House Buying - Moneysaving Tips

Grumpy_Ben

strappedforcash wrote: »

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

Did anyone answer this as I've had the same detail in a quote?

FTB_GEOFF

[FONT=&quot]Hi[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Excellent advice on here.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I do have a similar question to many others on here however but I’ll start by explaining my situation in a tad more depth.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Basically I live at home with my parents at the moment and over the past few years I have been lucky enough to have had a full time job and save a deposit. Throughout the last year or so friends and colleagues have been saying that now is the best time to buy and since the sole reason why I have been hardcore saving for the past couple of years, is to eventually get a house I decided to start looking and seeing if anything comes up.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I have a deposit of around £43,000[/FONT],[FONT=&quot] mortgage on my own on a salary of £24,000,[/FONT][FONT=&quot] looking at houses in the region of £130,000 - £145,000.[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]House on at offers in the region of £129,950 (been on 1 month) simply needs modernising but would like to extend kitchen.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]One in the same road was sold for offers in excess of £120,000 (with an extended kitchen, conservatory and modernised)[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Sold house prices in the road vary from £125,000 - £154,000 in the last few years.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]I offered £110,000 initially, went to £115,000 and got told that the vendor will not consider more offers unless they start from £120,000.[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]House on at offers in the region of £147,950 (been on a total 6 month, originally £169,950 for 2 months) needs gutting, needs rewiring, plastering, new boiler and central healing and complete modernising.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Sold ones in that road are around £150,000 - £165,000 for last few years.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]I offered £125,000 and went to £128,000 and then left it there for now. EA said he wants in the £140k’s for it.[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]House on at offers in the region of £152,950 (been on a total 18 months, originally £179,950) Needs entire modernisation. [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]I offered £130,000 and got laughed at on the phone by the EA, he then said vendor has had an offer nearer the price and she will take that….this was about 5 weeks ago and the house is still listed as available on the EA website and right move etc. This was my starter offer and would have gone up to around £137,000.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Sold ones in that road are anywhere between £145,000 - £169,000.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Am I being too ambitious? Is there anything that I am doing obviously wrong? Am I just being unlucky with the vendors that own these houses? I am happy at home with my folks, but would like to get my own place etc but I am more after a good house bargain then ‘the perfect home’, I can wait for the perfect home, just want to get one the ladder and feel like I have had a good deal.[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Any advice etc would be most welcome. I like to think I have researched a lot and am clued up but I am starting to think that maybe I am slightly delusional, people have kept telling me what a good position I am in with a sizable deposit and being a FTB but am I thinking I am in a better position then I actually am? Will it really save m that much money being a FTB will a sizable deposit and am I playing my cards right? [/FONT]

calebdylan

there is an way to save the tax but you need to invest the amount in another property which values more then the current property

rita12

thanks for u

Conor22

Hi all,

Its my first post, so be gentle with me!!

I am a first time buyer with a decent size deposit looking to buy a flat in Glasgow, I have viewed a property which has been recently refurbished to a reasonable standard, The seller who buys flats and does them up to sell on at a profit will not accept an offer lower than the Fixed asking price I was informed by the Esatate agent. The property has been on the market for approximately a month with approximately 3 to 4 viewing including myself. I have a distinct feeling that the seller will be difficult to haggle with, waiting for the fixed price of £145. With my finances ideally I would get the Flat for £130ish and that is what I would be comfortable with paying.

Can anyone advice on dealing with an apparent umcomprimising seller, I am keen to just offer enough to get some movement?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Conor

thrifty_fifty

Hi

Another newbie. I'm currently stowing away cash for a deposit for a first house. I just wondered in terms of overpaying a mortgage, are there any limits on the amount of overpayment you can make each year? If there was a limit of 5k say, then I would want to put a larger deposit down. I basically want the mortgage to be no more than 70k for a 120-130k house and to pay the mortgage off in the shortest time possible.

Any advice?

mark987_2

some valuable stuff in there..excellent..and thank you..

BombJack

I've just started reading this thread. Really useful - thanks to all the contributers so far.
Here's my situaation. My girlfriend and I are really interested in buying a property - a new build - list price is circa £185,000, according to the agent, and has also been marketed £195,000 online.
The property is in Scotland in the central belt, a little outside Glasgow.
The question I have is this: in light of recent falling house prices (the current list price is about £25,000 less than it was in November , realistically, what should we be trying to negotiate for?
We have a sizeable deposit, about 25%.
To be honest, I'm a newb at this, and obviously don't want to make a costly balls up, so any advice on what we should be pitching for, and what tactics we should use would be really appreciated. (Should I have started my own thread for this, rather than hijack this one? apologies in advance if I should have mods...)

kelda_shelton

Does anyone know of a one stop shop website for finding out about reposessions which are for sale (in Scotland)?

bej

Thanks for all the advice in this thread, it has been really useful.

I've just put in an offer on a property and the estate agent's mortgage broker is trying to offer me mortgage advice. I already have an agreement in principle and have gone through a whole market broker so I:
a) doubt that they could find me a better mortgage
b) think that it is just an underhand way to find out how much I can afford in an effort to get a higher price

Am I right to think this? Is there anything preventing the estate agent broker telling the vendor my finacial situation? And how do I tell them a firm no in a polite manner? Thanks.