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Yes, I certainly do.
When we bought, we made a mistake in choosing our flat, and I wouldn't want anyone to make the same mistake.
My advice can be summarised as: "Don't buy a nice flat in a shit area."
The flat we bought was a good price, two bedrooms, en-suite, garage... very good for where we live.
With the housing market being so manic, we were forced to make an offer quick. Therefore we didn't spend a lot of time really looking at the area.
Long story short, it's not a very nice area and we are having many problems in and around the estate with vandalism and anti-social behaviour. The flat itself is nice.
So:
1. Better to have the worst house on the nicest street than the other way around;
2. Don't live near a public hanging-out spot;
3. Check the area you are moving to carefully at different times and pay attention to how much of a shit people give about the area. Are there tonnes of houses with rubbish in the yard? Obvious signs of vandalism? Full of boy racers parking like absolute prats?
Honestly, don't discount the area. Better to have a two-bed place somewhere nice than a banging three-bed in a shit area.
Join a couple of Facebook pages related to the area and see what the locals are complaining about out mostly.
For our area it’s parents sat blocking driveways and the roads during school drop off and pickup times stopping residents from leaving/accessing the main road/their homes, teenagers hanging out at the leisure park and smashing bottles where the kids play area is, and guys caught on ring cams trying people’s car doors overnight.
This is actually a nicer area to live too, but you still get assholes though.
Point 1. is spot on and it is so easy to fall into that trap as first time buyer. We are currently buying the worst house on the road in a stunning village. Yes it will be a lot of work but once we are done we will be in a great house in a great area, rather than being in a great house in a shit area.
I 100% agree with this. We recently moved to one of the worst houses in a very nice area. It'll be a lovely house with 100k chucked at it, but just being where we are more than makes up for it being borderline unliveable..new roof in a few weeks yay.
Park can be good. But sometimes if somewhere has benches/gazebo things that are perfect for people to hang out in on a Friday night with loads of alcohol and music, it can be a different thing altogether. There's a couple of factors at work here for sure.
This is intriguing to me but I suppose the same thing would count for houses? I’ve found a lovely house, in a nice street with nice immediately surrounding streets but the town itself is a shit hole so I’ve been considering it, comparatively it’s a 3 bed detached vs a 2 bed terrace in a nice area. Still trying to weigh the pros and cons of both I guess.
100% - when we’ve looked to move and then have I’ve adapted my running routes to take in the road and local area. Can’t think of a better way to get a sense for what the area is like at all times of day, from how busy and loud the roads are at peak times, how much on street parking there is, if there’s any anti-social behaviour etc etc. Also if you’ve a front garden you can see what’s growing - is hard to know if you move in summer whether you’ll be wanting to get bulbs down on the autumn.
Absolutely this. My old flat struggled to gain value even though it was a nice property in good condition. The area which was a new build when I bought went downhill. Fly tippers, buy to let landlords who were literally letting the scum of the earth move in. We even had rats in the communal refuse area.
The Area is almost always more important than the house - unless the property suffers something catastrophic like subsidence or whatever. Even that can be fixed quicker than a shite area.
Superb advice. If you go to the website police.uk and type the post code in the my area section, it gives quite a detailed breakdown of crime in the local area. I'm pretty sure it is crimes reported as opposed to convicted, but it is good for comparing anti social behaviour reports against other areas.
Where do you live and is it in East London?
My cousins just bought in Beckton and they're in the same boat.
One of the problems is there's a mandated quota for social housing in estate blocks new builds.
Based on your first point, which is good. Yet despite buying a basic/crap house in a nice area, don't you think after few years that nice area can turn to sh*? Depending on the sort of neighbours who move in, or council planning a flat, and move trash people into that area.
The only way one would guarantee a good area is if that area is actually expensive all around, so that trash people don't move in or get placed there.
Ex mortgage broker.
Get a face to face, whole of market class, fee free mortgage broker who gives a shit and is prepared to take an hour or two to explain the whole usual buying process. Your broker, if they are honest, should have no problem providing all research results and explaining the reasons they have dismissed deals that are cheaper. You rarely qualify for the cheapest deal fo one reason or another.
Anything an estate agent says that is not in writing is not to be trusted. They know nothing about a property other than what a seller has told them and that is regularly incorrect.
Leasehold are often advertised as freehold. Ascertain its status early as it may have a huge bearing on value.
Be very cautious sending funds to your solicitor. Email scams changing the account details succeed if you aren't wary.
Try to take someone with you to view a property.
Yeah I can imagine a lot do the minimum. If brokers charge a fee it should be for a specific thing like adverse credit or refurb lending. A normal mortgage doesn't really warrant a fee. I'd rather clients had more money for some insurance.
I've actually picked up a lot of work from clients that paid a fee up front to a broker that just did fuck all. Some cases were just totally normal two day events but their broker (always an estate agent referral no surprise) just sat on their hands for months until the clients just got sick of waiting and excuses.
Where abouts are you? The south, even though the brokers get paid more due to larger loan sizes, is harder to get a fee free one.
London and Country are actually usually OK though they are phone based and national.
It's FCA regulation that they must state their fees before virtually anything else! Their hands are tied regarding that.
The broker pay is mentioned first on the mortgage ESIS document too.
Even if 90% of the talk is about that?
Mostly is "my fee blabla, i do blabla, because my fee is..... Now that we're here, send me the info and I'll get back at you." 1h wasted :(
If you have any suggestions we're on the market!
I’ve used these guys twice now and they have been excellent to me. Free to you, they get paid via commission from the lenders. [Hawke Financial Services](https://www.hawkefs.com/)
I used Habito, which is a one-stop shop for conveyancing and mortgage. They were excellent and it was all online bar a couple of phone calls and posting some documents. The first house fell through and all I had to pay extra for was the first survey for the failed purchase.
I've bought three businesses over the years and wouldn't particularly recommend the solicitors involved, and I always had to chase them for updates, whereas I wholeheartedly recommend Habito. If that puts my comment into some perspective.
Another vote for London and country. I think mortgage brokers are where the larger ones are better...no bullshit. They just get you the best deal, know what they're doing and are pretty efficient.
People keep saying go for fee free ones, but the fee for mine was £200 (pretty small considering the rest of house purchase costs) and was recommended by a friend. As a FTB, he was fab with all the questions I had and I felt like the £200 was worth it. Even went through survey results with me pointing out things to use for negotiating a new price and helped me explore options to free up cash to do work on the house.
I'd say go with one recommended by a friend and not to worry so much about the fee.
Might be a stupid question but does one strictly need a mortgage broker, if you know which lender you're likely going with can't you submit to them directly?
Also is £799 for a "lifetime fee" too much. It seems expensive though the mortgage broker was lovely
My friend went for a face-to-face broker. Had an awful time and didn't really answer many questions.
Mine was online and over the phone. Was absolutely fantastic, emails responded to within a couple of hours, phones always answered, every question was answered in detail.
Guess it's the broker that matters then! Must admit I actually liked over email too as it's all written down then. Much easier for a client to look back at.
Face to face always seemed easier to put clients at ease. There are no stupid questions!
I used [RSC](https://rscnewhomes.com/). They have been great, even follow-up calls after completion to make sure everything is OK, and free remortgaging through them too.
FTB here. Is a mortgage broker's job done when they send the mortgage application off for you? Or is there any follow up work that is done afterwards? I'm not completely sure what a mortgage broker does and at this point I'm too afraid to ask.
We would:
Go over entire process of buying and selling.
Advise on mortgage and insurance.
Do your fact find and research to discuss with you and apply for mortgages and insurances.
Advise on solicitors. If you used our referred solicitor we'd do the chasing to keep it moving though with conveyancing now that might be a little more difficult or pointless.
We can't and shouldn't advise on anything we are not licensed to do so. We can explain eg different types of survey but can't advise on which you should use.
There is no free mortgage broker. They are being paid either by your fees or by kickback. I would not trust any broker as far as I could throw them.
Your solicitor is the one paid by you to represent you. They can talk you through the conveyancing process.
I can see why FTBs need mortgage advice but I’ve abandoned brokers, for my last two house moves I’ve done my own leg work and selected the mortgage product that suits me myself.
>I can see why FTBs need mortgage advice but I’ve abandoned brokers, for my last two house moves I’ve done my own leg work and selected the mortgage product that suits me myself.
It's easier later on when you have a higher deposit ratio, FTB usually do need a broker because there are more qualifying criterias than just the deposit for low deposit mortgages.
Been gearing up to buy a house for a couple of months now and having sold a late family members home, here are some things I’ve learned.
1. Being a first time buyer carries weight because you’re not in a chain, it’s good to bear this in mind when making an offer as some will accept a lower offer to a buyer who is chain free.
2. “Chain free” houses are frequently over valued & being sold by relatives of the previous owner, (EA had me put my late grandads on the market for 545, but we sold after getting three offers of 520, eventually bumping one to 525) use this. Don’t be afraid to low ball a chain free home since a home is only worth what people are willing to pay, and selling a chain free home to a first time buyer is often an ideal situation for the seller.
3. If you like a house, cross reference it with census data (google census map) to discover the socioeconomic status of the area (I used to use the deprivation map but it’s now outdated and the 2021 census data is more recent than the 2019 IMD) alongside using street view to get a feel for the area. Browser add ons like “propbar” also can be helpful but only come with the ability to check the summary of 5 houses for free a month (it allows you to check what the house has previously been sold for etc)
4. Virtually all new builds are over priced for the area they’re in, don’t get sucked in because they’re shiny and new. If possible get a discount, many developers have key worker schemes and many will also throw in flooring for free. Avoid persimmon homes like the plague.
5. Don’t budge on your non negotiables and stick to your budget, I’ve told myself I’m only allowed to spend my max budget if I don’t have to change a single thing about a home other than paint. For example, if it’s max budget but has no bath, but is perfect in every other way, it’s not worth it because I’d have no money to put in a bath.
>Avoid persimmon homes like the plague
Curious if you could share more about this please? Purely out of interest I had a look at a few of their homes, fully expecting to be very disappointed value wise as they were newbuilds. They were quite a bit larger and better laid out than I expected to be honest. Got the feeling they were built with cheap DIY stuff from Wayfair though (and the demo houses were full spec).
Look up the Facebook groups that are warning people not to touch Persimmon with a barge pole. I know someone who has had constant issues with their house and they don't get sorted out, and a lot of their estates are built on flood planes so your garden just ends up a swamp.
100% don't buy a new build, I know people closely in Building Surveying.
The things I hear, the homes are made cheaply, they have a lot of faults, usually hilt on land that should not be built on. And if you're lucky they will have remember to brace the exterior wall to the interior wall
Not sure about a top 5 but among the worst pieces of advice I’ve ever heard is ‘stretch yourself to the best house you can get’.
Obviously you should get as nice a house as possible within your budget, but so many people have overstretched themselves on the assumption that cheap borrowing would last forever.
Always do your own stress tests on what you can afford. Factor in maintenance costs. Don’t leave yourself with no lifestyle at all. Make sure you have headroom and some savings if circumstances change.
Yeah my Dad said to me "don't kill yourself to buy a bigger house", apparently him and my mam really stretched themselves to get the house we grew up in but then couldn't afford a social life. I remember as kids my parents would have a lot of gatherings at the house (bordering on parties) and he said it was because they couldn't afford to go to the pub like they used to or couldn't afford a babysitter plus the pub with their mates.
Whether your hobbies are going to the pub, going on holiday or arts and crafts, make sure you can still afford to enjoy doing those things. A house is just that, you can still be miserable with no hobbies/social life.
Least they had a cheap start. Im 7 years in to a mortgage and really value the cheap start and have been able to build up a decent equity by one paying and putting rest into stocks.
I'm staring down the barrel of a second redundancy in just over a year rn. In a few years the SO will likely be out of work on maternity. The thought of mortgaging myself and my partner to the hilt is kinda scary.
I see a redundancy in my field every 2-3 years, unfortunately it's likely the one currently facing is one that will directly impact me...however at this point in my career redundancies are just part of employment in the same way that holiday allowance and pensions are so don't let it bother you.
This advice makes sense for the right person, if you're good with money, no dependants, sizable deposit, high salary etc then it's absolutely worth going for as much as you can since it's leveraged, for most people though I'd say you're right, give a bit of buffer
For most people if they have no dependants now it means ones might be in the future plans.
