Catastrophic Missive Fees

SquatNow

Captain_Mainwaring wrote: »

I reckon that anyone who makes a profit out of housing should be made to pay a deposit into a fund for all those that moan that they have made a loss - sound fair?

Thant's called "land tax" and it will never happen as those in power in the UK (those really in power, not the money grabbing politicians in parliment and downing street fighting over the scraps) make billions and billions and billions of pounds from speculating in land/property.

The amounts of money involved are so vast that these people will set the army against us with live ammunition before allowing a land tax of any sort to be implemented.

MrDT

rainbowtrout wrote: »

buy-your-property-quick [strike]sharks[/strike] companies yet?

My parents are thinking of looking into this option to sell their house if the ideal place to buy crops up. They are well aware of how slow the market is so they see it as a viable option, means they won't lose the ideal house, but also don't have to risk STR.

Something doesn't sit right for me though, do these sharks/companies just buy a house for valuation minus 10% and that's it? Wait for the winds of change to come along in a few years and capital gains are the norm again before selling? Or is there more to it?

Links to information on how these companies operate and get the 'shark' rep would be appreciated. Cheers!

luckyfool

MrDT wrote: »

My parents are thinking of looking into this option to sell their house if the ideal place to buy crops up. They are well aware of how slow the market is so they see it as a viable option, means they won't lose the ideal house, but also don't have to risk STR.

Something doesn't sit right for me though, do these sharks/companies just buy a house for valuation minus 10% and that's it? Wait for the winds of change to come along in a few years and capital gains are the norm again before selling? Or is there more to it?

Links to information on how these companies operate and get the 'shark' rep would be appreciated. Cheers!

10% is optimistic. Normally it is more like 15-20%+ below market value.

That, and the fact that they tend to prey on the vulnerable will explain why at least some of them deserve the label "sharks".

By vulnerable I mean the Elderly, people with bad credit and who are the verge of being repossessed etc.

Anther factor is that similar "Sale and Rentback" schemes are marketed on the basis that you can stay in your house and rent it back forever. Unfortunately quite often there is no legal security and after 6 months some companies will evict you or double your rent.

merlinthehappypig

beecher wrote: »

I'm not sure that this is the case and I'm really surprised at your solicitor's advice about finding a loophole. If someone who is buying signs missives and then pulls out they're liable to pay the seller a lot of money. My solicitor certainly made this very clear to me both times I've bought in Scotland.

You may well be right. I guess it depends on the solicitor, but that was certainly the advice we were given.

Another solicitor told us we could accept a higher offer after a closing date as well (we didn't).

It's simply worth the OP exploring this. We were told that our buyers could back out at any stage after the missives were concluded if anything new came up in the searches.

Prudent

Your flat is very nice. I live in Central Scotland, not too far from you. I am looking to either buy (and let current property) or buy and sell just now, so have been watching the market closely since about October. I have noticed quite a price drop/failure to sell in my area. New build flats like yours seem particularly hard hit. Houses on the estate that I live on used to sell well over the asking price within a couple of days. Now the houses are on the market at fixed prices and nice houses have been for sale for 6 months.

I agree with the posters who suggest a drop to £120, if you can still afford the house at that price.

luckyfool

The stamp duty threshold is £125k (assuming that your flat is not in an exempt area where the threshold is £150k).

With that in mind £125k might be worth a punt.

pinkshoes

You have a few options:

1) Let out your flat, and remortgage it to pay for the deposit. This might not be possible, and will depend on equity and how much it will rent for. You could then sell it later on.

2) Sell at £120k to avoid stamp duty and hopefully a quick sale, then either talk to your mortgage company to extend the mortgage. Might be difficult if you borrowed the maximum amount offered. Bank loan??? You'll need to work out the finances.

3) Claim insanity and get yourself sectioned on mental health grounds. You could them claim you were not of a mental state to sign such documents.

4) Get a new solicitor and find a loophole on how to get out of buying this new property. A GOOD lawyer might be able to find you something. In the mean time, insist that the new house is readvertised, and pay for this advertising. If you can't sell yours, it might be difficult to sell this one too.

5) Let out the new house. Again, see point 1 about finances... speak to a mortgage advisor.

siowenson

Thanks for all the helpfull replies.

The morgage advisor (lifetime planning) is going to get back to us on thursday after they have spoke to persimmon about the p/x.
Could someone point me in the right direction of one of these quick sale companies and I'll give them a buzz? It's worth a try I suppose!

If we aren't offered a p/x and the quick buy companies cant offer us anything then i think we might lower the price to just under the stamp duty threshold.
This will mean we can't get the 10pc deposit morgage rate for the new house but I think paying a higher interest rate for a house we "own" would be better than paying £1500 per month in fees for something we dont.

neverdespairgirl

sm9ai wrote: »

Sounds like mis-selling to me.

Persimmon have sold you something you simply cannot afford.

You may do better to speak to CAB.

Mis-selling is, surely, when people want A and actually get B. Not people who say, "I want to buy a house", and get sold one.

siowenson

Apparently persimmon will only give p/x if the property you are selling is valued 30pc less than the one you are buying.
This would mean the max persimmon could offer is £128k leaving us with £7k to make up by the 23rd of next month

The quick sale companies wont look at properties that have come onto the market in the last 6 months or any new builds.

We have just reduced our asking price to £124,950 today in the hope that it will sell soon.
Our plans are now to (hopefully) sell the flat quick and move into my OH's parents house so that we can then afford to pay the £1500 fees to persimmon. It is definitely not an ideal situation but we dont have any other options.

I pray the flat sells before the 23rd. Reducing the price has now put us £9k lower than the cheapest similar flat in our area.