Advice on what to do.

typeractive

Doozergirl wrote: »

I was looking at an Audi A4 cabriolet. It's being discontinued and we were offered a price that even the guy at the main dealer urged me to bite the other vendor's arm off. My husband has decided he will keep his pile of poo in order to buy a proper big car while he uses his for work.

So he wants an A5 but I feel a bit like I'm buying 6 months earlier than I wanted to, but also aware that once these surplus cars are shifted, they are likely to go back up in price. So not simple and I'm also intimidated a bit by the car. I have a Mini!

Ah we have so much in common Doozer. I am a bit of a fanatic when it comes to Audi's. Currently own an A3, though would like an S3. Good cars in the sense that they tick a lot of boxes (reliable, subtle, smooth etc). For the 'real' drivers out there they're maybe not the most engineered for driving hard (certainly out of the box at least). Change of cars for me is a bit of a luxury really...guess I gotta get the house first! lol

typeractive

KiKi wrote: »

Hi there typeractive

Thought it might be useful to share my personal experience with you - although it of course should not be construed as advice!!!

I paid around the £1700 mark for my purchase, plus stamp duty, plus deposit. The £1700 included tax for solicitor's fees and a full structural survey.

Thanks very much! Is this deemed as a 'good' price to pay for fees?

I also got a flexible mortgage so I could overpay / offset / take mortgage breaks with no penalty if I wanted, and a variable one (at base rate +0.49 for life). I personally think it's easier to get out of a variable mortgage and fix it if needs be, that get out of a fixed rate to change to variable, which usually incurs a penalty if you want to get out of it early.

That sounds like what I would like to look for. This is what I meant in terms of commitment. I guess my wording was somewhat wrong and I should mean easy to manage (not biting off more than I can chew).

Given your savings, and your desire to pay it off ASAP, I would either put down £25K deposit (I'd keep the other £10K for rainy day / boiler breakdown / new stuff for the house!). or put down the minimum and offset the rest.

Offsetting your mortgage against your savings is also a great way to get your mortgage down but still have access to your savings. For example, I have a mortgage of, say £180K. But I have £60K in savings. I could pay off £60K of the mortgage straight away to reduce the amount I owe, OR I could 'offset' it against the mortgage, meaning that I don't pay interest on £60K of my mortgage, only £120K. (Figures are examples only!) So the mortgage gets paid off a lot quicker, but you have access to your money should you need it.

Right! Thanks for explaining that. I didn't quite know what offsetting was. This may very well be a good avenue to pursue. Think I need to investigate this a bit more.

Look for a mortgage with a reputable lender. Make sure you look at the rate for COMPARISON. Many lenders will advertise, say, 3.5%, but that's at a fixed rate for three years. After the three years leaps to, say, 5% and so the actual rate for comparison (which you should use to compare mortgages) is more like 4.5% (for example). Have a look at lenders and rates on moneysupermarket.com - enter your details - just to give you an idea.

Right, so this comparison that I have to look at: if using your example, I had a fixed rate mortgage for the three years, surely I could swap mortgages at the end of the contract and then I would be paying the 3.5%? Or am I wrong? Unless you refer to getting a fixed rate mortgage for a longer period of time but then after the first three years it actually jumps up, and I am still in the contract.

I personally would go with a variable mortgage if you don't need the certainty or stability of knowing what your payment would be.

Yeah, this is what I mean about having a smaller mortgage so I can almost 'afford' to make changes to benefit me.

If you're prepared to have a look around and research, you will probably be able to work most of it out yourself (you sound pretty intelligent and level headed). Just don't get sucked into going into a high street bank and asking them what they can offer you - it's too easy to commit to something you don't realise you've committed to. They'll also sell you crap you don't need. Have a good idea of what you *must* have from a mortgage first, look at the websites, hunt down the mortgages - or get a whole of market broker to do it for you.

Hope that helps.

Roger that! Thanks for the compliment - heh. I am pretty thorough in my approach to most things (which can sometimes mean missing out on the best deals! D'oh! I'm happy to look for a lot of things myself, and I would like a whole market broker to help me - I just want to find the most thorough one!

Oh, plus when you go and get some quotes from solicitors for their fees to purchase, make sure you ask them all for a breakdown of ALL fees and disbursements so that there are no surprises when the bill comes in!!

Cheers
KiKi

Right - I will do.
Thanks very much KiKi. Really appreciate your reply.

typeractive

Quick update.

Spoke to the EA today. They said that the company selling the property will allow people to view the property, however they will not accept any more offers! How bizarre is that? Basically the original sale fell through though someone else had put in an offer. I have to wait a few weeks to know if it's still a goer or not. Quite annoyed as I did say way back when I first spotted the house to keep me specifically in mind. I am now first on the 'new' reserved list.

