Owning your own home

Times will have to be hard for you to not be able to afford the Welsh national plant.

I've just double checked my spelling after that...

I looked at this today, agent said he'd consider £150k, and share of freehold will be handed over after sale (it's a new build, three flats, two are gone). Area wasn't great, but not iffy, just boring - work's only a six mile ride. Would be a pain getting bikes up the stairs and no other storage. Not the place of my dreams by a long, long way, but it's clean and tidy, relatively spacious and has a wee balcony.

What do you reckon? Anyone know the area personally?

http://m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/18964497

Times will have to be hard for you to not be able to afford the Welsh national plant.

The daffodil has not been mentioned in this thread....

Just a little warning about "we'll over pay etc etc" Don't rely on it (or increasing wages) as real life has a habit of getting in the way a bit.

Not putting a downer on things just something you have to expect (new white goods, leaks, the boiler going when it's freaking brassic outside... you know that kinda shit)

If you pay by direct debit then you can make sure that you overpay by asking the mortgage company to do this, it then makes sure that you stick to the overpayments.

I looked at this today, agent said he'd consider £150k, and share of freehold will be handed over after sale (it's a new build, three flats, two are gone). Area wasn't great, but not iffy, just boring - work's only a six mile ride. Would be a pain getting bikes up the stairs and no other storage. Not the place of my dreams by a long, long way, but it's clean and tidy, relatively spacious and has a wee balcony.

What do you reckon? Anyone know the area personally?

http://m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/18964497

The area's not bad, but having seen them building that house, and the amount of time that it took, I'd be a little wary of that one. I'd certainly want more than the basic survey on it, so that if there are problems I've got two people who are liable. I think that the wife may know more about it. I'll ask her. It's certainly been on the market for ages, and I would be offering well under the 150 for it.

So it went up quickly? Thank your other half very much for those links, by the way. I shall be perusing those this weekend. That was very kind.

No, too slowly, they also left it without doors/window/roof for ages, which is never good (or at least St Kevin of McCloud always makes it sound a bad thing on Grand Designs).

You'll note that that's not one of the ones that she included in the set :)

pretty much bought a flat today. well, offer accepted anyway. woo. and indeed, hoo.

My late grandparents place is now up for sale, sad to see it actually.

http://www.fellsgulliver.com/property/2467869

Sorry to hear that, It's a beautiful spot though dammit.

--

Working out all our mortgage stuff over a cuppa today and it more than likely looks we are going to go with a 30 year term fixed for the first 5 years.

Then begin to over pay after 18 months as most of the money will be going in to decorate the house. I'd like to think we'll have it done in 18 months.

At least £100 over pay pcm lowers the mortgage down to 23 years! These figures are crazy when you work them out. At least that way we haven't got all our eggs in 1 basket.

Is there an easy way to calculate capital cleared on a mortgage over the 5 year fixed? Say the difference between a 20 and 30 year term?

I hope that when we go to remortgage in 5 years we'll be looking at a much lower LTV this way too.

Working out all our mortgage stuff over a cuppa today and it more than likely looks we are going to go with a 30 year term fixed for the first 5 years.

Then begin to over pay after 18 months as most of the money will be going in to decorate the house. I'd like to think we'll have it done in 18 months.

At least £100 over pay pcm lowers the mortgage down to 23 years! These figures are crazy when you work them out. At least that way we haven't got all our eggs in 1 basket.

Is there an easy way to calculate capital cleared on a mortgage over the 5 year fixed? Say the difference between a 20 and 30 year term?

I hope that when we go to remortgage in 5 years we'll be looking at a much lower LTV this way too.

I always use the MSE overpayment calculator - you can put no overpayment in and it will show you where you will be in 5 years...
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/mortgage-overpayment-calculator#result

I normally use that one.

I just want to know if I overpay by x how much more capital will I have when I go to remortgage in 5 years?

EDIT - I've read your post properly now. That makes sense thanks.

I've been following this thread with interest for some time and am finally now in a position to seriously consider getting on the ladder myself.

I've done a fair bit of research on how much I will be able to borrow and have spoken to a friend who is a mortgage adviser. I also know what I want to buy, namely an ex-local auth 3/4 bed flat in the outer E2/N1 area that I can live in and rent out.

Now the problem is I already know that a year from now I will be going to Australia for a couple years. Is it worth getting on the ladder and having rent come in during this time I'm away (parents & brother will help with repairs/collect rent while I'm out the country) and at the same time hopefully the property will appreciate a little? Or should I wait until I get back by which time I will have saved more toward the deposit and might be able to find ex-LA in a slightly more desirable area?

Just looking for some points of view for both from people who have vastly more experience in this area than myself.

My two cents worth? Property is always a good thing to own, but if, right now, you are hoping that it will appreciate in price, then you might be disappointed - or you might not. But it is not the no-brainer that it might have been in the early noughties.

