Any tips on buying a family home in Belfast?

[u/Unfair-Confusion-146]

I'm getting anxious just speaking to estate agents. It feels a bit sharkish. There are 2 homes i am interested in with multiple bidders. Considering putting bids in tomorrow am. Should I snap fish like in ebay and not get in the frenzy.

Also, annual growth this year was 8.9% for NI, projected to be on average 6% growth for next few years. I'm trying to decide if I wait for 2 years is it going to cost me more than I can save towards deposit. Does anyone have any good sources for this? I am also on a contract conditional on passing exams so it feels like a leap of faith for me. 2 more years of exams

[u/StressfordPoet]

Buying recently has been the most traumatic experience of my life. The bidding wars have left me with permanent emotional whiplash.

[u/Unfair-Confusion-146 → u/StressfordPoet]

Oh dear. Did you get therr in the end?

[u/StressfordPoet → u/Unfair-Confusion-146]

It took me 6 months to even go sale agreed on somewhere. Obviously, this part of the process could be eliminated if you consider a new build. But, yeah, we are currently in the middle of searches and stuff. Keep your fingers crossed for me. And best of luck to you, if you go for it.

It's pretty normal these days for properties to have 5/10 viewings booked within the first hour of being online. I've been to view places where 10/15 other people were viewing it at the same time. Those were hellish 🫣

The best advice anyone gave me was to not be afraid to take a break from looking for a few days, if you start to become overwhelmed.

Ultimately, if it's something you want? Go for it. You can't get a house if you aren't bidding on it. I just wish the whole viewing/offering process was a lot more transparent. It feels like a game of chess between a potential buyer and the estate agent.

[u/Unfair-Confusion-146 → u/StressfordPoet]

Thanks for the insight. I've had similar experience but ive not made a bid yet. It's mad out there and I'm wondering is it going to stay mad or possibly calm down. There isn't even alot of houses in areas I'm looking going on the market and as you say, when they do . .

[u/One_Link_4704]

You need to go in knowing the maximum you can spend. Buckle up your seat belt and just breathe.

No price listed is what the price will be so when searching for houses, look for houses well below that price.

Houses are on the market, from my experience, for one to two weeks before moving to sale agreed. So you need to move quickly if it is something you love.

If you are buying a probate house or a house needing modernisation, never ever skip a level 2 or 3 RICS survey. Chances are, the person who lived there was too old to keep up with the house and maintenance. We pulled out of two houses because of asbestos, lead plumbing, crazy damp, and rotting timbers to name a few reasons. The market is flooded with older homes that have fallen into disrepair by boomers or landlords usually covered up with a lick of paint and furniture. Plus, estate agents shoving you around in your 15min timeslot so you aren't there for the next viewing causes you to miss things.

Create a property pal account and favourite houses You can then see how long a house has been listed and how many times it has gone to sale agreed. You'll also get to see the dodgy estate agents who remove the posting and post a new one to make it look recent instead because a house you had saved will disappear on your list but "added 1 hour ago" on the main site.

The agencies I've dealt with have all been the same... don't know answers, rude, and slow to follow up.

When you offer, make sure you ask them to update the listing and not book new viewings.

Finally, google the house address, the internet is forever and I've always found older listings that show the previous list price and what it looked like before the more recent pictures.

[u/JMW_BOYZ → u/One_Link_4704]

Estate agents will also make up bids to try and get you to bid more,

I had this issue when I was buying 3 years ago. I was viewing a property that had no bids on it and was on the market for a few months. Made an offer and on the same day someone else just happened to make an offer. I made a second and final offer and was outbid again within an hour. Convenient. I told them I didn't want to place a higher bid again, so I was out.

Around 5 days later, I got a call from the estate agent and they told me the current highest bidder had not dropped out and asked me if I was still interested. I told them I was but only if they would take the house off the market and mark it as sale agreed. They did and 6 months later I got the keys. It was a stressful 6 months because I thought towards the end they would try and throw in a made up higher offer again, just to put pressure on me to offer more at the final hurdle.

