First time buyer - baby on the way

MrChips

I don't in general consider rent wasted money (I've been renting for 10 years!). However, if we don't buy, our plan is to rent very short term i.e probably 6 months or max 1 year. Yes, we will get a nicely furnished place in the meantime and maybe house prices will fall. But we would be paying £7k - £14k for the privilege and if the base rate starts to rise we will lose out a bit here too (although personally I can't see increases coming for a little while).

MrChips

giddypenguin wrote: »

Is it worth reporting the EA to HMRC? Would have thought that they would be interested to know.

As a newbie, quite how dodgy is this? Is it a case of "they're all at it" or are people genuinely shocked about this?

westlondonbuyer

I'm "genuinely shocked" about the remainder of the offer being paid in cash via the agent, yes.

The juggling over the costs of chattels I'm not surprised over, this is par for the course at properties on the SDT levels. I actually feel sorry for vendors whose properties are on these; the flat rate nature of stamp duty is really unjust and skews the market significantly at these price points. It really should just be a stepped tax.

MrChips

Agree about the SDT skewing, and if I'm honest we've been mainly looking at properties at the "just over £500k" mark to try to take advantage of it. If prices are about to fall, we want to cushion at least some of the gap!

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Please get an extention to your mortgage offer before you proceed, as your present deal WILL expire before you exchange contract. If this happend you will NO funds in place, and the deal may well fall through and you will have to start a mortgage application all over again. I would go for an extension to the end of January 2011 to be on the safe side. A 6 month extension would be brilliant!

AMD

MrChips

Thanks for the "heads up". I think you might have misinterpreted what I wrote earlier (probably my fault for not being clear). The mortgage offer was made a month ago and is valid until late December. I am not concerned about not securing a mortgage, but I am concerned about missing out on their current favourable rates (which are on offer for applications made before the end of this month).

AMILLIONDOLLARS

MrChips wrote: »

Thanks for the "heads up". I think you might have misinterpreted what I wrote earlier (probably my fault for not being clear). The mortgage offer was made a month ago and is valid until late December. I am not concerned about not securing a mortgage, but I am concerned about missing out on their current favourable rates (which are on offer for applications made before the end of this month).

I think end December is still too tight, sometime these thing can get complicated, problem with searches, sellers can't find relevant documentation etc. Still get an extension, just in case!

AMD

MrChips

So the December deadline relates to completion, rather than application deadline? I assumed as long as I told them I was "going ahead" with the mortgage before then they would honour it. After all if they have done all the detailed checks, in November, what's going to change in December?

Thundercat_2

Look, if you don't want to contact the mortgage company then that's fine and it's absolutely your decision.

All people are saying is that if it does happen to drag on, then there is a risk that your mortgage company won't honour the rate beyond the date you've got agreed. It seems silly to risk ending up in a whole heap of trouble later on for the sake of a quick phonecall to them now, which would clarify your position (i.e. whether it's on completion or acceptance of the mortgage offer) and also check whether they would be happy to extend this offer.

MrChips

Thanks - I do appreciate being put straight, that's why I'm posting on here as I have a lot to learn about the house buying process!

I'll be calling HSBC later today anyway as I want to put a formal application in before the end their current special offer at the end of this month. The way I see it (please shout if I am being daft) I can start a formal application, I will then have a set period (about 10-14 days?) to complete their full application form and submit paperwork before I have to pay the £99 fee. By that time we will either have had an offer accepted or we will have walked away...so nothing to lose (except perhaps a check on my credit file).

I'll clarify the expiry issue when I call.