Reading Rattle's thread on being 'screwed', I thought I'd come on here and ask for your experiences in buying a first house. I'm the same age as Rattle and although not feeling 'screwed' I do think that time is ticking.
I'm in the process of calling the estate agent for a viewing on a nice house in a nearby area which is up for the price of £70,000. Now for that price it does need some modernisation (according to photos) which at first glance would cost around £3,000 but the house is around 30% lower priced than the rest of the street. My parents have said that I can live at theirs board free while the work is done which was very kind. I have managed to save the 10% deposit and a further £2,000 for solicitors and survey fees, a kind relative has also given me £500 to help me along. I work as an IT Telecoms engineer and recieve a accepatable wage and have been there 10 years so feel confident in going for this. I have lived away from home before, I rented for two years and moved back to parents a year ago to save so can afford the potential mortgage as it would be £100 per month less than the rent that I was paying. I dont have any loans or credit cards and my car is paid for fully.
All things considered espically the work needed and given the price of the house, it sounds a good idea but I'm not getting to excited until I have a viewing and taken an 'expert' round with me.
Any experiences and ideas welcome, thank you for reading.
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Always buy the cheapest house on the street. You can improve to the street level and make money on resale.
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>> Always buy the cheapest house on the street. You can improve to the street level
>> and make money on resale.
>>
>>
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Which it is indeed. The houses on the street and around £90k for a 2 bedder (which this one is) to £110-130k for a 3 bedder.
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That assumes all houses are the same though.... On our street there are only four like ours. They also happen to have cellars. Then the size/style changes a bit.
Another tip... check out sold prices for the area/street on sites like Rightmove.
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Best of luck to begin with!
We bought our house this year after selling Dec 2009. You didn't say what region you are in so some advice might vary I guess:
>> I have managed to save the 10% deposit and a further £2,000 for solicitors and survey fees
I think the cost of two surveys (we pulled out of one offer) and the cost of solicitor for selling and buying came to less than £2000. So you should be fine on that front.
I'd get the survey done as you're planning but expect that to suggest you need someone to check:
- Wood and timber
- Wall ties
- Sewers
Seems a de facto surveyor response. I would think this will be in the £2000 above though.
I would also suggest booking an appointment at the planning department of the council to check the records for planning, building regs, etc. Anything major that got done will be on there. This will be free. It might be worth doing this before a survey is arranged. Had we done this on a property earlier last year I'd have saved £460 for the survey because I'd know the house and the adjacent semi-detached were underpinned etc.
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>> Based in South Yorkshire
>>
Any mining nearby?
It does stuff things up if you have a mine under the house.
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My youngest has recently bought her first house. A few points immediately spring to mind:
1) She was not able to get the Best Rate mortgage for inexplicable reasons - I think they have like many other adverts there are headline rates which the first one person gets but once that's gone its gone. So the mortgage ended up more than she expected.
2) Wanting to "be independent" she did a lot of work without input from older and wiser people (e.g. Mum & Dad) and didn't factor in some unavoidable additional costs like insurance, council tax, maintenancewhich all added to the bottom line for her
3) She bought a place which on the face of it didn't need much doing, and came with most furniture. But now she is in she has grand ideas for the whole house - some of which would be worthwhile but some would be plain wasted in that level property. She needs to prioritise better, and keep ideas and plans within budget
4) She didn't fully do a budget to include non-household e.g. car maintenance, tax, insurance, or map out when in the year those costs fell. She has, possibly unavoidably, got some months where her outgoings exceed her income, by quite a bit, but it highlighted the need for her to save money in the months when the reverse it true.
She was previously renting and her perception was that a morgage wouldn't cost a lot more. Wrong!
But she is thoroughly enjoying ownership and will make it work, and I admire her for that.
I guess the overall message is to make sure you really can afford it. And if you can, go ahead and do it.
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I'm very sure I will be able afford the month to month living. Although I do go out for the odd drink now and then (once a month) that will get knocked on the head, I can always invite friends and family round as still have same enjoyment. The £3,000 cost to modernise will come from the remaining £600 disposable after mortgage, car expenditure, insurances and bills (excl council tax and TV licence) whilst any work is being done. That would be one room completed per month.
One question would be, can I have a mortgage with a bank whom I dont have an account with?
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>> One question would be, can I have a mortgage with a bank whom I dont have an account with?
Yes. I had a mortgage with C&G (Lloyds) and banked with Barclays.
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you can get a mortgage from wherever you like.
Sounds like you don't have a firm mortgage offer to me though.
DO NOT underestimate the difficulty in getting a mortgage. They are being refused for silly reasons at the moment. One nasty word in the surveyors report and its curtains.
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The buyer of our house thought he'd save a few pounds by getting the mortgage company to agree to his surveyor doing the valuation.... things were found which affected the valuation (and we agreed a lower price) but it also affected the mortgage because some work needed. A mortgage valuer might not have flagged what the full survey did.
Now he'd have wanted the problems reflecting in the price which they then were but his attempt to save a few hundred pounds made a few problems for them.
And Zero you seem to be right that he hasn't a mortgage offer in place - or whatever you need from lenders these days. I only ever had one mortgage and the circumstances were different to first time buyers.
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Shop around for solicitors and find one that will do the whole thing for a fixed fee. If you don't you'll find they'll pad things out and send loads of letters and generally be a a complete pain in the arris.
Have you got a mortgage arranged already? Make sure you get a DIP - decision in principle otherwise you can waste time putting in an offer only to discover you can't get a mortgage anyway. Banks are being totally tight and not even lending to people with decent deposits and clean credit histories so you can't assume you can buy it. Also if it does require work then they may want a retention which will complicate things further as it means they won't lend the whole lot until certain work is carried out.
If the house is priced 30% below the rest then it will probably need more than £3k worth of work unless it is a repossession.
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>> Also if it does require work then they may want a retention
Only if the work is essential like structural, timber etc. surely? If it needs new kitchen, bathroom, decorating then it should be okay. But if it had woodworm, damp, etc. then the mortgage valuer will adjust their valuation accordingly.
>> If the house is priced 30% below the rest then it will probably need more than £3k worth of work unless it is a
>> repossession.
Agree. If it just needs wallpaper and paint then why 30% lower? Structural stuff might be there too which is why you need a surveyor.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sun 16 Jan 11 at 23:46
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>> Shop around for solicitors and find one that will do the whole thing for a
>> fixed fee. If you don't you'll find they'll pad things out and send loads of
>> letters and generally be a a complete pain in the arris.
Had a agreement in principal from my bank (Halifax) 3 months ago when I was looking at another house but had to postpone due to some personal issues. Their rate of 6.4% sucked so will be looking else where. I've been on Santander website and they have a product that might look and 4.2% for comparison, £495 arrangement fee and 2yr fixed on a 90%LTV. Makes a £63,000 mortgage (after deposit) come out at around £330 per month on a 30yr term. I dont want to stretch my self too much.
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>> If the house is priced 30% below the rest then it will probably need more
>> than £3k worth of work unless it is a repossession.
>>
Funny you say that, it was the first thing my dad said (a possible repossesion). Is that a bad thing? Although I've only looked through windows it does look like just a reskim and tile, new kitchen, carpets etc but will delve futher and report back.
Last edited by: nice but dim on Sun 16 Jan 11 at 23:55
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>> Is that a bad thing?
No you could get a good house at a knock down price. I know someone in the States who has just bought a house for around $400k that a few years ago was double that. Repossession and the bank wanted some money.