I still booked a viewing, as at least then I would know if it's really the one and I could get stuff setup in place. Could be more painful, but we'll see!

(I'll have to double post this with my other thread being on the other board)

Cheers

Doozergirl

Oh well. I don't know whether to say I hope it's rubbish or that the sale falls through again and you get it.

One or the other I guess!

typeractive

Doozergirl wrote: »

Oh well. I don't know whether to say I hope it's rubbish or that the sale falls through again and you get it.

One or the other I guess!

Cheers. It's a bizarre one isn't it? I think the lady in the EA was equally as puzzled as me. She said that she had explained to the seller that limiting the offers had been the cause of the previous time wasted. I guess it's common sense the more people that look the more chance of selling. Maybe they're desperate for teh sale and will take the first offer!

As you say - we'll see what happens. Keep ya's posted!

typeractive

Update:

After a while of waiting I managed to get my viewing today. I was pretty excited. The viewing went ok, I wasn't impressed with the EA's knowledge of the house, area conditions etc. Basically I think I had the equivalent of a pizza delivery chap. They opened the door and took me round - when I asked questions she pretty much had no idea! Quite frustrating.

Anyway my mate met me there 5 mins after I got in. He's a builder which is fab and he went round lookign for all the stuff I wouldn't be savvy with yet. Overall I really like the house. It's far bigger than what I need, though the structure, potential and layout is great. However it is in REAL need of modernisation (central heating / wiring / bathroom / kitchen (there literally isn't a kitchen in it!! there is a sink, but it looks like all the units have been taken out!!) My mate says it will cost around £25k to do up - there are cheaper options he says and of course it does not need doing instantly, though I would gut the house down to get the heating and wiring laid in as quick as poss, and my best mate is a plasterer and would kindly do it for near free!!! (that's a lot of plastering as it's a big property)

As I said in a previous post I'm not allowed to make an offer though I would like to make a 'daft' offer to EA just so they know I am interested and could make a note of it on the file.

The asking price is £75k, I read on here to make an offer of around 80% when making offers (that would mean £60k offer! - to me that sounds great but surely too low?) Of course they can only reject it and I can offer higher but what are people's thoughts on this? If I make an offer do you think I can offer that much (or little) without sounding rude? It would certainly help me with money to refurb and fit all the necessaries.

Opinions welcomed!

Doozergirl

Have you told us what you think it's worth fixed? I can remember talking about Audis, very little about the house.

If you, and others, though it was worth only 75k in it's present condition then I wouldn't feel initimidated offering 60k - I probably have in the past, it feels easier offering less on something that's pretty cheap anyway.

If the house has been under offer twice (I haven't read back here, I'm going on memory) then you'll probably need to be near to those offers as they know they can get them, but some quick, smart negotiation with the EA, building a rapport should hopefully find you the price you need to get this secured for you quickly before others get in there again.

How big is a big house? What is an asking price of 75k buying you?

poppysarah

typeractive wrote: »

Update:

After a while of waiting I managed to get my viewing today. I was pretty excited. The viewing went ok, I wasn't impressed with the EA's knowledge of the house, area conditions etc. Basically I think I had the equivalent of a pizza delivery chap. They opened the door and took me round - when I asked questions she pretty much had no idea! Quite frustrating.

Hahaha some of them are like that - and to be fair they're not likely to know the house as well as an occupier.

typeractive

Good point - I'm not too sure what it would be worth once all fixed up. Perhaps to put it into perspective there is a 2 bed house (well kept) in the same street going for 90k. When I say this house is big - I guess I mean it is big for me. It has: living room (medium sized), small dining room, regular sized kitchen, long thin back yard, garage big enough for a small Audi , 2 large bedrooms, 1 smaller bedroom, 1 small bedroom which would make an ideal study, and a regular sized bathroom. Terrible descriptions I guess but to a person living on their own it is big. It also has a little garden out the front.

There is a house (semi detached) over the road which looks bigger in terms of mass (though less rooms) and has been well looked after. That's up for 130k. Though that naturally LOOKS more expensive also (bay window, bay window bedroom etc)

Whilst I am happy to slowly rennovate the place the initial outlays will be big and I really don't think I could afford to live with these costs on top of the asking price. The house is under it's second offer. I think I will call the EA next week and make an offer (daunting). Though like you say Doozer, I need to be close to the other offers. Bloomin complex - I've been number crunching all evening!

typeractive

poppysarah wrote: »

Hahaha some of them are like that - and to be fair they're not likely to know the house as well as an occupier.

Yep - though she kept looking towards an A4 print out which was from the website! At first I didn't even think she was the EA as she was dressed very casual indeed. Yep I wouldn't expect her to know it all (I have a contact in the street for living conditions etc though she didn't even know how long it had been on the market, why it was being sold (what happened to previous occupiers), why it had no kitchen unlike the pictures. She was still nice and friendly though...