Houses

[Chocolate Teapot]

25 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

Off to look at a house later, anyone got any experience of living in one with a thatched roof?

 

Appreciate it will have maintenance costs etc.

Yeah. Don't buy it. They're a nightmare! 🤣

[Costock_Fox]

28 minutes ago, Chocolate Teapot said:

Yeah. Don't buy it. They're a nightmare! 🤣

Think that’s the reply I was expecting 😂

[grobyfox1990]

1 hour ago, Costock_Fox said:

Off to look at a house later, anyone got any experience of living in one with a thatched roof?

 

Appreciate it will have maintenance costs etc.

Loads of spiders and sky high insurance costs. Yeh you’ll get likes on Instagram but then you actually have to live in it. 

[grobyfox1990]

3 minutes ago, grobyfox1990 said:

Loads of spiders and sky high insurance costs. Yeh you’ll get likes on Instagram but then you actually have to live in it. 

You could take loads of family pics at the viewing today, farm Instagram likes, then buy a normal house to live in? #brainstorming

[Tommy G]

8 hours ago, FoyleFox said:

Yes. They'll be included in the amount to redeem the mortgage, your solicitor will pay it from the sale proceeds. It's incase you don't complete on a new purchase within the 6 months. The bank won't risk being out of pocket. It's been a long time since I worked in that sector but it certainly was the process then. 

Thanks - just checked with Coventry Building Society and I have 6 months - don't think I can face 6 months with the parents or in laws so I'm going to try and do it back to back. 

[Costock_Fox]

42 minutes ago, grobyfox1990 said:

Loads of spiders and sky high insurance costs. Yeh you’ll get likes on Instagram but then you actually have to live in it. 

Like the sound of Instagram likes tbf.

[FoyleFox]

2 hours ago, Tommy G said:

Thanks - just checked with Coventry Building Society and I have 6 months - don't think I can face 6 months with the parents or in laws so I'm going to try and do it back to back. 

6 months is the maximum, if you don't take out anew mortgage you'd forfeit the EPC. You could just have 1 month with the in laws 

At least it gives you options.

[Harry96]

Guys as a ftb is flat necessarily a bad option if affordability is an issue? So I’ve got a AIP and can borrow up to 140k of course would prefer to have freehold long term but there doesn’t seem to be many options for that price within 150k. Seen some horror stories regarding people having their service charges and ground rent increased without notice so just need a bit of guidance please thanks 

[Guest leatherhead32]

1 hour ago, Harry96 said:

Guys as a ftb is flat necessarily a bad option if affordability is an issue? So I’ve got a AIP and can borrow up to 140k of course would prefer to have freehold long term but there doesn’t seem to be many options for that price within 150k. Seen some horror stories regarding people having their service charges and ground rent increased without notice so just need a bit of guidance please thanks 

i've got a flat leasehold bought off council  and service charges are ok ish so far anyway in the 14 year i've been here  , i think i heard somewhere on news there maybe a chance these service charges from greedy landlords may get looked into emmmmm but when and howe who knows so yeah be careful harry, but as for a flat i love em and lived in 2 now as renter and even a bedsit which was fine , easy to keep tidy and lower bills of course . footnote /  if you get asked by al Murray pub landlord at demont what you live in ffs don't say an apartment as 1 lad did in 05 " FLAT I THINK YE MEANT SON " he replied . no it weren't me btw thank god as he bgot ripped. . good luck mate.

[Costock_Fox]

On 22/03/2024 at 07:33, Costock_Fox said:

Off to look at a house later, anyone got any experience of living in one with a thatched roof?

 

Appreciate it will have maintenance costs etc.

House was unreal, so much potential but the kitchen had a beam that even 5f8 me had to duck under. 
 

Would need a fair bit of cash spending on it to modernise but recon would be worth significantly more when that was all done. Arggg

[HighPeakFox]

4 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

House was unreal, so much potential but the kitchen had a beam that even 5f8 me had to duck under. 
 

Would need a fair bit of cash spending on it to modernise but recon would be worth significantly more when that was all done. Arggg

Thatched roofs are also notoriously difficult to get mortgages approved for - I speak as a former mortgage advisor here too.

