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house-buying - remedial class

i've seen on those property programmes that they say you have to keep pushing your solicitor along, is that right? you have to keep phoning them and telling them to get on with it??


edit: jd - do you think the market might fall substantially tho?
with luck we will have funds in place by november so if we saw the right place we might be able to take advantage of a pre-xmas seller ... are there plenty of properties around then tho? surely if more people are looking to buy post-xmas, then most sellers will put their properties on the market then? hence even if there are more buyers around, there might be more properties too. :confused: or is that naive?
 
kea said:
ewings - is that a solicitor? i'll be asking around for recommendations - the firm my sister's working at might do it but as you say, there is the family connection which could become problematic! i'll add them to the list tho :)


edit: cheers marty, yes they raised it to 120k i think - how much is stamp duty and do you pay it only on the value above 120k or on the whole lot?
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stamp duty rates

Ewings is a solicitor in Penge, aye. Not a conveyancing factory.

High street firms are a bit bet than big ones IMO - they give conveyancing to trainees to practice on.
 
cheers jd - "If it's more than £120,000, you pay between one and four per cent of the whole purchase price, on a sliding scale." - so we'd pay 1% of total purchase price - around £2k. plus £2k fees, etc, means total cost of £4k.
blimey, this property owning malarkey is reet expensive innit!
 
kea said:
i've seen on those property programmes that they say you have to keep pushing your solicitor along, is that right? you have to keep phoning them and telling them to get on with it?? Oh yes. you end up feeling like chewing your own arm off :D

For my pennys worth i dont think the London market will drop much.
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kea said:
edit: jd - do you think the market might fall substantially tho?
with luck we will have funds in place by november so if we saw the right place we might be able to take advantage of a pre-xmas seller ... are there plenty of properties around then tho? surely if more people are looking to buy post-xmas, then most sellers will put their properties on the market then? hence even if there are more buyers around, there might be more properties too. :confused: or is that naive?
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Not sure about timing really. TBH I think it's best to worry about finding somewhere you like, and if that's available, don't hang about.

The renting/buying thing is something that there's been a series of articles in the Economist about... basically they say rents are now cheaper than borrowing, and borrowing will probably cost more soon. On looking at it, the concern is the cost of money going up rather than values falling... can't link the article cos it's subscription.

There are intangible benefits to owning too, though. You can do what you like and have a tad more security of tenure.
 
kea said:
cheers jd - "If it's more than £120,000, you pay between one and four per cent of the whole purchase price, on a sliding scale." - so we'd pay 1% of total purchase price - around £2k. plus £2k fees, etc, means total cost of £4k.
blimey, this property owning malarkey is reet expensive innit!
Click to expand...


Yes but so very worth it. The security of having your own place is awesome and youre not constantly paying high rents for something you'll never have.
 
nogoodboyo said:
TBH I think it's best to worry about finding somewhere you like, and if that's available, don't hang about.
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that's how we feel - especially because we're in a better financial position than most people our age and have a certain margin of elbow room financially.

i've done some calculations and with our deposit and a mortgage of around £100k, and the current interest rates i've seen on the web, we're looking at paying about £300 less per month with a mortgage than we're currently paying renting.
that's probably cos we've got a large deposit tho, so we don't need a large mortgage (relatively speaking).
 
sunflower said:
Yes but so very worth it. The security of having your own place is awesome and youre not constantly paying high rents for something you'll never have.
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Rents aren't high in historical terms, apparently. And borrowing costs are low but won't stay that way.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but the assumption that buying is better value (as opposed to better in other ways) is not always right.
 
yeah i've been on findaproperty all week, since we talked to Photo's parents and decided to seriously look into buying :o


edit: do you think property prices are going to continue to rise? i mean, one of the main benefits of being a property owner in recent years has been accumulated capital as a result of market prices rising. now things seem to be levelling out so am i correct in thinking that Photo and i shouldn't expect to accumulate capital in the same way that people 10 years older than us have?
 
kea said:
that's probably cos we've got a large deposit tho, so we don't need a large mortgage (relatively speaking).
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That should certainly make a significant difference.

There's a development lot for sale on Queen's Road (next to that gated 30s gaff, used to be a garage) - only half a million quid! :eek: unbelievable.
 
kea said:
am i correct in thinking that Photo and i shouldn't expect to accumulate capital in the same way that people 10 years older than us have?
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Yes.

It'll probably continue the long term upward trend, but that means levelling off from recent above-trend growth.
 
Making an offer

kea said:
yeah but i'm not gonna go with just one agent am i? i thought it was more like you look around at all the agents to see what's out there. :confused:
so by the time i get to the point of making an offer i'm gonna need to know this stuff already, innit.
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Remember that however nice estate agents are to you their job is to get the highest price for the seller (and therefore biggest commission for themselves).
However, they also want to turn over properties quickly, so if you have all your ducks in a row (mortage amount agreed in principle, solicitor briefed) they mayl encourage their seller to take your offer.

