Buying a home and don't know how anything works

[Thora]

We’re in

 

[Epona]

Brick?

Friend of mine was once in a right state because he'd bought a sofa that couldn't go in his sitting room via the narrow hallway and tight turn into the sitting room - fortunately he had a big window at the front and I advised him to call his local glazier who popped that pane out for the sofa delivery people to get the sofa through it, then popped it back in again - almost frighteningly easy

 

[equationgirl]

I wonder how I can find out when my first mortgage payment will be...

They will usually send you a letter to tell you.

 

[kalidarkone]

We’re in

 

[moonsi til]

OMG Thora what a bloody journey this has been for you. Huge congratulations.

 

[Red Cat]

Just had an hour-long meeting with a mortgage advisor who went through all our details very thoroughly, glad we did that rather than apply online, now need another meeting to choose the product and then it will be in. Just hoping there will be no problem with valuation as it's in a terrace with a shop at the end....

 

[Cat Fan]

Just had an hour-long meeting with a mortgage advisor who went through all our details very thoroughly, glad we did that rather than apply online, now need another meeting to choose the product and then it will be in. Just hoping there will be no problem with valuation as it's in a terrace with a shop at the end....

Normally it should be absolutely fine as long as it's not actually on top of or directly next to a food shop

 

[Red Cat]

Normally it should be absolutely fine as long as it's not actually on top of or directly next to a food shop

It's a quiet corner shop, been there for years, residents would object if there was any change of use so I don't foresee that. It looks a bit scruffy is the worst of it. Just trying to manage our expectations, don't want to get too excited until they say yes.

The advisor looked like he just left school

 

[shakespearegirl]

Memorandum of sale received. Draft contracts have been sent by our solicitor. All ours docs and ID submitted, they’ve booked survey for 3 weeks time.. shits getting done.

Another house on the street went on last week at £50k under our original asking price, much better presented but smaller and not as good layout. Sold within 4 days.

 

[Cat Fan]

2 months in and we've been signing and returning contracts and TR1 forms. I think that means we're almost ready to exchange, but the lawyers are not being extremely helpful in letting us know how much more time they need.

 

[5t3IIa]

2 months in and we've been signing and returning contracts and TR1 forms. I think that means we're almost ready to exchange, but the lawyers are not being extremely helpful in letting us know how much more time they need.

Do they have your money?

 

[Cat Fan]

Do they have your money?

No but we're asking our seller if they will accept our buyer's deposit in lieu

 

[Elpenor]

My friends are buying an investment place, meant to exchange and complete tomorrow. It turns out some vital document has not been signed, so they have to drive to Plymouth for 9am tomorrow, sign it, then either courier the document to Thame (or drive it themselves) so it gets there by 1pm. My estimate is it’s 3:45 journey time.

Needless to say they’re not that pleased with whichever solicitor missed this not being signed.

 

[Elpenor]

My friends didn’t complete on Friday and they’ve gone back home as they don’t think it will complete today either

I’ve still not re-read my survey but two knowledgeable people I know have had a look and they don’t think there’s really anything to worry about

And I can tell that the purchase will go through soon as this headline has appeared as it did the two other time I bought a place
Average UK house price tops £250,000 but ‘market starting to slow’

 

[salem]

We got our keys last week - everything generally working well (other than Virgin being useless but that's another story). After decades of anxiety about navigating the private rental market as an OAP, masses of debt and not being able to get a mortgage as self-employed things righted themselves quite quickly in the end (mainly thanks to my partner who has their head screwed on)

And I can tell that the purchase will go through soon as this headline has appeared as it did the two other time I bought a place
Average UK house price tops £250,000 but ‘market starting to slow’

Ha ha, I know the feeling - for us every step of the way seems to have been matched with bad omens. Interest rates having their first rise in ages when we spoke with our mortgage broker, the war in Ukraine kicked off the morning we got our mortgage offer, the spike in energy costs alongside our not very energy efficient home, and of course all the articles telling us that we're buying at the top of the market.

But all that being said, I'm not too concerned - we're going to have about the same amount of money coming out monthly as we're currently paying for rent and it's effectively money banked rather than pissed up the wall.

 

[Cat Fan]

There's never been an extended period of house price decline in modern history so it would be pretty unlucky to happen now.

 

[Elpenor]

An email from my solicitor has just arrived stating docs are in the post for me to sign and she reckons any completion date after Monday June 13th is feasible subject to the sellers being ready. I suppose I’d better read that survey tonight, and assuming the documents are ok I can post them back on Wednesday

Now I’m away on holiday Friday June 17th - Saturday 25th. Obviously I don’t want to physically move house the week before I go on holiday (it’s also the busy week at work) as I think that’s a bit too much going on at once for me to cope with.

