House Buying - Moneysaving Tips

summer_beach

Whatever your buying don't over stretch yourself. Make sure you have at least 2 months mortgage payments ready when you complete your purchase as most mortgage companies take the first mortgage payment only 2 weeks after completion and is a lot larger than your quoted repayment. I was fortunate in that I had it but it really took me by suprise.

strappedforcash_2

We are in the process of trying to buy a house and are looking for conveyancing firms. One company have come back with a quote and have said there is a loophole in the law surrounding stamp duty tax where you can save just under half the fee. They operate a no win no fee scheme and say that worst case scenario you would only end up paying the normal amount of stamp duty. Is this too good to be true? Has anyone else heard of this? Thanks

Doozergirl

strappedforcash - not many regulars read this thread at all so you won't get many answers. You would be much better going back to the front of the board and posting a new thread entirely.

jonnypren

Hi,

What would the advice be if there is someone else in the bidding at the same time/day. I lost a house because someone just went higher than I could afford. I often think if I had played it differently the decision may have been different?

Thanks

amilieval

To Bumpers
Hi, I can only tell you that it is realy difficult to find the right conveyancer. And that getting home information pack might take a lot of time.

khelzy09

hi andrew,
this is a great tips/guide you have here and it is very helpful..
thanks for sharing it..

BTW, i have a question, i've been hearing about buyers agent and sellers agent
what are the difference between the two? are they also a real estate agent? is it necessary to have a buyers agent in buying a house?
thanks..

livalicious

hi there,

very good advice! just one quick question, we are ftbers how important are the hips from a buyers point of view. At the time of viewing a property (which had literally come on the market a few days prior) the vendor said the HIPS would only be ready in a weeks time. Could we ask the EA for a copy of this, and what should we look out for specifically. Or does the solicitor do this?

Doozergirl

livalicious wrote: »

hi there,

very good advice! just one quick question, we are ftbers how important are the hips from a buyers point of view. At the time of viewing a property (which had literally come on the market a few days prior) the vendor said the HIPS would only be ready in a weeks time. Could we ask the EA for a copy of this, and what should we look out for specifically. Or does the solicitor do this?

A property should not be marketed at all until all the legal parts of the HIP are in place. Things like searches can follow after the initial parts.

You can request a copy of the HIP from the EA and, as I understand it, they are obliged to provide you with a copy within 7 days.

livalicious

Hi Doozergirl :hello:

Thanks for the reply, i remember you username from the last time I posted about house buying, which was 3 years ago. You gave us some useful advice then, so its nice to see you still around! (we were gonna buy a flat but the sale fell through, lucky escape for us methinks, cos we can afford a whole house now! :T

Two of the houses we viewed were both on with the same estate agent (blue and yellow logo) and both said the HIPS werent ready?? I will ring the ea tomorrow to request it. Once a solicitor has been instructed are they provided with the HIPS too? Is there anything in there that I need to look out for?

Doozergirl

Nice of you to remember me

Yes your solicitor will request the HIP when you have an offer accepted.

The searches are fairly self explanatory, but you can ask us if you don't understand something. I think HIPs are more useful for leasehold properties as you can check lease lengths etc before commiting yourself. It will show boundaries of the property, who owns it etc and the EPC with the house rating - don't be surpised if the rating is low - even new builds come in at a B so it's nigh on impossible to get an A unless you're energy self-sufficient.

There should be at least part of the HIP ready, if not then the agent is actually breaking the law! A lot of posts on here mention EAs being loathe to release the HIPs - not read anything positive about people being supplied with them but you never hear the good stuff and I don't think that many people ask for it tbh. AN EA can be fined for not complying with legislation - having looked at the direct.gov website, it's 14 days they have to provide you with a copy.

I would only ask for it if you are genuinely interested in buying the property - ie. you are at the point where you want to offer as it's not going to contain anything new that will make you want to buy the place.