Buying and selling at the same time

S

Serenn

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Hi All,

first post, so please be kind. :)
Here are the facts:

We (me and my husband) have put an offer in for another property for around the €500k mark.
Our current house has a €160k left to pay off on its mortgage and has been recently valued for €350-380k. (That's a large range in my opinion, but maybe that's normal?)

It went on the market this week and we have had quite a few viewings, (which I was surprised at, given all the doom and gloom about property at the moment).
My current domicile is a very nice restored farmhouse on .66 acres out in the middle of the countryside, but only 20 mins from Cork City.
Yesterday we were offered €310k which is way below what we need in order to finance the new property, so we refused the offer. Our estate agent concurred that the buyers were 'chancing their arms' and 'had a lot more in them'.

My question is, given the current climate, are we crazy to buy a new property and hold out (suffering under the burden of two mortagages) for a good price on our current house?

I'm thinking about chickening out of the whole thing and staying nice and safe in my current house. Would I be wise to do so?

Thanks,
Serenn.
 
In the current market, you must sell your own house first. It is taking a long time to sell some houses and you could be stuck with getting far less than you planned.

You can put in an offer on another house, but you must make it conditional on selling your own house. Your solicitor should not let you sign a contract to buy until you have signed a contract to sell.

In a rising market, with houses selling quickly, it's the other way around.

Brendan
 
hi serenn,

You're lucky to get an offer so quickly even though it is under your asking price. I've had mine on market for last couple of months - mine is priced at just over E600 market good bit of interest but no offers and have reduced price. Do your maths and see whats the lowest you can go. I wouldn't say accept the offer and there is an awful lot of doom and gloom out there but look at www.irishpropertywatch.com - it is a bit scarey, I think that the E300,000 - E400,000 mark is not too bad buy anything above that is very slow. I wish you all the best in your decision
 
Hi guys,

thanks for the replies and advice. Much appreciated and great food for thought.
I looked at the website you mentioned and noticed that the big reductions seemed to be occurring in the Dublin and commuter belt areas, there were some truly amazing price cuts to be seen there. (Honestly, just on a side note, I don't know how anyone can afford Dubln as a location any more, it's absolutey savage prices!)
As I trawled through the list, looking for Cork properties similar to my own, they seemed to be at the lower end of the price cuts, possibly because we're not in the 'crazy money' price bracket, i.e. anything over €500k.
Time will tell I suppose, more viewings are being arranged for next week and in fairness it's only been on the market for less than a week, so perhaps I shall sit tight for now and see what the next week or so brings...

Thanks,
Serenn.
 
Hi Serenn,

Hold out for a while. Unfortunately mine is in the crazy bracket but I don't live in dublin - live in rural location but in commuting distance from Dublin.
 
Hi All,

well we've held out for the last few weeks and now the current bid on our place is 30k over the asking price.
We have more than two parties interested and our auctioneer has asked all of them for mortgage documents to prove they have the money to cover their bid (and to save hassle in accepting a bid only to have it all fall through when they're asked to actually pay for the place). The house has also been surveyed by various engineers.

I was really quite surprised by the level of interest in our place and the speed with which the bidding soared from 310k a few weeks ago to 370k now.

Guess things are not so bad after all, eh?

Serenn.
 
Well done on the sale, but don't sign contracts to purchase until you have contracts for the sale and deposit paid at the very least. If possible put a clause in your contract to purchase that it is dependant on the sale of your current home.
 
Serenn said:
Hi All,

well we've held out for the last few weeks and now the current bid on our place is 30k over the asking price.
We have more than two parties interested and our auctioneer has asked all of them for mortgage documents to prove they have the money to cover their bid (and to save hassle in accepting a bid only to have it all fall through when they're asked to actually pay for the place). The house has also been surveyed by various engineers.

I was really quite surprised by the level of interest in our place and the speed with which the bidding soared from 310k a few weeks ago to 370k now.

Guess things are not so bad after all, eh?

Serenn.
Click to expand...

That's great going in today's market. After a couple of weeks getting all those offers and having all those surveyors in and all. People in Cork don't hang about. You must be pleased with your agent.
 
Hi serenn,

well done congrats - hope move goes well for you- great to hear good news amidst all the doom and gloom mongers and that you got over the asking price.

angela59
 
Duplex said:
That's great going in today's market. After a couple of weeks getting all those offers and having all those surveyors in and all. People in Cork don't hang about. You must be pleased with your agent.
Click to expand...

Our agent is great. He has one of those innocent baby faces but underneath it he's tough as nails. Asking for proof from the serious bidders that they have their finance arranged and are not just bidding up and up, in the heat of the moment, is a pretty good idea. Now that's a guy who takes no chances!

I talked to him about the surprising speed at which the price of our place went up and he reckons the reason is because it's so unique.
He says that it's not going to be too badly affected by the market as everyone wants the 'cottage on an acre'.
If only it was in the midde of Patrick Street, then I could retire!

Serenn.
 
Re: Buying and selling at the same time - update

Our house was sold at private auction yesterday.
It went for just 4k under the top valuation (valuation made in the summer before things started to go really sour).
So the contracts are signed and we are officially homeless...but for a very good price. :)

One fact our auctioneer told us was at the moment over 50% of their 'Sale Agreed's' are falling through. This is up from 5% six months ago.
Pretty scary.

Our house had more than 25 viewings in 5 weeks on the market and the interest in it was such that someone would get carried away and bid far more than it's really worth or at least far more than they're able to pay

Private auction was the way to go, there's no backing out now and we won't be left at square one after some messer bids up and then withdraws later on when they come to their senses.

So now, does anyone know of any good mobile home deals to be had? :)

Serenn.
 
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