| Estate agents and lawyers are scum. My work is in the process of suing our own lawyers, cos they're a bunch of clunts. |
I just bought my first property! • Page 2
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FWB 56,369 posts
Seen 6 months ago
Registered 20 years ago -
otto wrote:
As an aside (directed at others, not you), what is the point of whining about blize turning the property thread into one all about him when - having banned him - you all turn a new property thread into one about him? Shut up about blize already. -
FWB 56,369 posts
Seen 6 months ago
Registered 20 years agoI thought I should point out the darkside.
Anyway, gratz to OP..gif)
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@OP. I checked around the web about leashold, but it appears that the law differs depending on the leasehold regarding alarms, so I'd advise looking into your own leasehold terms and finding out that way.
AS others have said, congrats. I was in the RAF for 16 years and so couldnt get on the property ladder until my mid 30's. Glad I did when I did though, I was sick of the "dead money" I was spending on rent each month. -
senso-ji 10,271 posts
Seen 2 hours ago
Registered 13 years agoCongrats to the OP. I bought my first house March 09, when things were cheap and the solicitors charged me £550. Guess it was a good time for first time buyers at the time (although sellers were suffering, the prices dropped massively).
As to leasehold properties, if you're paying your lawyers more than a grand then they better do their job properly and find out exactly what the terms of the leasehold are, how long it's for, etc. -
FWB wrote:
We ain't all Palpatine wannabes, thank you very much ;o)
I thought I should point out the darkside.
Otto and senso-ji are on the money. You're being overcharged, irrespective of the convenience factor... -
ManicDrunkMonk 557 posts
Seen 12 hours ago
Registered 16 years agosenso-ji wrote:
Congrats to the OP. I bought my first house March 09, when things were cheap and the solicitors charged me £550. Guess it was a good time for first time buyers at the time (although sellers were suffering, the prices dropped massively).
As to leasehold properties, if you're paying your lawyers more than a grand then they better do their job properly and find out exactly what the terms of the leasehold are, how long it's for, etc.
I'm phoning a few different solicitors at lunch to compare quotes. I know my leasehold is 999 years so that shouldn't be a problem.
Other properties that got sold in my block already went for £155,000 and £148,000 just over a year ago. The bottom has really fallen out of the flat market.
Thanks for the advice on alarms by the w -
Goban 10,121 posts
Seen 2 weeks ago
Registered 16 years agoI know it's a perfectly legitimate use of the word, but I really hate the rise of the use of the word Property to mean a house/flat. What's wrong with being specific about what you're buying.
Congratulations and good luck with your new flat. -
mr_steve100 1,238 posts
Seen 6 years ago
Registered 16 years ago@MDM:
Check out www.home.co.uk for some links to conveyancers; I've got one in London who has initially quoted £400, although I'm waiting for the actual invoice that I'm sure will be more, somehow. Remember, estate agents get a cut from anyone that they recommend. -
ManicDrunkMonk 557 posts
Seen 12 hours ago
Registered 16 years ago@mr_steve100
Thanks for the suggestion. I think I've found a decent one already, but I'll keep in mind that website.
If anything the mortgage is giving me more of a headache. I'm trying to sensibly shop around, but every mortgage brokers won't just send me a breakdown of the best mortgage they can offer, they feel that they have to phone me for a half-hour chat on it first. I'm finding it very difficult to compare when all I get is numbers verbally thrown at me rather than just emailed like I'm asking. Grrrr! -
Is this the new property thread then?
So tell me what I should think of this scenario:
House comes on the market near us. It's what we want and in our price range so we waste no time in seeking a viewing. The agent tries to push us into the middle of the week but we insist as I'll be away for a fortnight. He reluctantly agrees to give us 15 minutes on Saturday afternoon before he has to run off to another appointment.
We turn up to the appointment and find three other groups of people viewing the house, and while we are there another two turn up. It seems pretty obvious that the agent has engineered this to create an atmosphere of excitement. The house itself is not bad - decent location, decent price, though it needs at least 50k worth of renovation (doesn't even have central heating).
We give it some thought and make an offer that evening (offer 399, asking price was 420). Two days later, Monday evening, the agent calls back and says they've had three offers - one lower than ours, one slightly higher but they're in a chain whereas we're chain free and ready to move fast. He says they have one more day of viewings and then they'll decide.
Tonight he calls back and says that the sellers are interested in selling to us as being chain free but are looking for a little bit more - he hints that an offer of around 410 would be accepted. The others have clearly not offered more than 410. He suggests we think about it overnight and call him in the morning.
Literally half an hour later he calls from his mobile and tells us that the other people have increased their offer but insisted on a "yes or no" that evening from the buyers, and the buyers have accepted the increased offer despite the buyers being in a chain. All this supposedly within half an hour.
Now am I right to smell a rat? I can accept that the other people got panicked into making an increased offer and presenting it as an ultimatum, but why the hell would the sellers accept it? And why would the agent recommend it to them? We hadn't even been given a chance to up our offer, and we can't have been that far behind them to start with or why would they have come back to us in the first place? They had the whole evening to play us off against each other - surely the sellers would at least have tried to get the same offer from us when we're chain free? If the buyers are that desperate why let them push you into giving an immediate answer?
