Procrastinating no more!

kabayiri

The positive is you only need one house to match your criteria and accept an offer
Having to go through 6 or 60 to get to that one is partly down to how fussy you are.

I echo Gen's comment, Good Luck! ...and try not to get too stressed about the whole process. It can be wearing.

Unless you are minted every house will have its limitations. Quite often these can be overcome with a bit of creativity.

Regards schools, if you can find out OfSted reports for potential schools they can tell you a lot. Schools on an upward progression with a potential change of head shouldn't be discounted completely.

michaels

Yeah - if they did a Brighton nationally there would be chaos - locally similar houses can vary between 250k and 400k depending which school they are in the catchment area for (because the schools are all over subscribed and if it is too far from the nearest school it is not in the area for any school and thus only qualifies for the 1 under-subscribed school)

each house is only in the catchment area for the nearest school

lostinrates wrote: »

How certain is it catchment area/method won't change? Its something that I'm really glad we didn't have to think about at all, I don't envy those who do have to.

julieq

Good luck, and you'll find this very quickly stops being about money and starts being about a home, which is as it should be.

As a former Brighton resident I was going to mention that rules change, but I see others have done it already. This was a result of a highly organised and vocal set of parents in the urban centre demanding access to the better schools at the edges of the town, and they were sufficient of a voting bloc to scare the council into a lottery arrangement. Point is you can't rely on current rules applying when the time comes so the best is to balance your priorities and make sure you get a pleasant place to live.

chucky

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

So, after procrastinating for about 4-5 years we have decided it is time to buy. This is primarily driven by non financial considerations - we are hoping to start a family in the next year or 2 and don't want to be going through a move at the same time.

unfortunately trying to save yourself a couple of thousand pounds is more important for some people.

congrats squire, hope that it goes all smoothly for you.

geneer

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Welcome to the real world.

And it's not just schools....

Most people find out after they seriously start looking that they have strong preferences for certain areas, types of property, condition/features, transport links, proximity to work or shops, etc.

The last time we looked I was quite complacent about how many houses were on the market..... Until I started viewing them, and realised only a tiny percentage would be suitable. .

I think we looked at the details of around 300 theoretically suitable houses online, which after applying our criteria reduced to a couple of dozen which we viewed, and ended up with only 3 or 4 that we seriously considered buying.

I'd hate to think how few houses that would be now that even less are available....

But well done, at least you're getting in before the crowd, so you'll have more choice than those next year and the years after.

Ah yes.

Turns out that Hamishes opinions have only ever been expressed on a tiny percentage of properties.
Who would have thunk it.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

geneer

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

So, after procrastinating for about 4-5 years we have decided it is time to buy. This is primarily driven by non financial considerations - we are hoping to start a family in the next year or 2 and don't want to be going through a move at the same time. The original plan would have seen us hit the 20% deposit requirement in about 12 months and then look to buy. Instead, we have spoken to our folks and they will give the rest (which we will likely pay back over the next year or 2).

I'm still of the opinion that prices will continue their gentle glide down. But I think the majority of falls will be in real terms, though nominal of maybe 5% per year for a couple of years. But the flipside, by having a 20% deposit, we will have access to a 3% interest rate (variable). Though I really don't see much scope for interest rate rises, this could of course move up.

Even though we are at the very beggining of this process, a couple of what I found interesting observations:

1) I called up to get an AIP with a bank. Went through quite a lengthy process, but my point of surprise was how strict they are on what can or can't count towards your income for lending purposes. Bonus - unless you have received it in every one of the last 3 years, it doesn't add a penny to your lending ability. Even if you have had it for 3 years, it is averaged and then halved. As I wasn't there 3 years ago, I only have 2 years of bonus history, so that was scratched off. Second, I also get shares. The only criteria on those is that I'm still employed at a certain date. Then they are mine to do with as I wish. No performance criteria attached. Yet, because shares go down and up, they don't count a penny of them. The end result is that about 35% of my income and about 10% of my better half's income is not taken in to consideration. Maybe this has always been the way, but just seemed overly strict to me.

2) I phoned up to book a few viewings yesterday. I called about 6 properties with 5 different agents. We are working during the week, so could only do saturday. Being "Spring time" and a long weekend, I was expecting to struggle with getting viewings. Maybe everyone is on hol rather than looking at houses, but of the 5 agents and 6 houses, 1 has now sold, but the other 5, no exageration, just said yep that is fine, what time do you want? They all agreed to the time I asked for on the dot. I thought they would be busy and struggle to find time to fit me in, but no.

Anyway, might post here with the odd update on how this search is going, will see how the thread goes.

Best of luck to you Procrastinator.

chewmylegoff

michaels wrote: »

locally similar houses can vary between 250k and 400k depending which school they are in the catchment area for

at that sort of price differential, you may as well just buy the cheaper one and go private. or wait until the first kid is 1 year away from school, buy the £400,000 house, take the stamp duty hit in the face, live in it until the first kid is in school and then immediately move to the £250,000 one. nuts!

geneer

geneer wrote: »

Ah yes.

Turns out that Hamishes opinions have only ever been expressed on a tiny percentage of properties.
Who would have thunk it.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Anyway Hamish, welcome to the real world.
Where its better to buy after a correction than in the end stages of a bubble.

chewmylegoff

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

1) I called up to get an AIP with a bank. Went through quite a lengthy process, but my point of surprise was how strict they are on what can or can't count towards your income for lending purposes. Bonus - unless you have received it in every one of the last 3 years, it doesn't add a penny to your lending ability. Even if you have had it for 3 years, it is averaged and then halved. As I wasn't there 3 years ago, I only have 2 years of bonus history, so that was scratched off.

i don't find this particularly surprising, in fact i am quite surprised that they take a discretionary bonus it into account at all. given i am thinking about buying myself in the next year, this is actually welcome news as i have got 3 years of bonus history. the bad news is that it will only allow me to borrow about an extra six quid.

Second, I also get shares. The only criteria on those is that I'm still employed at a certain date. Then they are mine to do with as I wish. No performance criteria attached. Yet, because shares go down and up, they don't count a penny of them.

i can see where they are coming from on this to be honest.

julieq

Out of interest, what are they doing about using affordability information (other debts, outgoings and so on?) in the multiples you're being offered?

Also it still may be worth trying a mortgage broker (London and County are the usual one people seem to use if they're still going), you do get a good picture of the spread of what's available.