Great 'What I wish I’d known before I bought my first home' Hunt

VIGILANT22

riffraffsgirl wrote: »

One thing I wish my husband and I had known about was Life Assusrance. We got ripped off by being sold 2 decreasing death benefits, instead of one joint policy, 1st death, which meant that whoever may die first the mortgage gets paid off. QUOTE]

Why do you think you were "ripped off"....why should it have been a joint life policy?...........Best advice is to cover you separately...:(

landsker

Don't buy in an area where good local knowledge/advice tells you that's where the local yobs/drug dealers/villains live!

harryhound

Meyamoo wrote: »

6. Don't ever buy a leasehold flat
It will ruin your life. The end.

Hell is other people - buy a terraced house and be king of your own castle if you can.

Some flats, where they are occupied by their Owners (and perhaps with a mutually owned company owning the freehold), can work out OK and profitably.

Beware of "flying freeholds" - ie property where you theoretically own a freehold BUT not all the structure from the roof tiles down the sub soil.

Harry

On another topic: There used to be an awful lot of coal (and other minerals) under Britain, there is now an awful lot of voids, contaminated land and and old tipping plus sewage farms = beware of the possibility of all of them.

Just a thought: Is someone going to set up a sub thread for Scotland?

jw2003

We bought our first home a year ago and most of this advice would have been redundant as it was a repossesion so no chain, was priced well under market value, needed a huge amount of work doing to it which we figured by the low price. The lack of central heating indicated that a new boiler would be needed, steel window frames, no kitchen, condemned stickers over all the taps in the bathroom and fireplace. It was not a house you fell in love with but it's a great size and is slowly and surely turning into a lovely home.

We went with our bank for the mortgage - it was January 09 and not many lenders were accommodating first time buyers with a 10% deposit - and they made it so easy for us. We used a solicitor nearer to the new place and she took a couple of extra steps to make sure existing debt would not be held against the property when it became ours. We did go for the full survey which told us everything we'd seen for ourselves but it was a relief to know that at least the building was sound and no nasty surprises.

Viking_Man

I bought a house a few months ago after 2 years of searching and have yet to move in, so it's all fresh in my mind. Here's my advice:

* Read a book about how to buy a house - libraries have them. The "Which" guides are good.

* Decide on your priorities, make a ticklist of what you want and list up all the possible houses according to your criteria: location, type of house, parking, bedrooms, whatever. It will help you to decide which house is best.

* I created a spreadsheet to calculate the total floor area of each property I looked at, so I could work out the price per square metre.

* Estate agents can put a spin on things, but they can't lie to you. Ask them direct questions like "Have there been any disputes with neighbours?", "How many viewings have you had?", "How many offers have you had?", "What renovations have been done on the house?", "How old is the boiler?" etc. They must answer truthfully. If they don't know, ask them to ask the vendor. Note the answers and tell the solicitors what they said.

* If you make an offer on a house, the estate agent cannot legally reject it wihout first asking the vendor.

* Use a solicitor who is local to the property for conveyancing. Ring around for prices: they shouldn't vary that much, so pick the company who seems most professional and helpful and answers the phone/e-mail. Solicitors fees are exhorbitant, but at least they're not as much as a rip-off as estate agents!

* Use a surveyor who is not tied to an estate agents, but an independent.

* Don't rely on others to contact the vendor for you. Keep in touch with the vendor yourself - try to maintain cordial relations, even if they're being a complete pain (the guy I bought from was). As a first-time buyer, you may be inexperienced, but you're in control of your vendor's destiny and of everyone else in the chain, so stand your ground! Always tell your solicitor anything that the vendor tells you.

* Check the property as much as you can prior to exchange of contracts. Don't rely on the survey alone, even if it's a full structural survey. In my case I had a homebuyer survey done but I think half a day looking all around the house (from roof to floor) with a good builder would have cost less, and would have revealed more than a one-hour survey. Having said that, many problems with houses are unfortunately hidden behind plasterboard, wallpaper and carpets - you might not find out about all the problems until after you buy.

* Get a timber and damp inspection (but be aware they can often mis-diagnose damp problems, so get more than one), an electrical inspection, a gas safety inspection. Don't take them as gospel, but if they show up problems then tell the vendor about it look at whether to re-negotiate the price. Even what might seem like minor refurbishments to a house can be complex and expensive.

