Buying a house 2013!

Ritchi

Norwesterner wrote: »

I'd wait for the New Year.
There's been a lot of "chatter" the last few weeks that the banks are going to start repoing BTL's and releasing them on the market.
Thousands of them.

What if there are more than thousands waiting to buy(which I'm fairly sure there are)?

They may not end up being as cheap as some might think.

If you see value now, it's a good time to buy, it may not be the best time to buy, and you may get better value in a year, but on the flip side, you may not. If you spend too long waiting for the perfect time to buy, you'll miss it.

loopyk

I am looking to start the process of getting approval in principal, and think a broker would be easiest. Does anyone have any recommendations of brokers in or around cork city? Also are there any banks that don't work with brokers that i would have to apply directly to?
Thanks for any help!

gmisk

I dont honestly get the point of brokers.
Why not just approach lenders directly?

mel.b

lkennea3 wrote: »

I am looking to start the process of getting approval in principal, and think a broker would be easiest. Does anyone have any recommendations of brokers in or around cork city? Also are there any banks that don't work with brokers that i would have to apply directly to?
Thanks for any help!

You don't need to look any further than our very own Killars1 on this forum. He is Dublin based but will do everything via email and phone for you (i am in Clare, so speaking from expereience). He has been a massive massive help and has made the process as painfreeas it can be.

darklighter

Woodville56 wrote: »

From reading various threads in Accommodation & Property regarding repossessions (see Glut of repossessed houses could depress prices ‘by up to 25%’ ) thread, I'm wondering if it's going to be worth the wait - from reading the experiences of posters in this forum, expectations are that conveyancing in relation to repo properties may not be that straightforward - long delays in banks making decisions on offers, difficulties regarding title /contract exchange ...sounds like it will call for loadsa stamina when the stampede begins !!

I'm in the midst of "attempting" to finalize purchase of a repo'd property since March.
Solicitor now isnt happy with the transfer of title as their was a judgement mortgage registered against the property in April & is advising that if the bank wont provide a barristers opinion on whether the title is all in order, I should pull out :eek:
Disaster as there is nothing even close to the spec of this house at this price

green_bow

given the choice between two similar sized houses which are also similar in price

would you go for glasnevin or Beaumont , both in Dublin 9 , I might add the house in glasnevin is closer to finglas than drumcondra

quad_red

gmisk wrote: »

I dont honestly get the point of brokers.
Why not just approach lenders directly?

It's a long, stressful, drawn out process.

A broker you trust is worth their weight in cold when it comes to reassurance and advice on the million and one things that come up throughout the process.

We're (hopefully) almost at the end and if I was buying/selling again in future I'd use a broker again.

green_bow

quad_red wrote: »

It's more than just size.

You need to weigh up allot.

What condition is each house in? What is the orientation of the house/garden? Are they overlooked? Do you have kids? What schools do you want them to go to? Are they in the catchments of schools you might want?

What are the bus routes there like? Which is close to a bus stop?

Have you been to the two houses at different times of the day? Do kids hang out beside one of them at night? Have you specced out the neighbours?

etc.

you said a lot there without addressing my question

I just want to know is Beaumont or glasnevin a better area

green_bow

quad_red wrote: »

They are both so big, with so many daft/myhome interpretations of what constitutes them, that that question is so ambiguous it's meaningless.

Both areas have nice estates. Both have not so nice estates.

What estates are you looking at?

never heard anyone refer to Beaumont as big before , glasnevin yes

house in Beaumont is on coolgrena road

house in glasnevin is on cremore heights

Roselm

green_bow wrote: »

never heard anyone refer to Beaumont as big before , glasnevin yes

house in Beaumont is on coolgrena road

house in glasnevin is on cremore heights

I live nearish to Cremore Heights. I would buy there if the properties met my needs. There are often kids hanging around the shops on Fitzmaurice rd but they seem to come from the finglas area back towards the N2 across the rd from cremore. I dont think they venture up cremore way! It seems quiet around where you're looking.The only thing that would worry me is the proximity of the church and therefore bells!
Dont know anything about Beaumont, sorry!

angel eyes 2012

Hi, we are in the process of putting offers on houses and one of them may be very close to being accepted. I want to have everything lined up to make the process as smooth as possible. Can anyone recommend a Dublin Based conveyancing Solicitor? Thanks

Dublin25

quad_red wrote: »

It's a long, stressful, drawn out process.

