GRcade

Victor Mildew wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Victor Mildew wrote:They won't give a gooseberry fool if they're buying to let, as they can just pass this on to future tenants can't they?

I'm not selling to a buy to let. It's a first time buyer.

Seriously though, if she has a breakdown of the fees, then you can always point to this being a temporary thing.

Hopefully, I could always agree to fund a years worth of this bollocks, but I fear it'll really put her off.

Sick of this gooseberry fool, I cannot wait to get out of here.

I've been looking online at some apartments, and there's a few that I'm a bit interested in and within my budget. There all a similar style, as they're in the same building, just with minor differences.

Then on Friday another flat in the same building got discounted to the top level of my budget. It's a bit bigger, and a nicer layout (more square, than long and thin, kitchen and living room more separated).

I was telling my Dad about this, saying to him I'll have to go for a 20% deposit if I go for that one, due to the amount of mortgage I can get (which I can afford, as the level I can borrow has always been my concern I've been saving like a madman for years for a situation like this).

His viewpoint is I should aim to spend the lowest deposit possible, so I have as much money in the bank as possible. He also seems to think I can ask to borrow more, but I made it clear to him I've already told the company about all my overtime/bonuses when I got my Decision In Principle and it's not going to increase.

It's not like a 20% deposit will wipe me out, I'll still have about 6 months of outgoings left over. I just find it an odd stance, I would figure getting the best rate possible to be desirable, especially since I've saved this money specifically with the aim to spend it on a home. He did suggest to me I should buy somewhere to rent out to make some money the other week, so I do worry if his financial advice is 20 years out of date, and is used to thinking having savings is desirable because he's used to interest rates being better than they are now? I dunno.

I think I'm going to book a viewing anyway, just see if there's any flaws that are obvious before I get too invested.

Need to look more into this whole process, there's so much to think about. Thankfully MSE seem to have some good guides.

One thing to take account of is the ground rent/service charges. Make sure you ask how much they are before putting offers in as some places have ridiculously high charges. And that's without excess service charges from cowboy landlords.

Yeah indeed! And I'd want to know how long is left on the lease as well. My understanding is I'd want more than 100 years to be remaining?

That's not a growth wrote:Yeah indeed! And I'd want to know how long is left on the lease as well. My understanding is I'd want more than 100 years to be remaining?

Yeah, I think you need to have 80/90 years plus remaining to get the best prices when you sell, so having 100 years would protect you for a good few years.

You can extend the lease, but that can be very expensive. I think the government are talking about doing away with things like this, but who knows if it'll ever happen.

Cool, yeah I'd want to have enough that I don't need to worry about extension costs - and I'd probably aim to be there less than 10 years.

That's not a growth wrote:I was telling my Dad about this, saying to him I'll have to go for a 20% deposit if I go for that one, due to the amount of mortgage I can get (which I can afford, as the level I can borrow has always been my concern I've been saving like a madman for years for a situation like this).

His viewpoint is I should aim to spend the lowest deposit possible, so I have as much money in the bank as possible. He also seems to think I can ask to borrow more, but I made it clear to him I've already told the company about all my overtime/bonuses when I got my Decision In Principle and it's not going to increase.

It's not like a 20% deposit will wipe me out, I'll still have about 6 months of outgoings left over. I just find it an odd stance, I would figure getting the best rate possible to be desirable, especially since I've saved this money specifically with the aim to spend it on a home. He did suggest to me I should buy somewhere to rent out to make some money the other week, so I do worry if his financial advice is 20 years out of date, and is used to thinking having savings is desirable because he's used to interest rates being better than they are now? I dunno.

If you're at your max borrowing then not much you can do about that but mortgage interest rates are higher than cash savings interest rates so your Dad's idea would only make sense if doing something like 15% deposit instead of 20% (if it was affordable!) if you were prepared to invest that 5% deposit rather than putting it in a savings account.

Or if buying a place that needed a lot of upfront expenditure to modernise etc and doing 15% instead of 20% meant not needing to take out personal loans with higher interest rates etc.

Yeah, that was basically my thought pattern on interest rates - and while I'd want to decorate and add furniture there wouldn't be any structural or modernising needed (I think, going by photos). Even if a new boiler was needed I could cover that, but then I'd imagine that'd help me haggle for a slightly lower price anyway.

Finally exchanged today, whole process took something like 6 months and there were only 3 groups in the chain, length of time was purely down to terrible solicitors who are absolutely stealing a living. Took them weeks just to forward emails, would respond to questions from our solicitor with 'is this a legal requirement', absolutely useless. Anyway, thank strawberry float it is done!

