Buying a home and don't know how anything works

[bellaozzydog]

Is life insurance and income protection and all that jazz worth going for?

Made it 40 years with minimal insurance and crap health.

I think the idea is to get it early when it’s cheap and keep paying it

Older you get more expensive it gets

I started off life insurance purely because it’s a good bet on me dying so may as well extract something from the system of benefit when I expire

16 quid a month for 140,000 on my death which goes into the estate which is shared between my nephews and nieces

No insurance company would touch me now for anything as cheap 16 quid a month with underlying health issues etc

Basically for me a low key lottery with a guaranteed payout eventually

 

[hash tag]

As already mentioned I would go for level term assurance as opposed to decreasing term. It costs pennies more and will give you a much better pay out if anything were to happen.
If you are taking an interest only mortgage, and you felt you needed life cover it would have to be level term. Do you need it? Are you getting a repayment mortgage, interest only or endowment.
An endowment will have linked life cover. As Sue says, do you have any other life cover?
I have a friend who has utiilised payment protection to the full but I don't even know if it still available. If you wanted to go down that sort of route, what about something like critical illness cover?

 

[Elpenor]

Decision in principle applied for today and received. Nothing to stop me calling up and booking in viewings now is there

 

[Elpenor]

I’m wondering if I should ask the owners what their annual energy usage is on KwH so I can work out if I can afford to hear the place

 

[hash tag]

All properties have to come with an energy efficiency rating these days, which tbf doesn't say much. You can always ask what gas and electricity bills are.

 

[Elpenor]

Yeah I thought usage would be more useful than costs.

There’s a new build estate nearby which is on district heating, I understand they’re not allowed to change from a specific tariff or provider as Eon have an 80 year contract!

Also can’t install an heat source air pump thingy or solar panels due to the agreements

 

[hash tag]

We have economy 9 electricity (for everything). We cannot change away from this unless we get lots of expensive wiring done and new meters. I gather even our storage heaters have been specifically wired for this tariff. This also means we cannot change provider.

 

[Thora]

And just as we were almost there it turns out the vendor's son might not actually have power of attorney to sell the house on her behalf??

 

[colacubes]

And just as we were almost there it turns out the vendor's son might not actually have power of attorney to sell the house on her behalf??

Someone has fucked up if it's got this far and they've only just checked that. I sold my Mum's place under power of attorney and the solicitors checked that in details very very early on!

 

[Glitter]

And just as we were almost there it turns out the vendor's son might not actually have power of attorney to sell the house on her behalf??

How the FUCK has that happened?

 

[Artaxerxes]

One thing I’ve flagged as important in new place is there’s no cooker hood in the flat -just having a poke around in pictures and it looks like one used to exist it’s just not there. I can see vent on the outside on street view

 

[Thora]

How the FUCK has that happened?

Estate agent has no idea what's going on so is calling the vendor (son) now...

 

[Glitter]

Estate agent has no idea what's going on so is calling the vendor (son) now...

The estate agent and solicitor should have checked this waaaay before it got to here. It’s really negligent of them.

 

[Thora]

Bloody unbelievable isn't it! And it looks like it can take up to 20 weeks to register a LPA which means our mortgage offer would expire.

 

[hash tag]

The estate agent and solicitor should have checked this waaaay before it got to here. It’s really negligent of them.

It's a difficult one. Bloke tells solicitor he has a power of attorney and I guess solicitor took his word for it, until it became necessary to check it when signing contracts. Things like this being left until the last minute do happen but really really shouldn't.

 

[muscovyduck]

How the FUCK has that happened?

This kind of shit is suprisingly common and getting more common the last while. Some people get all sorts of logical sounding but bad advice, some people are very good at pushing things as far as possible without getting proper advice because they're in denial (or up to something dodgy), some people assume there's someone else doing the checks and balances and that it's not their job, sometimes people observe somethings wrong but don't know how to stop it or aren't in a position to, some people aren't that bothered about their job and the procedures that go along with it, some people don't care about communication and staying organised. A lot of the time people are like "that sounds right so I'll go along with it", a lot of people in 'proffesional' jobs are not very proffesional and just chancing it. All it takes is for a couple of people with these sorts of tendencies to be involved to end up with something like this. Often the only reason things don't go wrong is sheer luck.

