First Time Mortgage... Questions!

chrestomanci

Hi all,

We are considering our first mortgage but have a couple of questions. We are meeting with a broker and a solicitor next week, but any advice given this weekend would certainly help us figure things out in advance!

- We're trying to figure out what costs are required (apart from a down payment) in terms of solicitors' fees, stamp duty, etc. - but we're finding that estimating this is proving to be difficult. We've read the MSE guide and are expecting all this to cost around £3k (inc. stamp duty of £1k) - is this roughly correct?

- Are solicitors paid once per offer, once per house (i.e. no matter how many offers go through), or once per "application" (i.e. as many offers on as many houses)?

- The house we are looking at specifies "offers over £x" - how 'over' does over tend to be? The couple selling it said we may come to an agreement - but again, we're not sure what this means - can we offer less, or would they be expecting a substantial offer?
Would we discuss offers with them prior to our solicitor?

(We're based in Scotland.)

ACG

Stamp duty varies depending on the pruchase price. You should be able to work it out to the penny if you know the purchase price - see this link:
https://www.gov.uk/stamp-duty-land-tax-rates (2% on anything over £125k).

Solicitors can vary depending on the purchase price, leasehold/freehold and the type of firm (ie cheap and cheerful online conveyancing firm, through to expensive firm of solicitors). I would say if you budget around £800-1k + stamp duty your not going to be a million miles out.

They charge in different ways but a lot of solciitors costs are what are classed as disbursements which are valid for the property only. Just ensure the solicitors do not start any work until you have your full mortgage offer.

Offers over means nothing. Offer less if you want, worse case scenario they say no.

And after writing that I have noticed your scotland bit - in which case I have no idea as I dont do north of the border. I suspect most of the answers will be fairly accurate but they could be wrong.

Caz3121

chrestomanci wrote: »

- The house we are looking at specifies "offers over £x" - how 'over' does over tend to be? The couple selling it said we may come to an agreement - but again, we're not sure what this means - can we offer less, or would they be expecting a substantial offer?
Would we discuss offers with them prior to our solicitor?

(We're based in Scotland.)

Depending where is Scotland "offers over" can be very different
What is key is the Home Report value, 'offers over' can sometimes be used at a figure under the valuation to generate interest and a bidding war where people can get carried away
A friend was recently bidding on properties in Edinburgh, in one area properties were going for 20-30% over the home report value (which was already higher than the "offers over" price, and in another area properties were selling for under the valuation

chrestomanci

Thanks both

We're really interested but not sure where to go next. Have an appointment with our mortgage broker on Wednesday, but keen to register our interest somehow. I guess we need a solicitor for that? Not sure how to find one, unless we just start phoning around..

amnblog

I hope you calculated your purchase tax based on the new Scottish land and buildings transaction tax and not stamp duty.

The rates are different.

In a first time buyer price range you will be paying 2p in the pound on the amount of your purchase price over £135,0000