Man of Honour
It was around ten. We knew it was for us as soon as we saw the place and was all sorted out very quickly as the owner was emigrating.
Mortgage: How many properties did you look before..
- Thread starter jonneymendoza
- Start date
Soldato
We looked at about 20 over the period of a month. Just signed on the dotted line yesterday for the mortgage. 182k with 15% deposit for a two bed end terrace with garage in very good condition. Unfortunately as my gf has been on a mortgage before we have to pay stamp duty 
Good luck to you!
Good luck to you!
Soldato
We've looked at 4, just put an offer in of £91,000 on the £110,000 house, the estate agent said they had an offer put in before Christmas that was lower than ours but it fell through, looking quite likely that I'll have a house
Soldato
I spent 2 years looking for a house, looked at hundreds. Although for the first year I wasn't *that* serious. Also what I wanted slowly changed as I understood exactly what was available for what prices etc. I put offers on 5, 3 were accepted. One fell through, open I pulled out and I finally got the house I have now. £245k in Guildford for 3 bed end of terrace, with garage nice garden etc. Am happy with my purchase. I was lucky enough to have 25% deposit so managed to get a decent rate. I'm currently on a 2.89% tracker, but the base rate isn't moving anywhere soon. I'll probably fix next year when this tracker runs out.
I'm surprised you're even considering anything above £250k, especially with only 10% deposit (sorry to say but that isn't a huge amount these days and you won't get great rates with it) With the stamp duty, its not the difference between 1% and 3%. As a first time buyer if you buy £250k or under you pay NO stamp duty.
I'm surprised you're even considering anything above £250k, especially with only 10% deposit (sorry to say but that isn't a huge amount these days and you won't get great rates with it) With the stamp duty, its not the difference between 1% and 3%. As a first time buyer if you buy £250k or under you pay NO stamp duty.
Soldato
91k 60k deposit for me. Less than £250 a month mortgage WIN!
Soldato
In 2004/2005 I enquired about 97 adverts and viewed 49 properties. Many of them multiple times with different agents. It was a peak of the market with very sharp gazoomping curve though and we were literally being pushed further and further away from M25 every week. I'd view property on Monday for £12£,£££, make informal offer, just to be called on Friday by different agency asking if I were interested in viewing this new (the same) property for £13£,£££ that just appeared in their window.
It took me 7 months to have an offer finally accepted and then 9 months to finalise, because seller kept pulling out, yanking the chain and throwing tantrums every two weeks. Everyone involved in process on my end said they actually put the purchase in "hopeless" basket and were really surprised when after months and months, we finally managed to negotiate the sale to go through, got the keys, in the end paying the same 9 month old price below asking price.
In the hindsight, totally not worth the hustle though.
It took me 7 months to have an offer finally accepted and then 9 months to finalise, because seller kept pulling out, yanking the chain and throwing tantrums every two weeks. Everyone involved in process on my end said they actually put the purchase in "hopeless" basket and were really surprised when after months and months, we finally managed to negotiate the sale to go through, got the keys, in the end paying the same 9 month old price below asking price.
In the hindsight, totally not worth the hustle though.
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Soldato
About 15 I'd say, we were looking at the existing village we lived in or Windsor a few miles away but decided to stay where we were to get a bigger house but still with decent transport links.
Update.
Looked at two today. the one i fancied thats selling for 270k but someone offering 250k is a place where no one has lived there for ages. Lots of work needs to be done inside. wouldnt be able to just move in.
Owned by the bank as previous owner got kicked out for not paying mortgage. i would say that place is worth 200k max as it needs a lot of work from what i can see.
Anyways i saw another one thats 2 bedroom. no conservatory or anything and going for 249k. nice nifty house. a bit small though but we can practically move in straight away and nothing needs doing at all. Nice kitchen etc etc but as i said, a bit too small. The owner is desperate to sell as they are in a chain and have found a place they are looking for so if i like this i got the upper hand.
Looked at two today. the one i fancied thats selling for 270k but someone offering 250k is a place where no one has lived there for ages. Lots of work needs to be done inside. wouldnt be able to just move in.
Owned by the bank as previous owner got kicked out for not paying mortgage. i would say that place is worth 200k max as it needs a lot of work from what i can see.
Anyways i saw another one thats 2 bedroom. no conservatory or anything and going for 249k. nice nifty house. a bit small though but we can practically move in straight away and nothing needs doing at all. Nice kitchen etc etc but as i said, a bit too small. The owner is desperate to sell as they are in a chain and have found a place they are looking for so if i like this i got the upper hand.
