Houses

[Tommy G]

38 minutes ago, Freeman's Wharfer said:

I get that in your scenario. This is a house that is quite clearly vacant from the photos however - so it’s literally just on the estate agent.

 

I’m also perfectly happy with my house as-is and only looking to move if I find something that I feel is an upgrade and worth the upheaval.

 

Compare to the car market where you couldn’t view a car if you hadn’t yet sold your current one. It seems like estate agents have it a bit too good if they can turn away potentially decent leads - which would lead to the question: why are they needed at all?!

I think you’re looking to break the system - best of luck to you! 
 

A good agent is worth their money but they are few and far between - I’m in agreement there 

[VLC86]

On 10/12/2024 at 15:02, Freeman's Wharfer said:

Anyone had experience of getting viewings without their house on the market?

 

My situation is that I’m happy where I am but if the right house pops up I’d explore. I’ve kept an eye on the market for the last couple of years and seen about three houses in that time that I’d be interested in (one of which I got a viewing on but wasn’t quite right).

 

One of them has just come back on the market (assuming another sale fell through) and the estate agent is “prioritising viewings for people who are proceedable”.
 

I get the estate agent doesn’t want to waste time with lots of speculative viewings but this is also a house that is clearly vacant so there’s no issue around the seller having lots of people looking round being disruptive. My mortgage is up early next year so it provides a good opportunity to move if I find something worth moving for.
 

Am I supposed to just put my house on the market and/or sell it with nowhere to move to and on the off chance something pops up that makes me want to move?! Or do I just lie to get the viewing and then tell

them the real scenario once I’m wanting to do something?!

 

It all seems a bit broken to me as an industry. As an estate agent you’re there to sell the property and someone wanting to come along and view one that has stood empty for months is surely in the sellers interest regardless of how inconvenient it might be for the estate agent 

I viewed houses a few months ago without listing it. Just tell them you are in the process of doing so and they will let you crack on.

[Tommy G]

Buying a property that has been turned from a grotty bungalow into a large detached dwelling. Valuation this week, the valuer said he is classifying it as a new build?? Not sure why. He said it requires a PCC and a DIF form, something the vendor needs to sort - and if one of these isn’t produced they can’t lend against it? Anyone comes across either. 
 

Extract from the building society email:

 

1. We have received information from the valuers advising that the property has been extended extensively and does not have the required DIF form or PCC (professional consultant’s certificate). This would therefore be outside of our lending policy. We have not yet received the full valuation so will leave the application open at this stage however based on valuers comments the property will not meet our lending policy and will be unsuitable security and the application will therefore be declined. Once the valuation report has been received we will provide confirmation. If the applicants do have the required documents then please provide these and we will forward on to our valuers to review. However please be advised we would be unable to accept any retrospective warranties and therefore if do not have the required documents currently then we will be unable to proceed.

[kenny]

1 hour ago, Tommy G said:

Buying a property that has been turned from a grotty bungalow into a large detached dwelling. Valuation this week, the valuer said he is classifying it as a new build?? Not sure why. He said it requires a PCC and a DIF form, something the vendor needs to sort - and if one of these isn’t produced they can’t lend against it? Anyone comes across either. 
 

Extract from the building society email:

 

 

1. We have received information from the valuers advising that the property has been extended extensively and does not have the required DIF form or PCC (professional consultant’s certificate). This would therefore be outside of our lending policy. We have not yet received the full valuation so will leave the application open at this stage however based on valuers comments the property will not meet our lending policy and will be unsuitable security and the application will therefore be declined. Once the valuation report has been received we will provide confirmation. If the applicants do have the required documents then please provide these and we will forward on to our valuers to review. However please be advised we would be unable to accept any retrospective warranties and therefore if do not have the required documents currently then we will be unable to proceed.

They won't have them.

 

Essentially the lenders have decided that the alterations are to such as extent that it's a new build and therefore requires a warranty to be allowed to lend against it.