>> Although I've only looked through windows
So you've not seen it yet I see... you need to see it ASAP. There could be a lot of interest. And this is why you need to have a mortgage arranged or agreed in principle. Otherwise someone with the cash will win even if they offer less.
Best of luck with finding a good mortgage deal.
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I mentioned above about house prices on Rightmove (other sites exist). But you can check what houses sold for in the past. You might even find what this house sold for last time around. I think it goes back about 7 years.
www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices.html;jsessionid=DAA67856DCC8281EA925DF3698CAAC8D
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 17 Jan 11 at 00:03
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Just two houses sold on the right move website
23 Oct 2009 xxxxxxxxx Semi-Detached Freehold £102,000
12 Feb 2009 xxxxxxxxx Detached Freehold £170,000
I dont think the house has been sold in the last ten years, it is not the land registry database from 2000 onwards
Last edited by: nice but dim on Mon 17 Jan 11 at 00:09
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I assume you set it to show all house sales? Default is 2 years.
But you did say you think it is 30% below street price, i.e. others are closer to £100k. But are they the same?
If I was in this position again then:
- Want to be sure mortgage was available if property right (mortgage company will survey it)
- Book a viewing
- Put in a conditional offer if you like it
- Book a surveyor
- Review/revise offer
We did similar last year and the property needed lots doing. We needed a ball park figure for the kitchen extension needed.... another house on the street being done up so we got them to give a finger in the air opinion/price (and we sort of knew them).... but the survey ruled it out for us in the end.
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Be very careful!
A house where my daughter lives has just gone for £100K below average - it had a room in the attic that hadn't planning permission. They had to take the whole roof off.
A basic house that hasn't been changed in any way is, in my opinion, the best to buy. You can do it properly.
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>> A house where my daughter lives has just gone for £100K below average - it had a room in
>> the attic that hadn't planning permission. They had to take the whole roof off.
You no longer need planning permission for some attic conversions but you need to follow building regulations and that means get inspections too. Where windows are situated is very important.
A lot of houses without proper planning permission do not claim the attic room is a bedroom for starters.
I mention above about getting an idea for a kitchen extension cost - I learnt you do not need planning permission if you stay within certain guidelinesbut again do need to get foundations checked etc to adhere to building regs.
The curious thing is... having searched the planning department computers a few times the house we nearly bought if they'd found somewhere quicker than 8 months has no records for planning permission or building regs for the kitchen extension. And yet the other house we dropped our offer on (underpinning concerns) had records for that work dating a lot earlier.... glad we didn't buy either now!
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 17 Jan 11 at 00:31
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Just one little tip when you look at one you like and work out it will only cost £3k to put it right double that for when it didn't quite go to plan.!!
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I suspect that once you have viewed this property, you will realise that your estimated budget for updating is far too low.
Get yourself a full structural survey and shop around for a solicitor. Their prices vary enormously.
I hope all goes well.
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Lots of sound advice for someone who clearly doesn't need it.
Rarely have I seen a young house buyer who is quite so well organised.
The only danger I can see is the OP wants the transaction to be so neat and tidy, he never takes the plunge.
nice but dim,
The sooner you start paying a mortgage, the sooner you will stop paying it.
Most people buying their first house feel they can't quite afford it.
You have worked yourself into a good position, get on and buy before some circumstance outside your control changes and prevents you from doing so.
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>> Lots of sound
....
>> You have worked yourself into a good position, get on and buy before some circumstance
>> outside your control changes and prevents you from doing so.
>>
Ditto. Go for it. Best of luck, but you won't need it.
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One thing if you would like some extra cash per month you could take in a lodger??
Rattle is looking for a place to live £350-400 a month and your pc fixed for free sound ok?
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i can only add whats been given
ie make sure you have a mortgage confirmation allowance from the bank in place and when you have then seriously consider spending the £400ish on a decent independant inspection
thing is its a buyers market so you will maybe be the only person with everything in place to make an offer anyway so you will easily recoup your outlay when you put your bid in
think of it as a car with a short mot
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A full structural survey is often a waste of money. (Just wait for the naysayers who say "but you don't know it's a waste of money until you've had it" - anybody with half a brain can see almost as much as the surveyor.)
Do you need to have the whole house "done" before you move in? If you're not out boozing every night you can do it yourself. You'd be amazed how much a couple of hours each night achieves.
Ignore the Job's comforters on here who say there's something wrong with it. You're in the depressed north east, it's cheap because it needs to be sold.
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i so disagree on this
a real surveyor can discard damp from soil being piled up against a wall
tell you the chimmney is safe to the bottom
tell you the roof joints are ok
you get a jobbing surveyor from the mortgage company in and they will want all these non jobs doing before they transfer funds
see i didnt even mention dodgy electrics,the crack under the bathroom window thats been there 50 years plus and going nowhere or even the fact that in his opinion the council banding is wrong and he suggests you appeal
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In this day and age nobody will tell you that something is "safe" or "ok".
They will report by exception ("we identified that the chimney is falling off" or make no comment) and they will tell you they didn't look under the carpets.
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>>A full structural survey is often a waste of money.
You might look at it that way if the surveyor finds little wrong with the property, but on the other hand you might have problems selling yourself a few years later if serious problems come to light that would not have been picked up on a lesser survey.
A full structural saved me a lot of hassle in the 90's.
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My tips ...
Go and spend some time late on a friday/saturday night parked up in the area and see what its like out of normal hours - noise, antisocial behaviour etc.
Have a good look at the roof with binoculars looking for broken tiles etc
Have a good look in the loft space - are any of the roof timber bowing, see any light etc
Knock on a few neighbouring doors - ask them what they like/don't like about the street. Have they had any problems with the houses? or the neighbours?
Check the windows open and close properly
Be careful what you pay if the house is bigger or smaller than others on the street. (Streets have a 'value')
Houses are much easier to fix up and decorate if they're empty - and getting a group of mates round for a workparty can be great fun
If the house is empty, get some old curtains up, make sure the neighbours have your mobile number - and ask them to keep an eye on it
Get it insured from the moment you exchange.
Use a good independent solicitor, not connected with the estate agent. Not a conveyencer.
Last edited by: Tigger on Mon 17 Jan 11 at 16:50
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At the price you're paying a full survey is worth the money, you should be able to negotiate a price for cash with the surveyor (I did this the last time I had a survey done on a flat I nearly bought) - for a comparatively small sum of money you get yourself a good schedule of works and some comeback if you find Maltby Colliery passes underneath afterwards. Full survey for me everytime !
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Repossessions are often very good buys. But you have to be careful as they could have been neglected while they have been empty. Also when you get the services re-connected be extra careful with checking bills as some of the utility companies will try and diddle you for the debts of the previous owner. British Gas were also incredibly slow at re-connecting the electricity when I bought a repossession so if they're listed as a utility provider I'd probably switch first as it will be quicker!
Repos can also be under auction contracts and they may want completion within 28 days. Make sure you can do this as it is quite a tight time scale. Surveys often take ages and if the bank gets a better offer they will drop you regardless of how much time or money you've spent trying to purchase it.
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Ok update.....
Pugugly - you know far too much, the row of houses behind the house backs on to the field which backs on to Maltby pit (about 3/4 miles away) oh did I mention there is a quarry about a mile away too!
I have a viewing tomorrow at 4pm with the estate agent however they said another party was viewing at the same time. I will make sure I check all points noted here but I have also got a check list off the internet + I will try and take photos of each room and exterior so I can recall what may be required workwise after the viewing.
