I need some advice on the best way to buy 2nd house!

Daniel_B

Hello all,
myself and my gf will in due course be relocating from Bedfordshire to berkshire, after I have accepted a different job within the company i currently work for.

The relocation costs they will cover are as follows:

Stamp duty - in Full.
Legal expenses - up to £375
Buying costs, survey etc - up to £500
Removal will also be covered.

I had originally thought EVERYTHING would be covered, but in my eyes Estate agents fees could easily be £3000, and solicitors fees could easily be £2000, other fees such as mortgage fees could easily bring it to £6000 upwards.

The downside of this being that it would reduce our housing budget by £5000.

So is there anyway I can reduce these expenses?

I'm now seriously thinking about trying to sell our house via online services, and wondered whether there are any similar online solicitors at a reduced cost?

How does it all work, is it as good as a face to face solicitor, and what happens when you need to sign documents?

All responses Gratefully received!

Thanks

Dan

maryjane01

A few of us on here are currently using conveyancingwarehouse.com (none of us are up to completion yet, there is a thread about it). They have been really good, if things need signatures they go in the post. Initially ID went in the post special delivery. It seems they have a number of young graduate types doing the conveyancing. It is a fairly basic service for the price quoted in that the don't include anything extra like doing the stamp duty form (although it seems a number of solicitors don't). Basically anything not standard they charge a bit extra for eg. a bit extra if it is a leasehold, extra for exchanging and completing on the same day, but all extra charges are very reasonable and it will probably still come out a lot cheaper than a solicitor that charges double and will fill in the stamp duty form for you. A standard free hold house where you have no extra special requirements and it will cost what they quote you.

Tassotti

you may save 100 or even 200 pounds but the 'solicitors' that will be dealing with the biggest purchase of your life will be trainees!!

You get what you pay for.

Daniel_B

Thanks both for your replies :-)

MJ, could you give me a rough estimate on what you believe the total cost of the transaction will be for you?

Not after any specific figures, just a ballpark figure would e very useful.

Tassotti - I would be dissapointed if this mehtod would only save 1 or 2 hundred pounds, and if that was the case I wouldn't bother with it.

Dan