Owning your own home

Doesn't the bank do its own valuation, a mere drive by and check of Zoopla to say yes or no its worth so much. And then the buyer can get an additional survey on top of that for their own piece of mind that they aren't buying a house built on quick sand.

^^ ah i gotcha. no the bank valuation has not happened as far as i can tell.

we held off on a full survey with our current gaff, realised in retrospect we could have knocked off 10 grand because the roof was fuckered.

When re-mortgaging HSBC didn't (seemingly) do more than check Zoopla, saw the price, checked what I'd said it was worth and said "no problem".

Get your missus to check out the Francis Rd area. Marmelo, Yard Arm, new yoga studio and interiors shop. Gentrification is in full swing over there.

go full fat, £725 is good price I think.

Cheers for the tip... will pass that on.

and Oven East, Mora, and the northcoate....

Worth the punt then.

The issue I had was somewhere was downvalued so far there was no negotiation to be had and I lost my cash on the full survey that was absolutely useless to me.

Personally I would wait until the valuation has happened and then get the full survey after.

There already will be a penalty if the seller pulls out prior to completion. It should be the amount of your deposit, but could vary.

I think you would be very lucky to be moved in before xmas anyway. 2 months from offer accepted to completion is pretty quick in my experience. I'd say late January would probably be a fair expectation for completion. Their wanting to complete in March isn't that much of a stretch, and with a baby on the way it's completely understandable. If you really want the house I'd cut them a bit of slack, be a little bit human and go for it.

This works well .https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/mortgage-overpayment-calculator#results

If you really want the house I'd cut them a bit of slack, be a little bit human and go for it.

The problem isn't with the timescales - well, it kinda is, but - the problem is that the seller wants to Exchange as quickly as possible whilst fixing the Completion date to March.

The 'human' way of dealing with this would be to appear willing whilst dragging out exchange as long as possible so that should the market take a nosedive you can still punch the abort button whilst not lending them £30k interest free for x months, which is pretty much the opportunity and cost the sellers are trying to take from you by insisting on timing things their way.

Personally I would wait until the valuation has happened and then get the full survey after.

that's a top tip.

Yes, I saw that, but she didn't quite grasp it.

Do my workings make sense?

Depending on who your bank uses for valuation survey we topped up their survey to a full survey for a lot less than doing our own survey. Does rely on their surveyor being half decent though...

Your thinkings make sense but use your own circumstances to decide.
If you can afford to overpay (usually 10% of original mortgage each year) then do it because there is not a lot to be gained in savings interest v mortgage interest.

yes exponential win.

This advice I will take. Is nice to exchange and have it locked in so there is more certainty in life and you can get on with planning everything else, and I believe the sellers want to do it quick for that reason rather than them being being money hounds playing the market.

I could just hire a really shitty solicitor who will drag feet in the sand and delay the exchange without my intervention.

My question is, what risks are we exposing ourselves too if we exchange contracts 2 months before completion.

Building insurance or something to cover failure of contracts?

There already will be a penalty if the seller pulls out prior to completion. It should be the amount of your deposit, but could vary.

From what I could find on the internet, the penalty for a buyer pulling out is usually the value of the deposit, 5-10% of the sale price. But for the vendor there is no deposit for them to forfeit so it looked to me like unless you have special clauses written up then the seller can walk off after exchange relatively scott free?

Full survey, if then don't buy, you can sell the results to the next prospective buyer to recoup some dollar

Once exchanged the seller has sold, if they try and pull out a court can enforce the contract of sale. If the house falls down after exchange, it’s the buyers problem as they have bought at this stage. Completion is simply settlement of the trade.

If your within delivery distance, Panas Gurkha is the way to go.

This!

You’re lucky if you get 1% interest at the mo, so 30k for two months is £50 in interest.

If you’re really that bothered you could suggest you exchange on a 5% deposit so it’s only £25, that’s perfectly legit.

In my experience the rate of things that have exchanged not completing is something less than 0.05% so you’re pretty safe there.

I think they’re being perfectly reasonable, just get on with it.

#toughlove

Not really right. @danstuff will know more, but like all contracts if one of you breaks it the other can sue for breach of contract and force the contract to complete through the courts so you will cover your losses and probably get the house too. Again tho, you’d have to be proper, mega unlucky.

@Hefty is right - gold star - although you missed out the magical words 'specific performance'. If the seller refuses to complete you can sue them for out-of-pocket expenses (the cost of temporary accommodation and moving expenses, for example), they have to pay a daily penalty for late completion under the Standard Conditions of Sale (5th Ed) and you can bring proceedings (a claim for specific performance) requiring them to sell to you, and if they refuse to obey that, the court will sign the transfer on their behalf. And they'll have to pay the costs of the claim, which will be massive if there's any justice in the world. Anything but Scot free.

Not buildings specifically - just insurance to cover all related costs / losses. Your mortgage broker would be itching to sell it to you.