[Zear0]

17 hours ago, Harry96 said:

Guys as a ftb is flat necessarily a bad option if affordability is an issue? So I’ve got a AIP and can borrow up to 140k of course would prefer to have freehold long term but there doesn’t seem to be many options for that price within 150k. Seen some horror stories regarding people having their service charges and ground rent increased without notice so just need a bit of guidance please thanks 

Said a few pages ago that the first two properties I bought were leasehold flats.  There's nothing wrong with the leasehold arrangement as long as the leasehold company don't take the p*ss, which is always a possibility especially with newer properties.

 

Few simple questions to the agent to ask:

• How long is left on the lease?  Anything <75 can get people twitchy as there's costs associated with extending the lease
• What is the ground rent and how do they calculate the annual increases? Fortunatly this never changed during my four year stay in flats but reads like I was lucky
• What is the maintenance/service charge and how do they calculate the annual increases?

With the costs, some agreements have fixed % annual increases, some double every x years (scandal), some are fixed and some are cowboys who can do as they please.

[Costock_Fox]

24 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

Thatched roofs are also notoriously difficult to get mortgages approved for - I speak as a former mortgage advisor here too.

I work in a similar field and haven’t had any issues in the past tbf.

[Sly]

On 21/03/2024 at 17:55, Chocolate Teapot said:

Currently got my house up for sale at a really fair price but keep getting lowball offers. It's frustrating when you try and do the right thing but then people think they're being clever by doing this.

You’re genuinely better pitching it higher I think, to stop this. 
 

Just advise the agent that this is where you’re at and not to even entertain offers below “X” amount. 

[Sly]

On 22/03/2024 at 07:33, Costock_Fox said:

Off to look at a house later, anyone got any experience of living in one with a thatched roof?

 

Appreciate it will have maintenance costs etc.

As @Chocolate Teapot stated, they are a nightmare. 
 

I purchased one at auction to flip and it was a nightmare. 
 

Also, I’d never seen to many creepy crawlers in my life. 
 

I ended up taking a £10k hit to get rid of the bloody thing in the end. 

[Costock_Fox]

44 minutes ago, Sly said:

As @Chocolate Teapot stated, they are a nightmare. 
 

I purchased one at auction to flip and it was a nightmare. 
 

Also, I’d never seen to many creepy crawlers in my life. 
 

I ended up taking a £10k hit to get rid of the bloody thing in the end. 

Not bothered about the bugs but losing money and it being difficult to sell on worries me. Cheers for the advice.

[Wolfox]

On 22/03/2024 at 08:28, Costock_Fox said:

Think that’s the reply I was expecting 😂

Ask them about insurance costs too

[brucey]

22 hours ago, Harry96 said:

Guys as a ftb is flat necessarily a bad option if affordability is an issue? So I’ve got a AIP and can borrow up to 140k of course would prefer to have freehold long term but there doesn’t seem to be many options for that price within 150k. Seen some horror stories regarding people having their service charges and ground rent increased without notice so just need a bit of guidance please thanks 

Look for flats who have Right to Manage (RTM) in place, this reduces the risk of rogue management companies doing whatever they like with the service charge. Alternatively look for flat with share of freehold, which is the above + no ground rent, however these flats tend to be more expensive upfront. 

[kenny]

On 22/03/2024 at 15:14, Harry96 said:

Guys as a ftb is flat necessarily a bad option if affordability is an issue? So I’ve got a AIP and can borrow up to 140k of course would prefer to have freehold long term but there doesn’t seem to be many options for that price within 150k. Seen some horror stories regarding people having their service charges and ground rent increased without notice so just need a bit of guidance please thanks 

Have you looked at houses? There are plenty of options in Leicester at that price?

[Tommy G]

Putting ours on the market this week - prepped for the stress of it all. 

[Torquay Gunner]

Moving to new build house next week in Beverley.

[Greg2607]

16 hours ago, Tommy G said:

Putting ours on the market this week - prepped for the stress of it all. 

Good luck Sir. 

[fox_favourite]

1 hour ago, Torquay Gunner said:

Moving to new build house next week in Beverley.

Who is the house builder, out of interest?

[fox_favourite]

17 hours ago, Tommy G said:

Putting ours on the market this week - prepped for the stress of it all. 

Good luck! Be prepared for frustration, sending complaining emails and doing a lot of work yourself that the solicitor should be doing. 

[FoyleFox]

18 hours ago, Tommy G said:

Putting ours on the market this week - prepped for the stress of it all. 

Mmmm

 

Good luck. To be fair, not all sales/moves are an absolute nightmare. I don't know anyone who didn't have issues and stress, but there must be some......