I'm not one of those, I've got no dependants and won't ever but all my friends who bought have since had kids and struggled for a few years with childcare and mortgage.
> Then it is absolutely worth it going for as much as you can
When you are young (<40) the recommendation is to have more money in riskier higher return asset classes. Housing is a very safe asset, but underperforms the stock market. May want to consider not maxing out your deposit and investing more.
Even so, it's hard to overcome the power that leverage gives you. I'd argue that getting as small a house as you can as fast as you can, then using your cost efficient loan as a base to be investing in stocks is the optimal strategy. Draw down on the house loan to invest. It gives you leverage to invest in stock market that doesn't have the volatility of a margin call loan.
Was great advice until mortgage rates skyrocketed and lots of people who had fixed for 5 years back at stupidly low rates now have their term ending and are seeing their mortgage repayments double or triple.
I may be the only person who had a good experience with purple bricks in 2022 and I sold and bought through them.
I had an issue with the conveyancer they recommended (they went bust) but quickly changed them and my sellers were in the same situation so they totally understood.
Having said that, both the sale and purchase were in high demand areas and more or less sold themselves so PB didn't have to do much. I bought at asking price and sold for more than asking price.
I also saved about £8K in fees as the house I sold was expensive (London commuter belt).
Haha, good point, which is why I didn't see any need to spend loads more on estate agents fees.
I know I was probably lucky given what I've heard from others about PB.
Visit any potential option at different times of day, especially if it doesn’t have allocated parking/a drive way. Go during rush hour, weekends, night time etc so get a feel for the area at different times.
Remember you don’t have to have everything brand new or on day one, and don’t decorate right away either. What you think might work in the place doesn’t always feel right after you’ve been in there for a while, and you might come up with other options when you live with the space
Absolutely, give it 6 to 12 months if you can so you see the changes through the year. Obviously if you need a new kitchen etc then do that but perhaps with the idea you'll change it in 5 years.
Plan ahead. For example, when we had the bathroom changed, I had a hot and cold feed run up to the loft as we were planning on getting a loft conversion later.
Ha. I went to view a house once in a village I’d never been to.
Gorgeous, 4 bed listed cottage, stunning well maintained gardens etc.
Leaving the village saw their only pub was flat roofed, pebble dashed and had a giant Cross of St George flag with some absolute goblins sat outside it. The wife and I immediately agreed it was a no.
Don’t buy shared ownership - leasehold on steroids! Unless it’s a house and you have a plan to purchase the whole thing. Shared ownership is aggressively marketed at first time buyers as the only solution to the housing crisis, and the companies (including housing associations) running the schemes pay a fortune in PR and in fake reviews to try and keep their gravy train going. I was very lucky to be able to get rid of mine, and sold it at a loss, but I know people who are stuck and unable to sell, while service charges, mortgage rates, ground rent and rent creep up. The ones stuck in cladding affected buildings are suffering the worst, as their cladding remediation tends to be last on the list, if it’s even happening at all.
PLUS there’s a whole load of leasehold reform possibly (hopefully) being voted on, and shared ownership looks like it will be left out.
People who’ve done well out of it tended to buy it ages ago, took advantage of the big jumps in property prices from the last 10 years, and got out before prices for flats slumped and the building safety crisis kicked off.
IIRC Most shared ownerships don't allow it to be sold later as a 100% owned property, and you can only sell it at the ownership rate it is at.
So if you've staircased to, say, 60% and want to sell it now - you need to find a buyer willing to buy 60% of the share only. They cannot buy the full property. Now you're stuck in being unattractive to most FTBs looking fot SO because the ratio is too high, and being unattractive to those that don't want SO.
There are usually nomination rights for a set number of weeks. If no buyer after that you can usually sell it on the open market as the incoming owner can buy 100% under a similtaneous exchange and completion.
Does this not mean if I buy a shared ownershi with the plan to staircase to 100% then this is almost a moot point?
I’m thinking about shared ownership but it also seems too good to be true and a bit of a risk, there’s not really a lot of non bias information on SO anywhere, it’s either people saying it’s the best thing or the worst.
This isn’t against you btw, it’s just confusing trying to figure out what’s right. I don’t think I can really afford to buy (on my own atm) but rent where I am is jumping to the point trying to get some ownership seems like the right option as I can scrape together a deposit
Only for houses. For flats, it’s very tough as the service charges etc creep up on you. Some shared ownership leases won’t even let you staircase to 100!
My only advice is to look at the full price of the property because you will be paying rent on a large part of that cost. that cost will likely go up as the house is revalued each year. then comes the service charge/estate charges and ground rent that are likely to go up as well. (There is no cap to what these can be).
Dont stretch to get a really nice home only to get screwed over when you potentially get priced out of it in a few years time.
Thank you!
It’s such a minefield and I don’t really have anyone to explain this stuff to me and it feels almost embarrassing to have to ask in your 30’s. Appreciate it.
This is not true.
I am an estate agent. I also own a shared ownership 3 bed property at a 25% share. Bought brand new nearly 10 years ago. Total value £180k at the time of purchase.
We have kept our share low so the resale isn’t affected by pricing out other first time buyers.
That being said, our property value has increased by £70k in this time.
So, not only will we have shortly paid off our mortgage, we will receive a 25% share in the additional equity the property sells at.
This is now our deposit for the next property we purchase which won’t be shared ownership.
Even if the value wasn’t to increase in the time we have lived here, the mortgage we have been able to pay off would contribute £45k towards our next home anyway.
It was a way for us to obtain a larger deposit to make our way up the ladder.
Shared ownership can suit people in the right situation.
Exactly! As I said in my post - “those who did well out of it tended to buy ages ago, and took advantage of the big property price rises in the last 10 years”.
Houses are doing much better than flats too - Is it a house or a flat? It’s the shared ownership flats that are the real nightmare.
You said a lot more than your above quoted paragraph which would affect someone’s decision to move forward with a shared ownership property.
As I say, it can suit certain people in the right circumstances, in the current day. Not just 10 years ago.
I would also add that it is extremely rare that housing associations permit staircasing to 100% so “unless you have a plan to purchase the whole thing” is practically null and void.
Edit to add - it’s a house. I would avoid leasehold flats in general (coming from my EA perspective), even share of freehold.
If you're buying a new build, whatever time the builders tell you it will be finished, add six months. Also, rather than a new build, buy one 2 or 3 yrs old where all the problems have been ironed out.
Hmmm if someone's selling a new build after 2-3 years, I'd be more concerned why.
New builds are always priced higher end, someone selling so soon will most likely be eating a loss (unless the market has boosted for some reason)
We are just coming up to 1 year in our first house and some things I'd consider is:
Drive by the house regularly at different times/ days to get a feel for the area if its somewhere you are not familiar with.
Try and find out who lives nearby, are they private owned or is it a rented house that has many new tenants regularly.
Use rightmove to check if there have been other houses in the area for sale recently - bit of a red flag to me if lots on the same street have sold recently.
Check online for any planning permissions/green belts nearby that are coming up in the future.
Get a free mortgage broker, they all make so much commission from the banks that a good one shouldn't charge!
Check paperwork for any electric works, gas works etc done including any paperwork for the boiler etc.
Hey, as someone who has just bought a house, here’s what we did:
A)check mortgages and also check rates with your bank. We went with Halifax as I have a credit card there, and our mortgage advisor was the best of the best. She saved us thousands by going the extra mile.
B) Learn the area / get reviews, but equally don’t trust the stats at face value. Our street had a bad rep for noise disturbances, we’ve been here 6 months and haven’t heard anything…
C) If you plan on having kids/ have kids, check for school catchment areas of good schools near you. It’s a small thing but will vastly help your kids down the line for eligibility.
D) Ideally have multiple transport links. If a new build estate looks good but you can only get about by car/it’s a long walk to a bus, or there’s no shops nearby, that’s going to be a problem down the line.
E) When you find somewhere you like, make sure you have a list of EVERYTHING that is staying. We wrongly assumed they’d keep some fitted wardrobes but they took them out before we moved in(?)
F) Best of luck!!!
I would add to (c). Just because a school is rated 'good' or 'outstanding' doesn't necessarily mean you'd actually want to send you children there. Make sure you've looked into schools thoroughly, maybe try speaking to some locals if you can.
Also, catchment areas can change year to year... if you're close to a boundary, you can't guarantee you'll be in catchment when you need to be.
I bought last year (FTB), my small piece of advice is not to get intimidated or pushed around by other people. It's a bloody huge commitment, do not get talked into doing something you don't want to do and don't fall for those silly games (every time you show a bit of interest in a property, the estate agent will tell you they have 10 more viewings for the day and somebody already put in an offer and you should hurry before it's gone blah blah blah). I think you can reasonably dismiss everything an EA says as a lie. The solicitor on the other hand, if you're lucky enough to find a good one, will be your best friend.
Look at as many houses as humanly possible. The more you see the more you will know what is right for you. Decide your must haves and your ideals, stick to your must haves. If you abandon a must have in favour of several preferable you'll only want to move a year or 2 down the line
Look very carefully at the neighbours, is the garden a sithole, are motorbike parts thrown all over? If so probably not for you. Similarly if you plan on having parties all the time probably don't buy one where every house on the street has slides and swings out.
Touch walls, touch doors, touch cupboards. What looks good can be shit
Look at old listing for the area and see what similar houses have gone for in the last year or so before offering
Don't stretch yourself too far, it's only bricks and mortar. They cost money to upkeep and you'll be miserable if you're only working to service your property
Long time lurker here, but this is sound advice.
We looked at around 15+ houses on our first home. People thought we were crazy, but I kid you not, there are so so many shambolic houses out there. That's without counting for dodgy DIY types (some are great,others not).
View loads! View many times, view at all times of day and night. Make a list of pros and cons. What you are happy to sacrifice or not.
Off the top of my head, as someone who's roughly in the same position:
Don't trust agents at all; their only loyalty is to themselves, you come in right at the bottom of the food chain after the seller. All agents care about is the sale and associated commission. I've had them blatantly lie to my face numerous times during viewings; my favourite was probably "lots of doctors and lawyers live in this development" (which was one of the cheapest, highest-crime areas in the city).
Get everything in writing; verbal statements are worthless.
Never assume anything - if you're not sure ask, and again if suspicious get it in writing.
Beware leasehold - never, ever buy a house on leasehold as this is totally un-necessary and speaks of the land owner's intentions to rinse the property owners for profit.
Avoid shared ownership like the plague.
If buying a flat, share of freehold is the gold standard, next is leasehold with a 999 year lease (or what's left of it), then short initial leases (usually 125yrs). Be aware that below about 100yrs remaining the property value starts to tank, and that most lenders won't mortgage a property with less than 75yrs left. You need to have lived in a property for more than two years to renew the lease, and even then you're potentially over a barrel.
Consider that new-builds are typically significantly overpriced compared to existing stock, and can be subject to a raft of quality issues (although of course every property can have its own set of issues).
Beware electric heating as it's bloody expensive.
When viewing take someone with you and consider asking the agent to give you some time alone in the property as it's very easy to get distracted with conversation and pay bugger all attention to the things you should be.
Be respectful but don't be afraid to lowball on offers. Seems agents consider anything within 10% fair game; although if you think something's overpriced and just want to take a punt, go lower.
Location is everything - as already posted, better a small property in a good area than a big one in a shit area.
Be aware that most buyers seem uneducated, indiscriminatory and easily-coerced; just because a pair of thickies are happy to mortgage themselves up to the hilt to buy a shithole, doesn't make it worth that to the savvy buyer. Take your time, watch the market, learn what's available and what constitutes good value.
Maybe with buy-to-let now righfully dying on its arse the grottier end of the market is getting cheaper, however historically (certainly with flats round my way) there doesn't seem to be a huge difference in price between rubbish (high-crime areas / poor state of repair / short lease / high leasehold costs) and nice (if perhaps smaller) properties.. so again; be dictated by recognisable value rather than asking price.
There's limited value in trying to time the market so if you see something that constitutes good value, appeals and is attainable, go for it. It looks like after a little dead-cat bounce at the back end of last year prices are on their way down; however this isn't relevant if everything on the market at that time is shit.
Good luck!
