The FTB club

woody252506

Another FTB here so thought id add my story so far.

Me and the OH have a mortgage agreed in principal with C&G at 6.19% for a 2 year fixed rate. No arrangement fees on it.

We have a maximum we are willing to spend on a mortgage. We are both on decent salarys and could get 50k more than we have actually set our limit at. However with things as they are and us knowing we can get a nice house with everything we need now and in the future, why spend near the limit when you dont need to!

The house we will most likely offer on has been reduced by 25k already. If we do offer ill still be offering 10k less than it is on at now. This will be our first and final offer as its the max limit we have set ourselves. As a FTB with a mortgage in principal I am optimistic this will be successfull.

In terms of protecting ourselves for if in 2 years times things are worse. I have a car loan of £200 a month that will be paid up in 1 years time. We'll then use this to over pay on our mortgage, making sure we dont hit any penalty charges. This coupled with the big reduction on the original price (Fingers crossed) should cover us for getting a decent LTV and thus a good deal when our fixed rate ends.

If not, worst case scenario, we have another £200 each month to cover ourselves!

Xinpei

For those who completed contracts already, did you exchange contracts and get the keys on the same day? My vendor is also moving out to rent so I guess if they move out before exchange of contracts, that is possible?

What types of survey did everyone get? I think the mortgage lender did a valuation (not technically a survey?) and I am wondering if we should get a complete homebuyer's survey. The house we're getting is 10 years old and looked fine. Though with furniture in places and corners, it was hard to see everywhere..

Xinpei

woody252506 wrote: »

The house we will most likely offer on has been reduced by 25k already. If we do offer ill still be offering 10k less than it is on at now.

That is similar to what we did, house originally up for 160K in Aug08, down to 145K and we got it for 135K. Not a massive decrease % wise, but we're happy with it..

Wickedkitten

Xinpei wrote: »

For those who completed contracts already, did you exchange contracts and get the keys on the same day? My vendor is also moving out to rent so I guess if they move out before exchange of contracts, that is possible?

What types of survey did everyone get? I think the mortgage lender did a valuation (not technically a survey?) and I am wondering if we should get a complete homebuyer's survey. The house we're getting is 10 years old and looked fine. Though with furniture in places and corners, it was hard to see everywhere..

We exchanged and completed on the same day with our last purchase and we will on this one as well. Instead of paying out for a homebuyer survey, ask round for some builder recommendations and get one of them out to give the house a lookover.

VKay

Can i ask about what sort of life insurance, payment protection etc people are signing on for? I don't plan to get anything through a broker as I've read on here that it's v expensive. i think I'll shop around online but i really don't understand what it would be sensible for us to get. i think we want a life ins that is not level term but will just pay off the mortgage if one of us dies before term (we have no children). Is critcal illness cover something separate again or part of life ins.?

Also buildings and contents- can I ask what sort of prices you are paying for 3 bed semis (lots of you seem to be going for these like us!)is it cheaper to separate them or buy together?

Ahhh so many questions! Sorry

hostman

Xinpei wrote: »

For those who completed contracts already, did you exchange contracts and get the keys on the same day? My vendor is also moving out to rent so I guess if they move out before exchange of contracts, that is possible?

What types of survey did everyone get? I think the mortgage lender did a valuation (not technically a survey?) and I am wondering if we should get a complete homebuyer's survey. The house we're getting is 10 years old and looked fine. Though with furniture in places and corners, it was hard to see everywhere..

HomeBuyers report, arranged through the mortgage company. I wasn't overly impressed with it, lots of spelling mistakes within the document. They only spot the obvious things and cover themselves with sweeping generalisations. Ours didn't identify the rubbish old wood front door (was replaced yesterday with a nice shiny new composite door!). But I would always have one regardless of house age.

We exchanged and completed on different days. Completion was one month after exchange.

Our buildings and contents is together. Its a pultray £130 a year for our two bed semi, contents £16.5k, rebuild £1m and emergency home cover for things like putting nails through pipes and bursting a pipe (came in very handy for my parents a few years ago when my Dad this this when attempting to fix creaky floor boards!).

Life insurance is with AXA, which includes critical illness cover. The cover is for me only.

£26 /month for (my monthly payment is fixed during the policy)

£350,000 - Level
£106,000 (current mortgage balance) - Decreasing in line with mortgage, this element includes critical illness cover

No mortgage protection insurance. Partner has good redundancy cover (local authority) and I have savings to cover the payments for a year.

AXA were MASSIVELY cheaper than any other company for critical illness cover. Legal and General wanted over £100 a month just for me to include critical illness cover. But you need to go through a broker to use some of AXA's services, we did this and it saved a packet. If you don't need / want critical illness cover, then just do it yourself, Legal and General are cheap if you dont want critical illness.

You'll always need to do something to a house. When we moved in, once all the the previous owners furniture was gone you could see the house needed a repaint. But it looked perfect on our viewings.

sacol4940

VKay wrote: »

Can i ask about what sort of life insurance, payment protection etc people are signing on for? I don't plan to get anything through a broker as I've read on here that it's v expensive. i think I'll shop around online but i really don't understand what it would be sensible for us to get. i think we want a life ins that is not level term but will just pay off the mortgage if one of us dies before term (we have no children). Is critcal illness cover something separate again or part of life ins.?

Also buildings and contents- can I ask what sort of prices you are paying for 3 bed semis (lots of you seem to be going for these like us!)is it cheaper to separate them or buy together?

Ahhh so many questions! Sorry

Our IFA reckons that he should be able to get us Buildings and contents insurance, life insurance, critical illness insurance, sickness/accident insurance and redundancy insurance for both myself and my BF for £75 a month, thats for a 3 bed end terrace.

I thought that was pretty reasonable, but then I could be completely wrong! lol

Wickedkitten

1 million rebuild on a two bed semi?

hostman

Wickedkitten wrote: »

1 million rebuild on a two bed semi?

That's Direct Line's standard rebuild. They won't insure for less.

VKay

Thanks for the info about life insurance etc. That is really helpful. Is it something you chop and change each yr like car and contents insurance? Or does life insurance tie you in?