There are two very similar houses for sale on our estate both 3 bedroom link-detached looking identical on the outside and not dissimilar on the inside with both being nicely decorated. The major difference is that one has central heating and double glazing whilst the other doesn’t although it does have an extension at the back which could make it a 4 bedroom house. The other major difference is the price - one is £20,000 cheaper than the other and the expensive one is not above the usual valuation for such houses around here. The cheaper one is by far the cheapest 3 bedroom house on the estate.
So buyers look in the estate agent’s window and decide that the higher priced one is £20,000 more than they can afford so they come and view the cheaper one. Guess what? They then turn round and say ‘but we’d have to put in central heating and double-glazing’. Why the f*** do you think it’s £20,000 cheaper?
There was a time when a young couple (which once we were) would be chuffed to bits at the chance of owning their first home. The fact that it had no heating nor posh windows or was a bit run down wasn’t a consideration, all those things could come in time - if they wanted it. There was never, ever, the thought that the house had to be completely finished to the highest standard at the lowest price. Not so now. First time buyers want everything right now at a price well below what everything costs. They can’t entertain the thought of waiting, and saving, and working to get the things they want. They have no idea of the joy of turning a house into a home through their own toil and their own imagination. Maybe they all grew up with Nikes and Playstations and foreign holidays and had everything they wanted given to them by parents who should have known better? Sod the lot of them, They’ll never find that perfect house because it doesn’t exist. Why? Because they can’t bloody afford it.
The excuses (and lies) come thick and fast but this week topped the lot. The agents have been brilliant in chasing up viewers to get their feedback and on Monday Michelle phoned with the feedback from the viewing she had booked on Sunday. The guy had said that it was a very nice house but he was looking for something with more than three bedrooms and somewhere that he could do a bit of work on whereas ours was already finished. Same old excuses really only this time the bugger never turned up for the viewing. He made the whole bloody thing up!
Getting rather fed up with it all now but I’ve got to try and be nice again in half an hour’s time when another casual house viewer is due to drop by and waste another twenty minutes of our lives.
March 24th, 2010 at 10:00 pm
i think it’s true that people expect much more than they used to. Our first flat had one bedroom, needed decorating and was on the top floor of a tenement, but we loved being able to make our mark on it.
Buyers today seem to have been fed the “buyer’s market” line and many seem to think they should be able to get something for nothing..
But not everybody is as greedy as that, Les, and I’m absolutely sure that you will get somebody round who sees “potential and a project”, rather than expecting a “move straight in” and do nothing.
In the words of the song, you just gotta have faith..:lol:
March 25th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
I agree with LL. You’ve just been unlucky, Les. I now live on a 15-yr-old estate of “executive” (ha ha) family type houses. When people move in, they rip them apart: new windows, new kitchens, complete redecoration etc. So I always feel that doing up a house is a waste of time and money, because the new owners are always wanting to do their own thing. I would have thought your house was ideal. And it doesn’t cost £20,000 to put in central heating, nor is it such a big deal, especially if the house is not occupied at the time. Keep smiling, Les!
March 25th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Jill, you’ve probably hit on something there, it’s probably a different mindset in your part of the country. I grew up in London/Essex where there is much more of a ‘get on and do it’ attitude than there is here in the Midlands. It’s something we noticed when we moved here over 30 years ago - we were astonished at how many people we met who had never been to London let alone abroad! There seems to be little imagination in folks around here. Mind you it’s not confined to the Midlands, mum-in-law who is now living here (and driving us up the wall!) hasn’t got the remotest clue about anything to do with houses (and not much of clue about anything else!). Her house - which thankfully has now been sold - looked exactly as it did when it was built in 1965 although she did put in double glazing. Well you have to because the neighbours can see it!
March 25th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
LL, maybe I should have the Rolling Stones blasting away - ‘You can’t always get what you want’ ..!!
March 25th, 2010 at 9:07 pm
…. but just sometimes.. you get what you need!!
March 26th, 2010 at 11:33 am
I live near Glasgow, so maybe the enterprising spirit is alive and well here (although not in my case!). What amazes me is that houses near where I live are not cheap, but still people then spend thousands after buying. We moved into a new-build house precisely to avoid having to do work on it
Fingers crossed for you, Les. The right buyer is out there.