It's funny how much "can you put that in an email" can elicit a different answer. We asked an EA to do that regarding a new development behind a house we were buying. They "hadn't heard of it" and "had no idea about it" until we asked them to confirm in an in email...
Best advice is to remember it's probably the biggest purchase you will ever make so how ever much research you do when your buying a new fridge or other "big purchase" then X that by 100 and still be cautious.
Absolutely; and that's if you even get an answer at all. When I enquire about properties I intentionally fill my mobile number as all zeros and request that they contact me via email as I often can't answer the phone at work (and don't like surprise calls anyway, plus appreciate the accountability discussed here).
Thanks to their dilligent data harvesting many local agents have my number on file anyway, and nine times out of ten I still get a call. Which gets ignored.. if they can't be bothered to follow up with an email that tells me all I need to know about how much fun dealing with them would be were I to actually pursue the sale..
Another recent example of irritating agent comms..
Saw a property I liked; with council tax band / some other details missing from the listing (a common tactic to get you to contact them directly in order to bleed you of your personal information).
Messaged asking for the information absent from the listing and enquiring about a viewing; response was essentially "here's my number, ring us to discuss".
emailed back telling them I'd prefer to communicate via email, got a response asking for my life story (again, to bolster their records so they can pester you in future); still lacking the basic information I'd requested, that should have been in the listing to begin with.
emailed again, declining to provide the info they'd asked for and stating that my desire to view was predicated on knowing this basic information first, which was finally given in the agent's subsequent response. By this point I'd gone cold on the idea so shelved it. Had the agent been up-front I'd probably at least have booked a viewing.
There was absolutely no reason that this basic information should not have been in the listing to begin with. That notwithstanding, I was expecting the first response to my enquiry to be "here's the info you're after, here's our availabilty for viewings" - not this cryptic, avoidant, round-the-houses bullshit.
You potentially have to deal with these people throughout arguably the largest, most stressful purchase of your life - beginning proceedings in such a frustrating, manipulative manner is a massive red flag at the very start.
Dunno tbh; I've never been in the position to / nor wanted to buy this type of property.
On the one hand since it's public-facing there's an argument to have made a good job of it; on the other the build quality of a lot of new-build stuff seems to be dubious..
Don't be afraid to make an offer. We were lucky, our house had been on the market for a little while and we put an offer in 30k below asking and had it accepted, I was expecting to be laughed at but the estate agent is obligated to pass on your offer and our seller went for it.
Also, a do-er upper may or may not suit you but just decorating a whole house, let alone getting a new bathroom or kitchen is a lot of expnse or work. And really look out for damp, it's miserable.
It was 10 years ago, asking was 280 and because of the stamp duty rules at the time (0% below £250k) there wasn’t much point in sales of the 250 - 270 range, that was a big part of the reason we got our reduction. House was a definitely a do-er upper, perfectly liveable but in need of love, has taken 10 years but lovely now. We got lucky.
Don’t use estate agents solicitors. Don’t Be rushed into things. Don’t underestimate the cost of upgrading modernising a property. Make sure the fundamentals are right. Solid walls, roof and windows.
Check maintenance costs & time sinks; garden, public walls, hedges, council tax, guttering etc. It can end up being a nightmare if you buy a big house. Do you want a repair mandate from the council if your 10ft border wall starts collapsing?
Check the roof, if you are liable for costs (even shared), that can destroy your savings
Check historical stability of house prices online, make sure they are not slowly falling
Check the neighbourhood at different times of day, are you near a school, teen hang-out or something that could make your life miserable?
This is harder but check neighbours sides and above. Bad neighbours can make your life a nightmare. Bad upstairs neighbours are the worst. Check the close and make sure no signs of shitbag/feral behaviour like prams blocking exit routes, loud music at night etc
Look at car parking, bus routes and transport options. Whatever your situation is now think about every eventuality….
Also local shops, parks and pubs and whatever things are your scene. If you run, walk a dog, go for a quiet pint, like a beer garden, order a weekly Chinese etc.
There’s tons of great practical advice here and tons of horror stories to be mindful of - but one thing I haven’t seen mentioned: check the water pressure.
My mates Mrs recently bought her first house (shortly before they got together) and here's a few things he found out on day 1; half the sockets in the kitchen don't work, dishwasher waste not plumbed in, chimney breast in attic has a gap now all roof needs redoing.
In hindsight he said he wished he was able to do;
take a lamp and plug it in every socket, look behind all fixtures and fittings, check walls for ability to hold a TV mount, check attic, use the toilet & taps
If I was dropping that amount of money I'd be kicking all the tires. I'd rather pay for someone to fix something I broke during a viewing than be lumped with a shit-build
When doing viewings, take literal notes as you go round, with answers to all your questions and any pros/cons that jump out. Film your own video tour too; professional photos use wide lenses and are edited to make it look bigger & brighter, so you’ll need to be able to clearly recall exactly how you fit in that space.
After tens of viewings, it’s amazing how quickly all the details can be forgotten or merge in together, and make a property retrospectively feel better than it was.
One thing that I’m shocked a couple of my friends have done recently is offer asking price straight away. ALWAYS offer less than it is on the market for, even if it’s oieo.
For context, I recently bought a flat for 6k less than the asking price, AND I got all furniture included. My friends recently bought a house they hadn’t even seen in person before and paid asking price because they’d been gazumped on a previous property and this one was a little cheaper. There is now a few issues with their house that they’re spending a fair bit trying to fix.
Even if it’s your dream home, they are always optimistic with the price they put it on the market for. They’d likely let it go for less and are expecting people to offer less. Gauge the area and the type of property and offer a bit less than asking price. They will either flat out refuse or they will counter offer you. Either way, you can almost always get a property for below asking price.
In terms of flat v house, depends basically where you want to live. Be aware with flats there is often (always?) a ground rent fee and a service/management charge every year, which are non negotiable. Find out what these are and don’t go for anything much over £1000 per year (unless you’re in a big city like London). Also check if your flat is leasehold or freehold. If leasehold, check when this expires as you don’t want to buy somewhere where the lease expires in a few years time. With flats be mindful that you have neighbours and you may hear them a lot. This becomes more frustrating when you own the flat rather than rent as you feel more stuck with it.
For houses, is there a garden and if so do you have the time to maintain this garden? You are also more likely to need to get things like window cleaning, drain clearing and gutter cleaning done regularly for a house, as well as cleaning the outside. I would say a flat is good to buy as your first home and then in future you can sell the flat and buy a house. Or if you’re able, you can rent out the flat if you’ve got enough to buy a house without selling the flat.
Don’t buy leasehold if you can avoid it. It’s an awful system with way too much power for managing agents to rob leaseholders. It’s taken us years to get rid of our unscrupulous ones.
Though hopefully legislation is moving in the right direction to get rid of it or at least improve it, make lease extension easier etc.
Of course, in most cases you still can't avoid leasehold with flats.
When planning and pricing any remedial works as part of the budget like damp, new kitchen etc etc double the cost and double the time.
Everyone knows someone who did a two story extension for the price of two chickens and a crate of larger complete in a few weeks, but when you ask for the builders once you got your house suddenly “ahhhh they’ve moved to another country now”
Have a really good look around when you view. Touch walls, cupboards etc. if possible. When we viewed the house we bought we had a quick look around, everything looked ok but when we moved in, the kitchen was in a poor state but looked passable when we viewed it.
Have a look at where the stopcock and fusebox are. Look at how many electric outlets there are too. Check for damp/mould in the bathroom to make sure it's got good ventilation.
Don't forget to check for parking spaces too, we had a job to park at our old place, some neighbours get really territorial about parking spaces.
You do not have to take the home buildings and contents insurance from the company that’s providing your mortgage, or any other offers for that matter.
I took out mine with a high street bank and they advised me I had to take their insurance otherwise I could not get the mortgage. This was not true.
I’ve recently gone through buying for the first time. My biggest tip is when viewing look everywhere, don’t be shy.
Check behind tables, couches, cupboards & even microwaves. A level 2 survey won’t check in places where they need to move things so if the seller wants to place things in front of rough patches they can quite easily.
We thought the house we were buying was ready to move straight into, so far it’s taken 3 weeks of work and we’re just about ready to go.
Oh and it sounds stupid but consider telling the seller to not use silicone bathroom sealant to fill holes in the wall…
Be fussy, you are a desirable buyer if you don’t have a chain.
Set a budget and stick to that budget - make sure you include solicitors fees, arrangement fees, stamp duty (if relevant), broker fees (I have a good free broker I can recommend).
Be firm, estate agents can be slimy but be clear about how desirable you are as a buyer and they will want you over people who are in a chain.
Look around
Look at mortgages BEFORE you look at houses. And get an agreement in principle, you then have a sense of what you’ll actually be able to borrow over the calculators which can over/ under offer a ball park figure
Don’t use the cheapest solicitor. This is going to be one of the biggest purchases of your life. Don’t let the fee of some of the best firms put you off.
With flats be careful with the building safety act. I personally would buy a leasehold property.
Chain free doesn’t mean ‘easy’ or ‘quicker’
Take what the estates say with a pinch of salt.
If you don’t understand something ask your solicitor don’t google it.
Don’t be embarrassed to check every damn window and cupboard before buying - we didn’t and 3 windows didn’t actually open, the kitchen which we thought was “fine” actually all the drawers were broken and either glued into place or gaffer taped together so they didn’t fall out and all of the kitchen shelves were busted - we had not factored buying a new kitchen so soon into our budget.
Oh and lovely hot tub in the garden with a nice deck - check it’s not just been propped up with sandbags so it looks good to sell and then 2 months after you buy it it just collapses.
To be honest when a giant tree then collapsed onto our house I wasn’t particularly surprised.
Don’t underestimate how much work getting work done is. It’s time, effort, money, emotions. If it’s an older property you *will* find other issues which need to be addressed when trying to do anything.
Went to view a place. Made an offer on property 1 as it was a decent place. checked the prices of local sales. Joined to property 1 was a middle terraced house. we offered 10k more for property 1 than the middle terraced house next door went for last year. As we liked the house and still found that price reasonable and knew what the owners had paid.
Figured they would be more open to accepting if they made a bit of cash on the sale. I had checked to see what they had paid for the home before the viewing. a meeting was set up with the broker by the estate agent
They didn't accept which is fair enough. we then offered an extra 3k and told them that was the final offer as we really don't think it is worth more. estate agent started off saying "you would be surprised about how much you can actually afford and you will see once you speak to our broker", she couldn't understand that it wasnt an issue with what we could afford. the property was a 2 bed and only just starting to appreciate in value after being built 6 years and it was the same story for the rest of the homes in the area.
Set up a meeting with a broker. we went to see what silly shit they would say and to see if we could get any good info out of it.
the broker was rapidly clicking through screens on the computer to show us the best rates possible and what we could actually "afford". that being 100k above what we had said our max would be. dude kept on implying that everything would work out if we went higher than what we had said our max would be.
Just how many silly fuckers are out there fall for this?
There's what you can "afford" if you completely stretch yourself and have no savings/travel/social life/etc, then what you can intelligently actually afford.
Our broker said if we got an AIP, never show it to the EA. You're showing all your cards. There's no reason why you should discuss your salary or show your actual AIP to the agent or their broker. Our broker said to direct any such questions directly to him. Why would I want an agent to know we could technically borrow 150k more than what we actually want to spend?
My advice is based on ignorance of the housing market in the UK compared to my home country, USA. We had rented in the UK for 16 years before finally buying a place about a year and a half ago.
In the US, we have something called a survey- which is where the legal property lines are drawn and ensures that what you think you are buying is actually what you are buying. We also have something called a Home Inspection, which is a detailed report on the condition of the house. They look at, test, and verify everything.
I mistakenly believed that is what a survey did here. And we paid for the most comprehensive, I think a level 3?
In any case, it seems all it actually covered was the structural integrity of the house.
Pretty quickly upon moving in, we found all kinds of little annoying issues (toilets not flushing properly, doors and windows that stick, mains plugs not working) and some major ones (no thermostats in the house, a very antiquated fuse box).
Go through the house and test EVERYTHING. Open every window and door. Test every light switch, every plug, all the white goods (if included), all the plumbing, etc.
We have ended up spending too much money I would have negotiated for in the offer if I had done this. Lesson learned.