I know the area fairly well. Up to 5 years ago a friend whom I still see know lived with his parents across the road (they dont live there now though) and although there is a pub at the end of the road the drunks wander back into the village in opposite direction.
If this does end up being a bigger financial job I will a tough week deciding but like some of you have said 'buy before you cant' and if this doesnt come off I will just bide my time. I know I cant afford to be choosy with my budget but I dont want to end up somewhere just for the sake of it where I'm going to resent every day living there.
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It was a random choice if pits by the way !
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>> Full survey for me everytime !
Me too - I've said already that we had a survey done and then didn't buy the house. £460 well spent in my opinion. And I learned from that about checking the council planning department.
Actually reminds me that some of the checks I did in the offices can be done online for our council now. Only the older records are not on the web based service.
A few things that came up in the first survey that I'd probably now to check myself now like checking how well doors are hung and whether the frames are distorted. Also worth checking the floor boards if carpets can be lifted. I don't suppose this house you're looking at has cellars but you can see timbers etc. if they are exposed.
Also might be worth asking if it's possible to look in the attic to check roof space.
It sounds like this property could be popular so you might not have much time to ponder any offer you make.
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If it's 56, L********** Way, it sold for £33450 in 1966, no 54 sold for £91.000 in 2005
Zoopla is good for sold values, back to 1995
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I assume you meant 1996? £33k would have been a hell of a lot back in 1966 if it only sold for £91k in 2005.
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Rats - you are right - I am getting senile numerical dyslexia!
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>> If it's 56, L********** Way, it sold for £33450 in 1966, no 54 sold for
>> £91.000 in 2005
>> Zoopla is good for sold values, back to 1995
>>
Yes it is that house.
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NBD - do you want me to remove this thread ?
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>> Zoopla is good for sold values, back to 1995
Good link... my house sold for just under £80k in 1998. Probably could have afforded a mortgage on it back then as a first time buyer. Not as a first time buyer with a 20% deposit now sadly even on my current salary. Sad for first time buyers in the area that is.
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Nice but... That looks a very good house to go for. I'm guessing it's 1980s so there should be no worries with roof, structure, elecs, plumbing, damp etc like you'd find in older cheap houses. The area looks good with most places tidy. Also for the price range most places have their own off road parking of some sort so the roads shouldn't be quite so lined with cars parked on the pavement. Looks to already have UPVC windows/doors.
I see there is a similar age place round the corner with just one bedroom for £75K. In fact yours would be my pick of any under £80K in the area.
I'd not worry about any extra survey on such a modern house... just my view.
One thing to check. To the rear there looks to be an old drive that comes in from the road round the corner and across the back of the one you're looking at and its attached neighbour. I'd just check if any part of this is your garden and what rights other might have over it.
But overall it looks a very interesting buy... a weekend with weedkiller on the drive and a mower will make it look worth £10K more. Good luck.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Tue 18 Jan 11 at 00:04
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Nice looking house. Been advertised since 15 November with no price reductions since then, so it's obviously not a complete bargain. Nice looking area, too - having been round Google streetview it's all very neat and tidy; your house is neat and tidy on streetview as well, but clearly the lawn wasn't mown all last summer. (Any estate agent worth his salt would have mown the lawn himself for the purposes of the photograph, but hey...)
If it's been repossessed - which seems fairly likely - then the previous owners may have left the place a bit of a mess. Alternatively the previous owner may have died. Knock on some neighbours doors and find out (when the agent has gone). The neighbours will be desperate for somebody nice to tidy it up.
Nasty estate agent trick to arrange two viewings at the same time - it suggests there is competition. If I were you I'd tell 'em to sort it so you can see the place on your own. I refuse to believe an agent in that part of Yorkshire is so busy that the viewings have to be at the same time.
If you have your mortgage decision in principle (GET IT, NOW!) and your cash then you could be exchanging within a couple of weeks. Unlikely to be any planning issues - place hasn't been extended.
If you can put in an offer to the agent and show you are serious with cash deposit and mortgage decision and are ready to go (find yourself a solicitor, don't go with the estate agent's as they may have a conflict of interest and will be more expensive) then they will take your offer seriously. Whatever you do don't tell the agent how much you have "available" to spend, they'll just get the vendor to keep upping you until you reach the amount you have "available".
Personally I'd just have a mortgage valuation on that house, but that's me.
The other thing I'd have you do is to practise going round houses with estate agents. Go to look at a few and make your "mistakes" somewhere where it doesn't matter. It's like playing poker so in an ideal world you'd practise putting in offers on other houses, just so you get a feel for how the negotiations pan out. Remember an offer isn't binding until you have exchanged contracts.
Find out the size of the property in square feet and compare the price per sq ft with other properties.
I'd be looking at that with a view to offering 60k and being able to exchange within two weeks, but you may struggle to get a mortgage agreed in that time.
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>> practise putting in offers
>> on other houses, just so you get a feel for how the negotiations pan out.
>> Remember an offer isn't binding until you have exchanged contracts.
>>
That's a pretty rotten thing to do to the properry owners who are trying to sell the houses you have no intention of buying. Not nice.
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There's nothing worse when you want to sell and your future is on hold than some scumscuking lizard pooh putting practice offers in - not that I feel strongly about it.
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That's a pretty rotten thing to do to the properry owners who are trying to sell the houses you have no intention of buying. Not nice.
Do you just like moaning?
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No. I just like dishonest people who mess me and others around.
Boo.
Do you just like stitching people up for your own benefit?
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Yes i don't mind one bit it makes me happy.!!
And agree that lad needs to get some experiance go house hunting and put offers in and see how it works as this will make it much easier for him. Life skills.
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Life skills. I'll remember that the next time that happens to us..."oh yes life skills"
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have a saying here at work not mine but i use it
-------ignore derogatary remarks--------
these mainly consist of offering silly monies on something or requesting the moon on a stick to do the deal
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>> practise putting in offers
>> on other houses, just so you get a feel for how the negotiations pan out.
>> Remember an offer isn't binding until you have exchanged contracts.
Some poor advice being given today.
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After the last idiot did this to us we were considering asking for a £5000 non-returnable deposit to secure sole negotiating rights until exchange. As a seller there is nothing worse than a time waster - the next one will regret it.
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No one will pay a non refundable deposit on any home, as sometimes the reason they pull out maybe a much nicer home has come on the market.
It's life skills you learn from it.
Thats the new word for today life skills.!!
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I have learnt from it, I assumed that buyers played with a straight bat - now I assume that everyone is a scamming thief until I know better !
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>> I have learnt from it, I assumed that buyers played with a straight bat -
>> now I assume that everyone is a scamming thief until I know better !
>>
scamming thieves, thieving scumballs, they are all the same.
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I assumed that buyers played with a straight bat
Nobody plays fair were money is concearned do they really, If there's a deal to be done the better wins everytime.
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I supsect Bigtee is just winding you all up. You don't need to practice to make an offer on a house, you just pick up the phone and say "I'd like to make and offer of xxxxx" No life skills required.
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I supsect Bigtee is just winding you all up.
This site could do with those smiley faces and the thumbs up signs found on many other forums then you lot would not go off on one.
Really are some of you that gulable.!!
LOL...............:-)
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>> I supsect Bigtee is just winding you all up. You don't need to practice to
>> make an offer on a house, you just pick up the phone and say "I'd
>> like to make and offer of xxxxx" No life skills required.
