OH MY, The Most Stunning Beautiful Property

LittleTinker

Hmmm...OP....I think you live on a different planet...one where the words "We are worried about.." dont mean jot!!

Youre Worried????? Then dont buy!!!!

clutton_2

several of my leasehold houses are £0.75p per year ground rent.

matt99b

LittleTinker wrote: »

Hmmm...OP....I think you live on a different planet...one where the words "We are worried about.." dont mean jot!!

Youre Worried????? Then dont buy!!!!

Not on a different planet. Of course there is no property we wouldn't be worried about - it's a big commitment after all.

patchwork_cat

Seriously I have tried to be measured in my responses and think that Captain needs reporting, but you really haven't a clue about property buying and yet you are shouting down others. I have said it before and you shot me down, but do some research and talk to your EA. We will help, but are not here to handhold every area of your house purchase down to such basic questions as is my offer bound? Especially as you seem very dogmatic in your illfounded ideas and want us to wave a magic wand and say it will all be alright. If you are worried about the flat it is simple don't buy it.

Single Sue why what did you earn? and the wage hasn't gone up in 20 years - you are in the wrong job!

matt99b

Thanks for the advice everyone.:)

So far, on our two visits there, the fish+chip shop , and street in general, seems very empty. In fact, the only cars that drove down it are people who live on the street. We went once at about 7pm, and once at 3pm at the weekend. We're going to go again at 3.30pm this week, and we'll be sure to check out the fish + chip shop more thoroughly if we can. So far, it seems to have been closed every time we were there- I'm not sure how it makes any business!

In general though, it seems like a very quiet residential street - the fact that the shops make any money amazes me. Most of the commercial premises are services like plumbers, there is a dentist, a GP, quiet co-op supermarket down the road, other services like repairs, quite a nice indian restaurant down the road, a newsagents below the flat, and then the fish and chip shop that seems like business is slow. In many ways, it will be great to have GP and dentist on the doorstep. Although I talk about this as a row of commercial shops, it is opposite a green park and has been so peaceful there so far that I might be giving the wrong impression here. We will try to keep our emotions out of it though, and check everything as thoroughly as we can.

Another thing to bear in mind, is that the property has already had 3 offers put in, and each time the mortgage falls through (people wanting 100% mortgage, on no salary), being in London, and the way it is, there is a new buyer snapping it up shortly after it returns to market, so in theory if other people are liking it as much as us, it shouldn't be impossible to sell, especially when the housing market returns to normal. It will be more difficult to sell of course, being above a shop, but the price and appearance externally and internally more than compensates for that in my opinion. Also, there are pro's to having a place above a shop; you get better value for money (this is 3 bedrooms for the price of 1), and the rental yield is a lot higher should we ever decide to rent out.

Having said all this, we would rather have somewhere that we can call home than to buy as an investment. But overall, we've viewed many properties over the past year and this one seems like a real find so far.

Does anyone know what are the next steps to take after we put in our offer? Should we have it privately surveyed before or after putting our offer in?

Any more thoughts or comments welcome, towards or against buying! Thanks again

Captain_Mainwaring_2

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Seriously I have tried to be measured in my responses and think that Captain needs reporting, but you really haven't a clue about property buying and yet you are shouting down others. I have said it before and you shot me down, but do some research and talk to your EA. We will help, but are not here to handhold every area of your house purchase down to such basic questions as is my offer bound? Especially as you seem very dogmatic in your illfounded ideas and want us to wave a magic wand and say it will all be alright. If you are worried about the flat it is simple don't buy it.

Single Sue why what did you earn? and the wage hasn't gone up in 20 years - you are in the wrong job!

The sole contribution you have made is "Now admittedly buying a flat is outside of my experience"

Do you happen to notice that a number of posters also agreed that the OP's attitude WRT leasehold was a bit unfounded - so what should I be banned for? Not being all flowery and having a travelling rug and travel sweets in my Rover Classic 1.3?

The OP is now well aware that whilst there is nothing wong with leasehold, there is plenty wrong with flats above commercial premises. There are issues with insurance, mortgageability, resaleability, noise and disturbance, and smell, particularly above a restaurant. The OP can forget converting the garage, it isn't going to happen, probably a little cherry dropped in by an interested party.

Oh and one last thing, it isn't the OP's estate agent, it is the vendor's and you are naive to consider that anything they say is remotely of value.

patchwork_cat

No captain - I didn't say banned I said reported - some of your posts have been offensive how is refering to pu55y relavant to the OP's question- don't start on me - I won't take it.

The talking to EA was about procedure - re-read my post - I was referring to offers being bound it doesn't matter who the EA is paid by the should be able to give the OP advice about procedure. Me naive - you could not be farther from the truth!! However if you talk to one of the assitants in EA and ask them nicely whilst not disclosing your motives you will get a lot of info - although I suspect that you have not heard the term you catch more flies with honey!

Captain_Mainwaring_2

patchwork_cat wrote: »

No captain - I didn't say banned I said reported - some of your posts have been offensive how is refering to pu55y relavant to the OP's question- don't start on me - I won't take it.

Good because I'm definitely not giving it.

Difficult to mortgage possibly dependant on the way the title was originally developed.

And you'd need to know about change of use, you could end up living over a funeral directors.
Happened to someone I knew, they said the vapour from the embalming fluid made their pu55y go funny.

Does that clarify things for you? Good.

Feline baldness is not to be taken lightly.

matt99b

Captain_Mainwaring wrote: »

Oh and one last thing, it isn't the OP's estate agent, it is the vendor's and you are naive to consider that anything they say is remotely of value.

I agree that the EA has so far not said anything of any value, they even insisted that the "Freeholder is an old man who just owns the flat." - I thought the freeholder owns the land? He also said the vendor can't extend the lease on the flat, and that it would be up to us to do 2 years after we bought it, but then backtracked in the same conversation and said that the vendor can extend the lease and include that in the overall price. They also don't seem to know the procedure very well.

Do you have any idea who might be reliable to go to, for the purpose of finding out all the info we need specific to this flat and its leasehold contract, about extending the lease, reliable info about change of use about the shops below, ground rent, charges etc.?

Thanks for the help

Jimuth

£170K for a flat over a shop, next door to a chip shop?

Sorry OP - you need your head examining to say "this is the one" with the level of research you've done. Do you know how long it's been on the market? What are you going to bid? What's the history of the shops below you?

Do you not think it'll still be on in a year's time when it's most likely going to be 10-20% cheaper, and you'll have oodles more cash?

The thing with shops is that they change. What if the chippy becomes the world's stinkiest kebab house... do you really think you'll have any weight in the council re: planning permission when you've got rats crawling up your drainpipes and chavs outside having a dust-up over a spilled doner?

Honestly, what's wrong with renting a bit longer. Give it 6 months, you could possibly get a better leasehold flat or even a freehold further out.

Get some neutral advice and listen to it.