Mandy Lifeboats Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 1 hour ago, Demitri_C said: Did anyone get a specialist in for Japanese knotweed? My survey reports says none was visable but the surrrounding area was hidden due to fence. It was recomended to get one was not surr if this really necessary? If it was me, I'd ask the vendor if I could take a step ladder and have a look over the fence. If there is knot-weed it will probably be so obvious that you'll spot it yourself. The chances of there being knot-weed present that's also not obvious to the naked eye is relatively small. If you do spot knot-weed then read up on it. Its very hard to stop it growing and its difficult to dispose of legally. It does devalue your house slightly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 2 hours ago, Mandy Lifeboats said: If it was me, I'd ask the vendor if I could take a step ladder and have a look over the fence. If there is knot-weed it will probably be so obvious that you'll spot it yourself. The chances of there being knot-weed present that's also not obvious to the naked eye is relatively small. If you do spot knot-weed then read up on it. Its very hard to stop it growing and its difficult to dispose of legally. It does devalue your house slightly. Thank you. There is a lot of greenery around there. Been reading it can cause you massive problems if its close to your home. It grows very quick too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 57 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: Thank you. There is a lot of greenery around there. Been reading it can cause you massive problems if its close to your home. It grows very quick too I obviously have no idea what is the other side of the fence. Ifs it’s open land you can access - go and have a look. It’s a very distinctive plant. It’s grows very quickly and in big patches. If there’s a big problem it will be very easy to spot. Of course there could be a tiny piece that isn’t easy to spot. But that could happen if you paid for a survey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlwaysAVFC Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Does anybody have any idea of how often developers meet their completion dates? We thought we had got lucky with our chain as the lady we're buying off, found a place and they wanted a new build that was ready to go. They couldn't reserve it until they were proceedable, they just missed out. The next available one is due to be ready in December. I've been having a look to see what is out there but it's only horror stories of delays. Just trying to work out how likely it is we could move before Christmas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuart_75 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Mortgage brokers, anyone here swear by them or prefer approaching the bank/BS themselves? The reason I ask is that I saw one yesterday and the lenders she showed me on her screen were not the same as the ones I found on moneysupermarket, in fact hers all bar one were offering worse rates. If she can't get a AIP with the cheapest one them I'm going to tell her to forget it and I'll do the leg work myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted September 8, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted September 8, 2020 37 minutes ago, stuart_75 said: Mortgage brokers, anyone here swear by them or prefer approaching the bank/BS themselves? The reason I ask is that I saw one yesterday and the lenders she showed me on her screen were not the same as the ones I found on moneysupermarket, in fact hers all bar one were offering worse rates. If she can't get a AIP with the cheapest one them I'm going to tell her to forget it and I'll do the leg work myself. I've always used them but they don't seem to do too much more than use a fancy version of a comparison website anyway 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 53 minutes ago, stuart_75 said: Mortgage brokers, anyone here swear by them or prefer approaching the bank/BS themselves? The reason I ask is that I saw one yesterday and the lenders she showed me on her screen were not the same as the ones I found on moneysupermarket, in fact hers all bar one were offering worse rates. If she can't get a AIP with the cheapest one them I'm going to tell her to forget it and I'll do the leg work myself. When I bought my current house I did loads of research into the deals around and knew what I was going to do. As it was a new build I had to speak to an independent mortgage adviser to prove I could afford it. They offered to do me a free quote so I said yes. They got me a deal better than anything else on the market, it was a broker only deal. Then because it was a broker they did all the admin for me and set everything up. So yes, always worth trying a mortgage adviser as they have access to some deals not on the open market. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 1 hour ago, stuart_75 said: Mortgage brokers, anyone here swear by them or prefer approaching the bank/BS themselves? The reason I ask is that I saw one yesterday and the lenders she showed me on her screen were not the same as the ones I found on moneysupermarket, in fact hers all bar one were offering worse rates. If she can't get a AIP with the cheapest one them I'm going to tell her to forget it and I'll do the leg work myself. Do it yourself. With rates so low the chances of them getting you a much better deal are slim. But do your homework. It isn't just the interest rate that is important. Can you overpay each month? Can you pay off blocks of money periodically. Are there any penalties for early repayments. Do they insist you use their own surveyors who are exceptionally expensive? Are there any fees? Will you get discounts on other products like house insurance? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 On 08/09/2020 at 11:21, stuart_75 said: Mortgage brokers, anyone here swear by them or prefer approaching the bank/BS themselves? The reason I ask is that I saw one yesterday and the lenders she showed me on her screen were not the same as the ones I found on moneysupermarket, in fact hers all bar one were offering worse rates. If she can't get a AIP with the cheapest one them I'm going to tell her to forget it and I'll do the leg work myself. I used one for my house purchase. He was brilliant. Very helpful. Also was happy to deal with the snot nosed estate agent who just wqs borderline harassing me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted September 11, 2020 Share Posted September 11, 2020 I used a broker as well. He was great. I was too busy at work at the time to attend face to face mortgage meetings with banks so he met me at mine on a Saturday morning, took everything he needed from me and a few weeks later I had a good offer from Nationwide. A good broker will know best institution to put your application to as well as they will have the inside track on what each funder wants. Yeah you can do it yourself if you have the time and inclination but I was happy to let someone else do the work. I can't even remember how much it cost? A couple of hundred quid, something like that. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted September 11, 2020 Share Posted September 11, 2020 My broker was “free” (they made thousands from the lender). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted September 11, 2020 Share Posted September 11, 2020 15 minutes ago, Genie said: My broker was “free” (they made thousands from the lender). Mine might have been the same, genuinely can't remember. When you buy a property you end up spending so much on stuff you lose track! Nationwide may well have paid the broker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 12 hours ago, Xela said: I used a broker as well. He was great. I was too busy at work at the time to attend face to face mortgage meetings with banks so he met me at mine on a Saturday morning, took everything he needed from me and a few weeks later I had a good offer from Nationwide. A good broker will know best institution to put your application to as well as they will have the inside track on what each funder wants. Yeah you can do it yourself if you have the time and inclination but I was happy to let someone else do the work. I can't even remember how much it cost? A couple of hundred quid, something like that. Same as mine. He even spoke to the arrogant estate agent who was being arrested. Complete arse to me debating whether I had the funds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlwaysAVFC Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Slowly starting to see things happening now. Our mortgage application has gone in so just the nervous wait. I've seen so many articles over the last few months about how hard it is for first time buyers to get a mortgage at the moment. The rate has jumped up a bit since we got the mortgage in principle in July. The solicitors initial searches have been done. Glancing through the email there were 2 things that stuck out. The one that got me most annoyed was that it said that she had a price down for the carpets in fixtures and fittings. Luckily the agent have said that they have it down as included. It varied on the room but £700 in total. The solicitor said they thought it was unreasonable and had questioned it with the other solicitor before emailing me anyway. Even without the agent confirming they were included, no chance am I paying that. The second was that there is a sinkhole near the property It's 230m away so hopefully it is just something that the searches have thrown up. The survey is being done in a couple of weeks. So all being well that will reassure us it isn't an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 1 hour ago, AlwaysAVFC said: Slowly starting to see things happening now. Our mortgage application has gone in so just the nervous wait. I've seen so many articles over the last few months about how hard it is for first time buyers to get a mortgage at the moment. The rate has jumped up a bit since we got the mortgage in principle in July. The solicitors initial searches have been done. Glancing through the email there were 2 things that stuck out. The one that got me most annoyed was that it said that she had a price down for the carpets in fixtures and fittings. Luckily the agent have said that they have it down as included. It varied on the room but £700 in total. The solicitor said they thought it was unreasonable and had questioned it with the other solicitor before emailing me anyway. Even without the agent confirming they were included, no chance am I paying that. The second was that there is a sinkhole near the property It's 230m away so hopefully it is just something that the searches have thrown up. The survey is being done in a couple of weeks. So all being well that will reassure us it isn't an issue. She is trying it on with the carpets. If they are “fitted” she is likely to throw them in for free. If she doesn’t it means she has to remove them when she moves out. That’s time consuming and might even cost her money to just to throw them away. It’s just another niggle. Knowing there is a sink hole 230m away is much better than there being an undiscovered one. You might find it was subjected to major civil engineering repair. My house came back as being “50m from a flood plain”. When I looked it up, the area hadn’t flooded that far in 100 years. The headlines can be shocking. The details rarely are. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazzap24 Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Good brokers (whether it be Mortgage, Car Finance or Asset finance) can be worth their weight in gold if you find a decent one. They will often have deals you can’t find elsewhere and the best ones take the hassle away from dealing with banks/finance companies directly. Same with everything, it’s just a case of doing your research and checking what’s put in front of you before you sign anything. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted September 24, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted September 24, 2020 On 20/09/2020 at 06:02, AlwaysAVFC said: Slowly starting to see things happening now. Our mortgage application has gone in so just the nervous wait. I've seen so many articles over the last few months about how hard it is for first time buyers to get a mortgage at the moment. The rate has jumped up a bit since we got the mortgage in principle in July. The solicitors initial searches have been done. Glancing through the email there were 2 things that stuck out. The one that got me most annoyed was that it said that she had a price down for the carpets in fixtures and fittings. Luckily the agent have said that they have it down as included. It varied on the room but £700 in total. The solicitor said they thought it was unreasonable and had questioned it with the other solicitor before emailing me anyway. Even without the agent confirming they were included, no chance am I paying that. The second was that there is a sinkhole near the property It's 230m away so hopefully it is just something that the searches have thrown up. The survey is being done in a couple of weeks. So all being well that will reassure us it isn't an issue. Yeah they're having a laugh with the carpets. If they insisted on charging that then I'd be telling them "That's fine, I won't pay that so do whatever you like with them" You can almost guarantee they'll leave them. And if they don't, you have to buy new carpets anyway but you can get one you actually want Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 You should get the solicitor to raise the issue legally. If they are taking the carpets then it’s fine, if they say they are but then leave them then there will be a fee to be paid to the new buyer to dispose of them. That should focus their attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlwaysAVFC Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 2 hours ago, Genie said: You should get the solicitor to raise the issue legally. If they are taking the carpets then it’s fine, if they say they are but then leave them then there will be a fee to be paid to the new buyer to dispose of them. That should focus their attention. My Solicitor seems pretty in the ball, and had raised it with their solicitor before even letting me know. That was also before I told them about the estate agent co firming that she had said they were included. Just waiting to hear their response. I think she has just got a bit carried away when filling in the contents and fittings form. Seeing carpets on there and thinking she can out a price down for them. I think the lounge, hall stairs and landing are relatively new (within last 2 years) and forgot she had already said they were included. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Genie Posted September 24, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted September 24, 2020 (edited) It reminded me a couple of houses ago. We were selling our house and the couple who were buying it the lads mum was an estate agent at the house we were buying and she tried to take the piss whenever possible. We’d bought these under counter fridge and freezer quite recently and offered them to them for £100 total, it was a bargain. Think we paid about £300 about 8 months before and they mint condition. She came back and said they’d pay £40. I said no thanks, we’ll take them with us. Then she calls back saying ok £100. I said, too late we’re taking them now purely out of spite. Think I sold them for about £170 in the end. I bet it was fun when she had to tell her son he’d need to replace them because she was being a greedy bitch. Edited September 24, 2020 by Genie 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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