Just shows you how naive you are. OP has probably never spent £700 on one single thing in his life, let alone £7,000 let alone £70,000. Be astonished if he isn't nervous when on the phone making that offer. The estate agent has done this a lot, and (if he's any good) has already become OP's bestest friend, so will quite easily quiz him a bit to see how much further his budget will go, find out how large his deposit is, how large his maximum mortgage - and hence how much he can afford to pay.
And, I must say, until the other side has appointed a solicitor and submitted the mortgage application complete with cheque then it's a very naive seller who thinks that he's in any way serious. By the time the seller has accepted and the agent has come back it's very easy to say "terribly sorry I had an offer on something else as well, I don't want that any more."
CLKSEC>> >>Remember an offer isn't binding until you have exchanged contracts.
>>Some poor advice being given today.
In what sense is an offer not binding until contracts have been exchanged? (In Yorkshire, anyway.)
Remember, the vendor has a professional on his side who is a trained negotiator; the buyer is just an amateur. When he's a complete ingénue as well then he's going to be the one being screwed by the agent.
It's not possible for a buyer to screw a seller financially. The reverse is very much possible.
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Tue 18 Jan 11 at 17:16
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Verdict - a total no go!
To me personally it was gross inside. An elderly gentleman died in the house 3 months ago apparently and was presumably a extmemely heavy smoker and everything was stained yellow and needed painting. Everything from windows, garden, flaking bricks below the damp line, everyroom except bathroom had no wallpaper or carpet. Each bedroom had a fist sized hole through the room into the attic andhe smell inside was horrible.Two other buyers there looking, a young woman similar age to me and I dont think that she was expecting that too and a builder who might consider it as he was sucking teeth but nodding at same time.
Too much work for me, although I would like a project this would be a nightmare and a easy 10k job. I have bookmarked a couple more in another area and will enquire about them
Thanks to all that replied.
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Offer £18k below asking price and get a firm in to gut it and start again.
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house is obviously a sale then put on by the next of kin
they dont want it so you really could do to reappraise
im with Bigtee
reconsider and bid low
get your rubber gloves on
think of it as an ex mobility car with used nappies under the seat
you can only honk till your gut is empty then its easy to carry on cleaning
this time next year sell sell sell and move on
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Not at all a no go. As Bigtee says, offer silly money, and get a builder in to do the non diy stuff.
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Daughter's "new" house was owned by heavy smokers, you may remember the thread about the issues I had painting a ceiling. Smells have more or less gone now (3 months) but really need to remaining carpets to be replaced to get rid of it completely.
When we viewed they masked it such that I, a smoker, thought that the old man had a wee problem - I knew there was an unpleasant smell but didn't smell like fags to me!! Plenty of plug-in scent things.
Hers was (and still is) a bargain though, as a result.
Last edited by: smokie on Tue 18 Jan 11 at 17:51
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Look on web for heavy industrial cleaners in your area they may charge £250.00 per day and they will gut it and clean it from the roof down, then you can work on it.
If your handy with tools isolate water and rip out bathroom and kitchen scrape walls rip up carpets, this alone will save you 1k.
Any family flogging a house like that want shooting or there as bad, it's not hard graft but will take some time and rewarding when you do it.
You can come up from the 18k but not much if you really want it.
At your price expect to do some work old mate or dig a little deeper.
Last edited by: Bigtee on Tue 18 Jan 11 at 18:08
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That sounds like a great buy. The carpets and wallpaper have already all been removed which makes life easier.
A hole in a plasterboard wall is a one hour job for a builder to fix, so £25 if you get the Poles in.
Remove the loft insulation as that will presumably smell too. Older houses with lime plaster are much more difficult with cigarette smoke as it gets into the plaster.
Then clean and clean. Also open the windows - they've probably not been opened for three months since he died.
That won't be the first builder to go round, but it's probably not cheap enough for a builder as there isn't enough wrong with it.
Offer 55 and, like I say, be in a position to be able to give them the cash quickly - have you got that mortgage lined up yet? As it is the house is costing the beneficiaries money and is a liability. Quite possibly uninsurable too.
And get somebody else in to do the cleaning if you cannot face it yourself, not very expensive.
And yes, it will still smell a bit for a few months, but you can put it back on at 90k having spent only 10k on it. The smell of fresh paint hides a lot of smells - but don't paint on anything until it's properly clean. You can paint uPVC windows if they've discoloured so much on the inside.
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I bought a smelly house (at the right price) in 1977. We got rid of the carpets and wallpaper, and washed every square inch, and it was still there. We then did the floors with Jeyes fluid. That did it. Redecorated, carpeted and replaced the small kitchen, saved about 10%-15% after costs I think.
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In my naivety I'm still not sure what you are trying to say. In what way is is it so complicated to make an offer that you need to practice on other innocent sellers with false offers, which is what , I believe Bigtee was having us believe you should do.
Of course the estate agent will want to know the offer is genuine and ask some questions as to availability of mortgage etc. Why is that a problem? If you are a genuine buyer you will be happy to provide this info.
You ask in what way an offer is not binding - perhaps you are a little naive. A sale of land in England is cannot be made under simple contract like other property, even in Yorkshire As has already been said must be completed under seal and is not a contract until signed contracts have been exchanged. It is therefore not possible to seek any compensation for withdrawing an offer. In effect the offer is not binding.
As to your strange view that it is not possible for a buyer to screw a seller financially have you never heard of gazundering? It is rather prevalent at the moment,in which the buyer waiting until the contracts are about to be exchanged and puts in a reduced offer which the buyer has little alternative to accept if he want to proceed with his purchase.
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>>Binding offer
Apologies, there's a missing "not" in my previous post. It was your post above (timed at 16.42) which disagreed with my one before that where I'd correctly said it was not binding.
A seller doesn't have to accept being gazundered.
A naive buyer however can be persuaded to pay well over the odds by a glib agent. And mortgage valuations - if the buyer has enough equity - are designed so that the bank gets the business, not so that the buyer is told that he is overpaying for a property.
>>Of course the estate agent will want to know the offer is genuine and ask some
>>questions as to availability of mortgage etc. Why is that a problem? If you are a genuine
>>buyer you will be happy to provide this info.
No. Re-read my previous post. Agents are well-practiced at establishing exactly how much cash a buyer has to spend, and then encouraging him to spend it. The correct response is "Thank you for asking, my personal finances are obviously private but I can afford it at the price I am offering."
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The agents I use always know the "position" of the person coming to view - don't know whether that's just good practice or an industry regulation but every potential buyer has been vetted - the one time waster we had was "funded" we were told this before he started his nonsense with us. Another potential buyer couldn't get a mortgage and there was no mention of how much they were going to offer, I would be wary of nuisance bidders.
When I offered on a flat two years ago - there was a rush of return calls before my offer was accepted, the agents were insistent on confirming I was funded. I withdrew from that as the developer was heading towards a creek and the bank owned his canoe and paddles - wasn't meant to be...
Practice at putting offers is a nonsense - know your maximum budget, figure out how much the vendor may accept and pitch. As said silly offers they can be successful so worth a punt. Once estate agents think you're a troll word will soon go round. I've seen that happen.
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When putting in a silly offer it can be worth reminding the agent of his legal responsibility to pass on every offer to his client.
A solicitor/estate agent near me went to prison for not passing on offers on a house and then getting one of his mates to buy it for less.