 

This will apply for the first 10 years after the works have been completed.

[Tommy G]

1 hour ago, kenny said:

They won't have them.

 

Essentially the lenders have decided that the alterations are to such as extent that it's a new build and therefore requires a warranty to be allowed to lend against it.

 

This will apply for the first 10 years after the works have been completed.

Who won’t have them? The guy is a builder. 
 

in this case then, will he not be able to sell the property unless it’s to a cash buyer? If so, he’s screwed!

 

 

Edited 12 December 2024 by Tommy G

[kenny]

17 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Who won’t have them? The guy is a builder. 
 

in this case then, will he not be able to sell the property unless it’s to a cash buyer? If so, he’s screwed!

 

 

You wouldn't normally pay for a warranty on an extension but I don't think there is a definite line when it becomes a rebuild. On a new build property, then he would be advised by his funder that a warranty would be needed. Hopefully he borrowed cash for the work and he was advised as such, he would have struggled to remortgage without it.

 

If it was done less than 10 years ago, then yes it's unsellable. 

[Tommy G]

26 minutes ago, kenny said:

You wouldn't normally pay for a warranty on an extension but I don't think there is a definite line when it becomes a rebuild. On a new build property, then he would be advised by his funder that a warranty would be needed. Hopefully he borrowed cash for the work and he was advised as such, he would have struggled to remortgage without it.

 

If it was done less than 10 years ago, then yes it's unsellable. 

It was done 6 months ago 

[kenny]

1 minute ago, Tommy G said:

It was done 6 months ago 

If he has done it to sell on then he may have had the foresight to get a warranty.

[Tommy G]

3 minutes ago, kenny said:

If he has done it to sell on then he may have had the foresight to get a warranty.

Yes it’s a flip..

[kenny]

Just now, Tommy G said:

Yes it’s a flip..

Good luck!!

[VLC86]

3 hours ago, Tommy G said:

Buying a property that has been turned from a grotty bungalow into a large detached dwelling. Valuation this week, the valuer said he is classifying it as a new build?? Not sure why. He said it requires a PCC and a DIF form, something the vendor needs to sort - and if one of these isn’t produced they can’t lend against it? Anyone comes across either. 
 

Extract from the building society email:

 

 

1. We have received information from the valuers advising that the property has been extended extensively and does not have the required DIF form or PCC (professional consultant’s certificate). This would therefore be outside of our lending policy. We have not yet received the full valuation so will leave the application open at this stage however based on valuers comments the property will not meet our lending policy and will be unsuitable security and the application will therefore be declined. Once the valuation report has been received we will provide confirmation. If the applicants do have the required documents then please provide these and we will forward on to our valuers to review. However please be advised we would be unable to accept any retrospective warranties and therefore if do not have the required documents currently then we will be unable to proceed.

I haven’t come across this specific scenario before however depending on the circumstances around him coming to his decision around it being a new build, you could appeal the valuation and ask for someone else to go round. You would be surprised at how often they give a different decision.

 

You would obviously need to pay for that do it would be a risk and like I say it depends on the circumstances around the decision (e.g I suspect there will be a standard practise where a certain % of the house is new they class as a new build).

[Tommy G]

24 minutes ago, VLC86 said:

I haven’t come across this specific scenario before however depending on the circumstances around him coming to his decision around it being a new build, you could appeal the valuation and ask for someone else to go round. You would be surprised at how often they give a different decision.

 

You would obviously need to pay for that do it would be a risk and like I say it depends on the circumstances around the decision (e.g I suspect there will be a standard practise where a certain % of the house is new they class as a new build).

But it’s the lender that has instructed the valuation - which is normal, so presume I could ask them to reconsider or do another valuation? At my cost as you said 

[VLC86]

33 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

But it’s the lender that has instructed the valuation - which is normal, so presume I could ask them to reconsider or do another valuation? At my cost as you said 

Yeah, you could ask them to conduct another valuation but just check specifically what their policy is on the area it’s fallen down on.

