Saving/Applying for a mortgage 2015/16/17/18/19

sibersha

Can anyone recommend a snagger in NE area please?

Mr Mister

Another long time lurker on this thread. After 9 months of what felt like an endless saga we finally got the keys for our house. Between ward of courts and probates we thought it would never come through. But such a relief to finally have it sorted.

Now for the fun part.....we need to do some renovations to bring the house up to a good standard - heating and plumbing, electrics, insulation and windows (as well as new floors, paint etc).

If anyone on here wants to PM me with recommendations of builders, contractors, electricians or plumbers that would be much appreciated. We're not sure whether we should get one builder to look after the lot or get the individual contractors ourselves. In the D14/16 area btw.

We've got a couple of quotes and most are roughly in-line with our expectations (although still a bit more than we would have liked). Think it's worthwhile getting a couple more just to see if there is any improvement.

mirrorwall14

Hopefully this is the week for progress. Loan offer and contracts expected this week!

Tasden

intheclouds wrote: »

We've just had our offer accepted!

Brilliant

intheclouds

Tasden wrote: »

Brilliant

I feel mixed happiness but also annoyance because I firmly believe the estate agent lied to us.

Tasden

intheclouds wrote: »

I feel mixed happiness but also annoyance because I firmly believe the estate agent lied to us.

But you're one step closer so stay positive
It seems like such a frustrating process alright.

StiffOldMan

Tasden wrote: »

But you're one step closer so stay positive
It seems like such a frustrating process alright.

Certainly is! Buying a house in this current market is a TOTALLY different ballgame to what it was in the past. I bought a house during the boom and I have to say, myself and my partner at the time were pretty much low to low average wages and we got a lot of money thrown at us. Too much! I cannot remember any heavy stress in my previous buy, literally send in your forms and yes there you go, 350 thousand.. F**K!

Tasden

StiffOldMan wrote: »

Certainly is! Buying a house in this current market is a TOTALLY different ballgame to what it was in the past. I bought a house during the boom and I have to say, myself and my partner at the time were pretty much low to low average wages and we got a lot of money thrown at us. Too much! I cannot remember any heavy stress in my previous buy, literally send in your forms and yes there you go, 350 thousand.. F**K!

Yeah all that money being thrown at people back then has led to it now being impossible to get any decent amount now for good reason obviously, but frustrating nonetheless for those wanting to buy now

I'm a few years from even thinking about buying but am saving away and gathering information from this thread that is invaluable, but by the time I buy it could be all changed again! One things for sure, I'm preparing for a lot of stress and heartache!

Siipina

Wohhooo had a chat with the EA today as we didnt hear anything the last 1,5 weeks.
The vendors are working on their side, the solicitor will finish the draft contact this, latest beginning of next week and the timing everyone is working on is end of September, beginning of October. Thank god the vendors really want to finish and they know we have a bit of a tight dead line. That would be amazing. I know it will be more end of October but still.
Everything before the winter hits as our LL is not bothered to fix the heating. Hopefully all goes quick and smooth.

mirrorwall14

Loan agreement arrived from the solicitors today. House insurance is ready to go when we have the date. Life insurance is ready to go. And still there is no contract.... GRRRRR!

Laghan

The bank emailed me yesterday and the official letter of offer has been sent to me and the solicitor, Yay! So met with an engineer yesterday at the house and there's a few things I hadn't spotted the first time. Mainly the back wall of the newest extension is timber frame without a damp course, so the whole wall and flat roof will need to be replaced. It's a very old house so we expected some suprises but thought they would be in the older part of the house! Once we move in and get a feel for what we want to do with the place I can draw up some designs and get prices from builders, hopefully the wall and roof won't add a huge amount to the overall costs. Positive thinking!

Tuesday_Girl

Got my keys on Friday, moved in that night. Had a busy weekend but got lots done, still has to be painted and more furniture will be delivered after that but I have telly, internet, couch, bed, table and chairs and the kitchen is in perfect condition so not really under any pressure now and can enjoy it.

Good luck to all those still in the process!

Tasden

Tuesday_Girl wrote: »

Got my keys on Friday, moved in that night. Had a busy weekend but got lots done, still has to be painted and more furniture will be delivered after that but I have telly, internet, couch, bed, table and chairs and the kitchen is in perfect condition so not really under any pressure now and can enjoy it.

Good luck to all those still in the process!

Aw that's all the fun stuff! congrats!

Naid23

Bidding on a really nice house at the moment. Have the highest bid for a few days with one other person bidding against us at the moment. Theres another viewing tomorrow so going to that so we are 100% sure its good for us as there is a bit of work involved to get it how we want. Fingers crossed

Santy2015

The new BOI cash back offer which is 1% after 5 years with them. Will we get that? Or is that just mortgages drawn down as from now or with people who've recently draw down and got the 2% cash back. It's illegal for them to claw back any cash if we were to switch mortgage so guessing would be we'd be entitled to but not sure

paintinglasses

I've been following in this thread since it started, lots of useful advice and information on it. So thanks to everyone so far.

I just have a quick question regarding an estate agent who we suspect never passed on our bid to the owner? They also won't tell us what the offer is that's currently higher than ours (we have reason to believe there is no other bidder). We're finding it all very suspicious and can't figure out the best way to deal with it.
Thanks!

whiskeyman

paintinglasses wrote: »

I've been following in this thread since it started, lots of useful advice and information on it. So thanks to everyone so far.