Last edited by: Iffy on Tue 18 Jan 11 at 18:35
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>> The agents I use always know the "position" of the person coming to view -
>> don't know whether that's just good practice or an industry regulation but every potential buyer
>> has been vetted - the one time waster we had was "funded" we were told
The thing is, the "vetting" is done on the phone - you're not sending in bank statements or anything. I've looked round a fair few houses over the years, and never been "vetted" in any meaningful fashion.
>> As said silly offers they can be successful
>> so worth a punt. Once estate agents think you're a troll word will soon go
>> round. I've seen that happen.
Really, PU, what's the difference between being a troll and making a silly offer?
I should just like to point out that my post said "In an ideal world you would practise" not "go and do it". A world of difference, but I hope at least it's made OP think about the process of putting in an offer. I wish somebody had said that to me before I bought my first house. :(
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The difference is that you have the money and you intend to buy.
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>>>Verdict - a total no go!
I'm not trying to change your mind NBD but just to add to your experience of the market as others have above....
This is exactly the easy type of house to do at the lower end of the market. You reckon it's about £30K under true value. Well you weren't going to get something that could be sorted in ten mins for that saving.
As I said before these more modern houses are so easy compared with say a victorian one that's £30K under value. Start looking at a roof, rewire, moving a bathroom upstairs and fitting C/H from scratch plus new d/glazing, damp & timber treatment in an older place... it goes on for ever.
As others have said contract cleaners can do wonders in 1/2 days for a couple of hundred pounds to get you a fresh start.
Best of all you are in a strong position compared with say a family who couldn't move into something like this if they had a young child and wanted to move straight in.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Tue 18 Jan 11 at 18:51
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While it is also not flawless, the Scottish legal system is my preference when buying or selling property. It is highly unusual and deeply frowned upon for either party to back out of a deal once it has been agreed.
A Scottish solicitor friend tells me that he and most of his colleagues who had been engaged to conduct a conveyance would refuse to have any further dealings with any client who backed out of a deal once it had passed the offer and acceptance stage.
They take the meanings of word, promise an honour very seriously.
When I first bought a house under the English legal system I couldn't actually believe that people were legally allowed to and indeed on a commonplace basis treated each other so badly.
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Exactly Humph - but unlikely that English Law will ever accept it - it's too much like common sense and probably too much like hard work for the average punter to want to understand it.
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As long as your not talking sealed bids system.
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>>sealed bids system.
With that system I'd never have got onto the housing ladder.
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I did. As has anyone who's ever bought a house in Scotland. It's not nearly as scary as people who aren't used to it make out.
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Sorry guys as daft as it may sound to some of you I will draw a line under this one, just feel that I'm not upto this one.
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"The correct response is "Thank you for asking, my personal finances are obviously private but I can afford it at the price I am offering."
Would you as a buyer seriously consider for one moment an offer from someone who gave that answer to a request as to how the purchase was to be financed? You would not wish to know whether there was a mortgage offer involved (which could be withdrawn) or whether the offer was dependant on the sale of another property?
If you were a a cash buyer would you not wish to stress your financial position when making an offer?
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In the real world you would, along with magic terms such as "no chain" etc etc..
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Here in Spain it is 100% normal practice for a private contract to be signed between the buyer and seller.
It normally contains brief details of the property, the parties' names and fiscal identity numbers, the final date by which the public contract is to be signed before the notary and the amount of the deposit received.
Once this is signed, if the purchaser pulls out the deposit is forfeited: if the seller pulls out the buyer receives back TWICE the deposit!
We have received the deposit, signed the private contracts and are due to sign the public contract on the 28th of this month.
We will then be homeless!
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>>Would you as a buyer seriously consider for one moment an offer from someone who
>>gave that answer to a request as to how the purchase was to be financed? You would not
>>wish to know whether there was a mortgage offer involved (which could be withdrawn)
>>or whether the offer was dependant on the sale of another property?
This is pointless.
You ask somebody a question, he gives you an answer. So what? Unless you see his bank statements so you can establish (1) the quantum of cash; and (2) the quantum of likely mortgage. Do you give your bank statements to the other side when buying?
The only point in asking precise details of funding is for the estate agent to work out how much you can afford to pay, and then his making you pay it.
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I have never been vetted by an estate agent.
Walk into estate agent, speak "what do you have in area X, under £nnn,nnn.
Its that simple.
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The estate agent selling Iffy Towers asked me if I had the money to buy it.
It was a branch of the Halifax, and I thought their general attitude was poor, and verged on rudeness at times.
But they had the property I wanted on their books, and you don't buy the estate agent, do you?
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As a seller I'd want some assurance that the purchaser was 'good for the figure' and/or had a mortgage offer.
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You have three buyers who are interested in you house. You ask them as to how they will finance the purchase.
The first tells you he is a cash buyer who has nothing to sell and is currently living in rented accomodation. He appears honest and you and your agent have no reason to disbelieve him.
The second potential buyer also seem an honest person but tells you he has a house to sell for which he has a buyer but is in a chain involving three more sales.
The third buyer will tell you nothing as to how he will finance the purchase or whether he has a property to sell and tells you it none of your business.
Which would you choose Mapmaker?.
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>>>As a seller I'd want some assurance that the purchaser was 'good for the figure' and/or had a mortgage offer.
Me too. When an agent phones me to pass on an offer the very first thing I want to know is the buyer's position. The best agent in our local town is very good (or bad if it upsets you) asking questions of a potential buyer when they make an offer.
I've never worried about being asked my buying position or offering proof if needed. We bought this place cash in the last recession and every time we wanted to make a painfully low offer on somewhere we'd always go in and when asked for our situation we explain and reach for the b.soc book to prove. Needless to say we bought this place 30% under asking.
In the past I've also been asked, and happily done so, to produce proof of a company interest free bridging loan which once demonstrated took us to the top of the pile and stopped all marketing of the property.
Even if your position is less than ideal honestly stating it will get you further than being evasive. There may be rules but never think that agents and their employees can't bias stuff one way or the other if they wish.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Wed 19 Jan 11 at 11:15
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Buyer one of course. We ended up being in that position and igt helped getting our over accepted.
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Don't you just accept every offer and see who is first to come up with the money? :)
Last edited by: Iffy on Wed 19 Jan 11 at 11:18
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No you don't. Very dubious practice
If a buyer has any sense he will make his offer conditional on the the property being withdrawn from the market. In the current market the buyer is king and if as a buyer I thought I was in a race to completion I would immediately withdraw
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...No you don't. Very dubious practice...
Quite so, I was just making the point most buyers and sellers are evenly matched only in terms of their greed.
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>> If a buyer has any sense he will make his offer conditional on the the
>> property being withdrawn from the market. In the current market the buyer is king and
>> if as a buyer I thought I was in a race to completion I would
>> immediately withdraw
I got involved in a contract race to buy a property in the early 80's. Very stressful, and I lost.
Never again.
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In the past I've stopped an agent carrying out a contract race on a house we were selling. I was so cross I told them who I was choosing from the two potential buyers.
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What's a contract race?
Last race I was in was at school and involved sacks.
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"at school and involved sacks"
I slept with a biology teacher who was very good in the sack.
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...I slept with a biology teacher who was very good in the sack...
Hope you were older than this lad:
tinyurl.com/69hugoq
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Normal life in that location Iffy.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Wed 19 Jan 11 at 12:17
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>> What's a contract race?
Two buyers want a house, accept both offers, first one in position to exchange contracts wins.
Last race I was in was at school and involved sacks.
I hope the eye holes were large enough.
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...Two buyers want a house, accept both offers, first one in position to exchange contracts wins...
