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Buying a home and don't know how anything works

miss direct said:
Another question: I noticed that only a certain amount of money is protected in my bank account (£85,000 ish?) So is it ok to just have that money in my current account until I buy, or is there a safer/better way?
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Normally you and/or the mortgage lender pay the money to the solicitor and they hold it for you in an account until they are ready to do the transfer.

I think the 85k limit can be temporarly be extended for house purchases. Read that somewhere but that may be wrong. Only a problem if your bank went bust though.
 
Some great posts here, having owned a Victorian terrace Roadkill’s post was excellent

freehold if you can
Also moving / selling is expensive so buy for what you may need in the next 5-10 years

My terrace was only 3m wide - whatever could have been done structurally I could never make it wider - so think about what you can - and can’t do - in terms of improvements

over the years having a narrow twisty staircase really got on my nerves, I couldn’t get anything but flat pack furniture up or down

cash is king. If you’re a cash buyer who doesn’t need a mortgage then you’re much more attractive to a buyer who needs a mortgage and could lose a job.
 
spanglechick said:
I originally wanted a Victorian property, because they’re so pretty and have high ceilings- but they attract a real £££ premium because lots of people want high ceilings and attractive architectural features.
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This isn't really true in at least some of the northern cities because there's enough Victorian property on the market to keep prices low, especially for two-up-two-downs. It's actually cheaper to rent one round here than a similarly-sized modern flat, and AFAIK the same applies to purchase prices too.

As for architectural features, I loved my last rented place because it still had a lot of its original features in good condition, but when I was looking to buy I saw one that someone had tried to turn into an olde English country cottage complete with leaded windows and fake oak beams, and two or three that looked like the results of a 1970s home improvement show!
 
As a cash buyer, and without a chain behind you, you are gold dust. Your offer isn't just 'i'll give you X for it..', it's 'i'll give you X for it, I've the cash in my pocket and I can go tomorrow...'

Avoid leasehold. Unless your only other is renting for the rest of your life, avoid leasehold.

1930's houses are big inside with good sized rooms, high-ish ceilings, and usually have big gardens - however they are overwhelmingly single skinned construction, which makes difficult and expensive to hear.

1970's houses are usually fairly well proportioned inside with decent sized rooms. They tend to have smaller gardens but are double skinned construction - they are warmer, and cheaper to make them warm.

Houses from 1980's onwards have smaller and less evenly sized rooms, although they tend to have more washrooms. Gardens are even smaller...

Genuine thing. Go and see a new build, and take note of how many don't have doors on the upstairs: friend of ours bought off plan and didn't notice the above on the showhome - the 3rd bedroom is so small that they can't get a single bed in there and open the door at the same time....

Think about future-proofing: you may not drive now, but you may in 5 years time.
 
One downside of modern houses is how thin the internal walls are. The last place I rented in London was a 1980s terrace, sharing with a friend. I didn't like it much for all sorts of reasons, among which was that my bedroom was right next to the bathroom, and more than once I had to lie in bed in the morning and listen to my housemate having a poo!
 
Hey sorry another question, how long do houses get listed for and what sort of thing affects it? I know sales fall through but how often does it happen? There's a couple in my local area that seem like they've been up for a while, one's been reduced recently. I remember from searches for places to rent over the years rural places seem to stay up for longer than urban places
 
Get two pieces of paper on one write down all the things you are looking for in what you want to buy, on the other all the things you don't want
ie freehold V leasehold, house v flat, old v modern, electric only or gas and electric, types of heating, areas you like, areas you don't like, what you want to live near ie shop selling milk or if you don't drive a supermarket.......

it is difficult and odd times at the moment but always check a place during the daytime, night time and weekends to check for noise/smells/pollution from schools/factories/neighbours Etc. Though at the moment you might not get a true picture. A solicitor should check for local planning issues like a factory or high rise being built next door. When viewing, check everything, open and close windows, run all taps to check for both decent flow of water, cleanness and drainage, open and close all doors, look inside and out for anything that doesn't look right, cracks, lopsided roof Etc. If happy, I would normally go for a homebuyers report. This should flag up any issues, major or minor and may recommend some sort of structural survey after that (A full structural is pages and pages of jargon).

If a flat, always go for leasehold. We have people we can call on to help with structural type maintenance and repairs, sort out disputes with neighbours n stuff.

If in England, there is no financial commitment until you have either paid anything out on solicitors, surveyors Etc. or signed contracts.

I don't know how viewing is working with the pandemic at the moment. Sometimes you arrange a viewing with the selling agent, who might show you round
the place or maybe the sellers themselves will show you around. Sometimes, estate agents arrange an open house and literally through the doors open for a day or weekend and you just turn up.

