Prosperous soul, mortgage neutrality & creativity Year 2

mark55man

Good luck - take care of yourself - now you are at the sharp end of the deal you need to be feeling strong and sure

WelshmansDaughter

I've been watching the c4 show Love It or List It, it seems to be your dilemma as well.
Impulse behaviour is really difficult because it feels like you come to the conclusion first then fill in the reasoning after. 
Dopamine is just the chemical behind the reward process. It can be very difficult for autistic people as we burn so much nervous energy during the day that a quick burst of energy feels so much better. You can get dopamine in other, more satisfying ways like pursuing your interests but it can be a double edged sword. You get so high that you burn out.
From what I've read of your diary, it sounds like you've been in autistic burnout and shutdown.

savingholmes

Thanks DIA, SSS, Blackcats, Mark, WD, Beanie, Dancing, Skint, Sunshine, Jwil

I feel like a fish out of water. 

Sorry to mix metaphors  but the property market feels like the wild west currently in the middle of a gold rush. Despite newspaper headlines saying prices are dropping - it's a very mixed experience as a buyer. Yes I have seen properties drop £20K but still. 

I went to do a drive by of a property today - the views are stunning. The owner let me see inside - but his partner was ill in bed - so I only saw downstairs. The downstairs is very nice - but if I look at online predictions of what the house is worth it's coming out at £230-290. All he's changed since buying it in 2017 is put in a really nice new kitchen - and perhaps some skylights in the kitchen but the extension itself was already there. I think he bought it for around £178K - but it's on for £285K. Z said average worth £260K. Another said only worth £245K. How the heck are you supposed to know what it's worth when it's out to that degree?

I am potentially going to view a house in another area. It's on for £289K but those two sites think it should be £210K Z or £189-231K. It is unimproved but does have an exceptional garden. How on earth are you suppose to know what it should be on for when estate agents are pricing with that degree of mark up?

It's this kind of experience that is freaking me out - as if I buy in the wrong area that in future is fixable by selling - but only if I didn't overpay in the first place. I am currently selling at the bottom of the Z range - but within the top limit of the harsher site. The problem with both those properties is they've only just gone on the market - so haven't had time yet to learn if they are overpriced in terms of lack of viewers.

I hate limbo. So if I go ahead as planned and accept the offer tomorrow - I want to find somewhere I feel offers reasonable value for money, decent amount of space and preferably views or failing that a super pretty garden. I'm looking within an hour or so of work so have drawn a really big circle of property locations I'd be willing to consider - providing they are reasonably rural.

Fortune_Smiles

The agent selling our house gave us some great advice on properties we were looking to buy.  I suppose the sooner we found somewhere, the sooner he made his sale 😁  Do you think your agent would give you a steer?

Fortune x

savingholmes

Hi FS it's an interesting suggestion - but I went with one of the free to go with one Sk3 - so unless I went with them for solicitors which is unlikely given the £1.3K introducer fee whacked onto the price - I doubt they'd be willing to advise. In an ideal world I'd get my sis to go with me - but I can't see her having the energy. I am trying to get advice from family remotely but they are generally doomsayers so I still have to take any advice with a pinch of salt. I may try asking the seller's EA for their justification of the price. I've done that before with some success.

It's difficult - as the properties appeal as there's something slightly unique about each of them - but that's what makes it hard to price.

KajiKita

“ It's this kind of experience that is freaking me out - as if I buy in the wrong area that in future is fixable by selling - but only if I didn't overpay in the first place.”

I think this might be the key here. Just be sure that where you are buying is where you want to be. You know clearly what you do and don’t want, what you can and can’t compromise on. Trust your own judgement and *if* you accept the offer (you could always go and ask for a bit more - they offered slightly less than your asking price I think?) and go forward, remember that you are not absolutely committed until exchange of contracts - if you don’t find the right place to go to, you don’t move. My hunch is that you will find the right place. 

Hugs for the whirling maelstrom.

KK x

savingholmes

Thanks KK - I don't know that I'll know I've made the right decision until I am settled in my new place. I think it is time to leave this house - it's still a debate where to go though. The house I looked at today ticked a lot of the boxes - and on a Sunday is 45 mins from where I live now - but mid week it will be worse - and to get to work is likely to be another 20 mins on top. But that's a few times a month thing rather than every day.

I've got some legal quotes so know where I stand on that now.

To have something controllable to focus on - I've followed HSL's advice and booked an initial 4 week evening class for £42 on acrylics. That will give me social and fun combined hopefully. Will see where that takes me and if that is the right one for me or if I should study something different. I also enquired about Welsh for beginners. I did study it briefly in my first year at uni - but not done more with it since.  Given some of the places I'm looking at are in Wales it might be nice to refresh. I still know how to say thank you, no, today, it's freezing and it's cloudy!!! That's all! Hopefully some of it will come back to me. I'm going to cancel my gym though as I'm just not going regularly and the amount I go it would be cheaper to pay by session. 

savingholmes

I also checked my mortgage. They advise giving them a call if I see a property I'm interested in and then they can advise on the portability of my mortgage. If it doesn't port I'm not moving as I'd not only lose the rate but also have an unaffordable ERC. Worse case that bit is £200-350 I think - unless there's a valuation fee on top. I'd get a survey done - I've allowed £800 for that depending on the age of the house.

The legal quotes are coming in between £2.2 and £3.6K!! 

I previously got a removals quote of about £1500 but that was to somewhere further away so hopefully that would come down.

Ideally I need to save up at least another £1.8K to cashflow all that from savings/EF. Then the house sale would top my EF back up to its current level hopefully.

Depending on what house I pick - I may have future building works to do. So am likely to want to save for those / look for the best deal - probably as a loan or CC deal rather than mortgage as it's likely to be cheaper at current rates.

However, I would review how many hours I have a cleaner in any new place - especially if all they were doing was cleaning... So that could free up some cash... Lots to think about it. As I say once I know where I am going I will cope better. I spoke to the EA briefly today about my house - he's going to find out more from the potential buyers and then feedback to me. The viewer today said he might offer - but he also said ideally he'd want to offer £5-7K below - and I was delighted to tell him I'd already had a better offer than that. He's going to consider his options. I think yesterday's viewers are more of a sure thing though as he is moving into the area from London and the others were already local.

beanielou

First step is to speak to your lender then I think. 

jwil

beanielou said:

First step is to speak to your lender then I think. 

I agree with this.  We got refused to port our mortgage when we assumed it would be ok as it was in the T&C and we weren't borrowing any more.  This was a long time ago though, but you need to know you've got that in place.

I don't think the property values on the websites can be used as much more than a rough guideline.  They can be skewed by a property that sells high or struggle if there haven't been a lot of sales in the area recently. Looking at my road, the average price is £100k less than the houses generally sell for, largely because the flats turn over more often than the houses, and the houses infrequently come up for sale.   Unless you are only planning on staying for a few years, focus more on what the property is worth to you.

If your sister isn't up for it, could you get a friend to come along and give a second opinion on any houses you might be interested in?  It's great that your offer isn't too far away from the price