First Time Buyer Offer accepted

[Sem]

So i'm a first time buyer and had my offer accepted so now the process begins..

I am new to all this and have done research but would like some opinions as while the estate agents have been great i do feel they are pressuring me into somethings without giving me time to think or decide myself

OK first issue is the solicitors and conveyancing
The EA automatically sent my details over to his preferred solicitor (the EA gets £150 for the referral)

i understand the conveyancing process is very important and the EA said they have been using them for 4 years so i have no doubt in his abilities but just want to know the average price people pay

The solicitor is charging £600 +VAT (£720) for the conveyancing + £120 for the SDLT1 form
Is £720 a good price in general? I'm not looking for a bargain basement service but then i don't want to be ripped off either

I don't plan to pay him £120 for the form as from what i have read you can complete it yourself

2nd issue is the mortgage & mortgage broker

The EA put me in touch with his preferred broker and I'm sure he will get a kickback from that as well
i met him and to be fair he was great he explained stuff and we went through my income detail etc and we found some good mortgages options

he charges £695 for his service but he said he will discount it for me to £400

i don't have any bad credit or any complications so should i just go to the bank direct i just don't see why i need to pay £400 or will the broker do something more i cant?

Thanks for any replies/advice

 

[andicole0]

Find your own solicitor and mortgage, ask friends and family who they have used. Solicitor does not need to be in the same area but it can help.
Take a walk up your local high street and drop in a couple of banks/building societies and solicitors. Use the info you have been given to provide comparisons.
Andi.

 

[Caged]

Don't use any of the EAs preferred people.

 

[Raumarik]

I choose my own folk when buying a house first time, didn't go with EA recommendations. Primarily as the estate agents tend to get paid commission for selling the house so wtf should I be paying a kick back?

More hassle though, marginally anyway.

 

[Abraxaz1]

As above avoid EAs preferred, local solicitor was near 1500 cheaper that country wide.

 

[Kenai]

Use someone like London and Country for mortgage brokering

 

[norm]

Odd, you normally get a mortgage agreed in principle before the EA will let you put an offer on the property, saves wasting time if you don't get approved.

 

[Sem]

Odd, you normally get a mortgage agreed in principle before the EA will let you put an offer on the property, saves wasting time if you don't get approved.

i did a quick one with Halifax online and thats what i used to get the viewing and the opportunity to put an offer in
but that agreement was just a quick one i did afew months ago just to see what i could get
i didnt have a property in mind at the time

as for the conveyancing from what i hear this is very important as many deals have fallen through or taken longer due to poor solicitors so if the EA uses these guys then i trust him on that as its in his interest it goes through as well

my only query is the average price you need to pay for a such a service

 

[Caged]

You're drawing completely the wrong conclusion about estate agents and why they have those 'preferred' partners. It's got nothing to do with the competence of the people involved, it's about making more money out of the transaction.

An estate agent will tell you things about how the seller prefers a smooth deal and how that's what their recommended people can offer, it's just a sales pitch because estate agents are basically pondlife.

 

[Sem]

You're drawing completely the wrong conclusion about estate agents and why they have those 'preferred' partners. It's got nothing to do with the competence of the people involved, it's about making more money out of the transaction.

An estate agent will tell you things about how the seller prefers a smooth deal and how that's what their recommended people can offer, it's just a sales pitch because estate agents are basically pondlife.

i agree that's why i made the post but... the commission on selling the property should be more than the £150 he gets from the solicitors so i doubt he will palm me off to someone crap

 

[Kenai]

The only thing that recently caused any issues when I was buying was how appalling the estate agent recommended conveyancing service the seller used was.

Find your own based on proper reviews and recommendations.

 

[Kenai]

LOL not much love for EAs on here then
tbh first time dealing with them so i have no opinion
but i guess that will change when this is all concluded

You'll have done exceptionally well if you make it to moving day without wanting to kill people

 

[dowie]

yeah I'd get your own solicitor + mortgage broker (assuming you even need one) ... also check HSBC rates for mortgages, I might be a bit out of date but IIRC you used to have to go direct to HSBC and they were generally better rates than a broker would find you elsewhere... unless you have some special circumstance. Shouldn't need to pay for any advice unless you intend to accept the product they've offered - given the number of comparison sites out there you may well find that the broker isn't offering the best deal.

 

[Em3bbs]

At the end of the day the estate agent only gets paid if you move, so it's not in their interest to recommend anyone crap. I'd get a few quotes from other people but if a solicitor has a good relationship with the agent it can help, especially if there are any problems.

 

[BDEE]

To actually address the question, which no one else seems to have done, £720 seems reasonable if that includes the legal work, disbursements / searches etc and their own fee. Many solicitors do not add their referral fee into the cost when business is introduced.

That said, it always pays to shop around and choose for yourself based on your searching.

 

[Shoza]

Who have they recommended? I'll tell you if their decent.

 

[BennyC]

You don't have to use a mortgage broker. Plenty of products readily available on the highstreet.

If you have difficult, unusual or special circumstances & needs they might be warranted as they have access to more niche products. Sometimes you *might* get a better deal generally but brokers aren't necessarily the cheapest as a given.

 

[Sem]

yeah I'd get your own solicitor + mortgage broker (assuming you even need one) ... also check HSBC rates for mortgages, I might be a bit out of date but IIRC you used to have to go direct to HSBC and they were generally better rates than a broker would find you elsewhere... unless you have some special circumstance. Shouldn't need to pay for any advice unless you intend to accept the product they've offered - given the number of comparison sites out there you may well find that the broker isn't offering the best deal.

i did check HSBC and they did have the best rates but the EA strongly recommended i didn't go with them as the last couple of purchases they did with HSBC took 5-6 weeks longer to complete due to HSBC being slow with everything as they do most of the work in Singapore or something like that

i took his comment "under advisement" i have a meeting with an HSBC adviser on Tuesday and will mention it
in fact have 2 other meetings one with Natwest on Monday (my personal bank) and Halifax on Weds
i will hear them all out see if they can get the same deal i saw while i was with the broker

 

[Shoza]

Halifax / Nationwide you can't go wrong with those two.

 

[Boycey0211]

I've just completed on my first purchase and I'd say find people yourself. I've had nothing but incompetence from day one from EA, mortgage advisor and solicitors, so much so that it has taken six months and I completed the morning I was flying out of the UK for months, ergo I've not got the keys but am paying for the house.

I had to sort my own mortgage out then gave the details to the MA as he couldn't get me a mortgage because my address causes issues with credit checks (I'm in shared accommodation) but he quite happily took the setup fee from the bank.

The solicitors have essentially charged me £1000 for messing my life up for six months, the other guy wasn't in a chain either.

In short, as daunting as it is I wish I had done it myself, and urge you to.