Ready, Willing... But Not Able To Buy A Home
Updated: 5:54pm UK, Thursday 10 April 2014
By Huw Borland, Sky News Online
If you are like me, renting a property is getting too expensive and feels like a waste of your hard-earned cash. Becoming an owner seems like sound logic.
Up for the challenge, my partner and I spend our evenings and weekends scrolling through property websites and appealing to estate agents for help.
But the hurdles in front of us are getting higher, as we scramble towards a finish line amid a stampede of other buyers.
For people in our position, the relentless surges in house prices are like body blows to your resolve.
But what is making our teeth grind of late is how the current buying frenzy hampers even the most basic steps toward owning a home.
It starts with an estate agent saying we cannot see a flat because too many people have already booked a viewing.
"Sorry, it'll be madness on Saturday," one agent told me after revealing how more than 70 people were set to attend an open day at a two-bed flat.
I imagined an unfortunate line of newlyweds scowling at their competitors, as they queued round a corner.
Despite practically pouncing on properties as they emerge on the market, we regularly end up on "shortlists" and are left hoping someone cancels his or her appointment.
Faced with such demand, estate agents also try to whittle down the queue of buyers by warning that a feisty bidding war is inevitable.
Gone are the days when you could try and haggle below the asking price.
For a flat marketed at £325,000 – depressingly well above what similar properties were being offered for a year ago – we were told not to bother visiting unless we could pay more than £350,000.
The obvious strategy is to target properties that are considerably less than the top limit of what we can afford.
Hopefully, this will allow us to trade a few more financial blows when we try to fend off other buyers.
But, every month that passes, the offerings from sellers hold less value and come in at higher prices.
On a brighter note, there is always a solution.
It's just not always easy to view it.
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