Owning your own home

I though the homebuyers report isn't worth getting.
Isn't it just is a list of things that they will neither confirm or deny will be problematic...?

Full fat survey or no survey.

If you're buying a property in London, you could reasonably expect your house to go up in value by the figure of £400 in a matter of weeks, making the investment well worth it.

Of course, if it highlights major issues with the property, the value of the house you're buying could go down by a hundred times the cost. Making it even better value for money!!

The one I had seemed fairly reasonable. Wasn't the most detailed but confirmed things like the cracked plaster wasn't due to subsidence, various pointing that needed doing, flue needed cleaning, parts of the roof needed repairing, etc.

Agreed that there were a variety of areas such as electrics, etc where the comment was look OK but get an expert to check

yes please! that would be awesome, as we have no idea what colour yet. where are you? i'm in no hurry and could collect whenever suits. thank you!

Enfield, EN1.

Might be 2-3 weeks before I'm done with them, but if you can wait that long I'll let you know when I've had my fill.

I've found a really nice 2bed flat for less than 190k. the only problem is that its in Plumstead! Does anyone have experience of the area (transport, facilities etc).

Can't comment on Plumstead as an area but you'll be within walking distance of the Crossrail service when it opens in 3 years. That's got to be worth thinking about... the investment and growth that a project like that will bring should increase your investment significantly.

Obviously you've got to live there as well though...!

The Crossrail is definitely a consideration. We see this as the first step on the ladder. So if making a sacrifice on location for a few years is needed then I guess its what we're gonna have to do. The flat is great, even more so when you compare it to similar priced properties in the places we've currently been looking (Plaistow, Upton Park).

If it's cheap even for the area then there's probably something wrong with it / it will go for well over asking.

I'd say it was worth it.

The Shard was just opening when we moved to Hither Green (one stop from London Bridge in peak times), and since it's opening, house prices have risen over 30% in two years. I would say that Crossrail should beat that level of inflation with ease but you wouldn't see a lot of that until around 2020.

What that will mean though is you should be at the end of a 5 year fixed term (if you can get one) and remortgaging will see a dramatic change in your LTV %.

The lease is really low, but i've been given a quote (from the freeholder) regarding the cost of renewing it. Even factoring in this extra cost it is still reasonable (for London).

Interesting. Clearly if the lease is below 80 years currently you'll find it hard to get a mortgage unless the extension is simultaneous with the transaction. The freeholder's quote may not include your legal costs to extend (were several £k when we did it)

Thanks, i'll look into it more. We're really in the preliminary stages with a high chance of failure. However it's been a while since i've been excited about a property!

Well, problem #1 has surfaced, 3 weeks in.

Couldn't bleed the radiators and eventually traced it to a blockage where the expansion tank feed joins the central heating system. Not an uncommon problem apparently.

£130 later and the piece has been cut out, cleaned and put back in. I now know more than I ever desired to know about vented central heating systems.

We sold a flat with a 76 year lease,less than a month ago, it wiped 20k off the value for us. £330,000 down from £350,000 (Valued by surveyor not an estate agent, as it was shared ownership). the real cost of extending at it's current length was approx £15k (and that included us paying all the housing associations fees too) but we decided to sell as is, being shared we wouldn't get the full value of the increase in cost only a share of it.

Lenders will lend on a property with a lease under 80 years, most if the lease is at least 70 years, some if it is more than 60 years. That would need to be reflected in the valuation however.

I'm just selling in SE18, round the corner from Plumstead.

Pros

Some nice parks, especially if you run (probs also if you MTB), notably Bostall Woods
Crossrail is likely to help connections and prices
Handy to cycle out to Kent at the weekends
Near Harry Perry's bike shop in Woolwich
Locals are generally a pretty nice bunch
Do you like fried chicken? Knock yourself out
No shortage of evangelical churches, many offering miracle working and gayness cures
It's not Lewisham

Cons

Depending on where you are, transport links can be shocking, needing a lengthy bus ride to a tube or mainline - but you've got a bike, so not crucial
Any short term value rise due to Crossrail has probably already been factored into the price
House prices have been historically stagnant (my place increased c.30% in 10 years - other places in Ldn manage that in a year)
It's still pretty much a shithole - almost as bad as Lewisham

Lenders will lend on a property with a lease under 80 years, most if the lease is at least 70 years, some if it is more than 60 years

That's really interesting, didn't know that was the case.

new stamp duty rates
First 125k = nothing
Next 125k = 2%
Next 675k = 5%
Next 575k = 10%
Then 12% above that

So we will save c.2.5k on our 365k purchase (was 10950 at the flat 3% now 8250 under the new method).

Woof. Looks like our purchase falling through at the last means we will save more on stamp duty when we do buy than what we lost on the money we put into the purchase (spent about £1000 on trying to buy a £320K house).

What would have been £9.6K is now £6K by my calculations? Although I don't see any help for first time buyers mentioned.

Edit: There is a calculator here and I'm right, saved £3600 minus our spending.

When do these kick in? Could save us a penny or two also.

Midnight, apparently.

Midnight tonight according to the Graniuad.

Enter your text here...

Yes.
Very easy.
No, unless you count paying the lawyers an issue.

Oh, I was only a month behind on this thread. Nevermind.

This means half-price stamp duty, almost. I can't believe George Osborne is going to be the reason I'll actually have enough money to buy a bed bike after completion...