The nervous wait to exchange....

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EGuitarStar said:
Well done, we complete on the 20th too, can't wait.
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We're pretty stoked, it's gone way quicker than we expected. As I said earlier in the thread, we'd been waiting to look for a house til after the wedding for some reason, then decided to take a look as obviously buying a house takes ages, right? Turned out we found a spot on place for us on day one, and it all just went from there!

Been really lucky with both the wedding and the house purchase being pretty stress-free, the only sticking point really is the new house has no garage, and I really want to get a garage up at the new place ASAP as I have a classic car that's not totally watertight. I've ordered and paid for a timber garage that's due to be delivered in 6-8 weeks, and in order to put that up I need to demolish what looks like a very very solid steel workshop, dig out a load of driveway, and lay a 30sqm concrete slab! No experience in any of the above, obviously!

It's ok, I'll just scream out for help from my dad and hopefully a couple of mates.

Having the garage up will make the work we'll want to do to the house much easier though, at least that's how I've successfully pitched it to the wife.
 
My MoS came through last night on my sale, and my solicitor has issued contracts. He think barring any hitches, it should be about 6 weeks.

My purchase however, I've not heard from. I think my vendor has been a little slow instructing her solicitor.
 
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Just starting this process myself. Unexpectedly found a flat in a location I am very happy with and for a reasonable price for a new build, unfortunately it's through a housing association to qualify for the discounted price. Already they have been a complete pain in the backside with their whole "cannot discriminate" allocation system and affordability checks (didn't understand the concept of paying off a credit card in full every month and getting cashback/bonuses on it). They let slip that the one I've reserved had previously fallen through and now another which was quite far down the process on the same site of 4 has fallen through this week. Wasn't planning on buying anything until next year so it still hasn't sunk in yet.
 
Mortgage approved and searches paid for. Things moving along now. Been told 8 to 12 weeks for completion which I guess is average. Excitement starting to build. Been in a tiny two bed semi for 17 years, so this will be some upgrade :)
 
Steeps said:
Just starting this process myself. Unexpectedly found a flat in a location I am very happy with and for a reasonable price for a new build, unfortunately it's through a housing association to qualify for the discounted price. Already they have been a complete pain in the backside with their whole "cannot discriminate" allocation system and affordability checks (didn't understand the concept of paying off a credit card in full every month and getting cashback/bonuses on it). They let slip that the one I've reserved had previously fallen through and now another which was quite far down the process on the same site of 4 has fallen through this week. Wasn't planning on buying anything until next year so it still hasn't sunk in yet.
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Silly question- Can you afford a small house?

Flats outside of major metropolitan areas (e.g. London) are so much harder to sell on later down the line. There are just far less buyers out there for them and those that would also consider small houses.

I’d take a small house that needs some work over a new flat any day. Often there isn’t much in it price wise. Especially after taking into account ground rent on top of mortgage payments. Any extra mortgage payments also build into equity, ground rent is just an expense and doesn’t add any value.

New builds have that shiny appeal, try not to be taken in by it.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Silly question- Can you afford a small house?
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Small house was the plan long term as I agree with the opinion on ground rents but I'm (un)fortunate to live in an area where there is still demand for small good quality housing. A small house which needs work is still a 30% premium over what this flat is costing me and as a single person this is the limit of my affordability without waiting another year (for similar sqft area). Shouldn't have an issue selling it on, similar properties on site (same sqft) have sold for 20% more already since I reserved this one. Excellent location, good layout, loft storage and very large room sizes compared to the competition. Even if the market looks like it could struggle there is a high demand for flat rentals in the area.

Just a bit depressing that I could have had a 3 bed semi further north.
 
Steeps said:
Just a bit depressing that I could have had a 3 bed semi further north.
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It is a bit depressing looking at what my dad could afford at my age on a comparable wage compared to what would be possible today as well even against prices in the North never mind South.
 
Rroff said:
It is a bit depressing looking at what my dad could afford at my age on a comparable wage compared to what would be possible today as well even against prices in the North never mind South.
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I've been thinking this recently. The position I've been fortunate enough to establish in a professional capacity isn't reciprocated in the property market compared to a similar professional level of 30 years ago (even 10 years ago in certain areas we're looking at).

It's immensely frustrating.
 
toshj said:
I've been thinking this recently. The position I've been fortunate enough to establish in a professional capacity isn't reciprocated in the property market compared to a similar professional level of 30 years ago (even 10 years ago in certain areas we're looking at).

It's immensely frustrating.
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It has lead to an interesting transition in the town I just moved from - middle market properties increasingly have a BMW M series, etc. sitting in the drive or on the road outside while the big million pound properties on the edge of town increasingly have the likes of the Yaris, etc. on the drive/in the garage.
 
toshj said:
I've been thinking this recently. The position I've been fortunate enough to establish in a professional capacity isn't reciprocated in the property market compared to a similar professional level of 30 years ago (even 10 years ago in certain areas we're looking at).

