FTB advice

MaryNB

jcrennie said:

MaryNB said:

jcrennie said:

NinjaTune said:

It's a lovely flat, though the small bedroom is a bit too small for my liking.

Nice long lease - what are the service charges like?

It's £1400 for the service charge and then £350 for the ground rent. Not too bad, I've seen worse but loads of work should be done on the exterior. Probably some wood rot, I don't think a lick of paint would solve some of the wooden sills. But I guess that's a general problem with leases - they take your money and they don't really do a lot.

That's a problem. Outside of London a ground rent of above £250 means it's an Assured Tenancy and it makes it much easier for the freeholder to take back the leasehold if the leaseholder is a few months behind on ground rent. Mortgage lenders see this as a big risk. They might accept indemnity policy to cover their risk, or they just might not grant a mortgage full stop.

The ground rent is a one off payment per year, I don't know if that makes any difference. Either way it's something useful for me to ask the EA and my broker.

Unfortunately not. Unless specified otherwise ground rent is per annum so the £250 (or £1000 within London) refers to the annual amount. 

cattie

Ea's tend to know very little about leases & any charges, including ground rents. They generally have to rely on info from the leaseholders, so best to direct such queries to your solicitor if you have one.

Hannimal

hazyjo said:

Tbh the size of the second bedroom would make me walk. Lovely building though.

Doesn't sound to me like they'll drop. I had a similar thing where we were literally about £2k apart. I just refused to go up any more. Wasn't so much being stubborn, I was just up to what I was prepared to pay. They eventually got what they wanted from another buyer. Sounds like you're much further apart than I was.

I'd consider it a 1-bed plus study. It's a nice property and it sounds like the price is right too

Hannimal

AdrianC said:

jcrennie said:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/102121682#/

I put an offer of 144k on this property. It is liveable but it needs a new kitchen

jcrennie said:

Cheers guys there is some good advice here. I would say it doesn't need a new kitchen but after viewing the property it is definitely dated. I know nothing about property and the first thing I thought is - it needs a new kitchen.

Is it exciting? No.
Is it perfectly decent? Looks it.
Quick cheap visual upgrade if the carcasses are good - some new doors. Or a tin of paint...

It is tons nicer than my kitchen. However, the buyer can consider that any bathroom or kitchen needs to be entirely renewed and that is fine. They are well within their rights to do so should they buy the property and if you're not the one buying, it is not even remotely helpful to suggest it just needs new doors and a tin of paint. Maybe this kitchen layout simply doesn't work for the prospective buyer. However, should the current owner pay for the prospective owner's bespoke kitchen when current kitchen is fine? I know I wouldn't, I'd much rather fund my own kitchen.

jcrennie

So just an update and some friendly advice to a naive FTB. I had a 2nd viewing at the weekend to check to storage, all good for one person as starter place, so no concerns there. The double glazing advertised is only partially double glazed but I can live with that. I increased my offer yesterday to 155k and the EA said she would put it to the vendor and get back to me.
It has now gone to best and final offers after a conversation today (also asked if I needed contact with a solicitors). The EA did mention that it may go to sealed bids during the first viewing.
I will still go in with an offer of around 155k at an odd number or potentially slightly lower. I'm not sure if this is a sales tactic with the EA to get people to increase their offer slightly or if these interested parties may be partially fictional.

FTB_Help

jcrennie said:

So just an update and some friendly advice to a naive FTB. I had a 2nd viewing at the weekend to check to storage, all good for one person as starter place, so no concerns there. The double glazing advertised is only partially double glazed but I can live with that. I increased my offer yesterday to 155k and the EA said she would put it to the vendor and get back to me.
It has now gone to best and final offers after a conversation today (also asked if I needed contact with a solicitors). The EA did mention that it may go to sealed bids during the first viewing.
I will still go in with an offer of around 155k at an odd number or potentially slightly lower. I'm not sure if this is a sales tactic with the EA to get people to increase their offer slightly or if these interested parties may be partially fictional.

Good luck, sounds like its got a lot of interest.

Go in with your max + £100 insted of a round thousand, just in case someone comes in with your max figure too, just make sure your max is something you can afford

jcrennie

FTB_Help said:

jcrennie said:

So just an update and some friendly advice to a naive FTB. I had a 2nd viewing at the weekend to check to storage, all good for one person as starter place, so no concerns there. The double glazing advertised is only partially double glazed but I can live with that. I increased my offer yesterday to 155k and the EA said she would put it to the vendor and get back to me.
It has now gone to best and final offers after a conversation today (also asked if I needed contact with a solicitors). The EA did mention that it may go to sealed bids during the first viewing.
I will still go in with an offer of around 155k at an odd number or potentially slightly lower. I'm not sure if this is a sales tactic with the EA to get people to increase their offer slightly or if these interested parties may be partially fictional.

Good luck, sounds like its got a lot of interest.

Go in with your max + £100 insted of a round thousand, just in case someone comes in with your max figure too, just make sure your max is something you can afford

That was my thinking too, definitely an odd number. I was debating whether to go in slightly lower but I also don't know whether that's the child in me wanting to come out and be cheeky.