I’m renting so I have to give a months notice anyway. So I can get the keys at any point. But a bit nervous to have the house unoccupied for the first week, potentially with my stuff in. My gut feeling is to offer up any date from the 27th June onwards. I won’t be doing the packing / moving myself anyway.

Or should I JGTFK? (just get the fucking keys)

 

[5t3IIa]

An email from my solicitor has just arrived stating docs are in the post for me to sign and she reckons any completion date after Monday June 13th is feasible subject to the sellers being ready. I suppose I’d better read that survey tonight, and assuming the documents are ok I can post them back on Wednesday

Now I’m away on holiday Friday June 17th - Saturday 25th. Obviously I don’t want to physically move house the week before I go on holiday (it’s also the busy week at work) as I think that’s a bit too much going on at once for me to cope with.

I’m renting so I have to give a months notice anyway. So I can get the keys at any point. But a bit nervous to have the house unoccupied for the first week, potentially with my stuff in. My gut feeling is to offer up any date from the 27th June onwards. I won’t be doing the packing / moving myself anyway.

Or should I JGTFK? (just get the fucking keys)

We are renting and let the sellers come up with the completion date, then agreed. We couldn’t have snuck it all through before the end of May so resigned to paying June rent anyway. They chose 10/6 so we agreed cuz whatever. We could JGTFK on 10/6 then actually move any day until the 30/6 Same for you, right?

 

[5t3IIa]

Oh, and not sure why you’ve not read the survey?? They are about 10 sparse pages of paragraphs and a traffic light system

 

[Elpenor]

Oh, and not sure why you’ve not read the survey?? They are about 10 sparse pages of paragraphs and a traffic light system

I did read it last week but have put off re-reading it It’s been in my lap for the last half hour or so - can’t avoid it much longer

Good point about the keys. I need to find out what the score is with giving notice to my landlord, I’ve a feeling the contract says notice has to be given on the day of rent (11th in my case) which seems unusual but in any case should be achievable if everything goes to plan. Also need to sort out removals and buildings insurance on policy from exchange.

 

[Elpenor]

What I love about a survey is that they don’t lift or move furniture. There could be a massive hole in the floor under one of the sofas and you’d never know till you moved in

 

[Elpenor]

Survey read and digested

Nothing to stress about or that means a renegotiation in price. I’ve got a list of maintenance jobs to do at some point. Some stuff I knew about - no extractor fan so will get one fitted, path to front door is a bit narrow,

Some things I wasn’t aware of which are non urgent jobs - garage door is a bit creaky, lead flashing could be added between porch and house.

Anyway that’s done.

Two things to ask the vendor via my solicitor. Email drafted to solicitor, will have to send it after reviewing all the bits they’ve sent me but that’s enough for tonight.

 

[5t3IIa]

I emailed our solicitor yesterday to double triple check they have everything they need from us as we are, frankly, a tad para. They confirmed they do, and that everything should be sorted by Wednesday. Which means it’s still not sorted!!

 

[Artaxerxes]

After Sundays incident while out emailed the solicitor again. Fuckers taking far to much time off as another out of office.


Thought searching was shit but fuck me I hate sitting around waiting for the legal stuff more.

On plus side I’ve been waiting long enough that the massive amount of raspberries we planted outside the flat are ripening so we get one last crop before we fuck off

 

[5t3IIa]

I hesitate to say that there is an Aldi being built up the road from our new house… it’s also down the road from our current house and I feel fairly neutral about racing it to see who gets their front door keys first but still

 

[Elpenor]

There was an Aldi opening date / house completion race last year for miss direct I think or was it Lidl?

 

[Elpenor]

Gone back to tell my solicitor any completion date is good as I’m in a JGTFK frame of mind

 

[Brainaddict]

What I love about a survey is that they don’t lift or move furniture. There could be a massive hole in the floor under one of the sofas and you’d never know till you moved in

The list of things surveyors don't look at is longer than the list of things they do look at imo. Sometimes they don't even look in the attic, and if they do it's often poking their head up the hatch and shining a torch around. Even though the roof is the most expensive thing to replace.

 

[miss direct]

It was a Lidl, and Lidl won, of course.

 

[Cat Fan]

Our surveyor recommended we get a drain survey. Has anyone paid for one in the past and thinks it's worth doing? Seems like it costs about £200. Plumbing all seemed fine when we visited the property but it's an over 100 year old property so drainage could be an issue.