First time buyer help/advice please

Sharon_1970_2

We are going to buy a house from someone we know. She has not openly marketed her house its a private sale. I do however have some questions and would appreciate some pointers if anyone has time.

The house is £230,000 and we have a deposit of £100,000. She has accepted our offer. I have read up on here about different types of mortgages etc. I have also done a comparison of solicitors and it seems the best deal is an online conveyancing firm at £3200 to include the stamp duty. Here are my questions

Do she still need to do a HIP?
Should the solicitor be expected to write an official letter with the offer in writing?
How do I go about getting a full structural survey done is this done through the mortgage lender or do I need to research that independantly?
What should the solicitors costs involve? I want to check I am not missing anything.

Thanks in advance

bubblesmoney

are u sure u got the offer price right. is the property priced to sell. have u had a valuation done by someone the seller does not know.
u have a substantial deposit, going ahead on any property without a valuation / survey of some kind is fraught with danger of paying more than market value

Sharon_1970_2

Yes the offer price is right. The house is valued independantly at £245,000 to £250,000

bubblesmoney

best to use solicitors ur friends have used and recommend. cheapest might not be the best in service. alternatively ask who the banks solicitors are then try to hire the same fim independently. things might move faster probably. all the rest of ur queries should be adequately answered by ur solicitor, thats what they are being paiid for. u can get a package price including searches, survey etc. ask for a breakup of what is included in the package and what is not. also ask the solicitor if they are going on holiday between now and ur complation dat, if so then that might put a spanner in the works. personally i would always use a solicitor recommended by someone i know even if they cost more rather than hire someone blindly just because they seem cheaper on an internet search.

read sticky posts in the home buying board on this forum. a post by andrew (mortgage advisor) is very useful and explains about solicitors etc and how much they cost. see this link also see posts by 'payless' in the same link

lifeisgood

If she genuinely hasn't marketed her house, then a HIPS isn't necessary. Though marketing could include telling everyone she knows that she is thinking of selling.

moneysavinmonkey

Sharon_1970 wrote: »

We are going to buy a house from someone we know. She has not openly marketed her house its a private sale. I do however have some questions and would appreciate some pointers if anyone has time.

The house is £230,000 and we have a deposit of £100,000. She has accepted our offer. I have read up on here about different types of mortgages etc. I have also done a comparison of solicitors and it seems the best deal is an online conveyancing firm at £3200 to include the stamp duty. Here are my questions

Do she still need to do a HIP?
Should the solicitor be expected to write an official letter with the offer in writing?
How do I go about getting a full structural survey done is this done through the mortgage lender or do I need to research that independantly?
What should the solicitors costs involve? I want to check I am not missing anything.

Thanks in advance

Don't know any of your circumstances but if I had 100k cash to buy a house i'd be sitting tight for at least 12 months and taking advantage of the fact prices are falling and that 100k can buy me a bigger house/smaller mortgage if I wait! Well, that is what I'm doing apart from the 100k cash bit! Sounds like you are a bit of a house buying novice, there's a lot of good information on this website + at the top of this forum to get you started.

Sharon_1970_2

I see what you are saying about waiting however my partner is 52 and as it stands we can only get a 15 year mortgage. The longer we wait the lest we have in terms of years which in turn increases the monthly repayments. Also we are currently renting at £900 a month and have been doing so for the last 6 years because we could not afford to buy. Whatever we buy will be our last house anyway and therefore if prices continue to fall it doesn't really matter too much because they will have to come back up again eventually