The FTB club

Xinpei

Really really pleased for everyone who's got some progress and so happy for you Hockey!

So Jonny, you would have paid off your mortgage in ten years?! Thats super.. do you have kids? lol We just moved in our new home and am absolutely skint from buying all sorts we didnt think of buying in B&Q!

tcb1973 - Im quite worried about it myself - BUT there are little teeny signs the market could be recovering. This is still a better time to buy than 2 years ago! overpaying once you can without incurring penalty is the way to go - shortening the term and increasing your equity quickly. 5 years fixed is a good idea and hopefully things will be all better by then (or im screwed!)

tcb1973

Just spoken to Leeds BS - offer approved and in post!

Am actually shaking with excitement and nerves and anticipation:eek: - terrible state of affairs for a 35 year old Yorkshireman (don't tell anyone!)

God this is taking years off me I'm sure....

pawpurrs

Congratulations! tcb! Fab news.

MsConfused

HockeyDuo8083 wrote: »

Hiya!

From my experience so far I have found nothing gets done unless your phone, phone and phone again:mad: it's frustrating but it is also the only way you know things are getting done. My solicitor is good but he has not got email (Crazy, i know)
When we initially had our offer accepted he asked when we wanted to move in, we chose within 8 wks, and he put that into our official paperwork. The sellers did not dispute this so we knew what date we expect to complete.

Did you get a quote from your solicitor at the beginning? We did and it was around £800 and he would inform us in writing if this changed.

We got a fixed fee quote - but didn't realise how much would be added to this as that was just their legal fees. I've been calling all over easter and finally got through today. Apparently we can't set a completion date but from our solicitors point of view we're looking at at least another month. We should be getting some paperwork in the post soon apparently - don't know what about though - they was a bit vague on that! He was pleasant enough but after coming off the phone I realised he hadn't answered any of my questions with a definite answer. Ah well, will see what turns up in the post, and call again.

As for the "should we buy now debate" - it does worry me, and its something my partener and I argued about before going ahead (he's convinced house prices are still going to fall) but in the end we decided we wanted a home, and didn't want to play the gambling game of waiting for the last minute.

Congrats tcb. I agree with all - nails are now non-existent from the biting!

tcb1973

Oh I think they're defo gonna fall - just depends how much and for how long.

I agree with the wanting a home bit tho - we are going for it and overpaying as much as possible over the 5 yr fix in an effort to counter the effects of neg eq...

It's a gamble, but so is life, and we may live to regret it, but we don't want to spend the next 'x' amount of years reading about everybody else's lives/decisions/ups and downs, and not living our own lives for fear of making a mistake.

Xinpei

On BBC breakfast this morning, a FTB was talking about how he was worried about how prices may start to rise again soon and after saving for 7 years, he managed a 15% deposit so took the chance to buy a house now. This is together with the news of how mortgage lending increased by 4%. AND they said - the green shoots are appearing!

All in all, a little reassurance even though its still unfair how everyone else is basking in sunshine except for me in the northeast today!

JonnyBravo

Xinpei wrote: »

So Jonny, you would have paid off your mortgage in ten years?! Thats super.. do you have kids? lol We just moved in our new home and am absolutely skint from buying all sorts we didnt think of buying in B&Q!

Well it'll be nearer 13 years once it's paid. (First bought in '98 and due to pay off in 2011 at current rate of overpayment). Yep got two kids.
Things were very tight in the first 3-5 years (we couldn't afford a bigger house when we needed one for the kids and had to do a loft conversion as the cheapest option) but as I got promoted over the years and Mrs JB got a better job things started to get easier. The important decision for us was to make sure not all our increases in wages were spent on holidays etc. Sure, some of it went on lifestyle, but plenty (most?) of it also went on overpaying the mortgage (without penalties obviously). It is this sensible approach to the mortgage that allowed us to move after around 8 years. (The mortgage by then was down to only c.£30k including the loft conversion money)
We withdrew a load of money from our original house for our deposit on the new house and the old house is now let out. The house we moved into is a keeper (now the extension is finished) til the kids have left home!