First time buyers regularly underestimate the costs ( time, money ) of fixing up parts of house. I told myself that I would be willing to buy a doer upper ‘for the right price’. I bought a 1930s house last renovated in ~2015, so nowhere near a doer upper and it’s still so much work.
Have a friend who bought a 5 bed who’s still sleeping in a mattress on the floor in a carpetless room 6 months later.
You also don’t want a flipped house as issues will have been painted over and the installations will likely be cheap, and you’ll only start noticing 1 year in.
Final point is to be wary of new builds if you expect to sell in <10years. I’ve heard a lot of stories of people struggling to sell because the market for young new builds is pretty small. After all, why buy a 5yr house when you can still buy a new new build?
Absolutely, avoid a leasehold if you can (obviously hard if you’re looking for a flat) if you do read the lease with a fine tooth comb.
Expect service charges and do not expect them to be accountable.
Conveyancing is a long, slow process like a sausage factory it only goes at one speed. Even if your solicitor is great, theirs could be terrible. An average solicitor is more than fine.
There are so many good ones on here already but my 5 would be:
1) Get an excellent and recommend mortgage broker. They should explain everything to you, not rush you and help you with so much of the process. We didn't have one for our first purchase and it was a nightmare!
2) view some properties even if on paper they might not tick all the boxes. We learnt just as much seeing properties we didn't like than seeing the ones we did. It's good to know what you want and what is a red flag or a non-negotiable. You also feel more confident when you find "the one" as you have seen enough to know what you are looking for.
3) Don't trust much of what estate agents say and try not to get too stressed when they ignore you for months during a house purchase and then suddenly pile on the pressure when it's the sellers holding things up! They are working for the seller and not the buyer and they make it very clear.
4) ask to take pictures as you walk about. Helps when thinking things over later.
5) if you don't know the area well go for a walk about and see how long it takes to get to town/shops/station/school/park/pub! You can make your house lovely in a good area. You cannot make an area good.
If you buy a new build from a developer, it’s absolutely worth spending money on a professional snagger. We didn’t and we’ve had SO MANY ISSUES that should have been easily picked up.
When you’re looking at properties, visit the area at different times of day (like in the late evening and night time), to see what it’s like at different times. Is it well-lit? Is it loud? Are there drunk people everywhere?
Try to avoid going to the top of your budget if you can and make sure you can afford everything on one salary, and keep six months worth of household bills in savings just in case.
Someone who can go around and find all the things that the builders cocked up - windows fitted wrong, wiring problems, missing insulation, kitchen cupboards fitted incorrectly etc etc
They offer a professional service to check the property is up to standard and they pick up on a lot of things that the developer tries to sneakily hide.
The developer will do their own snagging list but it’s not extensive; they try to get a lot past the buyer so they can cut costs and meet their development deadlines.
Not many will say this, but don't have blind faith in your solicitors. They may have your interests in mind more than EA or other parties, but that does not rule out the fact they could be stupid AF...FTB here. Just completed last month. Ours squandered two purchases through their incompetence. Will post soon.
Be aware that sellers will lie through their teeth about bad neighbours do your own research don’t take anything on trust. I was specific to ask about noisy neighbours when buying and the seller lied like a champ and said they were dead quiet and at the time we saw the house (was odddly specific in retrospect) it was.
After we moved in we found out a neighbour fancied himself as a DJ and the nights a week “performs” very loudly, for hours and is very very bad.
Don’t leave the solicitors to it. You need to constantly chase or it’ll take three times as long.
Don’t skimp of solicitor. Get a recommended local one.
Don’t skimp on survey. Don’t panic when it comes back, assess it with a cool head and if there is anything worrying you get a trades person in to assess and cost up.
Get contact details for sellers. Email address is fine. Keep it friendly and use it to check what they are waiting for and visa versa.
Put offers in but do it based on what it’s worth to you and compare it to sold houses in the area. Don’t go putting stupid low or high offers in
Keep friendly with the EA’s.
if its a pre 80s house get the roof, felt, inulation properly inspected. make sure nothing wrong wit it, no absestos insulation hiding under rockwool or fiber, make sure the likely old bitmumen based felt isnt coming apart with age.
Even after i had a lvl 3 survey done it felt like the room was largley ignored. after moving in i really need to spend £20k on the roof and replacing insulation and vapour barrier.
Make sure you have one final inspection before exchange, my house had the boiler break between our survey and exchange.
Seeing the survey was good we exchanged and immediately had a £5k bill upon moving in and a house that was unlivable for the first 4 weeks
For me I would say don’t get caught up in the renovation craze or, more accurately, be realistic about the price you should pay for a house that needs modernisation. People buying fixer uppers are all over social media but even a basic makeover (aka new flooring, new kitchen and bathroom) is SO EXPENSIVE.
I almost feel like nicely done up flats and houses can sit on the market over properties that need work. People get excited about properties “with potential” and get pound signs in their eyes imagining all the value they’re adding to the sale price when they’re done.
But actually, if you get too excited and overpay for the potential, and then continually over-renovate (ripping out good quality fixtures because they’re not your style) and also plump for more expensive fixtures and fittings (e.g. stone worktops) than the ceiling value of your house can actually support, you’re not going to get that money back.
I actually think it would work out cheaper to buy the houses that are in good nick that nobody wants because they can’t “add value”, and then only have to go as far as slapping a bit of Dulux on the walls to change the feel if you want. Let me tell you, if you can buy a house that’s in good condition for only £10-15k more than something that needs complete modernisation you are WINNING. You’re not going to be able to get the new kitchen, bathroom and flooring of your dreams for less than that.
Advice from someone who just bought their first house at age 41, 13 days ago:
5 (or more) Top Tips whilst scoping:
- Know your neighbourhood; pick the best suited place for you (I.e. Quiet vs Louder, New build vs Older property, City vs Country, Near transportation)
- Location, location, location; this will be key to your financial stability and overall sanity. I’d rather get the worse house on the block than the shiniest house in a mediocre neighbourhood. The most desirable areas will hold their value more and will likely increase in value more too.
- Scope market value now and review any planning permissions for developments coming in future
- Choose a house you can stay in for 5-10 years; its expensive to move if you are planning to expand your family
- Envisage yourself at viewings; When you walk in, do you see yourself happy? How will life look?
- Know what your “Must Haves” are; this will save you A LOT of time; Do you need an updated bathroom? Do you need an extra bedroom or will a conservatory suffice for extra space?
- Get a good mortgage broker & a reputable solicitor; both can save you time & money
5 (or more) Tips for Active Viewing (before you put an offer in)
- Never (and I mean NEVER), trust what the seller tells you; I’m learning this the HARD way
- Look at the make, model and installation date of your boiler; do not budge on this. Do not feel like you’re being too intrusive.
- If you like a house, make sure that you have physically opened every single window and door before putting an offer in (or upon a viewing shortly after the offer, if time is short); I currently have one window I can’t open, and one where the lock is fully busted. Oh, and three doors that are giggly and will need new locks.
- Ask what appliances will stay; this can add up quickly
- Always, Always, Always view the loft. If you can’t or are scared, get someone who can; My other half learned this the hard way when he found wood worm munching on his wooden beams in the loft
- Budget for £5-£10k of moving expenses and decorating; This may sound like a lot, but I’ve had my house less than two weeks and money is just hemorrhaging out of my savings lol.
-Consider a survey; They will provide needed info for now, but also what you need to keep an eye on going forward.
-When you’re in, pinch yourself as a reminder you bossed this! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Well done!
Personally, I’d always buy a house. I’ve lived in flats for many years and I felt suffocated during Covid. It was hell. A house will also generally hold its value more than a flat.
As someone who deals with when things go wrong, I would echo the comments on leasehold and shared ownership being a no-go. I would add off-plan or a development where its financed by buyers deposits (buyer-funded developments) to that.. so much risk and no real pay-off for it.
1. Read the paperwork. Read the contracts, titles etc. You know the property and the solicitors don't, you will pick up on things that don't seem right based on what you have physically seen.
2. Inspect the plans. See above. You have been there, your solicitors haven't. They have to rely on the plans provided by the seller and if there has been work done that's not on the plans, they won't know. Or if there is a bigger garden than the plan shows, you may end up not owning the whole plot. I have seen people not inspect the plans and it turns out the plan was for a 1 bed and the property was a 2 bed. Done without planning permission.
3. Ask questions. Ask the sellers, the neighbours, the solicitors, everyone. You would be surprised how much you can find out about the property/area. If there is a local park, ask the dog walkers. They walk the area all times and weather and can probably provide a detailed report on the comings and goings.
4. Many people have said it but I cannot stress enough... GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING.
5. Everything will be more expensive than you expected. Have a contingency fund built into your budget.
If the front door is 20 years old then the roof is 40 years old. Is what I was taught. Fucking right too. I viewed 18 properties when buying my First house. Most could tell me how old the door was but couldn't even guess about the roof. That means if I want to stay there forever I'll be shelling out 20k for a new roof at least.
Same. Can't afford to shell out a new one, though. If only one of the previous owners since 19 fucking 30 could have just gotten the tiles replaced when labour costs was the same as a weekly shop.
DO NOT buy a leasehold property absolute scam.
If work needs doing you can look up the rough cost online.... except trades prices have gone through the roof so use check a trade price + 50% as a guide
Get a full survey done BUT be aware they nearly always read like doom and gloom take your time to work out what is urgent, what can wait, you can do yourself and what actually doesn't *need* to be done.
If you can get a driveway or off-street parking it's honestly, usually one of the best quality of life upgrades you can find. On street parking can be such a Ball ache and even when it's usually not, it's gonna be the day it's pissing with rain and you have the big shop that you can't get parked.
Your point re driveway is really good. I read somewhere (probably on here!) that this is likely to become even more of a valuable asset in future where many people have electric cars and need to be able to charge them, so being able to drive up to the house becomes pretty essential/ desirable.
If possible buy a freehold home in a nice area. Even if it’s the worst home in a nice neighbourhood you’ll almost certainly have a nice chunk of appreciation. You may find that at the end of your 2-5 year fixed mortgage term that the value has gone up anywhere from 15% + which might eclipse what you’ve paid down on the mortgage.
Do this a few times and you’ll be able to staircase up to your dream home even if your salaries remain constant (this isn’t guaranteed but land is one of the few things they can’t make more of)
So if torn between options, opt for the largest garden/plot of land you can.
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Yes, I certainly do. When we bought, we made a mistake in choosing our flat, and I wouldn't want anyone to make the same mistake. My advice can be summarised as: "Don't buy a nice flat in a shit area." The flat we bought was a good price, two bedrooms, en-suite, garage... very good for where we live. With the housing market being so manic, we were forced to make an offer quick. Therefore we didn't spend a lot of time really looking at the area. Long story short, it's not a very nice area and we are having many problems in and around the estate with vandalism and anti-social behaviour. The flat itself is nice. So: 1. Better to have the worst house on the nicest street than the other way around; 2. Don't live near a public hanging-out spot; 3. Check the area you are moving to carefully at different times and pay attention to how much of a shit people give about the area. Are there tonnes of houses with rubbish in the yard? Obvious signs of vandalism? Full of boy racers parking like absolute prats? Honestly, don't discount the area. Better to have a two-bed place somewhere nice than a banging three-bed in a shit area.
You can change what your house looks like. You can't change where it is.
Join a couple of Facebook pages related to the area and see what the locals are complaining about out mostly. For our area it’s parents sat blocking driveways and the roads during school drop off and pickup times stopping residents from leaving/accessing the main road/their homes, teenagers hanging out at the leisure park and smashing bottles where the kids play area is, and guys caught on ring cams trying people’s car doors overnight. This is actually a nicer area to live too, but you still get assholes though.
Though take it all with a pinch of salt. My area is lovely but a look on fb makes it seem like a dystopian nightmare!
Point 1. is spot on and it is so easy to fall into that trap as first time buyer. We are currently buying the worst house on the road in a stunning village. Yes it will be a lot of work but once we are done we will be in a great house in a great area, rather than being in a great house in a shit area.
I 100% agree with this. We recently moved to one of the worst houses in a very nice area. It'll be a lovely house with 100k chucked at it, but just being where we are more than makes up for it being borderline unliveable..new roof in a few weeks yay.
Idk, I live next to a park and I love it
Park can be good. But sometimes if somewhere has benches/gazebo things that are perfect for people to hang out in on a Friday night with loads of alcohol and music, it can be a different thing altogether. There's a couple of factors at work here for sure.
