This Ordinary Life

This may be not be news to many of you, but the world is in crisis.  Banking systems and economies are collapsing, the house of cards built on debt is falling down.  Now normally this would be all doom and gloom, but if you if you bucked the trend and put a bit of money aside, you may actually be able to pick up some bargains.

 As or me, I have put some of my money aside for a rainy day and pooling together with my girlfriend, we actually have enough to wade out into the world of property.  However, as first time buyers in a distressed market, we had to learn the hard and fast rule of buying property in the UK.  Given everything that we've been throught, I thought I might be able to share them with those of you that might also be looking to buy property at the moment.

1. Know your seller - selling a property can be emotional or clinically business.  We are buying from an institutional investor and we've learned that they are all business
2. First offers under the asking price are likely to get rejected flat out - we made an offer that was rejected and made the mistake of upping our second offer too much.  It's likely that only a small increment would have sealed the deal.  Let's just say the seller's real estate agent did a good job in scaring us into it.
3. Do your homework - scour the internet, explore the local area and make sure you check the local Council databases.  We discovered subsequently that the flat is in a conservation area (very restrictive, but actually not all bad) and that a large development was being built down the road (likely to be bad for traffic, but good for local amenities)
4. Solicitors are all rubbish - even though you pay these guys up to £1000 for their services, their hearts never really seem to be in it.  Ours missed a number of funamental errors in the lease wording and also that the flat was in a conservation area.  It's also important to note that there is no incentive for the seller solicitors to make any effort, so be sure you double check your solicitors work the best you can.
5. Negotiate if you can - just because the lease say something, doesn't mean that it has to stay that way.  We were able to negotiate changes and also have things be allowed that are explicitly forbidden in the lease through licenses.
6. Have patience - unless you are going to be homeless if your purchase falls through, take your time.  Seeming too eager can often be interpreted as desperate and sellers will take advantage of this.  This is particularly true if your seller is an institutional investor or doesn't have time pressures to move.
7. Unless you are willing to walk away, pay the price - If you get down to negotiating over a few thousand pounds, remember that if you are not prepared, you might as well bite the bullet and pay the money.  If you are prepared to walk away, might as well play hard ball as you never know what you might be able to achieve. 
8. Have fun - buying a flat is one of the biggest investments most people will make in their lives.  If you a buying something that will become your home, enjoy the experience of buying as it will make living in it even more enjoyable.

Well, I hope the above tips give you a bit of a headstart on buying property in these turbulent times.  There are some desperate sellers and some real bargains to be had.  We estimate that the prices are currently back to about 2004 levels (which is about the time I last said I need to buy a property).  Although we might not have the same crazy boom that just busted, at least in London, property is likely to be a reasonable long-term investment for many more years to come.

 In my next entry, I take you through what I consider to be a step by step guide to successfully buying property in the current market.  I'll follow that up with entries on each step that takes you through things in greater detail...