Xinpei wrote: »

tcb1973 - Im quite worried about it myself - BUT there are little teeny signs the market could be recovering. This is still a better time to buy than 2 years ago! overpaying once you can without incurring penalty is the way to go - shortening the term and increasing your equity quickly. 5 years fixed is a good idea and hopefully things will be all better by then (or im screwed!)

tcb1973 wrote: »

Oh I think they're defo gonna fall - just depends how much and for how long.

I agree with the wanting a home bit tho - we are going for it and overpaying as much as possible over the 5 yr fix in an effort to counter the effects of neg eq...

It's a gamble, but so is life, and we may live to regret it, but we don't want to spend the next 'x' amount of years reading about everybody else's lives/decisions/ups and downs, and not living our own lives for fear of making a mistake.

Yep there are plenty of unknowns. Contingency planning and forethought will however see you through most of the scenarios that could come to pass.
FWIW I too agree prices will continue to drop for a while yet but who knows for how long and by how much. You've clearly saved money compared to those who bought 2 years ago and it is of course imposssible for everyone to buy right at the bottom. Instead concentrate on enjoying your home but keep an eye on your debt and pay it off as quickly as practically possible.
A mortgage is a debt, a big one, and for some reason some people have lost sight of that over the last few years withdrawing as much money as possible from their house to fund big cars and flash holidays. So long as you view it as the debt it is you'll be ok barring disasters and with the best will in the world you can put your life on hold for too long by trying to contingency plan for those.

Once again I wish you all the best of luck.


(oh and worry not.... its raining in the S.W.Midlands at the moment too Xinpei!)

HockeyDuo8083

Morning fellow FTB's,

Just back from the solicitor's office. We have now signed off on the final paperwork and are just waiting on the Lender sending us through or mortgage document. We have to check and sign this and then our solicitor will request the money from them. OH will be transferring through our deposit to him tomorrow as well along with our fee. We found out our fee came in at about £100 less than the original quote!:D Our solicitor is lovely:A

After that it's just a case of him calling us to confirm that everything is done and dusted and we can go an pick up the keys!:j:beer:
Getting really excited now and relaxing a little bit although still won't be fully happy until the keys are in my hand.

How is everyone else getting on??

Xinpei

Just heard that Halifax is now offering remortgages for up to 120%. I really think that is a really good step forward as many families who bought in the past few years could very well be in negative equity and have actually been paying their mortgage every month faithfully.

For us FTB's, I think this is good news because we are all worried about that scenario for ourselves in a few years time, and to know there is some banks out there who will consider remortgaging up to 120% is rather reassuring.

One comment made by another poster was that this could be interpreted as how the banks think the market do not have much more to fall.

So this really drives home how we all should (I think we all have!) do our math in the affordability of having a mortgage, overpay whenever possible AND most importantly, enjoy having your own house and working hard for it - the news about Halifax today gave me more confidence that when we all come to re mortgage one day, it will not be all that bad!

Xinpei

HockeyDuo8083 wrote: »

Morning fellow FTB's,

Just back from the solicitor's office. We have now signed off on the final paperwork and are just waiting on the Lender sending us through or mortgage document. We have to check and sign this and then our solicitor will request the money from them. OH will be transferring through our deposit to him tomorrow as well along with our fee. We found out our fee came in at about £100 less than the original quote!:D Our solicitor is lovely:A

After that it's just a case of him calling us to confirm that everything is done and dusted and we can go an pick up the keys!:j:beer:
Getting really excited now and relaxing a little bit although still won't be fully happy until the keys are in my hand.

How is everyone else getting on??

Oh so so close! I remember exactly how I felt transfering all our savings for the deposit - absolutely skint lol! I made a little home video of us trying VERY hard to open the front door - the lock was so difficult to open plus we had SO many keys.

My solicitor said it could take the lender up to a working week to transfer the funds after its been requested. Mine took only 3 days in the end so it will be rather nerve wrecking!