Topic: The 'Eeeek...buying/saving for a house' thread

[redk84]

Redk - at the end of the day it's about paying what you're comfortable with.

If you think you're getting the house you want for the price the seller wants + the cost of the repairs on top then may as well swallow it. If not, or if it puts a strain on it, then walk away and something else will come along.

Don't feel forced by a seller into paying what you're not comfortable with.

yeah, end of the day we thought that the amount they refused to go lower by wasn't enough to warrant walking away in our minds....given all the positives of the property.
Even though the contracts were due to be signed off this week we will delay by a few weeks just to get April pay in just for a bit of an extra buffer. The planned work is not urgent but we'd have liked to do it now..guess can put off one or two things as its a house we plan to stay in for longhaul.

The price we offered at the time we thought was fair, and I guess there aren't major issues (that we know of!) so in a year or so from now we wouldn't look back and regret I don't think so that's why we're gonna still do it.

But just thought they could have been a bit more reasonable...as we had been throughout this process. Ah well

[Thomas]

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[bruffell06]

Me and my girlfriend are looking at buying a house together and have seen a new build plot we like (have been inside one thats already built). I've been reading about managing to negotiate on new builds such as getting them to cover stamp duty, including added extras in etc.

However, this site appears popular and has only a couple of plots left so what do you think are the chances of being able to negotiate with them ?

[CraigDS]

Me and my girlfriend are looking at buying a house together and have seen a new build plot we like (have been inside one thats already built). I've been reading about managing to negotiate on new builds such as getting them to cover stamp duty, including added extras in etc.

However, this site appears popular and has only a couple of plots left so what do you think are the chances of being able to negotiate with them ?

How long is a piece of string?

[gazzam1963]

Is the new build nearly completed ? , My missus sells new build and if your location is popular they won't need to discount too much . The advice I'd offer would be to definitely ask for some form of discount or an incetive . They do have a gross and net price they work too but if the negotiator has a few interested then you may not get much off . The negotiator earns his/ her money by a sale so she will want it as much as you .
One thing I did say previouosly is go in on a Sunday as sales figures are gathered then and if the site hasn't hit a target you may get say another grand or so off the price . You can pm if you need to .

[bruffell06]

Thanks for the replies.

We're going to call in tomorrow and see what we can get out of them. The development isn't completed yet.

[paddysour]

Supposed to exchange contracts today and complete tomorrow - the vendors chose the date ages ago. They are selling the house because they are splitting up. The fella has now gone AWOL and completion is in doubt. Brilliant    They accepted the offer in January ffs

[Roady]

All great areas above  - add L18 (Mossley Hill, Penny lane, Allerton Road - the other side of Sefton Park to your list)

Here's one just off Rose Lane for 140K - 100m from the station (15 minutes to Lime Street)

Viewed a house just down the road from there. Lovely house great location! Problem I found was that they tried to usher me through the house really quickly. Was quite amusing coz I realised why when what I can only describe as an earthquake happened every time a train went past!

[gazzam1963]

Viewed a house just down the road from there. Lovely house great location! Problem I found was that they tried to usher me through the house really quickly. Was quite amusing coz I realised why when what I can only describe as an earthquake happened every time a train went past!

Funny enough I know two people who have houses like that and they both say you just get used to it , and I remember working in a house when a similar noise from a train happened , i didn't realise it was a train I just said " whats that noise " ...what noise she replied ..oh it's a train you just get used to it

[Col]

My experience of buying a house so far is akin to Liverpool trying to sign a decent player. There's always somebody richer who can afford to pay more money.

[surfer. Fuck you generator.]

My experience of buying a house so far is akin to Liverpool trying to sign a decent player. There's always somebody richer who can afford to pay more money.

It's a bit illusory as well, where the value and substance is. If you are buying in any system -apartments, condos, terraced housing, detached housing but 6000 sqft to quarter acre plots, semi-detached - your quality of life is significantly affected by the actions of your neighbours. I would say 70 - 80 percent of the live-in value of a property that you intend to be your home is decided by your neighbours for the above set-ups, not the glass used in the damn windows or that sweet parquet flooring. It makes little sense to make the biggest investment of your life (to live in re quality of life) on something you have so little control over.

I like renting in most of the above situations.

I've seen both sides - wonderful, quality people v attention deprived nutjobs that should have been hospitalised years ago. These things can also change in a matter of weeks as people move.

Acre plus land + house is a good investment. Buying and renting a condo / terrace out, good deal. Heck purchasing a caravan to live in, where you can change the environment with ease, full control - good deal!