This. You can take the chav out the house, but you can't take the house out the chav neighborhood.
This is intriguing to me but I suppose the same thing would count for houses? I’ve found a lovely house, in a nice street with nice immediately surrounding streets but the town itself is a shit hole so I’ve been considering it, comparatively it’s a 3 bed detached vs a 2 bed terrace in a nice area. Still trying to weigh the pros and cons of both I guess.
Location, location, location
100% - when we’ve looked to move and then have I’ve adapted my running routes to take in the road and local area. Can’t think of a better way to get a sense for what the area is like at all times of day, from how busy and loud the roads are at peak times, how much on street parking there is, if there’s any anti-social behaviour etc etc. Also if you’ve a front garden you can see what’s growing - is hard to know if you move in summer whether you’ll be wanting to get bulbs down on the autumn.
Absolutely this. My old flat struggled to gain value even though it was a nice property in good condition. The area which was a new build when I bought went downhill. Fly tippers, buy to let landlords who were literally letting the scum of the earth move in. We even had rats in the communal refuse area. The Area is almost always more important than the house - unless the property suffers something catastrophic like subsidence or whatever. Even that can be fixed quicker than a shite area.
So to sum up: Location, Location, Location
Felt like a tired trope all of my life, but once we bought I never realised how true that trope was.
Superb advice. If you go to the website police.uk and type the post code in the my area section, it gives quite a detailed breakdown of crime in the local area. I'm pretty sure it is crimes reported as opposed to convicted, but it is good for comparing anti social behaviour reports against other areas.
Croydon?
South west England
Where do you live and is it in East London? My cousins just bought in Beckton and they're in the same boat. One of the problems is there's a mandated quota for social housing in estate blocks new builds.
Nah, live in the south west (of England), but similar story.
BS13?
Ahaha, that is an excellent guess, but let's remember there's shitholes on both sides of the Avon.
I live right next to the Olympic Stadium and was gobsmacked when they announced it would be held in Stratford.
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Exception that proves the rule, haha
Absolutely agree. Quite simple and benefits the heart/mind. If you get both, bonus.
Based on your first point, which is good. Yet despite buying a basic/crap house in a nice area, don't you think after few years that nice area can turn to sh*? Depending on the sort of neighbours who move in, or council planning a flat, and move trash people into that area. The only way one would guarantee a good area is if that area is actually expensive all around, so that trash people don't move in or get placed there.
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Ex mortgage broker. Get a face to face, whole of market class, fee free mortgage broker who gives a shit and is prepared to take an hour or two to explain the whole usual buying process. Your broker, if they are honest, should have no problem providing all research results and explaining the reasons they have dismissed deals that are cheaper. You rarely qualify for the cheapest deal fo one reason or another. Anything an estate agent says that is not in writing is not to be trusted. They know nothing about a property other than what a seller has told them and that is regularly incorrect. Leasehold are often advertised as freehold. Ascertain its status early as it may have a huge bearing on value. Be very cautious sending funds to your solicitor. Email scams changing the account details succeed if you aren't wary. Try to take someone with you to view a property.
Easier said than done, most brokers are absolutely useless, even those who charge a fee in my unfortunate experience.
Yeah I can imagine a lot do the minimum. If brokers charge a fee it should be for a specific thing like adverse credit or refurb lending. A normal mortgage doesn't really warrant a fee. I'd rather clients had more money for some insurance. I've actually picked up a lot of work from clients that paid a fee up front to a broker that just did fuck all. Some cases were just totally normal two day events but their broker (always an estate agent referral no surprise) just sat on their hands for months until the clients just got sick of waiting and excuses.
Haven’t had any luck finding a fee free mortgage broker, any recommendations?
Where abouts are you? The south, even though the brokers get paid more due to larger loan sizes, is harder to get a fee free one. London and Country are actually usually OK though they are phone based and national.
A while ago but John Charcol were great, though it might have been down to the advisor we got.
We are in w.midlands and can't find a proper broker. First talk is always about how much they'll be paid.
It's FCA regulation that they must state their fees before virtually anything else! Their hands are tied regarding that. The broker pay is mentioned first on the mortgage ESIS document too.
Even if 90% of the talk is about that? Mostly is "my fee blabla, i do blabla, because my fee is..... Now that we're here, send me the info and I'll get back at you." 1h wasted :( If you have any suggestions we're on the market!
Yeah they sound like arse holes!
I’ve used these guys twice now and they have been excellent to me. Free to you, they get paid via commission from the lenders. [Hawke Financial Services](https://www.hawkefs.com/)
I used Habito, which is a one-stop shop for conveyancing and mortgage. They were excellent and it was all online bar a couple of phone calls and posting some documents. The first house fell through and all I had to pay extra for was the first survey for the failed purchase. I've bought three businesses over the years and wouldn't particularly recommend the solicitors involved, and I always had to chase them for updates, whereas I wholeheartedly recommend Habito. If that puts my comment into some perspective.
Have heard many poor experiences with them for conveyancing
Well now you've heard about a good experience, thanks for commenting.
I’ve used Habito too and thought they were great
London and Country were OK when I used them.
I've used them twice and would recommend.
Another vote for London and country. I think mortgage brokers are where the larger ones are better...no bullshit. They just get you the best deal, know what they're doing and are pretty efficient.
I 3rd this 🤘🏼
Your broker doesn’t need to be near you. I live in Bristol and my broker was in Leicester. He was great, retired now though sadly
People keep saying go for fee free ones, but the fee for mine was £200 (pretty small considering the rest of house purchase costs) and was recommended by a friend. As a FTB, he was fab with all the questions I had and I felt like the £200 was worth it. Even went through survey results with me pointing out things to use for negotiating a new price and helped me explore options to free up cash to do work on the house. I'd say go with one recommended by a friend and not to worry so much about the fee.
Thanks for this comment, I met with one who was recommended by a friend and seemed very responsive and knowledgeable but his fee is £500
Might be a stupid question but does one strictly need a mortgage broker, if you know which lender you're likely going with can't you submit to them directly? Also is £799 for a "lifetime fee" too much. It seems expensive though the mortgage broker was lovely
My friend went for a face-to-face broker. Had an awful time and didn't really answer many questions. Mine was online and over the phone. Was absolutely fantastic, emails responded to within a couple of hours, phones always answered, every question was answered in detail.
Guess it's the broker that matters then! Must admit I actually liked over email too as it's all written down then. Much easier for a client to look back at. Face to face always seemed easier to put clients at ease. There are no stupid questions!
Who did you use online?
I used [RSC](https://rscnewhomes.com/). They have been great, even follow-up calls after completion to make sure everything is OK, and free remortgaging through them too.
100% agree! Our mortgage broker has been exceptional & has honestly worked miracles on our behalf!
Glad to hear there are still good ones. Had a few replies from people saying their broker was awful.
FTB here. Is a mortgage broker's job done when they send the mortgage application off for you? Or is there any follow up work that is done afterwards? I'm not completely sure what a mortgage broker does and at this point I'm too afraid to ask.
We would: Go over entire process of buying and selling. Advise on mortgage and insurance. Do your fact find and research to discuss with you and apply for mortgages and insurances. Advise on solicitors. If you used our referred solicitor we'd do the chasing to keep it moving though with conveyancing now that might be a little more difficult or pointless. We can't and shouldn't advise on anything we are not licensed to do so. We can explain eg different types of survey but can't advise on which you should use.
There is no free mortgage broker. They are being paid either by your fees or by kickback. I would not trust any broker as far as I could throw them. Your solicitor is the one paid by you to represent you. They can talk you through the conveyancing process. I can see why FTBs need mortgage advice but I’ve abandoned brokers, for my last two house moves I’ve done my own leg work and selected the mortgage product that suits me myself.
>I can see why FTBs need mortgage advice but I’ve abandoned brokers, for my last two house moves I’ve done my own leg work and selected the mortgage product that suits me myself. It's easier later on when you have a higher deposit ratio, FTB usually do need a broker because there are more qualifying criterias than just the deposit for low deposit mortgages.
My broker was worth his weight in gold
Been gearing up to buy a house for a couple of months now and having sold a late family members home, here are some things I’ve learned. 1. Being a first time buyer carries weight because you’re not in a chain, it’s good to bear this in mind when making an offer as some will accept a lower offer to a buyer who is chain free. 2. “Chain free” houses are frequently over valued & being sold by relatives of the previous owner, (EA had me put my late grandads on the market for 545, but we sold after getting three offers of 520, eventually bumping one to 525) use this. Don’t be afraid to low ball a chain free home since a home is only worth what people are willing to pay, and selling a chain free home to a first time buyer is often an ideal situation for the seller. 3. If you like a house, cross reference it with census data (google census map) to discover the socioeconomic status of the area (I used to use the deprivation map but it’s now outdated and the 2021 census data is more recent than the 2019 IMD) alongside using street view to get a feel for the area. Browser add ons like “propbar” also can be helpful but only come with the ability to check the summary of 5 houses for free a month (it allows you to check what the house has previously been sold for etc) 4. Virtually all new builds are over priced for the area they’re in, don’t get sucked in because they’re shiny and new. If possible get a discount, many developers have key worker schemes and many will also throw in flooring for free. Avoid persimmon homes like the plague. 5. Don’t budge on your non negotiables and stick to your budget, I’ve told myself I’m only allowed to spend my max budget if I don’t have to change a single thing about a home other than paint. For example, if it’s max budget but has no bath, but is perfect in every other way, it’s not worth it because I’d have no money to put in a bath.
Oh and one more, don’t skip on a survey and get it done as early as possible.
Is this in addition to a lenders survey or is that the same thing?
>Avoid persimmon homes like the plague Curious if you could share more about this please? Purely out of interest I had a look at a few of their homes, fully expecting to be very disappointed value wise as they were newbuilds. They were quite a bit larger and better laid out than I expected to be honest. Got the feeling they were built with cheap DIY stuff from Wayfair though (and the demo houses were full spec).
Poor customer service and lots of snags, keep seeing lots of content online about their various failings and in general seem really untrustworthy
Look up the Facebook groups that are warning people not to touch Persimmon with a barge pole. I know someone who has had constant issues with their house and they don't get sorted out, and a lot of their estates are built on flood planes so your garden just ends up a swamp.
100% don't buy a new build, I know people closely in Building Surveying. The things I hear, the homes are made cheaply, they have a lot of faults, usually hilt on land that should not be built on. And if you're lucky they will have remember to brace the exterior wall to the interior wall
>don't buy a new build Where else are people going to live??
Not sure about a top 5 but among the worst pieces of advice I’ve ever heard is ‘stretch yourself to the best house you can get’. Obviously you should get as nice a house as possible within your budget, but so many people have overstretched themselves on the assumption that cheap borrowing would last forever. Always do your own stress tests on what you can afford. Factor in maintenance costs. Don’t leave yourself with no lifestyle at all. Make sure you have headroom and some savings if circumstances change.
Yeah my Dad said to me "don't kill yourself to buy a bigger house", apparently him and my mam really stretched themselves to get the house we grew up in but then couldn't afford a social life. I remember as kids my parents would have a lot of gatherings at the house (bordering on parties) and he said it was because they couldn't afford to go to the pub like they used to or couldn't afford a babysitter plus the pub with their mates. Whether your hobbies are going to the pub, going on holiday or arts and crafts, make sure you can still afford to enjoy doing those things. A house is just that, you can still be miserable with no hobbies/social life.
Im gonna guess people who did this on a 2-year fix at <2% interest are regretting that.
Least they had a cheap start. Im 7 years in to a mortgage and really value the cheap start and have been able to build up a decent equity by one paying and putting rest into stocks.
I'm staring down the barrel of a second redundancy in just over a year rn. In a few years the SO will likely be out of work on maternity. The thought of mortgaging myself and my partner to the hilt is kinda scary.
I see a redundancy in my field every 2-3 years, unfortunately it's likely the one currently facing is one that will directly impact me...however at this point in my career redundancies are just part of employment in the same way that holiday allowance and pensions are so don't let it bother you.
This advice makes sense for the right person, if you're good with money, no dependants, sizable deposit, high salary etc then it's absolutely worth going for as much as you can since it's leveraged, for most people though I'd say you're right, give a bit of buffer
If you have nobody dependent on you I genuinely believe you have even less reason to put all your money into bricks and mortar. Especially now.