As a cash buyer you are in a great position to bargain but beware of agents who will enter you into bidding wars (real or imagined) with other buyers. The
last time we bought, we made an offer on a place and said we would not get involved in a bidding war. The agent still tried it on and we walked away. The agent even came back and said the buyers they accepted the offer from had pulled out, were we still interested - not a chance!
You may wish to avoid the likes of Foxtons!
 
muscovyduck said:
Hey sorry another question, how long do houses get listed for and what sort of thing affects it? I know sales fall through but how often does it happen? There's a couple in my local area that seem like they've been up for a while, one's been reduced recently. I remember from searches for places to rent over the years rural places seem to stay up for longer than urban places
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If a place has been on the market a long time why? Is it a dodgy area, is it an area no one wants to but in, are there issues with it, is it overpriced?
It shold only stay on the market while a buyer is being sort and removed once contracts signed unless you insist they remove it when making an offer.
 
Roadkill said:
One downside of modern houses is how thin the internal walls are. The last place I rented in London was a 1980s terrace, sharing with a friend. I didn't like it much for all sorts of reasons, among which was that my bedroom was right next to the bathroom, and more than once I had to lie in bed in the morning and listen to my housemate having a poo!
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They usually have less space, smaller rooms and gardens than an older place.
 
Feel free to put links of places you’re considering on this thread too. I would caution against getting a fixer upper - if you’ve got the cash, a place that is ready to move into means you can just enjoy it for a bit before you have to deal with the pain I’d finding decent tradespeople to do stuff.

Don’t get a place with a big garden unless you love gardening. Ask about the neighbours. Bad neighbours can make the difference between happiness and misery. Think about transport, coming home at night, access to green spaces. I’d always buy end of terrace/semi detached so you can get into the back garden without going through the house.
 
trashpony said:
I’d always buy end of terrace/semi detached so you can get into the back garden without going through the house.
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Round here the local housing bylaws mandated from about 1880 that houses had to have two access points to the street, so although I'm mid-terrace my neighbour on one side and I both have a flying freehold over an alley between the ground floors. I don't know how common this was, but I doubt Hull was the only place to do it.
 
The list goes on: Sign nothing give nobody nothing until you know what you are doing and are sure it's what you want.
Estate agents should not take a penny off of you, don't be bullied or harassed by them - a first time cash buyer, you could not
be in a stronger position, you are holding the cards,

The first money you will probably have to pay out is a small fee on account, a hundred quid or two on account to a solicitor. I would also think
about a "solicitor" (not conveyancer) who does fixed fee conveyancing and when you have decided on one, go and see them

Avoid conflicts of interest as you want to be sure that people are working exclusively for you. I would avoid solicitors and surveyors
who have been recommended by anyone working for the buyer.

New places also tend to come at a premium and you tend to pay over the odds for that nice (but cheap) fitted kitchen, bathroom Etc.
 
hash tag said:
They usually have less space, smaller rooms and gardens than an older place.
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Depends how you view it. Per square metre a Victorian house in London costs more than a modern house, as they are considered attractive and people pay more for that. If you go older than Victorian houses get even more expensive. When I researched it the best value houses where 1970s to 1990s. Actually new places attract stupid premiums, and even post 2000 people pay more for. It's true that ceilings are lower, but you can actually get more square metreage for the same price with a modern house.

This was London research btw, don't know if all those sheffield terraces attract the same kind of premiums that victorian houses do in London.
 
muscovyduck said:
Hey sorry another question, how long do houses get listed for and what sort of thing affects it? I know sales fall through but how often does it happen? There's a couple in my local area that seem like they've been up for a while, one's been reduced recently. I remember from searches for places to rent over the years rural places seem to stay up for longer than urban places
Click to expand...

Mine sold in 3 days and I had 13 viewings in that time, but only 3 people put in offers. I sold for asking price.

If something has been listed and not sold for quite a while (say a couple of months) its most likely over priced. There 'may' be something wrong with it, but the estate agent isn't probably going to tell you that. At the very least it puts you in a good position to haggle the price down. Get surveys done. £500 on a survey vs thousands on repairs is money saved!

Every location has a ceiling price, so while people may try and do up their home, just because it cost them £10k to put in a new kitchen, it's unlikely to add £10k in actual value if the area is shitty! More fool them!
 
Starts searching Sheffield...Brightside, sounds nice gives a good impression, worth a look?
It's virtually on a major road in the middle of an industrial estate! Holmes Developments
S9 2RS check it out on street view before visiting to save wasting time.
 
I love house research for other people, two friends looking at the moment and it’s all the fun with none of the stress you have when it’s your own search.

miss direct if you look on street view that might explain why nobody’s gone for that pretty house , it’s a busy road & right opposite car wash, which will be noisy. Google street view is always worth doing before you even think about going to see a place.
 
I can recommend a good solicitor if you need. He was my aunt’s solicitor when she bought her house and my solicitor when I sold my dad’s flat. He charged a flat fee and very kindly didn’t charge extra even though there were some boring complications which added additional workload onto him, which he could easily have charged for. As we were doing it over lockdown we did everything remotely. He’s based nowhere near me at all, but geography a bit irrelevant in this day and age!
 
hash tag said:
If a place has been on the market a long time why? Is it a dodgy area, is it an area no one wants to but in, are there issues with it, is it overpriced?
It shold only stay on the market while a buyer is being sort and removed once contracts signed unless you insist they remove it when making an offer.
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So is it a case of, if you reckon you know why it's been up for a while, you're probably correct?
 
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