The FTB club

graphicdesigngirl

nementai wrote: »

Well done Graphicdesigngirl - I bet these next few days are going to drag for you. Fingers crossed it goes smoothly!

Thanks. We are going to the house again tomorrow to do some measuring up etc so I'm trying my utmost not to get too excited just yet... once we've at least exchanged I expect I'll be singing the same song as Sacol! I'm not the most patient of people but the solicitors assure me they are on track and there's not much else to do except wait!

Bone_Idle

Our homebuyer's report came back with a suggestion that there might be woodworm, and that the damp course might have failed :eek:

We've arranged for a specialist survey of both those issues to get an idea of what we're letting ourselves in for. Apparently the damp course at least should be covered by the original guarantee so maybe that'll be something we insist the vendor gets sorted out before we exchange.

We still really love the house, despite a brief dip in enthusiasm when reading the report! Nothing much else seems to be happening - I've phoned our solicitor and she said she's not heard anything from the vendor's solicitors - but since I rang her about 10 days ago she's sent us two letters so perhaps I jogged her memory!

AlecE

Bone_Idle wrote: »

We still really love the house, despite a brief dip in enthusiasm when reading the report! Nothing much else seems to be happening - I've phoned our solicitor and she said she's not heard anything from the vendor's solicitors - but since I rang her about 10 days ago she's sent us two letters so perhaps I jogged her memory!

I'm in a similar position to you. I had a momentary lapse in confidence in the house when I got the Home Buyer's Report back but after talking it over with a few friends and re-reading it with the idea in the back of my mind that the surveyor is at all times covering their own rear-end (if you can't tell if it's a problem then best flag it as something needing further investigation) I re-warmed to the house. I'm currently getting damp, gas and electrical people in to check it out but am reasonably confident that nothing major will be found (fingers crossed).

How did their valuation compare to the original asking price and the offer you had accepted? The house I'm in the process of buying was originally on for £180k, reduced to £175k (to save stamp duty - oh really I say) and we settled at £173k but it has been valued in the report at £170k so there's a little wiggle room if necessary following these reports.

Alec

Bone_Idle

AlecE wrote: »

How did their valuation compare to the original asking price and the offer you had accepted? The house I'm in the process of buying was originally on for £180k, reduced to £175k (to save stamp duty - oh really I say) and we settled at £173k but it has been valued in the report at £170k so there's a little wiggle room if necessary following these reports.

Alec

We think the house we're (hopefully) buying had been on the market for over a year and come down quite a bit, but have no idea what the original price was. It was on for £145k when we offered £127,500, and ultimately settled on £130k. The surveyor said the market value was £130k (funny that!) but the rebuild value was £168k.

nementai

Hope everyone else is progressing smoothly.
We exchanged yesterday, get our keys on the 1st July. :beer:
Not holding our breaths yet, but starting to feel a bit hopeful!
Our vendors have been lovely throughout, so I don't forsee any issues from their end (the house is vacant now, so no chain).
Keeping my fingers crossed all goes well!
I now have a massive list of people to inform about our move. The worst thing is that I'm going to have to write back to all of them in August, when I'm getting married and changing my name! :rolleyes:

sal_strawberry

Bone Idle...we were in a similar position...We actually cpmpleted on our house last friday! We found the house was originally up for £18ok and we got it for £157k (3 months agao offer was accepted). Our survey came back saying the damp course needed doing in the dining room and we may have some floor joists that need replacing in that room too.

We went back to the agent and seller and said although the survey threw up some things we are prepared to cover considering the age of the house etc...a new damp course was not one of them. I eventually managed to negotiate for the seller to pay £2500 of the £2900 damp course/replastering bill. The actual damp course injection is only £400 but the replastering is the rest of the money plus it gives us a 25 yr guarantee. if the seller was not paying for it i think we would have still bought the house, i think it is worth it but we would have got the work done cheaper.

We got the keys on friday and the damp course is being done as we speak! Good luck to you!

Hippychick

Hello,

Can I join you? We had our offer accepted a couple of weeks ago, we are buying a 4 bed semi for 230k, 20k below asking price

Our mortgage was approved last week, we chose a 4.99% apr fixed for 10 years with abbey. We chose to fix for so long because this is our forever house and we don't intend to move, in addition even though interest rates are low atm we believe that they will be much higher in 3-5 years so don't want to face paying more if we need to remortgage earlier. We can port our product to another property if we do need to move.

We have had the paperwork from our lender and have signed and sent them our bank statements etc, it needs to go to the underwriters now.

Our solicitors have been instructed and are just waiting for the contract papers.

Fortunately our vendors need to move into rented and have agreed to completion by end July. Fingers crossed it goes smoothly.

Xinpei

Hippychick wrote: »

Hello,

.... 4.99% apr fixed for 10 years with abbey.
.

That sounds like a cracking deal. Did you happen to have a largish deposit btw? Am so envious - I have to try to get a longer term fix next time we remortgage! I totally agree with your logic to fix for so long tho. All the best and relish every moment (its torture I know but still exciting!)

thegrimreaper

Hippychick wrote: »

Hello,

Can I join you? We had our offer accepted a couple of weeks ago, we are buying a 4 bed semi for 230k, 20k below asking price

Hi Hippychick,

Can i ask you a cpl of questions was that your first offer? if not how long was it after the first offer was refused did you go back with a second, i made an offer which was refused and had a phone call from the EA today asking if we are going back with a second ??

Hippychick

Thank you, yes we were fortunate enough to have a reasonable deposit. For this deal with the abbey you need a 25% deposit.

Just heard from my lenders they have received all of our signed paperwork and bank statements etc and the underwriters should have everything within the next 3 working days. It's nerve wracking waiting for everything to go through though, my solicitors still haven't had contract papers yet!