Pancake wrote:Finally exchanged today, whole process took something like 6 months and there were only 3 groups in the chain, length of time was purely down to terrible solicitors who are absolutely stealing a living. Took them weeks just to forward emails, would respond to questions from our solicitor with 'is this a legal requirement', absolutely useless. Anyway, thank strawberry float it is done!

Damn, glad to hear that's behind you, congrats!

I'm called a few places today to book some viewings. One of them said there's tenants in situ and they're only accepting investors, which I thought was a bit odd. Good luck with that, I guess. One I'm seeing on Friday (the more expensive one) pending confirmation, and another I'm hoping to see maybe Thurs again depending on confirmation.

Starting to get a bit more real.

That's not a growth wrote:I'm called a few places today to book some viewings. One of them said there's tenants in situ and they're only accepting investors, which I thought was a bit odd. Good luck with that, I guess.

That's normal enough. An AST is usually 6 or 12 months and whilst a BTL investor can take over the AST, a person buying for owner occupier won't have "vacant possession" so couldn't complete on the purchase meaning you'd have to wait potentially quite a long time if the contract is newly signed (and that's also assuming the tenants move out willingly).

Pancake wrote:Finally exchanged today, whole process took something like 6 months and there were only 3 groups in the chain, length of time was purely down to terrible solicitors who are absolutely stealing a living. Took them weeks just to forward emails, would respond to questions from our solicitor with 'is this a legal requirement', absolutely useless. Anyway, thank strawberry float it is done!

Congrats!

I can't wait to make a similar post in the (hopefully!) near future.

I knew everything would start going wrong.

I received a phone call from my estate agent earlier, they wanted to know if I'd be home next week to let the mortgage surveyor in. I was confused as the mortgage survey happened last week! The estate agents seem unsure as to what's happened, but it looks like the buyer has had to change mortgage companies because of the shop downstairs. They think my buyer might have switched to the mortgage provider the person who bought the flat upstairs recently used.

Which was something I pointed out to the estate agent when all this started. strawberry floating wankers.

Hopefully this is just a blip and my buyer gets a mortgage approved with the new company. But added to the banana split landlords this week demanding more money, I am feeling like I'm trapped here forever.

Like you said, hopefully just a blip - try not to over think it.

I've got my first viewing tomorrow

I've tried to book in a few viewings for a bunch of flats in the same building/s, but I haven't heard a peep from the estate agents.

They're all within my budget, in a decent location with good transport links, but I keep worrying they'll be snapped up before I get a look in.

Mind you, if they're not answering me, chances are they're not answering anyone.

For 3 years our roof has been leaking.

About a year ago we were forced down to monthly rolling tenancy.

Re-signed that a few weeks ago citing again that the lack of security was not ideal. Mentioned the roof still leaking.

Today served notice of notice 'may wish to reoccupy" and confirmed with agents notice will be served tomorrow.

Truth: the landlord never has, and doesn't want to fix the roof, so is claiming they are occupying it so they don't legally have to do anything about it. As human habitation and other liabilities don't apply. Or put their literal nazi son in here instead as he won't perform his duty as a tenant to report structural issues (as is literally required in our contract).

strawberry floating landlords man. 99% rich banana splits. Reoccupation is such bullshit as they are an old couple who live in a cottage in a nearby village. They have no interest or need in reoccupying.

Their should be a cap on property ownership in areas where people have established jobs and links in the community and there is a chronic shortage of housing supply. strawberry float this gooseberry fool.

This house sold in 2008 for some 200 grand now it's got to be around 400 to 450 grand, even if it needs work.

They'll "occupy" it after living on our money for years and then sell it to continue living a grand old life getting fatter and fatter.

Super pissed but gotta remain laser eyed on finding somewhere to live. Yet again. And also the business, I'm looking at not only a 15-20% increase in rent most likely, probably together with worse travel links and more isolation that with my autism is a really bad place to be, plus commercial property rent and with that business rates.

We already pay well over a grand per month not including tax or utilities for this place. 2 beds and a cellar but still.

Just when I had some money and anxiety at record low levels.

Up side is we don't really want to live in this town, we're bored of it, but we don't want to live in the sticks either.

Sleepless nights ahead. Woop woop

Sorry to hear that Ben, that sounds really stressful - I hope you find somewhere soon without too much hassle.

Ditto, hope you can get yourself sorted with a smooth transition.

Well over a grand per month for 2 beds seems steep but I guess it depends whereabouts you are!

That's rough GG, hope you're able to find something soon so it's just about concentrating on the move

That's shite man. Any opportunity to move to a cheaper area? Pricing sounds rough.