Owning your own home

We decided to rent for a year in the location we were moving to. Massively reduced stress and allowed us to wait for the right thing to come up rather than hoping to find it in a 1 month window

That would be ideal, but we've got a fixed term mortgage we need to port, so not sure that would be an option for us

All that Terrazzo aint cheap

Probate is a fucking drag.

Offer accepted in September 2019, still waiting.

probate

You should get that checked, esp at your age

Payment holidays are a thing. It just means more interest for the provider in the end so contact them and ask

Douglas fir
Terrazzo
Micro cement
Crittal

Ain’t cheap

Any thoughts on what interest rates may do in the next few years. Obviously a bit of a how long is a piece of string question.

My instinct is to fix for five years but we're pondering a loft conversion in a couple of years that would be partly funded through the mortgage.

I think there is an expectation that they'll remain low for some time.

Tomorrow we will make our first tentative steps into the world of property auctions.

What’s the process? Good luck!

With a recession likely in the near future I’d imagine they will continue to remain low. Not sure the current very low rate will remain that whole time though. We’re going for a 5yr fixed

Fingers crossed you get Dion Dublin and not the annoying guy.

Sounds exciting but also annoying - are you dead set on a certain place? Do you have a very firm upper limit or an upper limit plus whatever % it's over by when it's about to finish, like me on eBay?

@Tenderloin If we win the auction it's 10% deposit on the spot. With this particular property, we then have 30 days to get the mortgage and complete. If we fail to do so we lose the deposit and are responsible for any relisting fees. Our current situation means our borrowing is minimal (possibly sub £50k depending on the selling price) so we're confident that the mortgage won't be a problem.

@tbc There is one in particular. Our limit is based on the results on a survey we've had done along with the costs needed to completely refurbish it.

Even if we don't win it will be good to see how the guide price relates to the actual selling price.

Do you at least have an agreement in principle?

Some auction houses ask to see one before you can register to bid. Others don't bother, given that an AIP is mostly meaningless.

Yes we have one.

With a recession likely in the near future I’d imagine they will continue to remain low. Not sure the current very low rate will remain that whole time though. We’re going for a 5yr fixed

I went for a 5yr fixed last year and I feel a little trapped by it tbh. A finance pal of mine recommended a 3yr fixed at the time - to take advantage of the protection from fluctuation but still maintain some flexibility. I wish I'd taken his advice. I only repeat it here in case its useful.

How come?
We also got a 5-yr last year and I feel the opposite (but we are not likely to move). Looking at total costs vs capital paid off, the shorter term fixed rates are objectively worse value and seem designed for first time buyers or people upscaling rather than simple re-mortgaging. I.e. roll the fees into the mortgage (what’s £2k on £200k new debt?) and pay slightly less each month.

We are about half way through a 5yr fixed. The early repayment charges usually drop incrementally over those five years. I think ours is currently 1.5% so any flights of fancy I have about moving need to include a couple of grand to potentially break out of the deal. Best case, I can port the mortgage.

The Bank of England publishes daily estimated yield curves for the UK.

Basically the same for the next couple of years, rising from year 5 to year 10, plateauing for 10 years, then dropping again.

(That's based off UK gilts - I can only assume that the GBP swap curve is similar, and mortgage rates track that bit more closely I believe).

Interesting to note that the near term curve has shifted up in the past month.

Cheers all, what I kind of expected but glad it wasn't just me.

My broker has told me that if I go for the 5 year I can still apply for a subsequent advance so I need to work out how that works.

You basically take out a mortgage type product on top of your current mortgage. As the term is long (probably same as your current mortgage) and the amount is quite low the repayments won't be that high.
You can roll them all into one product when you subsequently remortgage.

Anyone have any thoughts on tactics when you want a place which is 'offers in excess of'?

We viewed a place we like yesterday, it's on at offers in excess of x when x is about 8% less than what we think it's worth.

We do want to buy on this particular street but our place isn't on the market yet, so we're prepared to go high to try and convince the vendors to go with us over people who are in a better buying position because we want it and we don't know when something similar will come up again.

It will be first offers tomorrow then best and final later in the week. We'd rather not show our hand too much in the first round of offers so our final offer isn't anticipated.

I think our first offer should be big enough to seem serious but not so big it sets hares running and encourages a bidding war between the other prospective buyers.

Does that make sense? I have no idea what I'm doing really because we were first time buyers last time round.

We've found it really hard to have offers accepted without having our place on the market.

Is the place likely to have multiple offers in your opinion? What have similar places nearby gone for vs asking price? I'd probably keep your powder dry for best and finals, so go in around asking and then go in with whatever you're willing to pay (108% of x)?