[Col]

It's a bit illusory as well, where the value and substance is. If you are buying in any system -apartments, condos, terraced housing, detached housing but 6000 sqft to quarter acre plots, semi-detached - your quality of life is significantly affected by the actions of your neighbours. I would say 70 - 80 percent of the live-in value of a property that you intend to be your home is decided by your neighbours for the above set-ups, not the glass used in the damn windows or that sweet parquet flooring. It makes little sense to make the biggest investment of your life (to live in re quality of life) on something you have so little control over.

I like renting in most of the above situations.

I've seen both sides - wonderful, quality people v attention deprived nutjobs that should have been hospitalised years ago. These things can also change in a matter of weeks as people move.

Acre plus land + house is a good investment. Buying and renting a condo / terrace out, good deal. Heck purchasing a caravan to live in, where you can change the environment with ease, full control - good deal!

Rent where we are is much more expensive than buying, even once you factor in mortgage interest, property tax, mortgage payment insurance and home insurance - especially if you want to avoid the 'bad' areas, or actually live in a nice property.

It works out cheaper in most towns near me to buy a 1200 sq ft house with a full basement than to rent a crappy 2-bed apartment which hasn't been updated since the 80s.

[mkferdy]

We are getting close to exchange / completion stage. Am I right in assuming that the people at the bottom of the chain put down normally 10% deposit then we make up the difference to the value of the property we are buying?

So for example we are selling our property for £235k and the one we are buying is £360k. Am I right in assuming that our buyer will be putting down £23500 so we put down £12500?

Hope that makes sense

[.adam]

We are getting close to exchange / completion stage. Am I right in assuming that the people at the bottom of the chain put down normally 10% deposit then we make up the difference to the value of the property we are buying?

So for example we are selling our property for £235k and the one we are buying is £360k. Am I right in assuming that our buyer will be putting down £23500 so we put down £12500?

Hope that makes sense

Don't think the deposit that the person at the bottom of your chain puts in makes any difference to what you put in to your next place.

Continuing your example of selling your £235k house to buy a £360k house...

You sell yours for £235k. Imagine you have an outstanding mortgage of £180k. You therefore take £55k from your current property after clearing the debt.

You elect to put this £55k down on your next property so you now have £305k which either has to be covered by a mortgage or other savings. Assuming you're a couple this means that you need a combined income of around £71k (assuming 4.25x borrowing rate) to afford the property.

All of this ignores fees etc. which inevitably erodes your £55k and means you need a bigger mortgage.

[mkferdy]

Thanks Adam.

We are putting down £100k but that includes cash and profit from the sale of the house if that makes sense. Need to give my solicitor a call who are useless. The last set of paperwork mentioned a 10% deposit from all in the chain a week before completion.

[.adam]

Thanks Adam.

We are putting down £100k but that includes cash and profit from the sale of the house if that makes sense. Need to give my solicitor a call who are useless. The last set of paperwork mentioned a 10% deposit from all in the chain a week before completion.

I think we did this when we bought our place. If memory serves, the 10% deposit is something that they will be asking all parties to do as a show of good faith that they are going to proceed with the transaction.

I believe you'll sign a document of some description that states that if you drop out then you forfeit the 10% you put into escrow with the solicitor.

[Jake]

The deposit moves up the chain. You receive 10k, you use that 10k towards your 20k deposit etc

[mkferdy]

The deposit moves up the chain. You receive 10k, you use that 10k towards your 20k deposit etc

Thanks for this, that's what I was assuming.

[Bunter]

Really fucks me off as a contractor the mortgage advisors wil only use my net annual pay (after tax,  expenses etc.) as an indicator of earnings to apply for a mortgage yet people in salaried jobs can use annual gross salary despite me earning more a month than ones who are able to borrow more than me.

Have a decent deposit ready, earn more than enough to meet payments for the mortgage I need (my rent is £50 less) yet they'll offer me a derisory amount that barely gets me a size of house I need.

[stewil007]

Bit of a grumble......

There is a new build site near us which is currently in its second phase, their top spec 4 bed house is now £293k, during the first phase the same spec house went for around £260k.

So what is happening?  About 3 or 4 of these houses from the first phase are coming up for sale about £5k lower than the current asking price.

So in 10 months, these people are looking to make about £26k or 10% profit when house prices in the area have gone up by about 1%-2% in that time.