* If you see a better house while you're in the process of buying, or you get a bad feeling about the house, don't be afraid to pull out. Until you exchange contracts, you're free to pull out at any time. Don't worry about the wasted solicitors fees, surveys etc. if you pull out - far better to lose 500-1000 pounds than to end up in the wrong house.

That's some general advice based on my experience anyway. Mainly what I wished I had done is to look more carefully at the house beforehand, with someone knowledgeable like an experienced builder.

euang

Make sure you know what you want in your new house. Draw up a list of things that you would like and try and split them into 'must have' and 'nice to haves'. Make sure you have a really good think about it, with your partner as well, as you both may not have the same opinions.Have a good idea in your head what you are looking for as this will cut down a lot of time spent looking at places that really aren't suitable.

Euan

harryhound

euang wrote: »

Make sure you know what you want in your new house. Draw up a list of things that you would like and try and split them into 'must have' and 'nice to haves'. Make sure you have a really good think about it, with your partner as well, as you both may not have the same opinions.Have a good idea in your head what you are looking for as this will cut down a lot of time spent looking at places that really aren't suitable.

Euan

If you can IN ADVANCE create a system of "weighting and rating" the qualities of a property you might want to view and purchase.
This will enable both of you to have a rational discussion about what you view and give each potential purchase a "score"; this makes "falling in love" with something that is just bricks and mortar less likely.

Be aware of the misery that paying too much and borrowing too much can cause.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=29434715&highlight=rock#post29434715

canny-cat

If something shows up on your survey, get a second opinion - no matter how minor it may seem.

Our survey told us the house had a minor case of damp - condensation, specifically - that could be rectified for around £400. It seemed so minor that we didnt even bother to renegotiate the cost with the seller. In retrospect, we should have got a damp company around to do a specialist survey.

Once we'd moved in, we discovered the full extent of the damp problem and ended up paying over £4000, plus associated redecoration costs, on having the entire ground floor tanked. If you can believe it, the walls were too sodden for a damp proof course to take.

The sellers had the walls skimmed shortly before putting on sale, so that you couldn't notice the damp for a few months - at which point metal wall fixings and sockets started rusting, the plaster started to salt and bubble, and I ended up developing asthma.

hermione47

I have just bought (together with my boyfriend) my first property.
It's a leasehold ex council 1 bed flat in South London and we bought it for 150K (overpriced by at least 15K, by the way).
Do not buy leasehold if you can help it, especially if the freeholder is a council. Our service charges have shot up 50% for some unitemised (???) repairs they had to do from September to December. We will now have to appeal to the LVT, which will cost money.
Check who the neighbours are. We didn't and now we are stuck with this feral family with dogs barking at all hours.
Finally, if you can't afford a decent property in the area you like, maybe renting is a better option.
If I could go back, I would keep on renting. This property ladder thing is a huge con.
As for leasehold, again, AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!!

Viking_Man

canny-cat wrote: »

Our survey told us the house had a minor case of damp - condensation, specifically - that could be rectified for around £400. It seemed so minor that we didnt even bother to renegotiate the cost with the seller. In retrospect, we should have got a damp company around to do a specialist survey.

It's a tricky area damp. Some architects maintain that rising damp doesn't exist at all, and all cases of rising damp are mis-diagnosed condensation or salts leeching out of the bricks. Others say that current professional practice for diagnosing rising damp is inaccurate, and leads to unnecessary treatment where the the real problem is something else. Your experience seems to be the opposite. I had three people (surveyor, damp proofing company and my builder) all tell me that I had rising damp in the kitchen in my new house. So I went ahead and treated it. It was massively expensive and disruptive - it involved ripping out the whole kitchen (although it did need replacing anyway). I'm still not really sure that I needed to, maybe I'll never know, but I feel more confident knowing I had three people all telling me the same thing.

Woodworm is the same - many architects claim that woodworm is now extremely rare (because of central heating) but there are lots of houses with joists or beams that once had woodworm and still have evidence of little pinholes in the wood. The beetles may have died years ago, and no further treatment is necessary. But a specialist company will come in and look at the pinholes and say "uh-oh, woodworm" and treat all your beams with insecticide.