I just don't get this. I'm tempted to think that the agent is just trying to push us into increasing our offer - but we were ready to do that anyway, now we've just been put off the whole thing.
Sorry I just need an objective outsider's opinion on this. Sorry for the wall of text. Fucking UK house market, greedy buggers everywhere.
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bainbrge 1,687 posts
Seen 5 months ago
Registered 19 years agojust doing his job, but I'd be suspicious. People just aren't bidding prices up like that anymore (unless it really is a steal).
These days I'd say mostly less greedy buggers and more desperate buggers. Get yourself a nice repo property. -
It sounds like the agent is trying to do exactly what you say and increase your offer by doing something similar to what the other buyers supposedly did. Agents at the end of the day are trying to make the most money they can for their client and hence themselves and this guy seems like a right shady type. I'd have been pissed had I turned up to find a whole bunch of other buyers.
Really does sound like the agent is playing one against the other and that was what he intended from the start. -
lost_soul 9,372 posts
Seen 1 year ago
Registered 19 years agoAngeleDei wrote:
This dead money argument really annoys me - you're paying for a service. The money is as dead as the money you give to a bank to cover the interest on a mortgage.
AS others have said, congrats. I was in the RAF for 16 years and so couldnt get on the property ladder until my mid 30's. Glad I did when I did though, I was sick of the "dead money" I was spending on rent each month.
/heard this sort of thing for years from the parents -
Freek 7,682 posts
Seen 8 years ago
Registered 18 years agolost_soul wrote:
AngeleDei wrote:
This dead money argument really annoys me - you're paying for a service. The money is as dead as the money you give to a bank to cover the interest on a mortgage.
AS others have said, congrats. I was in the RAF for 16 years and so couldnt get on the property ladder until my mid 30's. Glad I did when I did though, I was sick of the "dead money" I was spending on rent each month.
/heard this sort of thing for years from the parents
Except that the money you pay on intrest is less then the money you spend on rent, and that houses tend to increase in value over time making it a good investment. -
JuanKerr 37,710 posts
Seen 10 months ago
Registered 15 years agoI agree, it bloody annoys me too. I rented for 8 years and I don't think of it as 'dead money' at all. I lived in some lovely places that I wouldn't have otherwise been able to afford and I wasn't lumbered with a mortgage. -
skuzzbag 5,950 posts
Seen 5 years ago
Registered 17 years agoLooking back I wished me and the wife had stumped up an extra 10K on the first house we looked at when we got into a bidding war and withdrew due to "principles". It was a three bedroomed victorian terrace with original real fire places.
We ended up in a two bedroomed terrace, not half as nice and not real fires (original surrounds) for 20K more than the first house, in a worse area only 6 months later.
Since then we have always purchased right up to our buying power to get the most we could at the time.
I would always buy over renting, you don't end renting with more money than you started with ever. However, I can understand why some wouldn't buy. We've always made money on property over the inflation rate as we bought properties that needed some modernisation and modernised. Can't do that with renting.
It doesn't have to be major either. Something such as installing central heating, double glazing, change bathroom / kitchen etc. You can add 20K quite easily onto the value only spending 5-10K. -
Another thought is nobody has a pension anymore, few have enough savings for when they're old, but those that have bought at the very least will have a roof over their head. -
Dougs 100,414 posts
Seen 13 hours ago
Registered 18 years agokalel wrote:
Another thought is nobody has a pension anymore, few have enough savings for when they're old, but those that have bought at the very least will have a roof over their head.
Until they then have to sell it to pay for social care. Whereas those that rented all their lives have nothing to sell, have spent what they earned and get it for free! It's probably one subject that gets me all Daily Mail more than any other. -
dr_swin 4,929 posts
Seen 3 weeks ago
Registered 16 years agoI think I would walk away from that Otto. Stick to your original offer and see if they get back to you. If not just find another property. -
Dougs 100,414 posts
Seen 13 hours ago
Registered 18 years agodr_swin wrote:
I think I would walk away from that Otto. Stick to your original offer and see if they get back to you. If not just find another property.
Agreed. But then I ended up not sticking to my guns and paid another 2k to get the house we bought, so not the best at giving advice -
dr_swin 4,929 posts
Seen 3 weeks ago
Registered 16 years agooh and with regards to the original post and the hidden costs of home ownership. Never underestimate the cost of nice window dressings. Those things cost a fortune. -
Goban 10,121 posts
Seen 2 weeks ago
Registered 16 years agoThis is the sort of situation that makes me glad i've only ever bought houses in Scotland, sealed bids make life so much easier. -
mrpon 37,366 posts
Seen 1 hour ago
Registered 15 years ago"I don't like the smell of the farm at the top of the drive" - the latest retard comment from a viewer of my property. It's in the country knobhead, what do you expect? -
I hate sealed bids, fucking horrible way to buy a house. Puts all the power with the seller. -
The sealed bids were a bloody nightmare up here! Having no idea if you have way over bided or are missing out by a tiny amount. It is an awful system imo. -
kalel wrote:
Better than all the power being with devious estate agents.
I hate sealed bids, fucking horrible way to buy a house. Puts all the power with the seller.
.gif)
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