House buying, mortgages, insurance, etc

[Raithie]

Sold our flat and moved into our new house last November - our mortgage/financial advisor was first class and explained everything well in terms of insurance policies/mortgage cover etc and was easy enought to get hold of if we had any pressing queries. Few simple phone calls, information provided and he done the rest and thankfully no hidden costs at the end of it. Gave everything the kiss of death when I said to the wife "this buying and selling is a piece of cake eh, don't know what all the fuss is about". Total clusterfuck on the week we were due to move due to solicitors dragging their heels (seems the norm), lack of communication on how things were progressing, delays due to sellers mortgage provider needing additional info due to him being self employed. Interestingly the thing that caused further pallavar was organising getting all our stuff out of storage and co-ordinating with the delivery boys a time to start taking things over to the new house. Think it was nigh on 4 hours they were parked in the driveway waiting on us as the estate agent refused to release the keys to us due to the sellers solicitor hitting them with a last minute charge that was waiting to clear. We've since heard the seller of our sellers new house had said if things weren't done and dusted by 5pm on the day we were all due to move he was pulling out. 

Housing market is indeed nuts just now - we were outbid on several properties we had offers in for some of which were hitting nearly 20k over the asking price.

Long story short - I'd probably not want to do it again anytime soon. 

[GiGi]

Only experience I've had was first time buyer, buying an already empty flat so it was probably the easiest transaction possible.

Also I'm a mortgage underwriter so I sorted a mortgage in a couple of days, spoke to an advisor down the stairs from me, told him what I was after, he put it through, I walked over to a printer and scanned a few documents on and the next day another colleague had signed it all off.  

However my flat is not all that great and the area I bought in has gone to f**k because of the neighbours over the last few years which is always a risk when you're buying in an area where all the other flats are lets. Had I known that then I'd have saved up another year and went for something a bit more upmarket but I got what I paid for really, I pay absolute buttons for this place and probably won't move until I can afford a deposit on a nice house for the long term. 

[Detournement]

I'm convinced solicitors for buying a house are a complete scam and they rip the arse on purpose to make it seem like they are doing something. 

A grand for half an hour worth of paperwork. f**k off.

Edited June 3, 2021 by Detournement

[hk blues]

6 minutes ago, Detournement said:

I'm convinced solicitors for buying a house are a complete scam and they rip the arse on purpose to make it seem like they are doing something. 

A grand for half an hour worth of paperwork. f**k off.

Where I am, we don't use solicitors if paying cash which many do  - it's very much Caveat Emptor.  See a place, negotiate the price, sort out the money, go to the land department and organise the title transfer and move in.   The only sticking point is the title - you need to make sure it's "clean" and that the person you're buying from is actually entitled to sell it - easy to do though by checking with the Land Department first.  If you're using a bank, they'll sort out everything for you.   

Risky maybe but I wonder if it's really any more so than the UK?

[GiGi]

1 minute ago, Detournement said:

I'm convinced solicitors for buying a house are a complete scam and they rip the arse on purpose to make it seem like they are doing something. 

A grand for half an hour worth of paperwork. f**k off.

This true. Despite the above post being a complete doddle of a transaction instill ended up with ridiculous fees, and had a complete heads-gone reading my bill and seeing that the 20 second phone call I had with the solicitor confirming my offer had been accepted, I'd been charged 40 quid amongst other 10s of pounds for stuff like office stationery and other complete pish. It's a racket. 

[RiG]

20 hours ago, TheScarf said:

'All the appliances are great' - The cooker/oven didn't work, the electrics were totally fried.  The shower also dripped constantly before I sorted it.

When I was buying my place in glorious EH7 I made a point of opening every single window, turning on every single tap, flushing toilets, flicking light switches etc. Couldn't care less if it annoyed the homeowner (it didn't) but this is probably the most expensive purchase anyone will make in their life so why not have a good poke around the place to make sure everything is in working order.

[TheScarf]

20 minutes ago, RiG said:

When I was buying my place in glorious EH7 I made a point of opening every single window, turning on every single tap, flushing toilets, flicking light switches etc. Couldn't care less if it annoyed the homeowner (it didn't) but this is probably the most expensive purchase anyone will make in their life so why not have a good poke around the place to make sure everything is in working order.

I did a bit of that to be fair, I checked some of the windows and that the French doors in the kitchen locked.  Didn't cook a meal to check the cooker/oven worked though.

[Adamski]

7 hours ago, hk blues said:

It's logical though isn't it?  If you did well when selling, you're likely to be giving it all back again when you buy.  

Yes, but I didn't anticipate that the market would gallop even further on in the months between selling and buying.

Sold at about 10% over value, bought at about 20% over. Painful, but pretty standard in the area at the moment. And all being well the place we're moving to will be home for the next 15-20 years.

Edited June 3, 2021 by Adamski

[SanStarko]

6 hours ago, Raithie said:

 Interestingly the thing that caused further pallavar was organising getting all our stuff out of storage and co-ordinating with the delivery boys a time to start taking things over to the new house. Think it was nigh on 4 hours they were parked in the driveway waiting on us as the estate agent refused to release the keys to us due to the sellers solicitor hitting them with a last minute charge that was waiting to clear.

