The nervous wait to exchange....

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mattpj said:
You've got your answer from your current market, 290k seems to be the price. Any reason to not go ahead with their offer based on what the agent is saying?
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The agent said they are willing to go up to 294k max, but this was verbal from estate agent and not documented.

We've asked them to put the offer in an email and we'll consider it.

If we had a committed buyer at 290k who stays the distance and buys the house we'd be happy, but of course the next buyer could pull out, whoever they are.
 
bainbridge said:
The agent said they are willing to go up to 294k max, but this was verbal from estate agent and not documented.

We've asked them to put the offer in an email and we'll consider it.

If we had a committed buyer at 290k who stays the distance and buys the house we'd be happy, but of course the next buyer could pull out, whoever they are.
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Seems reasonable and yeah, of course they could pull out. All you can do eventually is accept, do the required work and wait.
 
Well my wife has turned round and said she no longer wants to live in the house we'd been in the process of buying, literally only the email to confirm the missives left but no changing her mind, so now back to square 1, but we've already moved out and are living temporarily so actually square -1!
 
GeorgeStorm said:
Well my wife has turned round and said she no longer wants to live in the house we'd been in the process of buying, literally only the email to confirm the missives left but no changing her mind, so now back to square 1, but we've already moved out and are living temporarily so actually square -1!
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Bloody women mate! What didn't she like about it?

When we were looking before we bought our current place we went to see a really nice one that had just had a loft conversion done, all downstairs remodelled etc. Apparently the wife had just "happened upon" her dream home just before the massive renovations were completed. I would be fuming. You don't just "happen upon" a house when you aren't actively looking.
 
Received our report and contracts etc to sign for our purchase now :D

So daunting/scary. Lots to read through and make sense of but it all seems to be normal stuff at a glance.

Had me panicking as the cover letter mentioned me needed to pay 10% deposit on exchange, but then the report states no deposit payable as it moves up the chain from the people buying ours as far as I'm aware.

I remember asking about this before so weird that it was mentioned in the letter.

Will triple confirm though.. as I don't have that lol
 
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Fingers crossed we will get an offer on our place this week. We had 3 viewings this weekend from people who are all proceedable. FTBers and one that has a buyer for their place. One had seen the house on Friday and came back the next day for a second viewing. They turned up a little early and we were about to leave so we had a chat with them and they basically said they were going to make an offer. Whether that actually happens or they saw it for the second time and decided against it, we should know soon.

Have many people run into the people coming to view their house on the way out? I think its actually quite nice. Its good to meet the people who you are potentially lumping your neighbours with and perhaps makes negotiating in good faith a bit easier. Well, as long as the people are nice eh!

Unfortunately we haven't found anywhere ourselves still. The price bracket we are looking at is potentially where the biggest changes to SDLT will be happening which I think is making some people a little twitchy. A lot of the houses are also decent sized family homes, many of which are coming onto the market as the result of probate so the risk of having a number of family members meddling trying to get as much as they can for the house along with the general view that a 200sqm house that hasn't been touched in 40 years probably needs a lick of paint or even if you need to rip it to pieces that can't cost more than £50 doesn't help.

We're also stuck between taking on a renovation project or buying a turnkey house. Head (and wallet) says turnkey but heart likes the idea of doing a big renovation to make a house thats perfect for us. I just worry that even though I am pessimistic about these things, we will still end up spending waaaay more than expect or spending years of our lives (and our kids) renovating a house instead of enjoying life.
 
I'm certain our next house will be turnkey - it's taken 4 years to get this place to a simply liveable standard and I just don't have the energy, skill or time to juggle the things that need doing. I do have the money now to pay someone with those things, so I guess it's a fair trade.
 
RedMogg said:
I'm certain our next house will be turnkey - it's taken 4 years to get this place to a simply liveable standard and I just don't have the energy, skill or time to juggle the things that need doing. I do have the money now to pay someone with those things, so I guess it's a fair trade.
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My biggest fear isn't honestly the budget, its finding good people who will do a good job. I think that probably is easier once you start getting into proper renovations because they are usually a proper company with various trades they trust and use vs when you are trying to get someone in for a smaller job.

You don't get many people (well I hope not) that will say "sure, I can build your 2 storey extension for you" who haven't a clue. From my limited experience though there are plenty of people who will call themselves a carpenter, roofer etc who barely operate at an average DIY level and have none of the care that some people bring to their DIY.
 
We've got an offer on our place now essentially, we are just trying to negotiate for the final time before agreeing a price. Chances are that this price will drop a little after the survey as its an old house and there will be things they flag up. Nothing serious to our knowledge and nothing that you cannot see from the outside if you have eyes but naturally a surveyor will be telling them that the house is lucky to still be standing and a stiff breeze will see it down.

Now we just need to find somewhere to buy ourselves...

Currently got a few places in mind but nothing that blows our minds or we think is brilliant value. A few that have masses of potential but are quite overpriced. The standard probate with families who think they can base their valuations on similar sized houses in the area despite them being quite different and their house requiring a few hundred thousand to replicate the standards of the other house.

We just don't like to string people along and sit on our hands waiting for the perfect house that might not appear for months at this time.
 
So we finally completed last Friday and the move went as smooth as any one could hope.