Guessed it might have been something like that.
When I was viewing Iffy Towers, the vendor mentioned something about 'it might have to go to sealed bids'.
My honest and slightly brusque response was: "I can't be bothered with that, so you'll not be getting any sealed bids from me."
I think, unwittingly, that was a good stance to take.
It didn't go to sealed bids, I later offered the asking price, they accepted it.
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I was asked by a selling agent to participate in a "contract race". I told him, and the owner, that I would not buy the house from them because of this, and only because of this. The owner was quite surprised.
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You have three buyers who are interested in you house. You ask them as to
how they will finance the purchase.
The first tells you he is a cash buyer who has nothing to sell and
is currently living in rented accomodation. He appears honest and you and your agent have
no reason to disbelieve him. Sadly he is lying through his teeth and is an unemployed dosser. You don't find this out for several weeks.
The second potential buyer also seem an honest person but tells you he has a
house to sell for which he has a buyer but is in a chain involving
three more sales.
The third buyer will tell you nothing as to how he will finance the purchase
or whether he has a property to sell and tells you it none of your
business. But he offers to exchange within a week.
Short of asking them for their bank statements you have no way of telling them apart.
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Back to the original subject - never buy anything with a flat roof. They leak and cost you a fortune to repair every 10 years.
Also avoid anything built in the 1960's or 70's - it's likely to be full of asbestos.
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>> Back to the original subject - never buy anything with a flat roof. They leak
>> and cost you a fortune to repair every 10 years.
>>
>> Also avoid anything built in the 1960's or 70's - it's likely to be full
>> of asbestos.
Excelent, that puts 40% of the housing stock out of your choice then.
Both statements are unfounded. You can get flat roofs done now in various materials with 30 year guarantees, and if the asbestos thing were true, half the population of new towns would be dead with lung cancer.
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>> never buy anything with a flat roof. They
>> leak
>> and cost you a fortune to repair every 10 years.
Although I don't particularly like flat roofs myself, the last one we had did the job for 25 years.
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>> Both statements are unfounded. You can get flat roofs done now in various materials with
>> 30 year guarantees, and if the asbestos thing were true, half the population of new
>> towns would be dead with lung cancer.
>>
Sorry your asbestos statement is plain wrong. Asbestos in a house does not often harm anyone - yes I agree. But and it's a BIG BUT - it may result in no mortgage, an inability to sell the house in future and a stripping out exercise at huge costs due to the legal need for safe disposal etc.
If I as a buyer saw a house with asbestos, I would either not buy or only buy with a discount.
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We will be looking to buy for cash quite soon.
We will be looking for a no upward chain property if possible: my query is how quickly can completion take if we put a rocket up a conveyancing solicitor's backside?
We would be prepared to do any running around ourselves to help speed the process.
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Sooner or later all deals come down to and element of trust in the other party. We judge people on what they say and how they say it. We can sometimes be wrong in our judgements and people do lie but it is ridiculous to make the argument that you should never ask some one a few basic questions when trying to assess the worth of their offer.
I'm sure that if you have ever sold a house you or your agent have done exactly that.
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I have only just seen this and haven't read all of the foregoing posts, but one hint is not to rely entirely on surveyors' reports, even if "full structural". They may well be based on a simple walk-through and will probably not include drains unless specified by you. Surveyors are very unlikely to look under fitted carpets. Make you own survey first, with the aid of a DIY Survey guide (I am sure they must exist) and point out anything that bothers you before the surveyor starts.
Amomg other things, have a good peer at the roof and gutters with binocluars, looking for any slipped or missing tiles - especially ridge tiles - leaks, loose gutter brackets etc. Diagonal cracks in the walls may indicate subsidence. Window frames should not show any gaps and double glazing should not be fixed in such a way that it can be unscrewed from outside. If there is soil above the damp course level there is probably damp inside. Try all the taps, ask to see the central heating started, and to examine at least a year's fuel and water bills.
But bear in mind there are always loads of minor faults in a house and that many of these can be ignored. Also that double glazing is probably only good for 20 years, plastic gutters for less.
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nothings sold till the monies in your mitt
i see this so many times wheres sales fall through even with people losing deposits so i would be a bit wary of not saying i would consider all three offers and would they put them in writing
this way you can play any true potential customers to your strengths and their weaknesses
i still think at £54,980 that house has lots of potential for little work
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>> but it is ridiculous to
>> make the argument that you should never ask some one a few basic questions when
>> trying to assess the worth of their offer.
I agree wholeheartedly with that, and cannot imagine why you think I might not.
However, if you are the buyer, you should be very careful in answering these questions in such a way that you do not give away more than you need.
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>> The third buyer will tell you nothing as to how he will finance the purchase
>> or whether he has a property to sell and tells you it none of your
>> business. But he offers to exchange within a week.
>>
Fact that he's in such a hurry and won't provide any indication of the source of his funding puts him in barge-pole territory, for me. Doubt any halfway-decent solicitor would want to have anything to do with it, either - money-laundering regs and all that.
My experience of selling commercial properties over the last year or so is that asking for proof of funding is a pretty reliable method of shaking out the tyre-kickers and celestial pie merchants.
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"My experience of selling commercial properties over the last year or so is that asking for proof of funding is a pretty reliable method of shaking out the tyre-kickers and celestial pie merchants."
Exactly, and appearing less than open as a buyer will do you no favours whatosever.
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I don't get you. You want some namby-pamby piece of paper proof that he has the cash, but if this proof is offered in the form of hard cash and a binding contract then you turn him down?
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>> I don't get you. You want some namby-pamby piece of paper proof that he has
>> the cash, but if this proof is offered in the form of hard cash and
>> a binding contract then you turn him down?
>>
From a professional point of view, if I don't make reasonable enquiries about the source of that hard cash and it turns out to be dodgy, it's bye-bye licence.
Hardly namby-pamby, really.
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My first advice is watch out for flooding. Flood plains/nearby water and in low ground are no gos.
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My first advice is watch out for flooding. Flood plains/nearby water and in low ground are no gos. ....
Don't believe everything you are told.
My elder brother was told by a mortgage provider that the house he was looking at
( where he now lives ) was in a flood risk area and that he would have to look elsewhere as he would be unlikely to obtain a mortgage on the property.
As he was a Member of the Institute of Water Engineers and a project manager in a very well known consultancy company specialising in flood prevention schemes he was surprised to say the least.
He was able to provide the mortgage company with details of all the relevant government data on flood risk for the area and also of the drainage and flood prevention works in the area which he himself had project managed........ and get his mortgage.
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did he get insurance tho....
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>> My first advice is watch out for flooding. Flood plains/nearby water and in low ground
>> are no gos. ....
Agreed. One of our main reasons for moving recently was to get away from a river. The water had never quite reached us, but we felt it was only a matter of time.
It is now a lot less stressful when we get days of heavy rain; of course I hope the new owners do stay dry.
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>> As he was a Member of the Institute of Water Engineers and a project manager
>> in a very well known consultancy company specialising in flood prevention schemes he was surprised
>> to say the least.
>>
>> He was able to provide the mortgage company with details of all the relevant government
>> data on flood risk for the area and also of the drainage and flood prevention
>> works in the area which he himself had project managed........ and get his mortgage.
Frankly I wouldn't trust any flood prevention consultancy, they only exist to convince people to build houses where they shouldn't.
And as for flood prevention works? Most of them fail, spectacularly, sometime down the road - usually after the consultancy company have overturned common sense and got houses built in the now flooded area.