I just have a quick question regarding an estate agent who we suspect never passed on our bid to the owner? They also won't tell us what the offer is that's currently higher than ours (we have reason to believe there is no other bidder). We're finding it all very suspicious and can't figure out the best way to deal with it.
Thanks!

Very odd!
I think someone else mentioned here to be sure you email in all bids as backup to phonecall so you have record.

I don't get why they don't tell you the current highest bid?
Could you get a friend to call in and ask what's the current bid?

paintinglasses

whiskeyman wrote:

I don't get why they don't tell you the current highest bid? Could you get a friend to call in and ask what's the current bid?

We have been emailing our offers so we have proof of that. We were told that he never gives out what the current offer is, you essentially just blindly guess until he tells you if you're the highest bidder. I don't really understand it, I have little patience for those kind of games. I'd rather be told the current offer so I know if we're in the running or not.
Save myself some time anyway!

*mini rant over...

intheclouds

paintinglasses wrote: »

We have been emailing our offers so we have proof of that. We were told that he never gives out what the current offer is, you essentially just blindly guess until he tells you if you're the highest bidder. I don't really understand it, I have little patience for those kind of games. I'd rather be told the current offer so I know if we're in the running or not.
Save myself some time anyway!

*mini rant over...

Why have you made more than one offer if you dont know what the current bid is?

Is that not just bidding against yourself?

Naid23

paintinglasses wrote: »

We have been emailing our offers so we have proof of that. We were told that he never gives out what the current offer is, you essentially just blindly guess until he tells you if you're the highest bidder. I don't really understand it, I have little patience for those kind of games. I'd rather be told the current offer so I know if we're in the running or not.
Save myself some time anyway!

*mini rant over...

thats ridiculous- why wouldnt they tell you what the bid is?? very odd.
games they play are infuriating.

paintinglasses

intheclouds wrote:

Why have you made more than one offer if you dont know what the current bid is?

intheclouds wrote:

Is that not just bidding against yourself?

We made our first bid, blind guessed because we didn't know if it was too far under the asking price and we had no guideline to start at. He told us we matched the bid so we left it stand. Got a phonecall saying that we had to up our offer or else the other bidder was preferable as they were there first.....?
So we upped by an absolute miniscule amount because we knew we were bidding against ourselves.

And it's stood since then (a few weeks from start til now), until yesterday when we heard that there was higher offers than ours. But of course we can't take his word for it!

SB_Part2

I'd be walking away from that. That's too stressful and head wrecking.

intheclouds

Theres no way Id be playing that game.

Laghan

SB_Part2 wrote:

I'd be walking away from that. That's too stressful and head wrecking.

+1
I do remember when my brother was buying a few years ago, he was bidding against another party, it went back and forth for ages and then the EA said that they would be closing bids on X date at 12 pm, both parties put in their best offer and the best offer took the house. But up until then he knew what the other party were offering. I thought that was bad at the time... your EA is completely taking the piss and I wouldn't entertain it.
If you really want the house, make an offer and give it an expiry time, if it's not accepted, walk away. Good luck, really sounds head wrecking.

paintinglasses

I think we'll be taking the advice above. Just make an offer to what we think the house is and if it's not accepted then so be it. With a time limit!

Thanks for the advice, sometimes it can feel like we're going crazy with all the games and tactics.

Nedbroy

18 months looking. 3rd approval. 2 sale agreeds. Outbid XXX times. Back to square one again. Nice to see some happy endings here. Only thing stopping me catching a plane out of this place where it's become impossible to either buy or rent. Best of luck to you all.

Alkers

Nedbroy wrote:

18 months looking. 3rd approval. 2 sale agreeds. Outbid XXX times. Back to square one again. Nice to see some happy endings here. Only thing stopping me catching a plane out of this place where it's become impossible to either buy or rent. Best of luck to you all.

What happened your sale agreed houses?

Nedbroy

Simona1986 wrote: »

What happened your sale agreed houses?

Once vendors pulled out - no explanation just decided not to sell. Second kept us waiting 8 months while they tried to find somewhere and still haven't. Refused to close or consider alternative accommodation. Total waste of an approval.

whiskeyman

Nedbroy wrote: »

18 months looking. 3rd approval. 2 sale agreeds. Outbid XXX times. Back to square one again. Nice to see some happy endings here. Only thing stopping me catching a plane out of this place where it's become impossible to either buy or rent. Best of luck to you all.

ouch

That's tough Nedbroy.
A couple of questions if you don't mind.
Are you getting massively outbid?
Are you looking in the same area / have you changed your tactics in anyway?
Have you priorities in a property changes since over that time?

Hopefully something comes good soon!

StiffOldMan

Nedbroy wrote: »

Once vendors pulled out - no explanation just decided not to sell. Second kept us waiting 8 months while they tried to find somewhere and still haven't. Refused to close or consider alternative accommodation. Total waste of an approval.

If you go sale agreed again, put it into the contract that closing has to occur by a certain date. That's where I went wrong. Also, exchange contracts! Once you've exchanged contracts, vendors cannot pull out without penalty (you sue them for expenses). Once contracts are exchanged and closing date agreed, they will be in breach if they dont close on the day in the contract. You can then serve a completion notice if needs be to force the issue, but in my experience and hearing others experiences, contracts are not exchanged until the vendor is absolutely happy about the situation, which can drag things along. If contracts aren't exchanged, they can drag you along for months and then change their mind, and you cant do anything about it.