other costs of buying a house

BattleToy

A silly question about other costs of buying a house for FTB. Apart from the deposit , how much do I need to pay for solicitor, stamp duty etc?

I don't want to pay all my cash for the house deposit (50% of the house value) and I need to keep some money for other fees. As the interest rate is still low, I was thinking that it may be better to pay 40% deposit and borrow a bit more (60% mortgage). Hence, I still have some cash for other fees and rainy day fund.

any suggestions?

tashadocus

Hello fellow first time buyer! I've found the FTB guide on this site to be really useful - there's a section that covers off fees here. As I'm a new poster I can't link you directly, but if you click on the tab at the top of the page that says mortgages, and go to the FTB section, you should find a page titled "What fees will you pay to move?" Hope that helps.

Paully232000

stamp duty calculator
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/stamp-duty

we also paid about 1600 for solicitors (buy and sell)
about 800 for removals firm
survey was about 400
mortgage broker 299

that was 2 years ago so may have gone up a bit since then.

chelseablue

We're paying approx. 1500 for solicitors (buying and selling)
800 for removals
800 for the survey
10,000 on stamp duty (God I hate stamp duty!)

ThePants999

Definitely agree you should borrow more and keep a contingency fund. Generally speaking, the best mortgage rates are available below 65% loan-to-value, so you don't gain anything by dropping to 50%. If you find yourself not needing the contingency fund after all, you can always overpay on the mortgage to get it down.

Costs to consider:
- Stamp duty
- Solicitor's conveyancing fees + disbursements (e.g. searches)
- Mortgage broker's fee
- Mortgage application fee
- Mortgage product fee
- Mortgage valuation fee
- Fees to the solicitor acting on behalf of the mortgage lender
- Survey, if you have one beyond the mortgage valuation
- Any further reports you have done (e.g. electrical inspection)
- Removals
- Home insurance
- Post redirection
- Any other fees for change of address (e.g. car insurance policy charging you for alteration)
- Furnishings / repairs / redecoration on the new property
- Transfer of guarantees into your name
- Contingency for getting gazumped

You may not incur all of those, but that's what's on my list :-)