1st forum post. first time buyer queries

bubblesmoney

edited by me to remove personal details. apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Apologies for the many queries and long post. Any help and advice is much appreciated

maninthestreet

£25K to correct minor cosmetic issues? I don't think you will be taken seriously by the vendor or their agents - has the offer been accepted?

HouseBuyer_2

1-if you're really worried about what your credit score it, you can see it online for free. just remember to cancel the subscription they make you take out at the same time. go through quidco for cashback too.

2-that's a good rate for fixed at present. but if you have almost 60% of the house purchase price, have you considered the first direct offset mortgage, the fixed rate for 10 years is 5.99%

3-settling happens but whether it causes any structural damage won't be known until the surveyors bring it up

4- no idea about floods etc, sorry

5- any buyer is good news at the moment.

6- it's too early in the morning for me to work out figures but it all depends on how badly prices will fall and really, at this particular moment in time, if you are buying to move in 5 years for equity to move up, I personally wouldn't.

I doubt your offer will be accepted. In my house hunt, multi agent just means the vendor is unwilling to accept the changes in the market and is expecting close to asking as possible.

mitchaa

Have made an offer of 125k on a house on market for 149950, earlier was 155000. we made this offer based on many walls needing painting because previous occupant repainted walls cream colour but left old brown paint patches behind wall hangings etc plus numerous nail holes used for the wall hangings etc.

Tin of paint £15
Rollers + Brushes £15

The numerous nail holes will be filled in/over by the new coat of paint.

£155k, down to £125k?

Tell you what, if you were selling, would you accept a £125k offer? Nope, though not;)

tbs624

Bubblesmoney - welcome to MSE, as a first time poster

See MSE Martin's own advice on credit ratings/reference agencies: he recommends that we all check with all 3 agencies, suggests freebie way & has template letters if needed.http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/credit-rating-credit-score#check

I agree with the others that seeing a need for re-emulsioning as a big bargaining tool is probably not a good idea, and will lead EAs/buyers to not to take you seriously. Most people will re-decorate anyway.

AFAIAA, the best/most detailed flood risk maps are held by insurance companies, More Than & Norwich Union. They have a level of sophistication that allows a house by house assessment. This info is usually kept "in house" but members of the public can go via http://www.whatsmyfloodrisk.co.uk/ to get a report based on it. Maybe worth a look, & paying out for one of their reports if you are a serious potential buyer, but you should always discuss these issues with your solicitor and follow his/her guidance.

It was originally requested that specific info on a property's flood risk should be available via the marvellous (not) Home Information Packs but it was excluded

mrs_deadline

I'll take question 5

It's best not to mention your whopping deposit to estate agents, just say you have a mortgage in principle with the bank you work for. If they know you've got that amount saved (well done, by the way!) they'll tell vendors to hold out for higher prices because you can afford to pay...

Just act like a normal FTB with a ceiling on your budget. Only you need to know just how good your position is.

hethmar

I dont know why you are worrying about your credit score - you sound pretty well A1 to me.

The mortgage will be through your spouses employer so thats also sound. Id stay with that mortgage, apart from anything else IF redundancy rear their heads anyone with a financial involvement through the company may get brownie points.

The house is 5 or 6 years old? It will have had settlement cracks in the first couple of years and may be the last guy didnt bother putting a bit of filler on them - I shouldnt think they are a problem at all if they are just faint cracks, not gaping holes I take it. You cant cite a bit of painting for your reason for the low offer, everyone paints a house when they move in anyway. It will only cost a couple of hundred to do the lot yourselves.

The flood risk sounds like its very localised to the dip in the road and as you say, you are on elevated ground 500 yds away. Just check out with neighbours if they have had a problem insuring.

All in all you are in a good position and if you really love the house then go ahead - dont worry yourself over the interest in 10 years or whatever, you will have lived in the house and enjoyed it for that time and hopefully the price will have increased to more than cover any interest.

You are first time buyers, you have a large deposit and a mortgage in principle - any buyer would be very pleased to have your offer but I think you are going in a bit low there - what has been their reaction? If they refuse the offer up it a bit.

RichieG

Regarding your question 4 about the flood report you buy from homecheck.co.uk, a friend of mine got one recently, and showed me it, it has maps showing where the floodplains are, as well as information on flooding that comes from insurance companies (Norwich Union I think) which tells you whether they would insure it. I thought it looked quite useful if you're worried about the issue. HTH.

Tassotti

I think your credit score may be a problem...If you don't owe any money, you have no credit score...Strange but true

Biggie

Just another throught if you have 80-90k deposit for a 125k house then I persume you only need to borrow 35k - 45k.

At that amount I wouldn't worry too much about the rate, assumming you can still save I would be looking for a mortgage where I dont have a redemption period and better still a flexible mortgage. Allowing me to pay my mortgage off more quickly

jimc_2

bubblesmoney wrote: »

www.homecheck.co.uk] for the postcode. Unlike the environment agency website which says no risk, this website says the postcode is in 500metres of an area potentially affected by flooding.

My experience of this website is that it is all very speculative! There are genuine flood area cases but in every section of the report on a particular postcode it leans towards the side of EXTREME caution. I also live in a postcode 'within 500 metres of an area potentially affected by flooding.' It refers to a stream in a valley- bottom about 100 feet below us and at the limit of the 500 metres!

The site also gives extensive warnings about POSSIBLE earlier industrial use probably based on a bleach works that existed centuries ago on the same stream.

Take these reports as GUIDES for your own local research.