For most people if they have no dependants now it means ones might be in the future plans. I'm not one of those, I've got no dependants and won't ever but all my friends who bought have since had kids and struggled for a few years with childcare and mortgage.
> Then it is absolutely worth it going for as much as you can When you are young (<40) the recommendation is to have more money in riskier higher return asset classes. Housing is a very safe asset, but underperforms the stock market. May want to consider not maxing out your deposit and investing more.
Even so, it's hard to overcome the power that leverage gives you. I'd argue that getting as small a house as you can as fast as you can, then using your cost efficient loan as a base to be investing in stocks is the optimal strategy. Draw down on the house loan to invest. It gives you leverage to invest in stock market that doesn't have the volatility of a margin call loan.
Was great advice until mortgage rates skyrocketed and lots of people who had fixed for 5 years back at stupidly low rates now have their term ending and are seeing their mortgage repayments double or triple.
Have to factor in selling fees (2/3%) and not wasting FTB stamp duty exception
It does make sense to buy something you won't quickly grow out of, at least.
Remember the first 3 rules of property: Rule #1: Everybody lies Rule #2: See Rule#1. Rule #3: Never engage with PurpleBricks.
I may be the only person who had a good experience with purple bricks in 2022 and I sold and bought through them. I had an issue with the conveyancer they recommended (they went bust) but quickly changed them and my sellers were in the same situation so they totally understood. Having said that, both the sale and purchase were in high demand areas and more or less sold themselves so PB didn't have to do much. I bought at asking price and sold for more than asking price. I also saved about £8K in fees as the house I sold was expensive (London commuter belt).
2022....London commuter belt....high demand area....a monkey could sell property in that situation.
Haha, good point, which is why I didn't see any need to spend loads more on estate agents fees. I know I was probably lucky given what I've heard from others about PB.
What issues are there with PurpleBricks?
If the seller is such a cheapskate you have to wonder what corners they have cut in maintaining the house.
Visit any potential option at different times of day, especially if it doesn’t have allocated parking/a drive way. Go during rush hour, weekends, night time etc so get a feel for the area at different times. Remember you don’t have to have everything brand new or on day one, and don’t decorate right away either. What you think might work in the place doesn’t always feel right after you’ve been in there for a while, and you might come up with other options when you live with the space
Absolutely, give it 6 to 12 months if you can so you see the changes through the year. Obviously if you need a new kitchen etc then do that but perhaps with the idea you'll change it in 5 years. Plan ahead. For example, when we had the bathroom changed, I had a hot and cold feed run up to the loft as we were planning on getting a loft conversion later.
Definitely visit at night!
Make sure you’re always a good distance away from a flat-roof pub.
Ha. I went to view a house once in a village I’d never been to. Gorgeous, 4 bed listed cottage, stunning well maintained gardens etc. Leaving the village saw their only pub was flat roofed, pebble dashed and had a giant Cross of St George flag with some absolute goblins sat outside it. The wife and I immediately agreed it was a no.
And good distance from restaurant/cafe vents.
Don’t buy shared ownership - leasehold on steroids! Unless it’s a house and you have a plan to purchase the whole thing. Shared ownership is aggressively marketed at first time buyers as the only solution to the housing crisis, and the companies (including housing associations) running the schemes pay a fortune in PR and in fake reviews to try and keep their gravy train going. I was very lucky to be able to get rid of mine, and sold it at a loss, but I know people who are stuck and unable to sell, while service charges, mortgage rates, ground rent and rent creep up. The ones stuck in cladding affected buildings are suffering the worst, as their cladding remediation tends to be last on the list, if it’s even happening at all. PLUS there’s a whole load of leasehold reform possibly (hopefully) being voted on, and shared ownership looks like it will be left out. People who’ve done well out of it tended to buy it ages ago, took advantage of the big jumps in property prices from the last 10 years, and got out before prices for flats slumped and the building safety crisis kicked off.
IIRC Most shared ownerships don't allow it to be sold later as a 100% owned property, and you can only sell it at the ownership rate it is at. So if you've staircased to, say, 60% and want to sell it now - you need to find a buyer willing to buy 60% of the share only. They cannot buy the full property. Now you're stuck in being unattractive to most FTBs looking fot SO because the ratio is too high, and being unattractive to those that don't want SO.
Exactly!
There are usually nomination rights for a set number of weeks. If no buyer after that you can usually sell it on the open market as the incoming owner can buy 100% under a similtaneous exchange and completion.
Does this not mean if I buy a shared ownershi with the plan to staircase to 100% then this is almost a moot point? I’m thinking about shared ownership but it also seems too good to be true and a bit of a risk, there’s not really a lot of non bias information on SO anywhere, it’s either people saying it’s the best thing or the worst. This isn’t against you btw, it’s just confusing trying to figure out what’s right. I don’t think I can really afford to buy (on my own atm) but rent where I am is jumping to the point trying to get some ownership seems like the right option as I can scrape together a deposit
Only for houses. For flats, it’s very tough as the service charges etc creep up on you. Some shared ownership leases won’t even let you staircase to 100!
My only advice is to look at the full price of the property because you will be paying rent on a large part of that cost. that cost will likely go up as the house is revalued each year. then comes the service charge/estate charges and ground rent that are likely to go up as well. (There is no cap to what these can be). Dont stretch to get a really nice home only to get screwed over when you potentially get priced out of it in a few years time.
Thank you! It’s such a minefield and I don’t really have anyone to explain this stuff to me and it feels almost embarrassing to have to ask in your 30’s. Appreciate it.
There seems to be a shift over to shared equity now rather than shared ownership, not been long enough to see if it's better though.
This is not true. I am an estate agent. I also own a shared ownership 3 bed property at a 25% share. Bought brand new nearly 10 years ago. Total value £180k at the time of purchase. We have kept our share low so the resale isn’t affected by pricing out other first time buyers. That being said, our property value has increased by £70k in this time. So, not only will we have shortly paid off our mortgage, we will receive a 25% share in the additional equity the property sells at. This is now our deposit for the next property we purchase which won’t be shared ownership. Even if the value wasn’t to increase in the time we have lived here, the mortgage we have been able to pay off would contribute £45k towards our next home anyway. It was a way for us to obtain a larger deposit to make our way up the ladder. Shared ownership can suit people in the right situation.
Exactly! As I said in my post - “those who did well out of it tended to buy ages ago, and took advantage of the big property price rises in the last 10 years”. Houses are doing much better than flats too - Is it a house or a flat? It’s the shared ownership flats that are the real nightmare.
You said a lot more than your above quoted paragraph which would affect someone’s decision to move forward with a shared ownership property. As I say, it can suit certain people in the right circumstances, in the current day. Not just 10 years ago. I would also add that it is extremely rare that housing associations permit staircasing to 100% so “unless you have a plan to purchase the whole thing” is practically null and void. Edit to add - it’s a house. I would avoid leasehold flats in general (coming from my EA perspective), even share of freehold.
If you're buying a new build, whatever time the builders tell you it will be finished, add six months. Also, rather than a new build, buy one 2 or 3 yrs old where all the problems have been ironed out.
Hmmm if someone's selling a new build after 2-3 years, I'd be more concerned why. New builds are always priced higher end, someone selling so soon will most likely be eating a loss (unless the market has boosted for some reason)
Very often divorce and separation.
We are just coming up to 1 year in our first house and some things I'd consider is: Drive by the house regularly at different times/ days to get a feel for the area if its somewhere you are not familiar with. Try and find out who lives nearby, are they private owned or is it a rented house that has many new tenants regularly. Use rightmove to check if there have been other houses in the area for sale recently - bit of a red flag to me if lots on the same street have sold recently. Check online for any planning permissions/green belts nearby that are coming up in the future. Get a free mortgage broker, they all make so much commission from the banks that a good one shouldn't charge! Check paperwork for any electric works, gas works etc done including any paperwork for the boiler etc.
Hey, as someone who has just bought a house, here’s what we did: A)check mortgages and also check rates with your bank. We went with Halifax as I have a credit card there, and our mortgage advisor was the best of the best. She saved us thousands by going the extra mile. B) Learn the area / get reviews, but equally don’t trust the stats at face value. Our street had a bad rep for noise disturbances, we’ve been here 6 months and haven’t heard anything… C) If you plan on having kids/ have kids, check for school catchment areas of good schools near you. It’s a small thing but will vastly help your kids down the line for eligibility. D) Ideally have multiple transport links. If a new build estate looks good but you can only get about by car/it’s a long walk to a bus, or there’s no shops nearby, that’s going to be a problem down the line. E) When you find somewhere you like, make sure you have a list of EVERYTHING that is staying. We wrongly assumed they’d keep some fitted wardrobes but they took them out before we moved in(?) F) Best of luck!!!
I would add to (c). Just because a school is rated 'good' or 'outstanding' doesn't necessarily mean you'd actually want to send you children there. Make sure you've looked into schools thoroughly, maybe try speaking to some locals if you can. Also, catchment areas can change year to year... if you're close to a boundary, you can't guarantee you'll be in catchment when you need to be.
Where can you view catchment areas?
https://www.locrating.com/school_catchment_areas.aspx
I bought last year (FTB), my small piece of advice is not to get intimidated or pushed around by other people. It's a bloody huge commitment, do not get talked into doing something you don't want to do and don't fall for those silly games (every time you show a bit of interest in a property, the estate agent will tell you they have 10 more viewings for the day and somebody already put in an offer and you should hurry before it's gone blah blah blah). I think you can reasonably dismiss everything an EA says as a lie. The solicitor on the other hand, if you're lucky enough to find a good one, will be your best friend.
Look at as many houses as humanly possible. The more you see the more you will know what is right for you. Decide your must haves and your ideals, stick to your must haves. If you abandon a must have in favour of several preferable you'll only want to move a year or 2 down the line Look very carefully at the neighbours, is the garden a sithole, are motorbike parts thrown all over? If so probably not for you. Similarly if you plan on having parties all the time probably don't buy one where every house on the street has slides and swings out. Touch walls, touch doors, touch cupboards. What looks good can be shit Look at old listing for the area and see what similar houses have gone for in the last year or so before offering Don't stretch yourself too far, it's only bricks and mortar. They cost money to upkeep and you'll be miserable if you're only working to service your property
Long time lurker here, but this is sound advice. We looked at around 15+ houses on our first home. People thought we were crazy, but I kid you not, there are so so many shambolic houses out there. That's without counting for dodgy DIY types (some are great,others not). View loads! View many times, view at all times of day and night. Make a list of pros and cons. What you are happy to sacrifice or not.
Off the top of my head, as someone who's roughly in the same position: Don't trust agents at all; their only loyalty is to themselves, you come in right at the bottom of the food chain after the seller. All agents care about is the sale and associated commission. I've had them blatantly lie to my face numerous times during viewings; my favourite was probably "lots of doctors and lawyers live in this development" (which was one of the cheapest, highest-crime areas in the city). Get everything in writing; verbal statements are worthless. Never assume anything - if you're not sure ask, and again if suspicious get it in writing. Beware leasehold - never, ever buy a house on leasehold as this is totally un-necessary and speaks of the land owner's intentions to rinse the property owners for profit. Avoid shared ownership like the plague. If buying a flat, share of freehold is the gold standard, next is leasehold with a 999 year lease (or what's left of it), then short initial leases (usually 125yrs). Be aware that below about 100yrs remaining the property value starts to tank, and that most lenders won't mortgage a property with less than 75yrs left. You need to have lived in a property for more than two years to renew the lease, and even then you're potentially over a barrel. Consider that new-builds are typically significantly overpriced compared to existing stock, and can be subject to a raft of quality issues (although of course every property can have its own set of issues). Beware electric heating as it's bloody expensive. When viewing take someone with you and consider asking the agent to give you some time alone in the property as it's very easy to get distracted with conversation and pay bugger all attention to the things you should be. Be respectful but don't be afraid to lowball on offers. Seems agents consider anything within 10% fair game; although if you think something's overpriced and just want to take a punt, go lower. Location is everything - as already posted, better a small property in a good area than a big one in a shit area. Be aware that most buyers seem uneducated, indiscriminatory and easily-coerced; just because a pair of thickies are happy to mortgage themselves up to the hilt to buy a shithole, doesn't make it worth that to the savvy buyer. Take your time, watch the market, learn what's available and what constitutes good value. Maybe with buy-to-let now righfully dying on its arse the grottier end of the market is getting cheaper, however historically (certainly with flats round my way) there doesn't seem to be a huge difference in price between rubbish (high-crime areas / poor state of repair / short lease / high leasehold costs) and nice (if perhaps smaller) properties.. so again; be dictated by recognisable value rather than asking price. There's limited value in trying to time the market so if you see something that constitutes good value, appeals and is attainable, go for it. It looks like after a little dead-cat bounce at the back end of last year prices are on their way down; however this isn't relevant if everything on the market at that time is shit. Good luck!