My mate had to spend 10 months wrestling her late parents house off her brother who'd meticulously lined everything up over years to try and essentially steal it after they died. When she finally got into the house she could see that a professional movers had been in, started packing up and had abandoned the project halfway through and left everything there. The brother had even managed to get the police and social workers on his side at one point. It didn't actually seem to take him a lot of effort. As far as I know he never got into any trouble for it

 

[clicker]

If the actual owner is still alive why doesn't the sale go ahead in her name?
If they need a POA because she's unable to manage her own affairs now, it isn't as straightforward as a POA where the person hasn't lost any faculty, and could take longer than 20 weeks.
Hopefully it's just a mix up.

 

[Thora]

If the actual owner is still alive why doesn't the sale go ahead in her name?
If they need a POA because she's unable to manage her own affairs now, it isn't as straightforward as a POA where the person hasn't lost any faculty, and could take longer than 20 weeks.
Hopefully it's just a mix up.

I don't know. I actually thought she'd died so I guess we'll see...

 

[5t3IIa]

Yet if she’s died but probate hasn’t finished yet…? I’m sorry, what a clusterfuck

 

[Epona]

I'm incensed on your behalf tbh, what an absolute shithole thing to happen - what are the solicitors being paid for ffs? Checking whether the person selling the place has the legal right to do so should surely be their first task.

 

[cybershot]

This won't make you feel any better but it recently took my Mum over 12 months to get POA for my Nan!

 

[Thora]

Yet if she’s died but probate hasn’t finished yet…? I’m sorry, what a clusterfuck

Yeah it's fucked isn't it

The only good thing is that after the last two sales fell through (and cost us £££) we paid a bit extra this time for a no completion: no fee deal so at least we won't be paying two grand not to buy a house

HOW IS IT SO HARD TO BUY A HOUSE

Especially as we're chain free, with 50% deposit and mortgage agreed. It should be simple, surely??

 

[Artaxerxes]

Yeah it's fucked isn't it

The only good thing is that after the last two sales fell through (and cost us £££) we paid a bit extra this time for a no completion: no fee deal so at least we won't be paying two grand not to buy a house

HOW IS IT SO HARD TO BUY A HOUSE

Especially as we're chain free, with 50% deposit and mortgage agreed. It should be simple, surely??

People are paying silly money at the moment.

We got very angry a few weeks ago as a flat we were looking at in September managed to come back on the market after being taken off. We'd made an offer back then as well but the fucking agency didn't call us or anything to say are you still interested.

Out of anger kept the last bid, didn't get.

Just as well, this place is less and I like it more. Other place was a huge new block with a gym and all sorts.

 

[Elpenor]

Well I’m viewing a place on Tuesday. I’ve asked about viewing another 3 but they’ve not got back to me yet.

The place on Tuesday isn’t ideal as there’s no driveway parking. However there’s another place I want to view on the same road so worth a visit.

 

[Elpenor]

Ended up viewing this place today.

Check out this 2 bedroom semi-detached house for sale on Rightmove

2 bedroom semi-detached house for sale in Woodmere Way, Kingsteignton, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 for £240,000. Marketed by Fulfords, Newton Abbot

www.rightmove.co.uk

I think it’s on balance a no. It would need complete redecorating and carpets as you could easily smell the two dogs that lived there. Also the conservatory out of the back (typically largely useless space IMO) meant that the whole downstairs was rather airless - the archway to kitchen also didn’t appeal as I could imagine cooking smells hanging around for days. Next door had extended back the same distance rather than do a conservatory. Garden a bit small and the shingle smelt strongly of dog wee!

There was a lot of space to the side behind the fence at the end of the driveway which I suppose could be a single storey extension but I’m not sure that I’d have the money (or energy) to have a building project

 

[xenon]

Right have now received docs with postcodes matching the flat. Sent to lender. Now waits again...

Can't imagine what they'll have a problem with next. Just a no fuck off we're not lending on this property, at this stage would be progress of sorts...

 

[xenon]

And just as we were almost there it turns out the vendor's son might not actually have power of attorney to sell the house on her behalf??

I know, already been said. But FFS, how it even get that far. I hope it's sorted for you soon, though someone their end's clearly fucked up.

 

[xenon]

I'm no lawyer but , kinda thought amongst the very first things you'd do when hired to handle the selling of a property is you know, check the vendor has legal right to sell it...

 

[Winot]

I'm no lawyer but , kinda thought amongst the very first things you'd do when hired to handle the selling of a property is you know, check the vendor has legal right to sell it...

Would be the job of the purchaser's solicitor, no?

 

[xenon]

Would be the job of the purchaser's solicitor, no?

Does the vendor solicitor not have a duty to ensure they're not engaged in an illegal transaction. At least do basic due diligence to that effect.