Owning your own home

Thanks to everyone for all the solid advice about fitting the fridge. Much more ingenious than my solution...

Paperwork? Pfft.

x post... any carpenters or carpenters details here? Had a built in cupboard built and they did a shit job and they aint going to fix it... need someone to sort.

liked some work my brother had done, phoned his guy, +3 month waiting list.

Dunno whether to wait or try others.

Hmmm. Second attempt to buy house in Oxfordshire has just foundered. That's 2 building surveys down the pan at £960 a pop. Thinking about a boat instead.

Anyone here used House Network to sell a place? A colleague of Mrs Sparky recommended them. For ~£700 they claim they'll sell the place. And for £30k more than I was expecting. I'd do viewings myself, which is no problem for me - maybe even a positive going by some agents I've met.

What happens if they don't sell for 30k more, or they don't sell at all - do they keep the 700?

Yep. Just had traditional agents Acorn around and they want to charge me £5,000 as a flat fee. Both agents said the flat is around £290,000, which is a surprise.

Not sure what to do.

Flat fee? Not a percentage? Tell them to get fucked.

How's your potential move to Catford coming along. We've been here since March and have to say, it's fucking ace.

Catford for us too. We've been looking for a couple of months.

waiting for some fucker to buy our place. had a fair few views but no bites yet. gonna drop the price next week probably.

Just wait for your agent to try and renegotiate their rate based on a lower price...

Be careful of believing the hype of it being £30k more than you thought was sensible. You did your research and thought £260k was right, buyers will do the same.

Find an agent that will charge something like 1 - 1.5%, one that impresses you sufficiently when you meet them to be happy to pay them that and put it on at £275k.

Most areas will have one or two good firms amongst the dross, that fact you're undecided means you just haven't found them yet.

Flat fee is unusual?

If they sell it for 290 that's kinda 1.5% + vat if my math serves me correctly...it probably doesn't

Most areas will have one or two good firms amongst the dross,

How do you tell? They all seem to be the same kind of person saying the same thing

I understand that a bit of caution is sensible, but if they say they can get to 290 by aiming for 300, should I just ignore that and put it up for 275? Seems a bit too cautious. Surely I'm paying £5k for them to use their experience and get me a good price?

But remember that they want your business and by inflating the suggested price there's a better chance they'll choose you over their rivals.

Those that charge an upfront fee DGAF if it sells or not. Those that charge a fixed fee don't care if you end up selling for less as it doesn't affect them.

A common tactic is to woo you with a high price, get you to sign up for an exclusive period of 3 or 4 months then when it doesn't sell ring you and get you to reduce the price.

I think you need to see at least one more agent.

What's your postcode (if you don't mind sharing?)

We've got one more agent coming today. We're in BR1.

This is not a criticism of you per se, but you're about to spend somewhere between £700-£2500 in commission on selling your place, so approach that as you would any other purchase of a similar amount.

A good estate agent is worth the fee, a bad one won't sell your house. Ask them questions, find out their knowledge of the area and prices of equivalent properties, ask them how they intend to market the place, find out how many people they have on their books with a budget similar to the price you're wanting.

Don't go for the cheapest option, or go for the one who claims they'll sell it at a higher price, but pick the one who you think has the skills and knowledge to sell the place.

I'm actually looking at paying between £700 and £5,00, so the gulf is even wider. But I'm not looking to just go with the agent that says the biggest number.

I've had two valuations so far and they've both given me the same figure and brought examples of similar properties in the area to show me what they sold for (the same flats in both cases, in fact).

Having said that, I'm still sceptical of their high valuations.

Both gave me info on their local knowledge (one had lots, one had none) and their intended strategy (one had one, one didn't).

One more agent is coming today and it will be interesting to see what number they come up with.

Whole postcode, doe. BR1 is big ennit.

But to get you started on choosing a successful agent, look at total listings and SSTC/For Sale ratio on Rightmove:

Acorn Estates: 36 listings, 50% under offer
Brown Estates: 28 listings, 50% under offer
JDM: 60 listings, 43% under offer
KFH: 89 listings, 40% under offer

etc.

Obvs listing loads and not selling many is rubbish.

Warning, moar lease extension bollox:
I contacted the freeholders and they ask for £930 so they can run a valuation and then present terms.
This could end up with them trying to stiff me so I think the better option is to instruct solicitors from the outset. I'm aware of the whole process and the costs involved, however I'm unsure as to how to arrange the appropriate finance.

I know expenses for both sides will be around 2-3k, and I know the cost to extend will be 15-20k. I don't have the savings so I will be looking to add the costs to my mortgage. The main issue seems to be how much I ask for as I could be 5k+ out either way which I can't afford to be.
I won't know the exact costs until I've had the valuations from both sides, but that will cost 2k+.

Do I get a small shorter term bank loan for like 3k to pay for the costs, then once I know the rest add it to the mortgage? I'm worried that if I do this the mortgage company won't like the fact I've got the loan and give me a shit deal/no deal.

I love the arcane stuff that gets dragged up when buying a house: the latest is Chancel repairs. Whilst doing the searches our solicitor has identified that we might be liable for repairs on the parish church because it (the church, not the house - that's from 1700-and-something) was built before 1536. £100 to check the National Archives to see if we could be liable, or £20 for an indemnity.