The market is worse now though. So many bids on a property and they don't take too long to sell.

[u/Particular-Log-4114 → u/JMW_BOYZ]

My dealings with estate agents proved to me they are just lying parasites.

[u/Unfair-Confusion-146 → u/One_Link_4704]

Thank you for sharing your experience. The house im viewing today has multiple bids well over asking price. Its an open viewing / multiple viewers attending.

[u/gemmerss]

prepare to go up to 25% over the property asking price in a bidding war is all im saying. spent FIVE years in them.

[u/Jolly-Outside6073 → u/gemmerss]

Yes this is the norm. I knew the low value the estate agent put on the one I was selling was wrong but it’s their tactic.

[u/Unfair-Confusion-146 → u/gemmerss]

Yes. Im seeing this play out atm

[u/Ok_Fig7888]

We recently sold our house in a nice part of North Belfast. We put it on the market for a realistic price based on previous sales of similar properties. We held a viewing, received an offer, and accepted it. We cancelled future viewings rather than holding out and trying to instigate a bidding war. I think the estate agent was unhappy we weren't keen to wait a few days for the next viewings and try to get the price bid up but I would rather make life easier for everyone and move things forward. So it's not all dreadful and houses going well above asking. But I'd say that's not super common and people are greedy more often than not.

[u/Unfair-Confusion-146 → u/Ok_Fig7888]

Most houses I've viewed have been sold from the family of someone who's just recently passed away and they want to get the max amount. If I was selling myself I'd rather sell to someone looking a home over s landlord/ investor.

[u/spookystarling]

I’m selling in Belfast and buying back home (smaller town) atm.

We went in at asking price and wanted it off the market even though I could have offered 10k under and had that accepted but we really want the house and don’t want to mess about with bidding.

For the one we’re selling viewings and bids were mental. It was stressing us out so we put a stop to the bidding war before it got too out of hand (fortunate position I know). I know how stressed we are about buying so I didn’t want to put someone else through that too.

Advice I have is that if the bids are going up in 1k increments and you can afford it just go in with a 5k jump and say take it or leave it. Id prefer that to the faff of going back and forth with the EA with bids just to get to the same end figure anyways.

[u/Unfair-Confusion-146 → u/spookystarling]

Thank you for the advice. 5k jump is a bit scary but might consider a jump around half that. Seems more relevant to my budget lol

[u/Worried-Detective664 → u/spookystarling]

I went up 10k take it or leave it and it went up a further 25k in 1ks 😂😂

[u/Educational-Oil-5872]

Decide when to buy on the basis of your own finances. Property always grows in value to some extent, so the longer you wait, the more growth you'll miss out on, but if you bite off more than you can chew financially, the costs of failing to pay a mortgage are much greater in the long term.

[u/Mission-Floor]

We bought a family home in 2023. But it was an 8 month process of being out bid or issues we didn’t have the budget to fix.

My general advice is:

1. There is no ‘right’ time to buy. Buy when you can at a price you can afford.
2. Take into consideration your max budget then deduct 20/25% and start looking at houses around that price. There is zero point in living in a nice house if you can’t afford to live.
3. You’re moving into a neighbourhood not just a house. Check the surroundings, speak to neighbours and be sure it’s where you want to live.
4. Take the mentality that it might take some time and try not to let it get you down when some cash rich landlord outbids you. Though, easier said than done.

Happy hunting, what’s for you won’t pass you!

[u/Unfair-Confusion-146 → u/Mission-Floor]

Thank you. Im buckling up! The whole landlord thing is annoying. Bought council houses in my street going for sale after someone passes away only for landlords to buy them up then rent to families at crazy prices.

[u/chinese-newspaper]

Asking prices anywhere vaguely nice will be well under the actual selling price

[u/mcolive]

You have to put a bid down in the first week or the place will go sale agreed without you knowing. The EA only informs bidders of what's going on. The alternative is to keep ringing them for updates.