You do not, ever, win the battle with water.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 20 Jan 11 at 10:44
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And as for flood prevention works? Most of them fail, spectacularly, sometime down the road - usually after the consultancy company have overturned common sense and got houses built in the now flooded area
You do talk some rubbish at times Zero.... what absolute pfd . Tell me you do not really believe that please,
If you do then I suppose senility must be setting in with you finally ,I have been noticing the onset in your posts for a while ....:0)
Do you seriously consider that a man who has spent 40 years of his life designing and constructing flood prevention schemes for a world wide respected consultant is going to move into somewhere that might flood.
Last edited by: VxFan on Fri 21 Jan 11 at 00:49
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>>
>> And as for flood prevention works? Most of them fail, spectacularly, sometime down the road
>> - usually after the consultancy company have overturned common sense and got houses built in
>> the now flooded area
>>
>> You do talk some rubbish at times Zero.... what absolute pfd . Tell me you
>> do not really believe that please,
Tell you what my rotary friend, ask the people of say - Brisbane. They certainly believe it now. As well they should. If I could be bothered I could research the recent major floods in the UK, and link that back to previous failed flood prevention work, and I could give you PAGES and PAGES of modern houses built on flood plains that have - well - flooded.
>> If you do then I suppose senility must be setting in with you finally ,I
>> have been noticing the onset in your posts for a while ....:0)
You are either complacent, have not looked at modern history, or working in deserts has made you forget about water. ;)
>> Do you seriously consider that a man who has spent 40 years of his life
>> designing and constructing flood prevention schemes for a world wide respected consultant is going to
>> move into somewhere that might flood.
His profession, have for the most part, a history of failure, incompetence, and corruption. I wouldn't trust them as far as I could pile them.
Is it planning on staying there for the rest of his life? Betcha he dont.
Last edited by: VxFan on Fri 21 Jan 11 at 00:49
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Edit.
With some thought, probably not corrupt, more like arrogance.
AT the end of the day, *every* flood prevention scheme or works *will* fail at some time in the future. it may be in a few years time, or a hundred years time. History has proved this to be the case. In addition *every* flood prevention scheme causes worse problems elsewhere.
Your mate, in fairness, thinks he can beat this, or has beaten this. He cant, wont and hasn't.
Man can live with flood, easily. You just build your dwellings in a method to cope.
Had we done this, our flood plains would still be in tact, and acting as natural shallow natural disaster preventer's
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As I said .... senility ...definite...:0)...
Zero - Take one of your calming down pills or ask matron to give you a sedative.
I really cannot think that any sane or rational person believes an engineering company is going to design or construct a scheme which they think will fail .
As it happens my brother lives in Lincolnshire which of course is well known for being flat and at or near sea level so possibly considered by most people as very much at risk of flooding however he has worked on or project managed most of the flood prevention schemes in that area.
And yes ... he is planning to stay there the rest of his life , he's 67 , he got his mortgage there when he retired four years ago and will probably next move in a wooden box....
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>> I really cannot think that any sane or rational person believes an engineering company is
>> going to design or construct a scheme which they think will fail .
>>
Of course they don't think it will fail. They think they know better.
But in the long term they have an almost unblemished history of failure.
You haven't answered my questions about Brisbane, or the recent memory floods in the UK.
Do the research, and you will see the light.
Edit:
Ah I see your friend is old. See he knows really - he is only there for the short term.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 20 Jan 11 at 11:45
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All flood defence works will fail. They are designed for a 1-in-10, or 1-in-50, or 1-in-100, or 1-in-1,000 or even 1-in-10,000 year flood.
The problem comes when you get a 1-in-more-than-they-can-cope-with year flood. Then they fail. They will inevitably fail at some point in the future. Zero is, as usual, right.
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"will probably next move in a wooden box..."
Which will probably float if there's a flood at the time.
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Funny that, when I visited Malta in November they'd just had some floods, and apparently coffins were floating out of the local undertakers along the streets - heard the story from three separate sources. Guess they were empties though...
EDIT: And here they are...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=muqhj4RPDjs&feature=fvw
www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101025/local/undertaker-claims-damages-of-350-000-as-coffins-float-away
Last edited by: smokie on Thu 20 Jan 11 at 12:34
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>> As I said .... senility ...definite...:0)...
>>
>> Zero - Take one of your calming down pills or ask matron to give you
>> a sedative.
>>
>> I really cannot think that any sane or rational person believes an engineering company is
>> going to design or construct a scheme which they think will fail .
>>
Wrong. You are making a BIG assumption. That is: flood levels are forecastable. They are of course.. but every 100 or so years a HUGE extraordinary flood comes along... Do they plan for that? Of course not. Why? Because it adds LOTS more costs.
Flood barriers are planned on the basis of what is likely under normal probability curves but tail end events which are of low probability are basically ignored because of cost. When they happen, that's it.
The Thames Barrier design says it all...
"The barrier was originally designed to protect London against a big flood level, with a return period of one-thousand years up to the year 2030, after which the protection would decrease, whilst remaining within acceptable limits [9].
This defence level included long-term changes in sea and land levels as understood at that time (c. 1970). Despite global warming and a consequently greater predicted rate of sea level rise recent analysis extended the working life of the barrier until around 2060–2070. From 1982 until 19 March 2007, the barrier was raised one-hundred times to prevent flooding. It is also raised monthly for testing. [10]"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Barrier#Prediction_for_operation
There is therfore a 1 in 1,000 chance in any year the Thames Barrier will fail...
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"You do not, ever, win the battle with water. "
The Duke of Wellington won the battle of Waterloo.
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King Canute stopped the waves.
Pat
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>> King Canute stopped the waves.
>>
>> Pat
No he didnt, he drowned. Died, convinced he was right.
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...No he didnt, he drowned. Died, convinced he was right....
He died in Shaftesbury Abbey, and didn't drown unless the abbey was underwater at the time.
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And Canute is misunderstood. He was sick of people being sycophants and saying he was omnipotent - so he demonstrated his lack of power by failing to hold back the tide. In fact amongst the Kings of England he wasn't a bad lad.
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...In fact amongst the Kings of England he wasn't a bad lad...
Aye, he gets a canny press.
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Managed to find a referenced mention in Wiki..
Henry of Huntingdon, the 12th-century chronicler, tells how Cnut set his throne by the sea shore and commanded the tide to halt and not wet his feet and robes; but the tide failed to stop. According to Henry, Cnut leapt backwards and said "Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but He whom heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws." He then hung his gold crown on a crucifix, and never wore it again.[96]
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From a professional point of view, if I don't make reasonable enquiries about the source of that hard cash and it turns out to be dodgy, it's bye-bye licence
>
>>>>>you accept carrier bags of lolly then?
why dont you do bank transfer and then you dont have to care if the lolly is drug stained
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What actual checks do estate agents and conveyancing solicitors take to establish the identity and source of money?
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they normally have a get out statement in their t@c's
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Solicitors or Estate Agents don't take bags of money, they will take money sourced from a Bank of course who have their own money laundering prevention - I was questioned about the 5k in cash I got for my bike !
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>> Solicitors or Estate Agents
You pay the solicitor who then pays the estate agent normally. If you're a seller you get the proceeds of course. And when that is given by cheque or electronic means, your bank will probably accept it without too many questions.
I suppose they are happy to take money in but then check the source when you want it back for something.
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>> Solicitors or Estate Agents don't take bags of money, they will take money sourced from
>> a Bank of course who have their own money laundering prevention - I was questioned
>> about the 5k in cash I got for my bike !