And think again about the "brother and parents looking after it". I have rented out a couple of flats in my time, and so has my wife - including the two flats we had when we met and got a house together - and experiences have been mixed. Depending on the tenants you get in, and the state of the house and, well, luck, it can be an easy or a very difficult gig. I have a friend who offered to look after another friend's place, and he wishes he had not got involved.

I suppose, what I am saying is that it is not easy money any more. And you might even lose, and piss off some members of your family into the bargain.

I looked at this today, agent said he'd consider £150k, and share of freehold will be handed over after sale (it's a new build, three flats, two are gone). Area wasn't great, but not iffy, just boring - work's only a six mile ride. Would be a pain getting bikes up the stairs and no other storage. Not the place of my dreams by a long, long way, but it's clean and tidy, relatively spacious and has a wee balcony.

What do you reckon? Anyone know the area personally?

http://m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/18964497

Um, so, I've had an offer accepted on this place. Suddenly thinking to myself: "What's the catch?".

The agent said that it's being sold as leasehold, then the freehold will be handed over to the three flats after that - they'll have to pay legal costs but there's no charge for the freehold.

So that's a concern.

Also the smell of damp.

Advice, anyone? Bit nervous.

@richoking: I'm leaving mine fully managed by a local agency.

I figured that then there's someone accountable for what goes on.

I'm really not expecting it to appreciate, but if it did that would obviously be a big bonus.

Regarding the parents/brother thing...my parents actually own about 10 properties in Essex and old Pa does most of the building/plumbing and questionable electrical work himself. It would be a little out the way for them to come up to London, but they would happily do this for me in return for all the free labour hours I've given them in the past.

The reason I'm asking this question here and not talking to my parents is because I have asked them already. and although everything they said was useful and has been taken on board, they bought all of their properties at the start of the nineties when the property market was a very different animal.

I guess the question I am getting at is this...is it worth getting something now thats not as nice just to get on the ladder, or would it be better to wait a couple years and get something a little nicer in a nicer area and maybe not ex-LA?

Yep, a full agency is one way to go. But think they mean "full" when they say "full". On one hand the fees are clear from the get go, and that helps with working out whether it is worth it. But on the other hand, there will still be bills coming to you when something goes wrong. And they still feel the need to phone you to ask what they should do, rather than just taking care of it themselves. Although I suppose it is best if they run costs past you....

B&D, have you found the fees at all prohibitive? I've been told that they often charge a fixed rate and take a % of rental income which after general upkeep can sometimes leave you out of pocket...?

For investment purposes then XLA is probably the way to go. The room sizes are generally all decent, and haven't been sliced up in some half-arsed manner like the vast majority of the Victorian conversions that are on the market now.

Depends how long you want to be in it (as in have your money tied into it) for.

B&D, have you found the fees at all prohibitive? I've been told that they often charge a fixed rate and take a % of rental income which after general upkeep can sometimes leave you out of pocket...?

I managed to negotiate a deal that started about two years ago where I pay them a fee to find the tenant and then a percentage every month.

IIRC it's 8% of the pre-vat revenue.

They've allowed me to use my own plumber (a pal) instead of their "approved partner" so he does whatever needs to be done for the price of a curry.

If the family are experienced with looking after, then that is cool. And B+D is right about the room sizes, quality and investment potential of XLA in that they are cheaper, have more, larger rooms and renters don't care that it is not period. In fact my house is XLA-ish (same sort of age and type, but was never LA) and my builder loves it in that everything is straight and square and so on.

And I've just tied my tenant into the house for another two years by offering him a reduced rate in rent.

The agency weren't too keen on it and advised me otherwise, but I figured that for the sake of a score a month I'd be an idiot to lose a decent, reliable tenant.

As for the agency staff, I just drop a bottle of champagne in every so often and they go fucking wild.

This is Brentwood in Essex though.

Um, so, I've had an offer accepted on this place. Suddenly thinking to myself: "What's the catch?".

The agent said that it's being sold as leasehold, then the freehold will be handed over to the three flats after that - they'll have to pay legal costs but there's no charge for the freehold.

So that's a concern.

Also the smell of damp.

Advice, anyone? Bit nervous.

Looks quite nice though Sparky.

No idea about the freehold your solicitor will be able to help with that or someone with experience of this on here.

Has the house been empty for a long time? That could contribute to the smell.

Looks quite nice though Sparky.

No idea about the freehold your solicitor will be able to help with that or someone with experience of this on here.

Has the house been empty for a long time? That could contribute to the smell.

It's a new build, MrDrem lives nearby and says it took a while to go up. Perhaps it's just musty because it's not been heated/lived in? It looks OK to me: as I said, it's in the middle of nowhere, but I cycle to work. Clean and tidy, if a little uninspiring inside.