A broker you trust is worth their weight in cold when it comes to reassurance and advice on the million and one things that come up throughout the process.

We're (hopefully) almost at the end and if I was buying/selling again in future I'd use a broker again.

Totally agree. We used a broker and could not have done the process without him. He was able to independantly look at our situation and talk to the banks on our behalf and know what to say to them to best help our case.
Plus he was also able to help us with best prices on life assurance etc.

Whilst we paid a fee to use him, it was the best money in the whole process we spent.
There are some brokers who do not charge - great reviews for Killers1 here & we got a great solicitor through him. (We didn't use him as we'd gone with the other guys before i saw Killers1)

Good Luck!

Elbow

Finally, our solicitor received contracts today

Over 3 months after going sale agreed!

skyfall2012

Got the keys to my new house yesterday after 4 months. We had an appointment for Thursday at 4pm for closing. Traveled 200 miles for meeting and then solicitor rang to say Land registry site was down and can't close without access to that site, I said what if I go to the land registry office would that do she said no. Then I visited the citizens advice and they rang land reg for me and found out that I could get the docs over the counter, so I did and got the keys in the end, but they really took the good out of it.

quad_red

skyfall2012 wrote: »

Got the keys to my new house yesterday after 4 months. We had an appointment for Thursday at 4pm for closing. Traveled 200 miles for meeting and then solicitor rang to say Land registry site was down and can't close without access to that site, I said what if I go to the land registry office would that do she said no. Then I visited the citizens advice and they rang land reg for me and found out that I could get the docs over the counter, so I did and got the keys in the end, but they really took the good out of it.

Don't let it put ye off, skyfall!

Congrats and enjoy not having to worry about any of this crap any more!

Ps. When's the moving in party? I presume everyone on here gets an invite?

skyfall2012

quad_red wrote: »

Don't let it put ye off, skyfall!

Congrats and enjoy not having to worry about any of this crap any more!

Ps. When's the moving in party? I presume everyone on here gets an invite?

Oh God yeah, everyone, will let y'all know:) Thanks for congrats.

quad_red

quad_red wrote: »

We went sale agreed in early May and signed our contracts last week. They have no been sent abroad for the vendors to sign them.

How long we have to go is anyone's guess but I think the big think we've learned is that you need to keep the heat on.

Their solicitor had been sitting on the deeds from the bank for a few weeks before concerted effort from our solicitor and from us through the EA got them to move forward.

We got a call two weeks ago from the EA who said the vendors were frustrated at how long things were taking. I sternly told the EA to inform them that the delays were all on their side with their solicitor. Since that things have moved pretty quickly.

To cut a long story short - if the vendors aren't pushing their solicitor it seems to run like treacle.

A guy who works with my wife was just under six weeks from sale agreed to keys handed over last year. A friend of ours went sale agreed after us and got their keys two weeks ago. From a small town where they able to put pressure on the solicitors through mutual acquaintances to keep things moving.

Still nothing. They cashed our bloody deposit straight away but nothing. The house is empty but no explanation as to why the contracts haven't been completed and returned.

Still no closing date. This is pretty frustrating.

gmisk

I have been sale agreed since the end of february........still hold up on vendors banks side...they are in negative equity and trying to come to some deal.........I am considering pulling out at this stage....i was told contracts should be ready to go last week and still no sign of them

highgiant1985

quad_red wrote: »

Still nothing. They cashed our bloody deposit straight away but nothing. The house is empty but no explanation as to why the contracts haven't been completed and returned.

Still no closing date. This is pretty frustrating.