If you do - be quick about it and you won't pay stamp duty. Going for 250k and below would seem optimum given your small deposit. Going above this and paying 3% would presumably hit you quite hard.
i.e. 249k = £0 stamp duty
251k = £7530k
given that you've only got a 10% deposit can you really afford stamp duty too?
i.e. 249k = £0 stamp duty
251k = £7530k
given that you've only got a 10% deposit can you really afford stamp duty too?
how old are you? you obviously dont remember the nineties that well...
House prices have fallen in london before, and they will again. Do some research before splashing a quarter of a million pounds on a place to live.
Soldato
You can say this at pretty much ANY time. Prices go up, prices come down. Just make sure you can afford the mortgage.
Soldato
I house-hunted in 2006. Looked at 3 houses, and was 3rd time lucky. Sellers accepted £70k on what was listed as £72.5k.
First house we bought we looked at 6 properties. In hindsight it was a mistake and we should have been a lot more picky rather than just buying a far from perfect house and paying over the odds. Strangely I can only actually remember 4 of them though! This was in 2006 when the market was pretty bouyant and we were desperate to live together, one of the first houses we looked at we quite liked, but dilly-dallied a bit wanting to see more properties so it was taken off the market a few days after our viewing, I think that maybe scared us into rushing into a decision on the next house we liked.
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So what do u want me and others to do? sit and live with our parents forever or just rent forever?
Soldato
It's not like savings accounts are a decent alternative. I'd rather have a London pad that can act at least partially as a hedge against inflation.
My advice is don't rush into it, by the sounds of it neither of the properties you have viewed are suitable (buying a property that feels too small is something I'd never do, because you will only accumulate more possessions (and possibly children!) as time progresses).
A small, well done up property that doesn't need any work will typically be very close to the potential price ceiling due to the inability to add much value (extensions/conversions aside) and appealing to a broad audience (i.e. not putting off people who are easily wowed by a high quality finish). Not saying that in itself makes it a bad buy but if it feels too small then there may come a time when you want to sell it, and you'd be at risk of losing money (which is true of any property of course, but you get my drift).
A small, well done up property that doesn't need any work will typically be very close to the potential price ceiling due to the inability to add much value (extensions/conversions aside) and appealing to a broad audience (i.e. not putting off people who are easily wowed by a high quality finish). Not saying that in itself makes it a bad buy but if it feels too small then there may come a time when you want to sell it, and you'd be at risk of losing money (which is true of any property of course, but you get my drift).
yea cool thanks for teh advice. i wont rush it. I am planning to have kids so it needs to be decent size to cater for that too
my parents bought an absolute dump of a place years ago where we use to live next walthamstow station. It was a Huge house, 4-5 bedrooms. 2-3 floors etc and all for something like 60k give or take.
it was a right mess. No flooring done, no painting, walls cracked all over the place, and a HUGE hall on the floor from top floor right down(You could see the top floor from the kitchen lol).
it wasnt nice living there. was very dusty and i remember me and my parents where basically living in just the main master bedroom for a while. very dust. unlivable really. It took my parents a few years to get that place done up and at the end we moved out as the actual area was getting worse(my auntie got robbed in our street).
Now i could follow the same footsteps as my parents as i can still stay with my dad until my place is done up though.
Has anyone done this? bought a place that's unlivable and slowly done it up?
it was a right mess. No flooring done, no painting, walls cracked all over the place, and a HUGE hall on the floor from top floor right down(You could see the top floor from the kitchen lol).
it wasnt nice living there. was very dusty and i remember me and my parents where basically living in just the main master bedroom for a while. very dust. unlivable really. It took my parents a few years to get that place done up and at the end we moved out as the actual area was getting worse(my auntie got robbed in our street).
Now i could follow the same footsteps as my parents as i can still stay with my dad until my place is done up though.
Has anyone done this? bought a place that's unlivable and slowly done it up?
You see in my mind you should be buying a 230k house if you have a 60k despot. This way you will not have to move for longer and when you do move and house prices have gone up (which they generally do over 10 years) it will be easier for you to upgrade to a bigger family home. Suffer while you are young and it will make life easier when you get older.
Well thats what I have done, I bought a bigger house then I can afford, made massive cut backs in my life and not driving the sort of car I would like to but providing we don't want to change area I don't think we will ever have to move again.
Yup thats what others have said. suffer a bit when your young and laugh when your older, chillin