Owning your own home

“Ok. Do you want the report, or not?”

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That's really helpful, thanks.

We wouldn't need to get the mortgage in place by the auction timeframe (assuming we could complete within 90 days of the auction), but we'd need it before we could pay to make the house liveable.

So it could be doable by the sound of it.

Mortgageable and liveable is not quite the same, but it’s pretty close!

For example, half the house could need decoration and woodwork painting, carpets/flooring missing, but as long as it has a functional kitchen, bathroom, hot and cold water, electricity, windows/secure then a normal mortgage is possible.
I wouldn’t consider that ‘liveable’ but you could live there at the same time.

So you could raise money on a standard mortgage with a very basic finish/temporary functionality, but if it needs major work that is likely to take months and months, a bridging loan or light refurb mortgage might be needed to cover that gap between purchase and mortgageable.

Tom you need to speak to a mortgage broker about this as every lender will have slightly different minimum requirements. Some will say it's down to the valuer who goes out on the day (valuers comments) and others will have set criteria. You probably have a mortgage broker already but I have a nice bloke you can speak to as well if needs be.

ETA you also need to be aware of the 6 month mortgage rule, i.e a lot of lenders (but not all) won't let you mortgage a cash purchase until you've owned it for 6 months. Some lenders don't have this criteria but a lot do which is why it's important I guess to speak to a broker so you target the right lender.

They are free to do whatever they want. I see no basis whatsoever to ask for a discount if the surveyor has just been busy and not quite turned it around in the timeframe normally provided.

Im sure an apology and a thorough survey together with answering any follow up questions will be fine.

I absolutely hate the sharp elbowed culture of chipping people at the drop of a hat and for the most spurious of reasons.

I absolutely hate the sharp elbowed culture of chipping people at the drop of a hat and for the most spurious of reasons.

This. So much this.

I agree with this, but it also get very frustrated when people run companies and can't communicate with customers. As simple email apologising for and explaining the delay would go a long way.

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1904, and our survey took 2 weeks longer because his ‘normal typist’ wasn’t available.

Maybe he was from the 1940/50s.

The estate agents we bought our place claimed not to know when it was built, but when we moved in the original deeds were in a safe (along with the plans from when it was bought as an off-plan new build in the 1890s).

It's strange to think a Victorian house was once a gauche development on the grounds of an old manor house. I wonder if there were nimbys back then who worried East Ham would lose sight of its potato-farming heritage under spread of the East End.

We've got a guy who can hopefully try to sort this for us.

In a way it seems very speculative now, but the auction is early next month and there's actually quite a lot of certainty needed if we're actually to give it some serious consideration.

First step is to find someone who can come with us to the open day and tell us whether it's a shithole that needs stripping down and starting again with, or whether it's rotting away and the roof needs rebuilding.

my solicitor found out the house was built in 1934

Imagine all the time we could have saved on this thread discussing its construction type if we’d know this.

I guess a lot of sellers just don’t care and a lot of estate agents are too lazy to bother finding out.

Imagine all the time we could have saved on this thread discussing its construction type if we’d know this.

Not really. 1930s-50s were pretty variable across diff types of construction, brick could be solid or cavity at any point in that time. Tech was changing but not consistently (wars had something to do with that).

Oh. I fear my knowledge is very local to where I live in Cambridge and that’s blinkered me. There’s not a single street/area here built post war that’s solid brick. There is a lot of prefab experimental stuff built in the rush to rebuild and then everything else is cavity. I should get out more.

Also, can I ask, how many of you do not know when your property was built?

Not uncommon really - I only know within 1790 and 1880 as that is when it appears to show up on old maps.... And only because I was interested to find out.

No actually I think you're right, solid brick post-war is rare, but interwar could be either. From a very small sample size, houses of a similar style and age could be cavity in Cambridge and solid in London. Not sure if that is actually a pattern though.

edit - should have posted in car thread

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Surely it’s only protected with the same insurer - I can’t be the only one who has to play the dickhead dance switching every year as my current insurer is adamant I can only be insured at twice the price, despite everyone else’s offer..

wrong thread; should have gone in car thread.. ! sorry but thanks for response

Alright kiddos. Had a bit of a mare with our flat - flogged it a few weeks ago and the guy pulled out two weeks later, which has put us in a sticky situation with our purchase. Anyway it's on for the nonce, and we've relisted our flat, and got two offers.

One is £2k over the minimum we'd accept but it's a cash buyer. One is £10k over the minimum we'd accept but it's a mortgaged buyer.

I've never sold to a cash buyer before. Does it de-risk things or speed them up significantly? Bearing in mind this is a leasehold property so it'll be a long process either way.

There are mortgages and there are mortgages.

A 95% mortgage at 5x earnings from someone on commission is a much bigger ask than a 20% mortgage at 2x earnings from an unsackable person like a nurse.

And then there is an £8k difference on a £1m sale and an £8k difference on a £100k sale.

You also want to look at why they want to buy, in an iffy market you want the most committed buyer more than the highest bidder.

Simple really.

Just tell the cash buyer that you have another offer £10k over his and he needs to add a bit more before you'll do a deal, likewise the mortgaged offer, tell them to be clear on their situation and tell them that exchange is no longer than x months down the line and that they better not have shit solicitor - you will be looking closely.