[Dreadnought]

Do you have to use this lender? As in are you porting an existing mortgage from your current property to this one?

If not, chances are, a different lender will see it differently. 
Probably worth paying any early settlement charge so you can use a different lender if the house is “the one.”

[Tommy G]

4 hours ago, Dreadnought said:

Do you have to use this lender? As in are you porting an existing mortgage from your current property to this one?

If not, chances are, a different lender will see it differently. 
Probably worth paying any early settlement charge so you can use a different lender if the house is “the one.”

Trouble is I've got a large chunk of the mortgage on a 2.05% fixed rate with 3 years left to run, I don't really want to chop that in for a 5% ++ mortgage, or I would!

[Dreadnought]

Makes sense! 
A client bought a house in Brighton (for nearly £2m) and it was deemed unsuitable for a mortgage so he used a bridging loan for £500k of the purchase price. 
Improved the house to a very high standard, valuer came round and put a mortgage value of zero on the property citing lack of building regs and planning permission for an extension the previous owner had done. We switched him to a different lender and the valuer put £2.6m on it!!!

You could apply with a different lender that does a free valuation just to see what result you get then take a view on the existing mortgage rate if this house is “the one.”

[Jon the Hat]

Currently navigating the Australian house buying process.  The positives are, I have a binding contract subject to mortgage approval and structural survey from the moment the offer is accepted, so no gazumping, no last minute price changes by the vendor.

 

Other positives, it is 3 minutes from this beach.

 

 

Edit:  Yes that is a shark net for swimming, it is dolphin and fish friendly.

Edited 19 December 2024 by Jon the Hat

[kenny]

On 13/12/2024 at 09:23, Tommy G said:

Trouble is I've got a large chunk of the mortgage on a 2.05% fixed rate with 3 years left to run, I don't really want to chop that in for a 5% ++ mortgage, or I would!

Any news?

[Tommy G]

2 hours ago, kenny said:

Any news?

We had the building cert yesterday from the builder, signed off by building control on 16TH DECEMBER - absolute plonkers, on the cert it states final inspection and sign off was 31st October so I've asked their solicitor to date it then, which is the proper date. 

 

This cert is our hail mary, if the lenders don't accept it I'll need to appeal the valuation 

 

EDIT: thanks for asking, could do without this stress around Christmas! If this goes tits up it will be the second property that has fallen through

Edited 18 December 2024 by Tommy G

[The Hitman]

Possibly the wrong thread but didn’t want to start a new one and it’s house related. 
 

Can anyone recommend a company that does good quality oak furniture?

 

Looking for a tv cabinet, large and possibly small sideboard and some sort of ladder/shelving unit. 
 

Below is the sort of thing we’re after but it’s only oak effect and would prefer the real deal. 
 

https://www.next.co.uk/style/st012073/q87701

[PAULCFC]

15 minutes ago, The Hitman said:

Possibly the wrong thread but didn’t want to start a new one and it’s house related. 
 

Can anyone recommend a company that does good quality oak furniture?

 

Looking for a tv cabinet, large and possibly small sideboard and some sort of ladder/shelving unit. 
 

Below is the sort of thing we’re after but it’s only oak effect and would prefer the real deal. 
 

https://www.next.co.uk/style/st012073/q87701

We had all our stuff from Oak Furniture Land........Expensive,but should last.Might be a bit small for what you are after?

Edited 7 January by PAULCFC
pic

[The Hitman]

3 hours ago, PAULCFC said:

We had all our stuff from Oak Furniture Land........Expensive,but should last.Might be a bit small for what you are after?

Thanks a lot I’ll check it out 👍

[Tommy G]

Avoid Coventry building society at all costs 

[Lako42]

30 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Avoid Coventry building society at all costs 

Didn’t know they did Oak furniture. 

 

Good to know 

[Tommy G]

22 minutes ago, Lako42 said:

Didn’t know they did Oak furniture. 

 

Good to know 

I didn’t quote about oak furniture