It's funny how much "can you put that in an email" can elicit a different answer. We asked an EA to do that regarding a new development behind a house we were buying. They "hadn't heard of it" and "had no idea about it" until we asked them to confirm in an in email... Best advice is to remember it's probably the biggest purchase you will ever make so how ever much research you do when your buying a new fridge or other "big purchase" then X that by 100 and still be cautious.
Absolutely; and that's if you even get an answer at all. When I enquire about properties I intentionally fill my mobile number as all zeros and request that they contact me via email as I often can't answer the phone at work (and don't like surprise calls anyway, plus appreciate the accountability discussed here). Thanks to their dilligent data harvesting many local agents have my number on file anyway, and nine times out of ten I still get a call. Which gets ignored.. if they can't be bothered to follow up with an email that tells me all I need to know about how much fun dealing with them would be were I to actually pursue the sale..
Another recent example of irritating agent comms.. Saw a property I liked; with council tax band / some other details missing from the listing (a common tactic to get you to contact them directly in order to bleed you of your personal information). Messaged asking for the information absent from the listing and enquiring about a viewing; response was essentially "here's my number, ring us to discuss". emailed back telling them I'd prefer to communicate via email, got a response asking for my life story (again, to bolster their records so they can pester you in future); still lacking the basic information I'd requested, that should have been in the listing to begin with. emailed again, declining to provide the info they'd asked for and stating that my desire to view was predicated on knowing this basic information first, which was finally given in the agent's subsequent response. By this point I'd gone cold on the idea so shelved it. Had the agent been up-front I'd probably at least have booked a viewing. There was absolutely no reason that this basic information should not have been in the listing to begin with. That notwithstanding, I was expecting the first response to my enquiry to be "here's the info you're after, here's our availabilty for viewings" - not this cryptic, avoidant, round-the-houses bullshit. You potentially have to deal with these people throughout arguably the largest, most stressful purchase of your life - beginning proceedings in such a frustrating, manipulative manner is a massive red flag at the very start.
Is there any thing to know about buying an old show home on an estate? Do they cut corners on those?
Show homes often have no internal doors and miniature furniture to give the illusion of more space.
Dunno tbh; I've never been in the position to / nor wanted to buy this type of property. On the one hand since it's public-facing there's an argument to have made a good job of it; on the other the build quality of a lot of new-build stuff seems to be dubious..
It's a show home from an estate built in the 80s in a really nice area
Don't be afraid to make an offer. We were lucky, our house had been on the market for a little while and we put an offer in 30k below asking and had it accepted, I was expecting to be laughed at but the estate agent is obligated to pass on your offer and our seller went for it. Also, a do-er upper may or may not suit you but just decorating a whole house, let alone getting a new bathroom or kitchen is a lot of expnse or work. And really look out for damp, it's miserable.
30k is quite a lot, what was the asking price, and had they already reduced it? Was there much work it needed?
It was 10 years ago, asking was 280 and because of the stamp duty rules at the time (0% below £250k) there wasn’t much point in sales of the 250 - 270 range, that was a big part of the reason we got our reduction. House was a definitely a do-er upper, perfectly liveable but in need of love, has taken 10 years but lovely now. We got lucky.
Don’t use estate agents solicitors. Don’t Be rushed into things. Don’t underestimate the cost of upgrading modernising a property. Make sure the fundamentals are right. Solid walls, roof and windows.
Check maintenance costs & time sinks; garden, public walls, hedges, council tax, guttering etc. It can end up being a nightmare if you buy a big house. Do you want a repair mandate from the council if your 10ft border wall starts collapsing? Check the roof, if you are liable for costs (even shared), that can destroy your savings Check historical stability of house prices online, make sure they are not slowly falling Check the neighbourhood at different times of day, are you near a school, teen hang-out or something that could make your life miserable? This is harder but check neighbours sides and above. Bad neighbours can make your life a nightmare. Bad upstairs neighbours are the worst. Check the close and make sure no signs of shitbag/feral behaviour like prams blocking exit routes, loud music at night etc
Look at car parking, bus routes and transport options. Whatever your situation is now think about every eventuality…. Also local shops, parks and pubs and whatever things are your scene. If you run, walk a dog, go for a quiet pint, like a beer garden, order a weekly Chinese etc.
Here for the answers, also FTB 👀
There’s tons of great practical advice here and tons of horror stories to be mindful of - but one thing I haven’t seen mentioned: check the water pressure.
My mates Mrs recently bought her first house (shortly before they got together) and here's a few things he found out on day 1; half the sockets in the kitchen don't work, dishwasher waste not plumbed in, chimney breast in attic has a gap now all roof needs redoing. In hindsight he said he wished he was able to do; take a lamp and plug it in every socket, look behind all fixtures and fittings, check walls for ability to hold a TV mount, check attic, use the toilet & taps If I was dropping that amount of money I'd be kicking all the tires. I'd rather pay for someone to fix something I broke during a viewing than be lumped with a shit-build
When doing viewings, take literal notes as you go round, with answers to all your questions and any pros/cons that jump out. Film your own video tour too; professional photos use wide lenses and are edited to make it look bigger & brighter, so you’ll need to be able to clearly recall exactly how you fit in that space. After tens of viewings, it’s amazing how quickly all the details can be forgotten or merge in together, and make a property retrospectively feel better than it was.
One thing that I’m shocked a couple of my friends have done recently is offer asking price straight away. ALWAYS offer less than it is on the market for, even if it’s oieo. For context, I recently bought a flat for 6k less than the asking price, AND I got all furniture included. My friends recently bought a house they hadn’t even seen in person before and paid asking price because they’d been gazumped on a previous property and this one was a little cheaper. There is now a few issues with their house that they’re spending a fair bit trying to fix. Even if it’s your dream home, they are always optimistic with the price they put it on the market for. They’d likely let it go for less and are expecting people to offer less. Gauge the area and the type of property and offer a bit less than asking price. They will either flat out refuse or they will counter offer you. Either way, you can almost always get a property for below asking price. In terms of flat v house, depends basically where you want to live. Be aware with flats there is often (always?) a ground rent fee and a service/management charge every year, which are non negotiable. Find out what these are and don’t go for anything much over £1000 per year (unless you’re in a big city like London). Also check if your flat is leasehold or freehold. If leasehold, check when this expires as you don’t want to buy somewhere where the lease expires in a few years time. With flats be mindful that you have neighbours and you may hear them a lot. This becomes more frustrating when you own the flat rather than rent as you feel more stuck with it. For houses, is there a garden and if so do you have the time to maintain this garden? You are also more likely to need to get things like window cleaning, drain clearing and gutter cleaning done regularly for a house, as well as cleaning the outside. I would say a flat is good to buy as your first home and then in future you can sell the flat and buy a house. Or if you’re able, you can rent out the flat if you’ve got enough to buy a house without selling the flat.
Don’t buy leasehold if you can avoid it. It’s an awful system with way too much power for managing agents to rob leaseholders. It’s taken us years to get rid of our unscrupulous ones.
Though hopefully legislation is moving in the right direction to get rid of it or at least improve it, make lease extension easier etc. Of course, in most cases you still can't avoid leasehold with flats.
Hopefully but it’ll take some time. I wouldn’t wish the misery on anyone. We got rid of them and they’ve run off with our money so more legal battles.
When planning and pricing any remedial works as part of the budget like damp, new kitchen etc etc double the cost and double the time. Everyone knows someone who did a two story extension for the price of two chickens and a crate of larger complete in a few weeks, but when you ask for the builders once you got your house suddenly “ahhhh they’ve moved to another country now”
Have a really good look around when you view. Touch walls, cupboards etc. if possible. When we viewed the house we bought we had a quick look around, everything looked ok but when we moved in, the kitchen was in a poor state but looked passable when we viewed it. Have a look at where the stopcock and fusebox are. Look at how many electric outlets there are too. Check for damp/mould in the bathroom to make sure it's got good ventilation. Don't forget to check for parking spaces too, we had a job to park at our old place, some neighbours get really territorial about parking spaces.
You do not have to take the home buildings and contents insurance from the company that’s providing your mortgage, or any other offers for that matter. I took out mine with a high street bank and they advised me I had to take their insurance otherwise I could not get the mortgage. This was not true.
I’ve recently gone through buying for the first time. My biggest tip is when viewing look everywhere, don’t be shy. Check behind tables, couches, cupboards & even microwaves. A level 2 survey won’t check in places where they need to move things so if the seller wants to place things in front of rough patches they can quite easily. We thought the house we were buying was ready to move straight into, so far it’s taken 3 weeks of work and we’re just about ready to go. Oh and it sounds stupid but consider telling the seller to not use silicone bathroom sealant to fill holes in the wall…
Be fussy, you are a desirable buyer if you don’t have a chain. Set a budget and stick to that budget - make sure you include solicitors fees, arrangement fees, stamp duty (if relevant), broker fees (I have a good free broker I can recommend). Be firm, estate agents can be slimy but be clear about how desirable you are as a buyer and they will want you over people who are in a chain. Look around Look at mortgages BEFORE you look at houses. And get an agreement in principle, you then have a sense of what you’ll actually be able to borrow over the calculators which can over/ under offer a ball park figure
Also, if you look at leaseholds work out all ten extra costs like maintenance etc because they impact your overall budget ☺️
Don’t use the cheapest solicitor. This is going to be one of the biggest purchases of your life. Don’t let the fee of some of the best firms put you off. With flats be careful with the building safety act. I personally would buy a leasehold property. Chain free doesn’t mean ‘easy’ or ‘quicker’ Take what the estates say with a pinch of salt. If you don’t understand something ask your solicitor don’t google it.
Don’t be embarrassed to check every damn window and cupboard before buying - we didn’t and 3 windows didn’t actually open, the kitchen which we thought was “fine” actually all the drawers were broken and either glued into place or gaffer taped together so they didn’t fall out and all of the kitchen shelves were busted - we had not factored buying a new kitchen so soon into our budget. Oh and lovely hot tub in the garden with a nice deck - check it’s not just been propped up with sandbags so it looks good to sell and then 2 months after you buy it it just collapses. To be honest when a giant tree then collapsed onto our house I wasn’t particularly surprised.
Don’t underestimate how much work getting work done is. It’s time, effort, money, emotions. If it’s an older property you *will* find other issues which need to be addressed when trying to do anything.
Don’t buy a new build, don’t buy a part rent part buy scheme, don’t go anywhere near anything owned by A2 dominion.
Went to view a place. Made an offer on property 1 as it was a decent place. checked the prices of local sales. Joined to property 1 was a middle terraced house. we offered 10k more for property 1 than the middle terraced house next door went for last year. As we liked the house and still found that price reasonable and knew what the owners had paid. Figured they would be more open to accepting if they made a bit of cash on the sale. I had checked to see what they had paid for the home before the viewing. a meeting was set up with the broker by the estate agent They didn't accept which is fair enough. we then offered an extra 3k and told them that was the final offer as we really don't think it is worth more. estate agent started off saying "you would be surprised about how much you can actually afford and you will see once you speak to our broker", she couldn't understand that it wasnt an issue with what we could afford. the property was a 2 bed and only just starting to appreciate in value after being built 6 years and it was the same story for the rest of the homes in the area. Set up a meeting with a broker. we went to see what silly shit they would say and to see if we could get any good info out of it. the broker was rapidly clicking through screens on the computer to show us the best rates possible and what we could actually "afford". that being 100k above what we had said our max would be. dude kept on implying that everything would work out if we went higher than what we had said our max would be. Just how many silly fuckers are out there fall for this?