Not sure what pisses me off more, the fact you know these people are in for a quick buck and taking advantage or that I didn't think of doing this myself

[pw1008]

Really fucks me off as a contractor the mortgage advisors wil only use my net annual pay (after tax,  expenses etc.) as an indicator of earnings to apply for a mortgage yet people in salaried jobs can use annual gross salary despite me earning more a month than ones who are able to borrow more than me.

Have a decent deposit ready, earn more than enough to meet payments for the mortgage I need (my rent is £50 less) yet they'll offer me a derisory amount that barely gets me a size of house I need.

Try a specialist contractor mortgage broker. Forget which one I used now, something like contractor finance or mortgages but as long as I had 6 weeks left on contract when mortgage completed thats all they needed and just went off day rate. I was only remortgaging though so might be different but had only been contracting about a year so didnt have a 3 years worth of books that banks would want

Still got the mortgage through the halifax - must be some relationship between the broker although wasnt the best rate on market but nowhere near the first - just think they dont deal with the smaller banks and building societies who sometimes offer the best rates

[gazzam1963]

Bit of a grumble......

There is a new build site near us which is currently in its second phase, their top spec 4 bed house is now £293k, during the first phase the same spec house went for around £260k.

So what is happening?  About 3 or 4 of these houses from the first phase are coming up for sale about £5k lower than the current asking price.

So in 10 months, these people are looking to make about £26k or 10% profit when house prices in the area have gone up by about 1%-2% in that time.

Not sure what pisses me off more, the fact you know these people are in for a quick buck and taking advantage or that I didn't think of doing this myself

The builder of the site is just chancing there arm slightly ,I bet  the 3 or 4 that have gone up 5k lower thn 2nd phase asking price haven't sold yet . The builder has to get past a surveyor valuation yet and the surveyor will be aware of what the first phase went for too. . Also the builder now has greater discount incentives to offer new purchasers so they can offer ten grand off or more in extras so the new buyer thinks they got a great deal and the developer makes a bit more .

[ShrewKop]

Just became a home owner on Friday so the move in process over the weekend was exhausting but relatively stress free 

Going from a one bedroom apartment into a house is nice, but my word, furnishing the place is going to be a task and a half!!

[DanFromMars]

Get stuff from freecycle and gumtree to get yourself sorted. My mate furnished his 4 bed house thus year with some decent looking stuff and paid pennies. Would be madness buying everything vrand new straight away. Unless you're made of money

[ShrewKop]

Get stuff from freecycle and gumtree to get yourself sorted. My mate furnished his 4 bed house thus year with some decent looking stuff and paid pennies. Would be madness buying everything vrand new straight away. Unless you're made of money

We're taking our time with everything. Kitchen is done as the guy who sold it renovated it so new appliances, and we have one of the bedrooms done with our current stuff. Got a couple bedrooms to do and the living room. I've moved to the States as my wife is American and their Gumtree is Craigs List, which i've heard is pretty dodgy! It's just the two of us so we can add stuff slowly slowly

[redk84]

new house....finally got it!

only major works needed is the bathroom. But before that, wife wants us to sort potential damp issues and we're gonna get a surveyor in (2nd opinion to the guy we got in during sale procedure that first mentioned it).

My thoughts, been reading that this could be a big waste of money if there are no big issues.....

rising damp could be a problem to sort out if the last damp proof course has failed (its a 1930s house) but im worried how much damage would need to be done to fix the issue and how much this all would cost. also there's a potential issue where the chimney is exposed to the elements and there could be water coming from there.

Anybody have any experience with damp proofing their house or whether its worth it?

[Red Viper]

Finally moved into our brand new house last week.

Loads of snags and minor issues but absolutely over the moon with it. Going to be a while before it feels like a home but after years of renting it feels great to finally have our own house.

[owens_2k]

Really fucks me off as a contractor the mortgage advisors wil only use my net annual pay (after tax,  expenses etc.) as an indicator of earnings to apply for a mortgage yet people in salaried jobs can use annual gross salary despite me earning more a month than ones who are able to borrow more than me.

Have a decent deposit ready, earn more than enough to meet payments for the mortgage I need (my rent is £50 less) yet they'll offer me a derisory amount that barely gets me a size of house I need.

Did you manage to sort this? I was in a similar predicament.