What do you mean they cashed your desposit straight away? Is the deposit not held until contracts are signed and the deal is completed or what normally happens?

lisasimpson

hi all can anyone advise what amounts banks are giving out now, last year I got pre approval from boi for 5 times my salary I heard today its less than 4 times, does anyone know if this is true don't have time this week to get to a bank to ask

L1011

5x is still available but how much any individual buyer gets offered then varies on their own circumstances and the website/first phone call approval isn't worth the paper its not written on. I got pre-approved for 5x but then offered max 3.somethingx and drew down under 3x.

Sunny Dayz

Been glancing over this thread as I haven't been on it in a couple of weeks. This house buying malarky is as slow as Christmas! Been sale agreed since start of May and still not signed contracts yet. Was ready to pull the plug at end of July but the vendors solicitor prodcued some of the documents our solicitor requested and now we are waiting on the rest. Maybe we were being a bit niave, being our first time to buy a house and the first of our group of friends to do so, but I thought it would be done and dusted by now. At this rate, we'll be lucky to own it by the end of the year!

From looking at the thread, seems we certainly aren't the only ones going through this process at a snails pace. Have things changed in the last year or two that are making it so difficult to buy/sell a house or is it generally this long? Nearly everyone who is buying on this thread seems to talk of things dragging out. Has anyone here actually bought a house this year relatively hassle free and in a speedy manner?!

Sunny Dayz

Sorry, another question:

Once the contracts are signed, what is left to do in terms of buying a house after that and how long should it take?

(I know my solicitor went through that all with us, but it's been so long now at this stage I have forgotten!)

gmisk

I think a lot of people here (me included) are having a long drawn out process due to sellers being in negative equity? (i.e. delay is on the bank and vendor coming to an agreement RE this).

Sunny Dayz

gmisk wrote: »

I think a lot of people here (me included) are having a long drawn out process due to sellers being in negative equity? (i.e. delay is on the bank and vendor coming to an agreement RE this).

Yes that certainly seems to be the case for a lot of people. But should this not be sorted with the vendor's bank before the offer is accepted? (as was in our case and why we waited nearly two months for offer to be accepted).

Elbow

Ours is long drawn our process is because we're buying from a developer and the bank are involved, Every single little detail has to be signed off by the bank and they take their time with everything!

gmisk

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

Yes that certainly seems to be the case for a lot of people. But should this not be sorted with the vendor's bank before the offer is accepted? (as was in our case and why we waited nearly two months for offer to be accepted).

You would think so wouldnt you!
My offer was accepted at the end of February.......so you arent doing too bad to be honest

mel.b

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

Been glancing over this thread as I haven't been on it in a couple of weeks. This house buying malarky is as slow as Christmas! Been sale agreed since start of May and still not signed contracts yet. Was ready to pull the plug at end of July but the vendors solicitor prodcued some of the documents our solicitor requested and now we are waiting on the rest. Maybe we were being a bit niave, being our first time to buy a house and the first of our group of friends to do so, but I thought it would be done and dusted by now. At this rate, we'll be lucky to own it by the end of the year!

From looking at the thread, seems we certainly aren't the only ones going through this process at a snails pace. Have things changed in the last year or two that are making it so difficult to buy/sell a house or is it generally this long? Nearly everyone who is buying on this thread seems to talk of things dragging out. Has anyone here actually bought a house this year relatively hassle free and in a speedy manner?!

My purchase was sale agreed at the start of May, closing date is 12th Sept. vendors had initially wanted closing at the end of July which i was happy to do but contracts weten't signed until after that due to them initally being slow to answer queries, then a hold up with the bank (estate not taken over by council, bank had to approve sale).

However a friend went sale agreed just before me and got the keys to her place at the end of July so just over 8weeks so it does happen.

2013Lara

Also a very slow start here, sale agreed since mid June, contracts out very quick and nothing but silence since. Still waiting on pre contract queries to be answered. So very frustrating.

DeadlyH83

Hi,
Could a mod please help me?
I started a thread asking for help in putting in new furniture after buying a house but posted it in Cork City by mistake could I get it moved to accommodation and property?
Thanks