The prices that they initially ask for are often far in excess of what the houses are actually going for. Naming no names but some will inflate the price to persuade sellers to sign up with them, then pressure the buyers to take much lower offers. Subtle enquiries about the sellers' position can help guage their receptiveness to offers--are they about to lose another propertyif they don't sell quickly? As a first-time buyer with no "chain" you are in a string position to bargain.

Look here: http://www.houseprices.co.uk to find out what houses in the street (s) you're interested have actually sold for in the last few years.

Use the internet A LOT for hunting down properties and mortgage deals (themotleyfool.co.uk is good for financial stuff). It's the only way to correct the imbalance of information between you and the pros. But don't skimp on spending on the surveyors, solicitors etc who could stop you making the most costly mistake of your life.
.
 
jd - rofl :D i don't think we can quite afford that :D (maybe if we killed off his parents ... :eek: ;) )

there are some nice looking places around, but it's going to be hard to find a place in our area - Photo is determined to stay within 5 minutes of bellenden road!


edit: thanks for that mysterybadger, that prices site looks well useful!
 
sunflower said:
Yes but so very worth it. The security of having your own place is awesome and youre not constantly paying high rents for something you'll never have.
Click to expand...

you have more control over what you pay (as long as interest rates remain constant) we're paying less now than i paid as rent in the early 90s...
 
re: mortgages, being a first time buyer would it be better for me to get a fixed rate mortgage for a couple of years? i kinda feel like that would give me a certain level of security about what i'm paying, while i get used to being a property owner. yet i guess it depends what interest rates are likely to do ... ar they going down or up? i know they've been cut recently.
 
Kea, Nunhead/North Peckham is about to be designated a regeneration area, like Bellenden was several years ago. Bellenden is about 65 million times nicer than it was, but also much more expensive.

Might be worth a thought.
 
kea said:
re: mortgages, being a first time buyer would it be better for me to get a fixed rate mortgage for a couple of years? i kinda feel like that would give me a certain level of security about what i'm paying, while i get used to being a property owner. yet i guess it depends what interest rates are likely to do ... ar they going down or up? i know they've been cut recently.
Click to expand...


Not sure it makes a huuge difference. If you buy fixed rate, you're buying their estimate of future movements - probably better than yours in fairness.
 
re: nunhead - is it? have you got any links to further info on that? ie. timescale, definiteness, exact area etc. i was considering nunhead as there are some nice big places we can afford there, but i was dubious about the area. if it's 'upcoming' tho ... i guess bellenden has kinda 'upcome' :D
i saw a cottage in choumert square for sale the other day, 1 bedroom place, no garden - £210k! we can afford it but places like that don't come up often round here so i'd like to have other options - at the moment it's east dulwich only. i will look into nunhead seriously!


edit: ooh i like this one -
http://www.woosterstock.co.uk/Detail.php?propID=1899
(needs work tho!)
 
kea said:
re: nunhead - is it? have you got any links to further info on that? ie. timescale, definiteness, exact area etc. i was considering nunhead as there are some nice big places we can afford there, but i was dubious about the area. if it's 'upcoming' tho ... i guess bellenden has kinda 'upcome' :D
i saw a cottage in choumert square for sale the other day, 1 bedroom place, £200k! we can afford it but places like that don't come up often round here so i'd like to have other options - at the moment it's east dulwich only. i will look into nunhead seriously!
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I'll look. They were consulting, that's how I know, but a decision should have been made public now. It looked very likely last I heard - not a guarantee, granted.

Edit:
East Peckham and Nunhead have been identified as priority neighbourhoods by the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit and have been allocated £0.5m each year, over three years, to spend on social renewal projects. These projects are co-ordinated by the Peckham Programme on behalf of the Southwark Alliance - the local strategic partnership - and involve community representatives in each area.
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http://www.southwark.gov.uk/YourServices/RegenerationSection/PeckProgramme/peckhamneighbourhoods.html
 
When I bought my second flat the solicitor was £1800 then there were all land search fee, stamp duty was about £3000 It was more costly because of selling the last one.
 
i am going to re-read this thread at home tonite and i'll probably then post a new list of questions as a result :D i hope that's ok? thanks for your help so far everyone. it's a scary thought, getting your head around buying somewhere!
 
kea, have you looked into shared ownership, part rent/ part buy? it probably works out better in the short term, you don't have to get a chuffingly big mortgage initially, and can buy the rest of the place later on, but you do have to rent half of it or more so can be a little more pricier than renting
 
kea said:
i am going to re-read this thread at home tonite and i'll probably then post a new list of questions as a result :D i hope that's ok? thanks for your help so far everyone. it's a scary thought, getting your head around buying somewhere!
Click to expand...

I thought that when I first did it but not paying rent anymore makes it all worth while :)

I should be moving again soon so will have to go through it all again
 
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