We forgot to set aside the box which contained all the keys for the house and so these were packed up into the lorry so the poor guys had to hunt for the box. Lucky enough it was in an open box and they managed to pull it out without having to unload the whole lorry :eek:

Got the keys just before 2pm and when we arrived the old owner was still packing up so we leant a hand to help her (she is mid-70s) and picked her brains before she left on how certain things worked :D

Her movers took some stuff for the house so she's going to pop round to drop these back off and pick up the old house name sign as she would like to keep it and we're happy to let her have it (she was in the house for 47 years!)

We've already fully unboxed and we're already getting the work underway with the new loft and cavity wall insulation booked in for early-Dec as this place leaks heat like the US leaks Epstien emails. I've got a list as tall as the house and I'm going to start chipping away at them over the next 10+ years :D

First mortgage payment is coming out on the 1st (£5000 total :o) and will get a new product sorted once that's done.
 
adidan said:
^This.

If I'm paying someone I want them to do a far better job than I could.
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I don't necessarily expect them to always do a better job than I could because I think a lot of stuff can be done to a high standard without a high level of skill by someone who takes the time. I don't expect a worse job for a lot of money though. I don't expect to feel like I've been scammed.
 
Right, we've accepted an offer on our place. Just need to find a place to buy ourselves. Just in time for the budget to make the whole thing coming crashing down!

There hasn't been much noise about the SDLT changes that were discussed a lot a while ago so I don't know if thats because they aren't going to bother or because no new information has come out recently about them.

I don't have a lot of faith that Labour won't take a good idea and completely **** up the execution and finer details though.
 
Signed all the documents/contracts etc and handed them back in to the solicitor last night.

Got some home insurance quotes in preparation for exchange as and when that will be, and had a removal team out to quote.

Still doesn't feel real :) but so far I feel it's on track for maybe this side of Xmas (our buyers would like that, we don't mind either way)

Ths house we are moving to is ex MOD, plain as plain can be. Magnolia and grey carpets. Will take a while to make it feel like home. Baby steps I guess :D

It's in a good state though. Modern enough that you could just move in and live with it for a while, but a plain/blank canvas in a way.

Will probably get another removal quote incase the ones we have currently can't work out date wise. May get 3 total.

Dreading that first mortgage payment, here's to the next 33 years
 
kinger8938 said:
Signed all the documents/contracts etc and handed them back in to the solicitor last night.

Got some home insurance quotes in preparation for exchange as and when that will be, and had a removal team out to quote.

Still doesn't feel real :) but so far I feel it's on track for maybe this side of Xmas (our buyers would like that, we don't mind either way)

Ths house we are moving to is ex MOD, plain as plain can be. Magnolia and grey carpets. Will take a while to make it feel like home. Baby steps I guess :D

It's in a good state though. Modern enough that you could just move in and live with it for a while, but a plain/blank canvas in a way.

Will probably get another removal quote incase the ones we have currently can't work out date wise. May get 3 total.

Dreading that first mortgage payment, here's to the next 33 years
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Here's to it being less than 33 years.

We moved into out current house 21st December 2022. We had it decorated and fully furnished to our liking eight months later.
 
Hagar said:
Here's to it being less than 33 years.

We moved into out current house 21st December 2022. We had it decorated and fully furnished to our liking eight months later.
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I guess we can try to make a few overpayments once settled aye?

Nice, yeah mostly aim to do the decorating first primarily the kids rooms to make it nice for them.

Probably follow that with bathrooms etc funds permitting.. we shall see!
 
kinger8938 said:
I guess we can try to make a few overpayments once settled aye?

Nice, yeah mostly aim to do the decorating first primarily the kids rooms to make it nice for them.

Probably follow that with bathrooms etc funds permitting.. we shall see!
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Luckily after we did a deep clean and decorated, both the bathroom and kitchen were quite good and acceptable. Bosch appliances, Mira shower etc.
 
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Hi all

Not at exchange stage yet, but I am actively looking and ready to buy a house.


I've seen a house I like, up since April and only had a single offer on it.


Up for 420 ish but offers in excess of.


Similarly sized properties on the same estate are up for 500+ but are done really well - the one I'm looking at needs a lot of work doing to it (though appears to be mostly cosmetic)


Nationwide House Price Index shows a value of 456k


Probably needs:

New kitchen
Repainted throughout - rooms are multi coloured and quality of work is TERRIBLE
New carpets
Garden needs a lot of sorting
Radiators are all tatty/peeling
New bathroom needed


Normal house stuff I'd say and nothing to put me off, but needs addressing nevertheless.



I wanted to understand from others what to look out for. Any questions I should ask, specific things to keep an eye out for? Any suggestions on approaching negotiation?

I hate the thought of buying something without getting a "deal" on it, but then I've negotiated everything else I've ever gone for - I suspect housing is different, though.


The EA are already doing classic sales - been told it's had a single offer since April but the person handling my offer said they'd already had offerS higher than mine and declined...



TIA :)
 
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We have had loads of docs/report back from solicitors now. One of note is this map of the waste water set up.

Looks like the red poo poo pipe goes through our boundary/garden (81). Looks like it serves 2 houses behind ours, then ours and our to the main stretch.

The man hole covers are one in the parking area, and another on the road outside our garden wall.

Am I silly to find issue with this? Obviously not ideal but I'm guessing it's fairly common and a non issue really.

Any issue with the drains would be the responsibility of the water company anyway I imagine. I guess it just means if there is ever an issue, they would need access etc and can't build above it etc (we have no intention of such work)

Map in spoiler tag


Funnily enough, out current neighbours are selling too and have just bought 73! I jokingly told them no curry nights going forward ;)
 
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