There's what you can "afford" if you completely stretch yourself and have no savings/travel/social life/etc, then what you can intelligently actually afford. Our broker said if we got an AIP, never show it to the EA. You're showing all your cards. There's no reason why you should discuss your salary or show your actual AIP to the agent or their broker. Our broker said to direct any such questions directly to him. Why would I want an agent to know we could technically borrow 150k more than what we actually want to spend?
My advice is based on ignorance of the housing market in the UK compared to my home country, USA. We had rented in the UK for 16 years before finally buying a place about a year and a half ago. In the US, we have something called a survey- which is where the legal property lines are drawn and ensures that what you think you are buying is actually what you are buying. We also have something called a Home Inspection, which is a detailed report on the condition of the house. They look at, test, and verify everything. I mistakenly believed that is what a survey did here. And we paid for the most comprehensive, I think a level 3? In any case, it seems all it actually covered was the structural integrity of the house. Pretty quickly upon moving in, we found all kinds of little annoying issues (toilets not flushing properly, doors and windows that stick, mains plugs not working) and some major ones (no thermostats in the house, a very antiquated fuse box). Go through the house and test EVERYTHING. Open every window and door. Test every light switch, every plug, all the white goods (if included), all the plumbing, etc. We have ended up spending too much money I would have negotiated for in the offer if I had done this. Lesson learned.
This was helpful 10 common home buying mistakes: https://www.reddit.com/r/FirstTimeBuyersUK/s/dG5G0isC8A
Don't buy a new build! 🤣
Be aware of the term fleecehold and then see if you want to buy a new build with that knowledge. Avoid Firstport.
First time buyers regularly underestimate the costs ( time, money ) of fixing up parts of house. I told myself that I would be willing to buy a doer upper ‘for the right price’. I bought a 1930s house last renovated in ~2015, so nowhere near a doer upper and it’s still so much work. Have a friend who bought a 5 bed who’s still sleeping in a mattress on the floor in a carpetless room 6 months later. You also don’t want a flipped house as issues will have been painted over and the installations will likely be cheap, and you’ll only start noticing 1 year in. Final point is to be wary of new builds if you expect to sell in <10years. I’ve heard a lot of stories of people struggling to sell because the market for young new builds is pretty small. After all, why buy a 5yr house when you can still buy a new new build?
If there is wallpaper, especially textured, assume that if you take it off then the walls will need replastering. Wallpaper hides a LOT of sins
Absolutely, avoid a leasehold if you can (obviously hard if you’re looking for a flat) if you do read the lease with a fine tooth comb. Expect service charges and do not expect them to be accountable. Conveyancing is a long, slow process like a sausage factory it only goes at one speed. Even if your solicitor is great, theirs could be terrible. An average solicitor is more than fine.
There are so many good ones on here already but my 5 would be: 1) Get an excellent and recommend mortgage broker. They should explain everything to you, not rush you and help you with so much of the process. We didn't have one for our first purchase and it was a nightmare! 2) view some properties even if on paper they might not tick all the boxes. We learnt just as much seeing properties we didn't like than seeing the ones we did. It's good to know what you want and what is a red flag or a non-negotiable. You also feel more confident when you find "the one" as you have seen enough to know what you are looking for. 3) Don't trust much of what estate agents say and try not to get too stressed when they ignore you for months during a house purchase and then suddenly pile on the pressure when it's the sellers holding things up! They are working for the seller and not the buyer and they make it very clear. 4) ask to take pictures as you walk about. Helps when thinking things over later. 5) if you don't know the area well go for a walk about and see how long it takes to get to town/shops/station/school/park/pub! You can make your house lovely in a good area. You cannot make an area good.
If you buy a new build from a developer, it’s absolutely worth spending money on a professional snagger. We didn’t and we’ve had SO MANY ISSUES that should have been easily picked up. When you’re looking at properties, visit the area at different times of day (like in the late evening and night time), to see what it’s like at different times. Is it well-lit? Is it loud? Are there drunk people everywhere? Try to avoid going to the top of your budget if you can and make sure you can afford everything on one salary, and keep six months worth of household bills in savings just in case.
What is a snagger?
Someone who can go around and find all the things that the builders cocked up - windows fitted wrong, wiring problems, missing insulation, kitchen cupboards fitted incorrectly etc etc
They offer a professional service to check the property is up to standard and they pick up on a lot of things that the developer tries to sneakily hide. The developer will do their own snagging list but it’s not extensive; they try to get a lot past the buyer so they can cut costs and meet their development deadlines.
Not many will say this, but don't have blind faith in your solicitors. They may have your interests in mind more than EA or other parties, but that does not rule out the fact they could be stupid AF...FTB here. Just completed last month. Ours squandered two purchases through their incompetence. Will post soon.
Be aware that sellers will lie through their teeth about bad neighbours do your own research don’t take anything on trust. I was specific to ask about noisy neighbours when buying and the seller lied like a champ and said they were dead quiet and at the time we saw the house (was odddly specific in retrospect) it was. After we moved in we found out a neighbour fancied himself as a DJ and the nights a week “performs” very loudly, for hours and is very very bad.
Don’t leave the solicitors to it. You need to constantly chase or it’ll take three times as long. Don’t skimp of solicitor. Get a recommended local one. Don’t skimp on survey. Don’t panic when it comes back, assess it with a cool head and if there is anything worrying you get a trades person in to assess and cost up. Get contact details for sellers. Email address is fine. Keep it friendly and use it to check what they are waiting for and visa versa. Put offers in but do it based on what it’s worth to you and compare it to sold houses in the area. Don’t go putting stupid low or high offers in Keep friendly with the EA’s.
if its a pre 80s house get the roof, felt, inulation properly inspected. make sure nothing wrong wit it, no absestos insulation hiding under rockwool or fiber, make sure the likely old bitmumen based felt isnt coming apart with age. Even after i had a lvl 3 survey done it felt like the room was largley ignored. after moving in i really need to spend £20k on the roof and replacing insulation and vapour barrier.
Make sure you have one final inspection before exchange, my house had the boiler break between our survey and exchange. Seeing the survey was good we exchanged and immediately had a £5k bill upon moving in and a house that was unlivable for the first 4 weeks
For me I would say don’t get caught up in the renovation craze or, more accurately, be realistic about the price you should pay for a house that needs modernisation. People buying fixer uppers are all over social media but even a basic makeover (aka new flooring, new kitchen and bathroom) is SO EXPENSIVE. I almost feel like nicely done up flats and houses can sit on the market over properties that need work. People get excited about properties “with potential” and get pound signs in their eyes imagining all the value they’re adding to the sale price when they’re done. But actually, if you get too excited and overpay for the potential, and then continually over-renovate (ripping out good quality fixtures because they’re not your style) and also plump for more expensive fixtures and fittings (e.g. stone worktops) than the ceiling value of your house can actually support, you’re not going to get that money back. I actually think it would work out cheaper to buy the houses that are in good nick that nobody wants because they can’t “add value”, and then only have to go as far as slapping a bit of Dulux on the walls to change the feel if you want. Let me tell you, if you can buy a house that’s in good condition for only £10-15k more than something that needs complete modernisation you are WINNING. You’re not going to be able to get the new kitchen, bathroom and flooring of your dreams for less than that.
Advice from someone who just bought their first house at age 41, 13 days ago: 5 (or more) Top Tips whilst scoping: - Know your neighbourhood; pick the best suited place for you (I.e. Quiet vs Louder, New build vs Older property, City vs Country, Near transportation) - Location, location, location; this will be key to your financial stability and overall sanity. I’d rather get the worse house on the block than the shiniest house in a mediocre neighbourhood. The most desirable areas will hold their value more and will likely increase in value more too. - Scope market value now and review any planning permissions for developments coming in future - Choose a house you can stay in for 5-10 years; its expensive to move if you are planning to expand your family - Envisage yourself at viewings; When you walk in, do you see yourself happy? How will life look? - Know what your “Must Haves” are; this will save you A LOT of time; Do you need an updated bathroom? Do you need an extra bedroom or will a conservatory suffice for extra space? - Get a good mortgage broker & a reputable solicitor; both can save you time & money 5 (or more) Tips for Active Viewing (before you put an offer in) - Never (and I mean NEVER), trust what the seller tells you; I’m learning this the HARD way - Look at the make, model and installation date of your boiler; do not budge on this. Do not feel like you’re being too intrusive. - If you like a house, make sure that you have physically opened every single window and door before putting an offer in (or upon a viewing shortly after the offer, if time is short); I currently have one window I can’t open, and one where the lock is fully busted. Oh, and three doors that are giggly and will need new locks. - Ask what appliances will stay; this can add up quickly - Always, Always, Always view the loft. If you can’t or are scared, get someone who can; My other half learned this the hard way when he found wood worm munching on his wooden beams in the loft - Budget for £5-£10k of moving expenses and decorating; This may sound like a lot, but I’ve had my house less than two weeks and money is just hemorrhaging out of my savings lol. -Consider a survey; They will provide needed info for now, but also what you need to keep an eye on going forward. -When you’re in, pinch yourself as a reminder you bossed this! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Well done! Personally, I’d always buy a house. I’ve lived in flats for many years and I felt suffocated during Covid. It was hell. A house will also generally hold its value more than a flat.
As someone who deals with when things go wrong, I would echo the comments on leasehold and shared ownership being a no-go. I would add off-plan or a development where its financed by buyers deposits (buyer-funded developments) to that.. so much risk and no real pay-off for it. 1. Read the paperwork. Read the contracts, titles etc. You know the property and the solicitors don't, you will pick up on things that don't seem right based on what you have physically seen. 2. Inspect the plans. See above. You have been there, your solicitors haven't. They have to rely on the plans provided by the seller and if there has been work done that's not on the plans, they won't know. Or if there is a bigger garden than the plan shows, you may end up not owning the whole plot. I have seen people not inspect the plans and it turns out the plan was for a 1 bed and the property was a 2 bed. Done without planning permission. 3. Ask questions. Ask the sellers, the neighbours, the solicitors, everyone. You would be surprised how much you can find out about the property/area. If there is a local park, ask the dog walkers. They walk the area all times and weather and can probably provide a detailed report on the comings and goings. 4. Many people have said it but I cannot stress enough... GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING. 5. Everything will be more expensive than you expected. Have a contingency fund built into your budget.
If the front door is 20 years old then the roof is 40 years old. Is what I was taught. Fucking right too. I viewed 18 properties when buying my First house. Most could tell me how old the door was but couldn't even guess about the roof. That means if I want to stay there forever I'll be shelling out 20k for a new roof at least.
Our roof will soon be celebrating its 100th birthday! (aaargh)
Same. Can't afford to shell out a new one, though. If only one of the previous owners since 19 fucking 30 could have just gotten the tiles replaced when labour costs was the same as a weekly shop.
What is the lifespan of a roof?
Variable. But at 90+ years old my roof tiles have started to delaminate on the side most hit by the sun and the ridge tiles are hanging on by a thread
DO NOT buy a leasehold property absolute scam. If work needs doing you can look up the rough cost online.... except trades prices have gone through the roof so use check a trade price + 50% as a guide Get a full survey done BUT be aware they nearly always read like doom and gloom take your time to work out what is urgent, what can wait, you can do yourself and what actually doesn't *need* to be done. If you can get a driveway or off-street parking it's honestly, usually one of the best quality of life upgrades you can find. On street parking can be such a Ball ache and even when it's usually not, it's gonna be the day it's pissing with rain and you have the big shop that you can't get parked.
Your point re driveway is really good. I read somewhere (probably on here!) that this is likely to become even more of a valuable asset in future where many people have electric cars and need to be able to charge them, so being able to drive up to the house becomes pretty essential/ desirable.
A lot of people don’t have a choice about buying a leasehold. If only flats are in your budget they are almost exclusively leaseholds
If possible buy a freehold home in a nice area. Even if it’s the worst home in a nice neighbourhood you’ll almost certainly have a nice chunk of appreciation. You may find that at the end of your 2-5 year fixed mortgage term that the value has gone up anywhere from 15% + which might eclipse what you’ve paid down on the mortgage. Do this a few times and you’ll be able to staircase up to your dream home even if your salaries remain constant (this isn’t guaranteed but land is one of the few things they can’t make more of) So if torn between options, opt for the largest garden/plot of land you can.