First time buyer in need of advice

Fire_Fox

Either Google it or ask the surveyor!

motherofstudents

system built - prefabricated wooden frame/concrete and put together on site. Don't think you'd get a mortgage.

Sammy85_2

trenchwars wrote: »

Sorry I meant that £129k was the offer that I had accepted.

What made you offer £129k? Thats going to cost you £1290 in stamp duty. In my experience, buyers who price properties around £130-135k expect to get bashed down below stamp.

I would get a survey done on a 70's house. You'd have to be crazy to spend that sort of money and not get a report done. We went for a homebuyers report on our 60's house. It told us enough to know where we stood, what needed investigating further and what to barter the price down on.

As for solicitors, ask your mates and relatives for recommendations. I wouldnt go with someone tied to the EA. Also, if its out of town there may be additional charges, and you wont be able to pop in and have a chat if you need to know something.

Doozergirl

40 years is plenty old for a survey. Why do mortgage advisors say this? One said something along the lines of 'it's not normal' to our friend just a few weeks back. I told her that she would more than likely recoup the cost of the survey via the results of it - which she did. She was expecting a near-perfect house, not one with leaky soil pipe (yuck)

If you offer on a house you want to know what you are buying. A valuation is purely for the purposes of the lender - if they say there is nothing wrong (in a 20 minute glance over) then you have no recourse if there is something wrong - you didn't commission the survey. 40 years old is plenty to me - old enough for certain items to be deteriorating, many will have already need replacing or be on their way out. No reason not to be forewarned...

googler

Find your own conveyancing solicitor, not one recommended to you by the SELLING EA.....

Doozergirl

googler wrote: »

Find your own conveyancing solicitor, not one recommended to you by the SELLING EA.....

I can understand why you'd think twice about using a solicitor recommended by the vendor themselves but by the EA? No solicitor is allowed to show bias and ultimately it's not worth the risk to their entire livlihood to be swayed by an EA. You don't spend that much time qualifying to potentially throw it away seeing that the EA gets their fee for selling the property.

A solicitor must have to pay any referral fee to the EA regardless of whether or not the sale goes ahead if a contract has been established between solicitor and buyer.

I can't see how there would be a conflict of interest there. That sort of comment gives fuel to EA bashers does it not?

before_hollywood

trenchwars wrote: »

Hi,

I'm buying my first home and I have a few questions.

The sale price is £129k. The property is a terrace, ex council. I think it was built in the 70s but I need to confirm this.

I need to find a solicitor. The estate agent (Your Move) have quoted me £415 + VAT + the cost of any searches. The £415 is refunded if the deal falls through. Does this seem reasonable or should I look elsewhere. I would prefer to use a local firm rather than a telephone/internet based firm.

I had originally planned to have a survey done, but the mortgage broker suggested that this would be unnecessary as the lender would perform a valuation and the property was not old enough to warrant a full structural survey. Any thoughts/comments.

mine was about £600 all in, searches the lot

it was a repo, i had to have someone that would get their backside in gear

timmyt

googler wrote: »

Find your own conveyancing solicitor, not one recommended to you by the SELLING EA.....

that is usually the best place to start! - as the EAs work with the local solicitors. But if you get recommend an out of town if not county lawyer then I would start to quetion

I would agree with Googler if the EA is a national/chain - as they usually dont recommend local solicitors, going for a factory firm smewhere else who pay high cashback to the EA - and will invariably be crap.

Kez1983

Just done mine, was £800 ish fees and searches all in. I didnt know anyone to make a reccomendation so i rang around a few I had googled.

I didnt go with the cheapest one (or the most expensive), i went with the one that impressed me with how quick and in depth they got me the info I wanted! And turned out to be a good choice, completed in 25 days!!

david29dpo

Have you checked if its in a stamp duty relief for Disadvantaged Area? http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sdlt/reliefs-exemptions/disadvantaged-areas.htm