A progress diary from a FTB

homehunter

Latest: the phone has been hot today! Survey booked for 4th Sep. T and Cs received by email which we need to sign and return to surveyor. Seller has kindly given us email address so we can quiz her about buildings insurance questions, then we can look at some quotes.

Surveyor say they should be calling us the day before so we can tell them our list of things for them to look at during the survey. At least if they don't call, I will!

Things going ok so far..can't wait for a nice quiet bank holiday weekend! Enjoy it everyone :beer:

olbigead

2 September
Good news - Mortgage offer and paper work received
Bad news - Letter from the solicitor received stating: they 'anticipate that the property may be subject to a management company'. We weren't expecting any difficulties and are not really sure what this actually means. Tried to phone the solicitors but she is not in until Friday! Hopefully it won't cause too much of a delay... Any advice on what this means would be appreciated!

Bufger

I didnt find this thread before but i appear to be in pretty much exactly the same boat as olbigead and homehunter! Reading this thread has helped alot so thanks. I'll also update here rather than a seperate thread in the hope that people can see a multitude of different transactions.

FTB with missus joint income 55k.
Natwest FTB mortgage at 5.69% no arrangement fee.
Allowance up to 186k (perfect credit apparently?!)

Put an offer on a 3 bed mid terrace with extended kitchen/diner. Offer is 10k under asking at 138k (dont want to stretch ourselves and dont need anything bigger for just 2 people). Waiting to hear back on the offer.

I have my mortgage in principle and my solicitor appointed already without any fees. They're happy to proceed once i have an offer accepted so this could save you guys some time hunting for a solicitor after offering.

Should hear back today whether its accepted or not. If not then there is a house on the same road i will offer on, its pretty much exactly the same and the same price. Lets play some hardball

lv565

Hi, I have also found this thread very useful! My pertner and I are buying our first house at the moment.
We are at the stage where the mortgage was confirmed yesterday and will be with the solicitor this morning. The couple we are buying from are expecting a baby in a couple of weeks, so we are hoping to be completing at the end of next week.
I am going to ring the solicitor today to ask him if he thinks this timescale is ok and find out what we need to do next - there cant be many 'steps' left now surely?!
We really need a 'date' so that we can start to arrange removals and notify companies that we are moving.

Good luck to everyone - whichever stage you are at!

homehunter

Update 3rd Sep...

Surveyor called earlier to confirm our requirements for building survey - which is happening tomorrow! He anticipates doing survey most of the morning with the afternoon spent writing up. Seems to think that valuation should be ok based on what he's seen so far.

Seller is off on hols (lucky thing) on 5th for two weeks, but is contactable on mobile in that time if necessary. Just hoping the survey goes well! We're in no major rush, just got to give month's notice on the house we're renting....but seller and the next person up in the chain are happy to go anytime after 1st Oct. So down to us.....:o

s23sgn

hey guys.. thanks for this.. never seen this thread b4.. me and the OH has just found our house.. starting the ball rolling asap..

reali helps to read wot and how other ppl r doing.. esp being FTB's..


regards..

Bufger

hey s23sgn, as we're at the exact same point in the process make sure you subscribe to the thread and update us, we can see how it goes and how long it takes compared to each other :-)

s23sgn

will do.. some quick info atm..

house is 3 bed semi, new build, full turnkey finish, plus add on's to meet our requirements.. wos 135k down to 130k..

we believe we're doin well at that price..

OH rang sols this morning, prices range from 600 to 1400..


the fun starts now i guess..

Bufger

i got a good solicitor at 1125 in total, they gave me a full quote breakdown already. They came highly regarded by some of the guys at work that own multiple properties so i'll give them a go. They work from Stratford and deal with the west midlands area if anyone else wants to give them a go (if they work out good for me that is).

VickyA_2

Hi folks,

Great thread so far. Really interesting and hopefully I'll be able to add something soon, BUT I've got some (probably stupid!) questions for you:

Did you have a mortgage approved before you started looking for a house?

How you do find someone to do the survey for you? Is it the mortgage provider? Your solicitor?

Thanks in advance.