>>
The one exception to this is paulb who undertakes full KYC DD on the other side when selling his house. I bet he doesn't actually.
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>> The one exception to this is paulb who undertakes full KYC DD on the other
>> side when selling his house. I bet he doesn't actually.
>>
Wasn't talking about my own place, was talking about sales in connection with work - hence use of the phrase "bye-bye licence". If it was my own place I'd expect the lawyers to verify the buyer's bona fides, as I'm paying them for this (quite apart from ML Regs/Law Soc. requirements).
Cash buyers in a tearing hurry who refuse to answer basic questions about proof of funding are trying to hide something, as far as I'm concerned, and I neither want nor need the aggravation. We had a couple of instances of this when we were trying to sell my late grandmother's house about 10 years ago - wouldn't confirm that they had the cash in the bank, wouldn't (or couldn't) confirm the exact name of the purchaser, wanted us to exchange and complete simultaneously - the lawyers told us to leave well alone. In the end a developer bought it and did it up.
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Mapmaker>>You have three buyers who are interested in your house. The third buyer...
>>offers to exchange within a week.
PaulB>>Fact that he's in such a hurry and won't provide any indication of the source of his
>>funding puts him in barge-pole territory, for me.
Mapmaker>>The one exception to this is paulb who undertakes full KYC DD on the other
>>side when selling his house. I bet he doesn't actually.
PaulB in full Walter Mitty flight of fancy>>Wasn't talking about my own place, was talking about sales in connection with work
It's always good when somebody doesn't change his facts half way through his story, isn't it.
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>>
>> PaulB in full Walter Mitty flight of fancy>>Wasn't talking about my own place, was talking
>> about sales in connection with work
>>
>>
>>
>> It's always good when somebody doesn't change his facts half way through his story, isn't
>> it.
>>
Mapmaker, go back and read the posts where I use the word "professional", please, and stop trying to pick fights.
I'm aware that your standard reaction to anyone who disagrees with you is to be rude to them. I am not interested, so save it for somebody else.
If you want to enter into major financial transactions with people on the basis of a nod and a handshake (or whatever), then best of luck to you - you'll need it.
Last edited by: paulb on Thu 20 Jan 11 at 14:56
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Pfaff!
You can save YOUR rudery for somebody else. You've completely changed the basis on which you're arguing just to prove your superiority and yet are STILL attacking me hammer and tongs and blaming me for being the one who is bonkers.
You go back and re-read our discussion, the salient bits of which I have picked out for you as you seem to be incapable of recalling it - or even understanding it when it's put there in black and white before you.
You responded to a post that was referring to a transaction between two private individuals by saying you wouldn't do it; a little later you justified that patently nutty position by changing your story on the basis that you wouldn't do it in your professional life.
paulb>>If you want to enter into major financial transactions with people on the basis of a
>>nod and a handshake (or whatever), then best of luck to you - you'll need it.
You need to learn a little about the law for conveyancing of land; you cannot do it on a nod and a handshake. BUT, up to the point of exchange of contracts it IS all on a nod and a handshake, and if - as you clearly do - you think otherwise you are naive and best of luck to you - you'll need it.
Next time I sell a property and somebody appears offering me cash and to exchange within a week I shall ask the mods for your email so I can send you a bottle so you can celebrate with me. Like Bellboy says - and he probably does more deals a year than the rest of us put together - until you have the cash it's not a deal.
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Mapmaker:
1) I did not say anywhere in any of my posts that you were bonkers.
2) My position is not nutty. It is my opinion, to which I am entitled. You disagree - that's fine - but spare me the abuse.
3) I am an insolvency practitioner and I have a law degree, so I am well aware of the law in this area.
4) Your generous offer is appreciated, but there is no need.
Enjoy your afternoon.
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Well if you want to do an electronic transfer to pay for a deposit or the whole house then you have to pop into your bank with ID such as passport and fill in a form for the transfer. One of the things checked is where the money came from.
The limit is £10k I think and this is for CHAPS transfers. Did two like that last May.
The alternative is to pay a cheque and wait for it to clear. I doubt the solicitor would want you to pop in the a quarter million pounds in cash.
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He's then have ot do something with it and explain where it came from and why !
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>> The limit is £10k I think and this is for CHAPS transfers. Did two like
>> that last May.
>>
RTJ I think CHAPS transfers are for payments larger than £10K from what I remember when I paid off my mortgage a couple of years ago.
The way to go for under 10k these days is a faster payment (FPS) transaction which you can do directly from online banking. The FPS limit is £10K although some banks (eg nationwide ..ok I know it's not actually a bank) restrict it to £1k per day
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You are correct about the £10k limit for chaps. When paying the deposit I initially assumed I could use Internet banking but of course couldn't because of the limit.
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>> What actual checks do estate agents and conveyancing solicitors take to establish the identity and
>> source of money?
>>
www.lawsociety.org.uk/productsandservices/practicenotes/aml/463.article#h11ptywrk
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Oh well - viewings on both properties this week - hope they're not time wasters.
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If you sell them both there just has to be a bit of Alfa budget kicking around in the aftermath doesn't there......?
:-)))
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...If you sell them both...
Where are you going to live?
Or have you got a third one?
You've got more houses than I've got clean shirts. :)
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Humph - if my place goes first, there will be a budget....otherwise I'll have to wait awhile.
Selling both looking for somewhere new, slightly smaller than mine - must have, garage & broadband.
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...looking for somewhere new...
Staying in Welsh Wales or is the world your lobster?
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No has to be here, wife's work demands it. But what there is around here is superb scenery, good access to services (Manchester's grass-strip 1.5 hrs away for instance) good value for your house-buying money....
Last edited by: Pugugly on Tue 25 Jan 11 at 19:29
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...No has to be here, wife's work demands it. ...
No bad thing, you need something to base the search on when the time comes.
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Surprisingly constrained to a geographic area considering there are vast swathes of Anglesey I wouldn't be seen dead in.
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...there are vast swathes of Anglesey I wouldn't be seen dead in...
Might the good bits (if there are any) be an option?
I'm only guessing, but there are a couple of decent bridges, so presumably people do commute to the mainland.
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Oh they do - I joke for the benefit of my wife, anywhere in the Menai Bridge area as far as Beaumaris - as far as Gaerwen - but not Llangefni or east of it or north of it come to that ! It's a 20 minute drive between the bridge and Holyhead.
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I like Beaumaris. Too many Welsh there though.
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Funny you should say that but it's the least Welsh town on the island it was ethnically cleansed by Longhshanks in the 13th Century - seem to think he disliked Scots as well.
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Certainly wasn't perfect.
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www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tr6sr/Climbing_Great_Buildings_Caernarfon_Castle/
Watched a cracking programme today on him - seems he was very scared of the Welsh.
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To borrow from the aforementioned Mr Connelly
"We sent him homewards, tae think again"....
"He thought again, and then he came back and kicked the living @@@@ out of us ! "
:-)
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In case nobody has mentioned it, the three most important considerations are location, location and location.
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You couldn't make it up. We had an offer on my old gaff - 10k less than the minimum I was expecting but still not totally convinced - within three days an offer on the other one, a trifle low but from someone that viewed it before Christmas........no wonder I'm confused.
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What will you do now then PU? Take the money and run or tough it out?
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Tough it out for now. :-) Try and scrape a little bit more for the Alfa fund..!
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Looking to buy first house - any tips? - Zero