Yeah, I moved at the end of April, delivery boys had everything out of my flat by 11am.  But then had to sit in a carpark till I finally got a phone call at the back of three to say everything had gone through and I could pick up the keys to my new place.

Then for added fun, went and picked up my keys then turned up at my new house ready to move in....and discovered that the sellers hadn't actually moved out yet.

[Michael W]

I'm currently engaged in a battle of solicitors insisting documents have/haven't been sent and them trying to pin the blame on each other for holding up completion. 

They are a bunch of utter c***s. If I ever do move again, I'll be doing my utmost to cut them out as far as possible. 

[Duszek]

I’ve bought twice, in England and France, and the Scottish system you all describe above seems a lot more (unnecessarily?) stressful. In France you have to shell out for mortgage insurance when you take out the mortgage. I’d have happily declined it, but it wasn’t an option. 

[Left Back]

14 minutes ago, Michael W said:

I'm currently engaged in a battle of solicitors insisting documents have/haven't been sent and them trying to pin the blame on each other for holding up completion. 

They are a bunch of utter c***s. If I ever do move again, I'll be doing my utmost to cut them out as far as possible. 

I see you’re in Berkshire so this won’t apply to you but in Scotland you don’t actually need a solicitor.  A licensed conveyancer (that doesn’t have to work for a solicitor) can do the house transaction for you.  I believe a single conveyancer can actually be employed for both sides of the transaction.
 

My last house purchase I paid the solicitors fees but they actually employ conveyancers to do the work under “supervision” of a partner (this is when I checked out what a licensed conveyancer was).  I guess a conveyancer gets paid a lot less than a solicitor which of course means more money for the partners so a bit of a scam imo.  I’d guess there are licensed conveyancers out there that are independent of any solicitor.

No idea if there’s a similar option in England.

[Michael W]

54 minutes ago, Left Back said:

I see you’re in Berkshire so this won’t apply to you but in Scotland you don’t actually need a solicitor.  A licensed conveyancer (that doesn’t have to work for a solicitor) can do the house transaction for you.  I believe a single conveyancer can actually be employed for both sides of the transaction.
 

My last house purchase I paid the solicitors fees but they actually employ conveyancers to do the work under “supervision” of a partner (this is when I checked out what a licensed conveyancer was).  I guess a conveyancer gets paid a lot less than a solicitor which of course means more money for the partners so a bit of a scam imo.  I’d guess there are licensed conveyancers out there that are independent of any solicitor.

No idea if there’s a similar option in England.

It is possible to do your own conveyancing here as well. I did think about it and decided I'd best not, seemed a bit much to take on. 

What doesn't help is that our seller's solicitor is a total pratand is undoubtedly the delaying party. They're now giving our seller grief because we've got sick of their shit and have started dealing with each other directly and cutting them out. 

Maybe do your fucking job and we wouldn't have to do that. 

[Ad Lib]

My mortgage broker recommended, given I have a decent sick pay policy with my work, that I should probably opt for some form of income protection with a deferred activation date.

Aviva wanted to charge an insane additional premium literally because I'm a fat b*****d. So because it wasn't mandatory for my mortgage I told them to ram it.

Depending on your job and how secure it is, of course, your mileage may vary.

[superbigal]

Selling income protection is not really the business many want to be in at the.moment.

[strichener]

1 hour ago, superbigal said:

Selling income protection is not really the business many want to be in at the.moment.

I had income protection for years (Accident, Sickness and Redundancy) and had to ditch it this year as the premiums have quadrupled.

Edited June 15, 2021 by strichener

[Honest_Man#1]

On 03/06/2021 at 11:20, RiG said:

When I was buying my place in glorious EH7 I made a point of opening every single window, turning on every single tap, flushing toilets, flicking light switches etc. Couldn't care less if it annoyed the homeowner (it didn't) but this is probably the most expensive purchase anyone will make in their life so why not have a good poke around the place to make sure everything is in working order.

I did this as well, but a couple of weeks after moving in I took off a light switch and it was an absolute shambles inside, very lucky not to have gone on fire as loose wires had charred the back box. The wiring was ancient and no longer allowed for new installs as it was aluminium. 

Turns out the previous owners had either been scammed by cowboys, or had intentionally done it to save cash, but had put in new wiring from the DB into the ceiling above to a joint box, where it then went back to the old shitty wiring. Dodgy as f**k.

[RH33]

Oh look a bit making a subtle first post!

[KD1711]

On 16/08/2022 at 09:55, RH33 said:

Oh look a bit making a subtle first post!

Probably sliding in his DM's now to make him an offer 50% under market value haha.

[Sergeant Wilson]

2 minutes ago, JoanneMRFi said:

I really understand your situation. If we talk about income protection, it's not easy.

You don't know half of it Joanne. I'm at my wits end. Can you help?