Houses

[Xen]

On 14/05/2020 at 00:59, Leicester_Loyal said:

Estate agents opening back up, anyone in a hurry to buy? I think I'll be sitting on my deposit, adding to it every payday and seeing where the market goes in the next 3/4 months.

Same boat here - could probably afford to move now but won't even consider going down that road under the current circumstances. I'm WFH so saving a boatload on travel/lunches, and my OH is getting plenty of double-time at work so we've been able to add a fair chunk to the deposit already. Keep looking online at houses in the areas we're interested in, but wouldn't dream of actually viewing in person for a fair while yet anyway (especially as we don't have a car and would have to take public transport to see anything), so it makes sense to hold fire. If (when) there's a slump in the market it isn't likely to bounce back so quickly that we 'miss out'. 

I'd like to think we'd be able to start seriously looking from August and be settled somewhere before Christmas. Gonna have to play it by ear though, of course.

[Leicester_Loyal]

58 minutes ago, Xen said:

Same boat here - could probably afford to move now but won't even consider going down that road under the current circumstances. I'm WFH so saving a boatload on travel/lunches, and my OH is getting plenty of double-time at work so we've been able to add a fair chunk to the deposit already. Keep looking online at houses in the areas we're interested in, but wouldn't dream of actually viewing in person for a fair while yet anyway (especially as we don't have a car and would have to take public transport to see anything), so it makes sense to hold fire. If (when) there's a slump in the market it isn't likely to bounce back so quickly that we 'miss out'. 

I'd like to think we'd be able to start seriously looking from August and be settled somewhere before Christmas. Gonna have to play it by ear though, of course.

I was aiming to be in before Christmas too. I think around July time I'll start properly looking again, nothing major is going to happen in the next 8 weeks for me. I don't think we'll know what's happening with the prices for another 3 or 4 months.

[David Guiza]

Put our house on the market a week ago and not looking forward to what is likely going to be months of stress. We want to move back to Warwickshire and the wife has secured her next role there for September, subject to school openings etc. Doesn't really change my plans at all as my commute will be a similar distance before and after the move, but my wife will be facing a 90 mile round trip if we haven't moved by then which, for a less than keen drive, isn't ideal. 

 

We could have been hit far worse than just a frustrating wait to move, but it's an annoyance nonetheless. 

[TamworthFoxes]

Had an estate agent round to view the house today. She clocked the Leicester memorabilia and said her chap was a Leicester fan aswell.

We are massive!! (The house is not in Leicester)

[stix]

1 hour ago, TamworthFoxes said:

Had an estate agent round to view the house today. She clocked the Leicester memorabilia and said her chap was a Leicester fan aswell.

We are massive!! (The house is not in Leicester)

Let me guess...... Tamworth?!

[TamworthFoxes]

No!!! 😂😂

I’ve moved since signing up on foxes talk! Should change my name really!

[FoxesDeb]

30 minutes ago, TamworthFoxes said:

No!!! 😂😂

I’ve moved since signing up on foxes talk! Should change my name really!

Me and you both. I might change mine to Dave or something to avoid the sexism 

[David Guiza]

On 18/05/2020 at 16:25, David Guiza said:

Put our house on the market a week ago and not looking forward to what is likely going to be months of stress. We want to move back to Warwickshire and the wife has secured her next role there for September, subject to school openings etc. Doesn't really change my plans at all as my commute will be a similar distance before and after the move, but my wife will be facing a 90 mile round trip if we haven't moved by then which, for a less than keen drive, isn't ideal. 

 

We could have been hit far worse than just a frustrating wait to move, but it's an annoyance nonetheless. 

House has sold in just over a fortnight, subject to contract of course. £5k below the mildly ambitious asking price, but £9k more than we purchased it for 10 months ago. 

[whitlock]

Had our house on from January, sold and bought another and the chain (5) was all sorted just before lockdown. No one had exchanged at that point, but i think we would have only been a week or two from that happening.

 

We're at the bottom of the chain and the person buying our house is a cash buyer who is buying it for his mum short term.

 

Our solicistors called last week to say our buyer wants a 10% reduction in the agreed price (£22.5K!!) Not sure where he got that figure from, but as of today £5k reduction has been agreed and new mortgages are now being processed, my worry is that he could easily do this again soon. Had other problems with him from the outset which makes me nervous.

 

If it does go through though, i'll be leaving him a present in the form of a turd in the toilet which will some how have a broken handle  

[stix]

FINALLY have a completion date!!! 

[z-layrex]

We are trying to sell our flat again, but I don't see how we are ever going to move. Any 2 or 3 bed house we love we just get beaten by first time buyers who don't have a chain.

[Dahnsouff]

3 minutes ago, z-layrex said:

We are trying to sell our flat again, but I don't see how we are ever going to move. Any 2 or 3 bed house we love we just get beaten by first time buyers who don't have a chain.

Nowhere you can stay for a "short" while (Family, etc) sell your flat and effectively then provide yourself with same agility as a first time buyer?

Know it sounds easier than it is, but just an idea. (albeit a bit of crap one)

[lildave3]

22 minutes ago, stix said:

FINALLY have a completion date!!! 

Lucky you, still waiting for mine. How long have you waited? 

[z-layrex]

3 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Nowhere you can stay for a "short" while (Family, etc) sell your flat and effectively then provide yourself with same agility as a first time buyer?

