to our one are placed very close to the main road, so I know that the one we are looking at will be targetted by anyone in a similar position to us as it is placed very well in the estate.

When I mentioned the unlikely event of house prices rising, I was trying to explain that we are totally ready to buy. I don't expect them to rise, but this would be the only thing that would stop us, were it to happen (like a tsunami!). The new houses are slightly bigger and will be priced accordingly, but these prices have not be released yet.

If everyone is of the opinion that I am just paranoid, and that there will be no problem, I am quite happy to accept that opinion. I'm not stupid, but I am a first time buyer and excuse me for having some worries about it.

No I wouldn't say you were paranoid, I would say you are crazy.

How many of these oh so special just right properties are there going to be in the development ?

Now remember that in the development there might be some properties that no one will buy and they will remain empty.
That will probably mean that developer might not finish the roads, paths etc.
Basically you will have building site at end of road.

Also worse scenario coming down the road is they decide to rent unsold units to anyone that they can get.

Then you might find yourself on here posting about neighbours from hell or on the politics forum posting about what a joy it is to live beside our indigenous and much travelled minority.

My advise is stay away from new developments unless they are completly finshed and damm well occupied.

Ortiz

All this ranting is getting on my nerves.

While I think most people would agree with most of what has been said in this thread the OP didn't ask for this advice. There have been a lot of a$$hole sarcastic comments as well when all the OP wants is some advice. I think it's helpful for a little caution to be aired towards the OP but five pages of it when it's not what she asked for is a bit much.

We get it - you guys know how the market works. You just shouldn't use every opportunity to air your sometimes irrelevant views.

The_Conductor

Alicat- I'm going to close this thread now- if you'd like it reopened please contact Victor or myself.

Shane