It's immensely frustrating.
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I thought this was a fairly interesting read: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/pjfxZM72Gj/house-buyer-time-machine

Obviously specific to Brighton which is hardly the cheapest place in the world but prices across the country were more similar back then. Certainly wasn't as easy as you think.

Can you imagine 15% interest rates?!
 
Fortunately I'm only buying a small place so the 10% calculation the mortgage broker showed me was only dreadful and not horrendous! Also my main reason for buying now rather than waiting for next year is because I know so many people who are sitting waiting to buy after they know what is happening with brexit I don't want to miss my chance of getting on the ladder again. After the vote prices here went up another 5% when they were predicted to drop. With shared ownership the risk is shared so really I'd benefit from stability for 2 years. Moved back in with parents years ago as I got work down here, got made redundant just before I was about to buy so didn't want to risk it in a fresh job then missed the boat so really itchy to get out and settle.
 
Russinating said:
Can you imagine 15% interest rates?!
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When your wage goes up by 15pc per annum as well it rapidly makes the original debt comparatively small. Buyers in such circumstances might well have a few hard years if interest rates climb, but the original debt will soon become insignificant, especially in times where low income multiples were the norm.
 
15% interest rates would certainly have been crippling on the new mortgage we're taking out!

The no-deal vote last night is an interesting quandary for me. Personally, as a remain supporter, the events of the last 24 hours have been encouraging. However, with our most recent position relating to our impending house move being that we've delayed exchanging and completing until early October in case of stamp duty cuts in a possible emergency budget... well that's left us in a bit of a tricky situation. If there's a general election called for mid-October (or any similar outcome) then any emergency budget might be further delayed, so we may be forced to bring our completion forward to an immediate date on the purchase we're advanced in.

It's been interesting to see a great deal more stock has come on the market in the last week or so.

Our options are:

- take a bit of equity out of our current property before renting it out and using that equity + savings as a deposit for a very decent-sized house. Means we'd incur a 3% extra surcharge on our primary home purchase (refundable if we sell our flat in the next 3 years, but given the value of the place we're buying the surcharge is a considerable amount), yet we'd have a decent asset in 30 years time when it comes to retiring. This is the path we've been pursuing for the last 3 months and we're just on hold at the moment.

- selling our flat - or, to speed things up, taking a loan from my company to cover the equity we'd release from the property until we actually sell - and buying a bigger primary property. We'd be giving up a potential longterm asset, although we'd be saving the hassle of having to manage it/deal with it over 3 decades, but the current equity realised from the flat means that a larger property we'd buy would equally likely result in more cash available to us once we downsize in 30 years time.

I don't know if there's a right or wrong answer to the above. Mortgage size would be equal in both scenarios. The let to buy mortgage we've got is quite significant (85% LTV) so it would take an age to pay off.
 
Russinating said:
Can you imagine 15% interest rates?!
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It's all relative though isn't it.

The ratio between house prices and salary back then was fairly low, so a high interest rate, whilst not pleasant, wouldn't have been unaffordable.

The ratio between house prices and salary today is considerably higher, they can only be affordable with relatively low interest rates.

If the BoE base rate shot up overnight by 15%, anyone who's coming to renew their mortgage, take out a new mortgage etc would suddenly find it completely unaffordable, to the point that millions would end up becoming bankrupt and the banks would end up losing a significant amount of money.
 
toshj said:
The no-deal vote last night is an interesting quandary for me. Personally, as a remain supporter, the events of the last 24 hours have been encouraging. However, with our most recent position relating to our impending house move being that we've delayed exchanging and completing until early October in case of stamp duty cuts in a possible emergency budget... well that's left us in a bit of a tricky situation. If there's a general election called for mid-October (or any similar outcome) then any emergency budget might be further delayed, so we may be forced to bring our completion forward to an immediate date on the purchase we're advanced in.
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Yeah you've got yourself into a bit of a predicament.

Personally i believe if things do go down a GE route (which based on last night seems highly likely now), the last thing on the governments mind is discussion on changes of stamp duty. Brexit is the obvious front runner in all discussions and everything else is being left behind. That could mean anything non-Brexit related gets shunted back to early 2020. It's a gamble on your part really, how did your sellers take the news about you wanting to delay exchange?

There's also still the threat of house prices taking a tumble (even if only a few %), your sellers will have to consider whether they take the risk that you won't pull out if house prices do drop slightly, or do they take their chances and put it back on the market.
 
Hi all, we have recently got a mortage accepted on a house at 230k. We then carried out a builders survey and some items for immediate attention have came up.

We have agreed with the seller that £1600 would be taken off the house to help pay for some of these fixes.

The problem is we won't see the money if it just comes off the mortage as it will only reduce the payments by £5 a month.

Is there a way to work this out where we keep the mortage at 230 but get the £1600 in cash either before or after the sale?
 
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