I said it at the beginning of the last post and I will say it again…
Things move quickly when you’re moving house!!!
I was already behind on the story when I published the last post about When People Come to View Your Home but now, I am SUPER behind because things just keep happening. I can’t keep up with the ongoing rollercoaster so I’m just going to keep documenting in chronological order and hope that one day I may have a chance of catching up on this whirlwind.
RECAP
The last time I wrote, I talked about the viewings on our house and the fact that I adored the very first people through the door. And I’ve been asked by people who read the last post whether we went with them. WHAT’S THE POINT OF ME WRITING IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO WAIT FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT HEY?!
But the answer is yes, dear reader, we did go with those buyers.
The morning after they came to visit, they put an offer in. A bloody good offer too, above asking price. The estate agents recommended that we continued with the block viewing the following day, and I agreed because I felt bad cancelling at short notice on people who were potentially excited to view, and who were also potentially going to offer. Who knew? Maybe they’d go even higher.
If the truth be known, I was still feeling emotional from what had happened earlier in the week and I didn’t want to be harsh on anybody knowing that I was still sending mental abuse to the people I deemed to be harsh on us. What?! WHO?! Who do we need to hate on?! Well…
What Happened?!
On the previous Saturday, we happened to go and view a house.
Now, this may not be surprising to you, but let me tell you, it was nothing short of a miracle that we even got to view. Most agents in the current market won’t let you view ANYTHING unless you are ready to go. They won’t even let you hint at it, I’m surprised they haven’t put a block on Rightmove that senses you are a seller and stop you from even looking at it on a screen. They might as well hang a banner outside the house that says “Seller? DON’T BOTHER!”. Like I said, if you want to view something you have to be ready to go.
By ready to go, I mean you need to be a first-time buyer with proof of funds or mortgage in principle, or if you are unfortunate enough to be selling, you – at the VERY least – need to have imminent viewings on your home, but really, most agents I spoke to want you to not only have had viewings, but have already accepted an offer.
But because this particular house was on with the same agent we were selling with, they let us view it. It’s in their best interests to keep their vendors happy of course, and they were pretty cool about it knowing that 5 days after viewing this house, we had our first of many viewings. We weren’t able to proceed at that moment, but we figured it’d be fine because it was the first house we’d be seeing anyway and it’s not like we’d fall in love with it. Would we?
You live in the same world as me – you know sod’s law exists. So of course, what happened?
We fell in love with it.
Listening to Your Gut
The thing with me and James is we’re pretty good with our gut. When we were choosing a wedding venue, the very first venue we looked at was the one we knew was for us (and if you’re planning a wedding you NEED to check out Tower Hill Barns – read my review here). Even after knowing it was the venue for us, we went and looked at 50,000 more because it was what every man and his dog said it’s what you have to do. I mean, the endless free champagne didn’t hurt, but it felt a bit pointless. We knew from the start we wanted that venue, and from that experience and the way the market is currently, we knew that if we wanted this house, we couldn’t dither.
It is a seller’s market right now, and the market is crazy. I have had friends who have gone through the process in the last year, and I’m in a fortunate position to know a lot from their experiences. People are offering waaaaaaaaay over asking prices, vendors are constantly going to “best and final” offers where viewers are forced to give the maximum amount they would offer on the property and hope they beat all other interested parties, and people are honestly just losing their shit. We knew we would have to act.
We called the agent first thing on the Monday morning and asked if we could put an offer in despite not having one on ours yet. Obviously, it was based on us receiving an offer a few days later when we had the viewing on our house, but we explained that we really were hoping to receive an offer then and that we would accept whatever offer came through if it meant we could proceed on this house.
We went in at asking price, but it went to “best and final” because the vendors received multiple offers. It’s quite a weird prospect because if you think about it, they could be completely calling your bluff and it’s a good way to make more money for doing sweet F.A. But also, they could have several offers on the table and need to know who’s going to give them the most money (or if they’re like me, who they want to give their beloved home to). You have to be strategic and offer an amount that a) you can afford, b) you actually want to pay for the property, and c) that will beat other people’s offers.
Now, I’m not a competitive person, not in the slightest. But I was already envisaging us sitting on the patio drinking endless bottles of wine, watching the sun set on the endless farmer’s fields out the back of the garden, with Riley running around happily and the smell of lavender plants permeating the air around us. Who knew, there may even be kids in the future and I could see them playing happily in the garden too. I had our whole life planned out in my head. I was out for blood. The house was OURS and I’d happily take anybody out who tried to get in the way of that.
DID WE GET IT?!?!?!?!
Our best and final offer was nearly £13K above asking price. I thought it was a pretty cracking offer to be honest. I also asked the agent to pass on to the vendor how much we adored the property and thanked them for showing us around. I kept thinking hopefully they might pick us because of how much we gushed over the house and how much of a fuss I made about their dog. I was one step short of driving over to the village and posting a letter through their door to tell them how much we adored it and ask them to please choose us because this was the home we could see ourselves in forever, but it felt inappropriate at the time.
I am now 4 weeks on from that point and let me tell you, if you’re looking to buy a house, it’s not desperate. It’s not inappropriate. If you love the house, you fight for it. OK, it’s a bit much but how much do you want the house? When we ourselves were on the receiving end of a note through the door the morning after I showed that couple around my home, I realised that it is done. It’s a nice touch and shows you’re extra keen and willing to go the extra mile.
BUT DID WE GET IT?!?!?!?!?!
After the world’s longest wait (just over a day and a half) I had to call the agent because I was going out of my MIND waiting to hear back from our offer, only to find out the sellers had chosen somebody else already, and the agent hadn’t bothered to let us know. They tried to lie and say it was a recent decision just that morning, but for reasons I won’t bother explaining here, we knew it was bullshit. We’re beginning to see that estate agents really can be as shit at communicating as their reputation gives. The people they chose were ready to proceed, and whilst we put in a good offer, the sellers of that house weren’t willing to take the risk on us.
I was crushed.
We’ve been looking on Rightmove and driving around different areas for a lot longer than we’ve actually had the house on the market, and we had been finding it difficult to even find something we liked enough to view, so it felt extra crushing. We realised at this point that we are fussy but we just had to keep telling ourselves that it wasn’t meant to be, that something better would be out there for us, even if it would take a while to manifest.
Well… that something might not have been as far away as we believed at the time…
To be continued.
Reflect and Introspect 
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