[Roady]

In a bit of a pickle here and need some advice. My sister and I were left my mums house when she passed away a few years ago. there’s no mortgage on it but I do know the mortgage was with Halifax. We had a solicitor sort out probate because my uncle ‘lost ‘ the will. In the meantime I had lived there and done it up to get the best price possible. We’ve accepted an offer we’re both happy with. My sister is now saying she’s had a cal from the solicitors to say they need the deeds to the house in order to sell. Now this is the same solicitor who sorted the probate. Is this not something they should have covered? I’m assuming I could get them from the land registry having done a little research? Not too sure though as if they aren’t with them there’s all kinds involved! My sister is pretty useless and biting my head off at every opportunity (I’m now living in Spain since the turn of the year). I don’t know what the fuck to do here other than getting on a flight home and sorting it myself coz she is seriously useless. From day one all she’s been interested in is cash. But that’s another story  any advice or help would be appreciated I just assumed having paid for probate this would have covered deeds etc seeing as it’s part of my mother’s estate. Cheers

[Millie]

In a bit of a pickle here and need some advice. My sister and I were left my mums house when she passed away a few years ago. there’s no mortgage on it but I do know the mortgage was with Halifax. We had a solicitor sort out probate because my uncle ‘lost ‘ the will. In the meantime I had lived there and done it up to get the best price possible. We’ve accepted an offer we’re both happy with. My sister is now saying she’s had a cal from the solicitors to say they need the deeds to the house in order to sell. Now this is the same solicitor who sorted the probate. Is this not something they should have covered? I’m assuming I could get them from the land registry having done a little research? Not too sure though as if they aren’t with them there’s all kinds involved! My sister is pretty useless and biting my head off at every opportunity (I’m now living in Spain since the turn of the year). I don’t know what the fuck to do here other than getting on a flight home and sorting it myself coz she is seriously useless. From day one all she’s been interested in is cash. But that’s another story  any advice or help would be appreciated I just assumed having paid for probate this would have covered deeds etc seeing as it’s part of my mother’s estate. Cheers

Are the deeds still with the Halifax?  I know my Mum and Dad, after paying off their mortgage with the Halifax, paid a small sum to leave the Deeds in storage with them.

[Roady]

Are the deeds still with the Halifax?  I know my Mum and Dad, after paying off their mortgage with the Halifax, paid a small sum to leave the Deeds in storage with them.

It’s my first port of call tomorrow mate. If not I’m a bit bamboozled.

[Millie]

It’s my first port of call tomorrow mate. If not I’m a bit bamboozled.

Some advice here
https://www.co-oplegalservices.co.uk/media-centre/articles-sept-dec-2016/what-to-do-if-you-cant-find-property-title-deeds/

[Millie]

If the solicitor is asking for the deeds then I am guessing that the property is not registered with the Land Registry, otherwise he would have received the copy of the Title Register from them.

Just because he handled the Probate he would not have done this as part of that process.

[rob1966]

Try the land registry, most deeds are held online now, You can do a search and see if they are available

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

[Millie]

Try the lnad registry, most deeds are held online now

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

The solicitor will have already done that though - or he should have done.  It looks like the property may not be registered.

[Millie]

It’s my first port of call tomorrow mate. If not I’m a bit bamboozled.

Can you not email the solicitor yourself?  Try and find out exactly what the actual problem is.  No need to fly over if you don't need to.

[rob1966]

The solicitor will have already done that though - or he should have done.  It looks like the property may not be registered.

I thought that but I've learn't never to trust that anyone has done what they are supposed to have - always worth a check just in case.

[Roady]

I honestly thought it’d be part of the process of probate. I’m not going to fly over for the sake of it. But my sisters a useless tit to be fair. She’s in Liverpool yet in the one chasing everything. Just frustrated more than anything. I honestly thought probate would cover this. How can they can hand over the house to myself and my sister without the deeds in the first place? I’m not up on all this shite at all. I’ll make some enquiries tomorrow with the land registry and Halifax, thanks for all the advice everyone , much appreciated.

[gazzam1963]

I helped an uncle three years ago make a will with a solicitor a few weeks before he died , my uncle produced these deeds and the solicitor said that the written deeds don't matter anymore there just good to look at as land registry has the details online . Probate wouldn't have sorted that out all it has done is given you as the executors the right to sell the house . I imagine the house has never passed over to you or your sister through the land registry and they would hold the title of deeds still in your mothers name .

[owens_2k]

Put an offer in on a house id been looking at recently. Its been on sale for over a year and price hasn't changed (It's vastly overpriced). After I submitted it, the agent got back to me and said

"Sorry we've already had an offer of x amount (much more than mine), is there any movement in your offer?

Smells dodgy.