Owning your own home

Just following @Howard this is exactly the route I went down, don't be worried about telling the agents you've got others booked in too, they either want your business or not.

Exactly my thought process too, I've gone into this knowing it'll be a right pain in the arse.

Have you thought of the possibility of going for a not full size but the one inbetween? Rangemaster do a 90 and a 120.

Definitely! Got few budget ideas... Home made island in front cooker for more storage/worktop space. Dining table towards the back corner, out of shot, with some DIY bench seating making sort of snug + some extra chairs. Should allow straightforward prep, sink, cooker, fridge access. All academic till we get there and get a feel for the space though. And discover the wooden worktop is shafted.

Any recommendations from the hive mind for an EA to value and potentially list

Zoopla / Rightmove, with a fudge up / down.

It's what estate agents will do in any case.

One that won't make me want to gouge my eyes out before I've even met them.

That's some wild optimism there.

Obviously the thing to also bear in mind is that the same muppets will probably be the ones organising viewings of your property. I didn't bother viewing a few places I was interested in as organising a viewing was too much hassle (most of those were purple bricks).

Zoopla;

£289k - £320k

Price estimate: £305k

It's what estate agents will do in any case, after adding an additional 20% to cover their loses over the lock-down period

Robinson Jackson or Property World. Offices in SYDENZHAMS

we had pedder round to value, kfh told us they didn’t have time for us basically. we went with nested in the end.

See if wooster and stock will do that area? They have been super professional with ours so far.

Does anyone have any recent experience with solicitor fees? Sale only conveyancing on a freehold within a managed cul de sac? Just been quoted 1400 by a recommended solicitor, but they don't offer a no sale no fee agreement. Does that seem about right?

I don't really want to spend my day looking for solicitors for the sake of 50 to 100 quid savings...

As a buyer I'm paying £1350 and have been told that's on the cheaper side.

Have you got a breakdown of the costs?

some of that 1400 should show what the solictors fees are exactly? and the rest being made up of searches, land registry etc etc

Yeah almost all of it (1,120) is conveyancing, with the rest being various admin and processing fees.

@stevo_com - I've used Pickwick Estates, they were ok .

We're looking at £1170 for conveyancing + £320 for searches etc inc VAT.

Have also been told it'll actually be less but I'm not holding my breath on that.
Not London.

Maybe not directly comparable, but I'm paying Direction Law £897 for the sale of my share of a Shared Ownership flat. Conveyancing is £695 + VAT.

You can get it cheaper but who cares? Best bet is to get a solid recommendation from someone who isn't an idiot then talk to whoever they recommend, make sure they are adults.

You could consider going back the same solicitor who your sellers used when they sold you the house, they will at least know the place.

Obviously do not use the EA recommended solicitor, they only recommend them based on the kick back they get, they give no fucks about the service or quality. That said, they might not be awful, but just view them with the same scepticism you would any other, if not more.

@stevo_com we nearly bought through Streets Ahead and they were pretty decent the whole time through a difficult issue, in the end the property we bought was through KFH and they were less than inspriing

Seems a little high but not a million miles away. I'd assume the fee would be commensurately lower depending what stage it falls through and not much different if you got another buyer or you can get third party insurance to cover that.

It's a stressful time though, getting someone cheap that you can never get hold of or screws stuff up isn't worth it.

Also, local removal firm recommendation time. For my sister in law. Moving from a one bed flat, CP to Wimbledon.

we went with nested in the end.

With my referral code...? would save us both £500?

@stevo_com
If you're interested (same recommendation earlier when replying to rogan)

Nested...
Not SE London specific but I was impressed with them selling my place in Greenwich.
Listing to completion in 7 weeks. Listed at 495 with the assumption that it was really worth around 475. Sold for 476.5 (https://nested.com/for-sale/SE10/Farmdal­e-Road/40cl79w1)

https://nested.com?refcode=Uaihdu_RWRQ

(we'd both get £500 via the referral)

I clicked through with your code yeah! i dont know how to check if that went through or not..

finger's crossed :) ta!