Know it sounds easier than it is, but just an idea. (albeit a bit of crap one)

Yeah the agent suggested this, not really feasible with the virus and everything. Really don't want to move into rented. I guess our issue is we are looking at houses that are still attainable for people buying their first home, so will always be buyers without a chain. Hopefully will get lucky one day.

[Costock_Fox]

Good to see that although house prices have dropped a little bit it’s not a catastrophe.

 

Hope everything goes smoothly to completion for everyone. I’m still waiting to see if my other half survives another round of redundancies and if not I’ll have to put this on the market I think.

Edited 28 May 2020 by Costock_Fox

[stix]

1 hour ago, lildave3 said:

Lucky you, still waiting for mine. How long have you waited? 

We were meant to complete on April 10th mate. To be fair, if the seller had pulled his finger out we would have been in by now. We were so far along when lockdown hit that they didn’t put ours completely on hold, but numerous things from the sellers side kept throwing more and more spanners in the works that it just dragged on and on. 
 

How far along are you with your purchase? 

[Trumpet]

We purchased our house during lockdown, I think it was a day or two before house sales were paused entirely. Must admit I was a bit worried about the house prices falling, but across the term of our mortgage I suppose it’s neither here nor there. We’ve no intentions of selling, certainly not within 5 years.

[lildave3]

1 hour ago, stix said:

We were meant to complete on April 10th mate. To be fair, if the seller had pulled his finger out we would have been in by now. We were so far along when lockdown hit that they didn’t put ours completely on hold, but numerous things from the sellers side kept throwing more and more spanners in the works that it just dragged on and on. 
 

How far along are you with your purchase? 

Paid our deposit March 13th, the people we are buying from were waiting to move into the show home of a new build site...then everywhere stopped building 😂 saying end of July now. 

[stix]

1 hour ago, lildave3 said:

Paid our deposit March 13th, the people we are buying from were waiting to move into the show home of a new build site...then everywhere stopped building 😂 saying end of July now. 

Shit that’s harsh. When does your mortgage offer expire? Are you selling or first time buying? 
 

It’s just been a massive ballache mate to be honest. And if anything possibly could go wrong, then it has! 

Where are you buying? 

 

[lildave3]

13 minutes ago, stix said:

Shit that’s harsh. When does your mortgage offer expire? Are you selling or first time buying? 
 

It’s just been a massive ballache mate to be honest. And if anything possibly could go wrong, then it has! 

Where are you buying? 

 

Mid July at the moment, I think due to Covid they are extending for 3 months though. 
 

First time buyers, 3 bed end town house.

[Leicester_Loyal]

Was looking at one near me a few days ago, it was ideal, I calculated all my finances as I'd never done this before, then the house sold a few hours later subject to contact. Think I'll start looking properly now, it's about time I went my own way in life!

[The Blur]

I am just starting the process of looking at buying a house-   we have been in contact with some mortgage advisors-  some of them quote no fee but their services would be limited to finding mortgages while some of them quoted a fee (one off £200 fee)  as this would also include support in liaising with estate agents,  solicitors and so on.   I was wondering whether if anyone has experience of paying their mortgage advisor to do this and whether if this was helpful?   The mortgage advisors we approached were recommended to us by family/friends.

Edited 4 June 2020 by The Blur

[rachhere]

3 hours ago, The Blur said:

I am just starting the process of looking at buying a house-   we have been in contact with some mortgage advisors-  some of them quote no fee but their services would be limited to finding mortgages while some of them quoted a fee (one off £200 fee)  as this would also include support in liaising with estate agents,  solicitors and so on.   I was wondering whether if anyone has experience of paying their mortgage advisor to do this and whether if this was helpful?   The mortgage advisors we approached were recommended to us by family/friends.

I have bought two houses and both times used an advisor. They were fantastic to be honest and really took the stress out of it all. The second time in particular we had a nightmare with our solicitors, to the point that I sacked them from the job three months in. She had good contacts with a local solicitor and helped so much in moving everything back on track, even driving over to drop the completed forms off on our behalf. I am not sure we technically paid anymore either than if we had directly gone with nationwide, as there was a promotional offer which meant we received £200 back from nationwide three months later (that we wouldn't have got if we went direct). I think they tend to make their money in selling you the add-ons, like house and life insurance, but you aren't obliged to take those from them, you can arrange your own. 

[Jon the Hat]

On 16/05/2020 at 20:07, Milo said:

Blimey. Perfect.

 

Pre-lockdown was a bit mad here. Developers jumping on anything and everything and the price sky rocketed. 3 years ago you could get a decent sized plot (700m2) for about £250k...earlier this year it was £100k per 100m2. Which makes a self build a bit pointless, economically.

 

Local council are currently being investigated for dodgy land dealing and inappropriate behaviour leading to the boom (planning person married to a developer), so hopefully things will get back to normal.   

 

Good luck, mate. Exciting times      

Ooh which council is that?

[z-layrex]

On 28/05/2020 at 21:01, Leicester_Loyal said:

Was looking at one near me a few days ago, it was ideal, I calculated all my finances as I'd never done this before, then the house sold a few hours later subject to contact. Think I'll start looking properly now, it's about time I went my own way in life!

You sound like me! A house will rot on the market since September, the moment I get interested in it it will immediately sell. Maybe I should offer my services to people having trouble selling. 

 

Put my flat back on the market this week, much more impressed with this agent. Just seem like normal blokes, they've been nothing but level with us. Had 1 viewing, they wanted to buy it but would need to list an inhereted house somewhere first so obviously I said no for now.