Owning your own home

Just copied your key and stole your house. Thanks.

Good luck. Out of that bunch of keys I've only found one that opens anything. God knows what the rest are for.

Cheers for the bulb referrals, I used whichever came first.

Congratulations!

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yeah very simple first time buyer so that should suffice. Excuse my ignorance - if you get an AIP from whoever, when you go to put an offer in do you then need to have a conversation with a broker/whoever? I'm trying to get as fewer moving parts as possible so ideally find someone to get an AIP from, who when we are ready to put an offer in can get a full mortgage approval? Lingo is definitely off there

I don't know whether Scotland is different but generally you get a broker to get you the best deal.

You can speak to a broker at the start and look at getting the best deal straight off but that will be a fair bit more time consuming than just getting an agreement in principle from a random bank's online site to prove you can get a mortgage.

The final mortgage approval is generally after the offer.

tl:Dr nothing to stop you doing it all through a broker as that's where you'll probably end up but if you need a quick agreement in principle you can just use a bank's website

Make that three offers received in one day

Time to start playing them off against each other then. Let the bidding war commence.

I'm wondering where they store all the random shite they've accumulated over the years if they don't have a loft.

In our case, Access self storage. Rather have the space in the house and keep stuff we only need once a year out of the way.

Yeah, I can relate to that. It's why I have my own industrial/storage/crapfest unit. Still, the loft is closer. By about 18 miles.

not sure if there is such a thing, but can anyone recommend a anti-humidity wizard in SE? I though it was raising through the garden wall and unblocking the adjacent waste pipe drain will solve it but after last two days of rains.... voila the fucker is back!

Dipping my toe in the murky world of home ownership and going to view the first property today- have a decent idea of what I want and a list of questions/topics but what will I probably forget to ask about?

Asking is probably the worst way to get information. Sellers won't tell you anything bad and agents won't know.

Have a good look around the area, look at other places on the street, if you can, do a practice of what your walk to the bus stop/cycle to work/commute would be. See how long it takes to get to the shops/school etc.

Have a search online.

There's a whole load of stuff that you should do that no one ever does.

• visit at different times of the day
  
• check things like parking in the week evenings
  
• check neighbours planning applications
  
• check out neighbours
  
• speak to neighbours
  

The only question worth asking is what the seller’s situation is. Everything else can be found out elsewhere and most of it is not in the agents interest to tell you.

Don't expect the agent to want to do much more than whisk you round and repeat positive points over and over, distract you with small talk, etc.

Have a good look at things you can't tell from the photos - a cursory glance inside cupboards, under sinks etc at plumbing, electrics, workmanship etc might give you important warning signs. Especially if it's been "done up" recently. Obviously easier if the property is empty.

Also have a look out of the windows to see what you'll be staring at, and potential noisy neighbours.

Friend is selling - anyone fancy the bright lights of Stafford? https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-82868524.html

I read that as Stratford and was about to ask what the catch was for that price.

The catch is it's in Stafford

The catch is it's a three story house and somehow only just manages 1,200 square foot

And Stafford

Had our flat photos (and "3D showcase") done yesterday. Flat has never been so clean and tidy since it was renovated just before we moved in. Hopefully listing soon. Have our heart set on a new place already, which is horrifying because we can't/shouldn't put an offer in until we at least have "interest" for ours. Got a decision in principle for the mortgage from our broker (based in NI but has been leaps and bounds better than our last one - DIP sorted in less than 2 days) for more than twice what we would need so hopefully getting at least some interest and even better, an offer, will make us attractive buyers.

Wouldn’t necessarily tell the agents that you have twice the money you need for the place you want though!

That's the balance though. There's the "we will offer X" discussion, and if they say "ok, prove you can pay for it" we have the DIP to smack them with. I agree that won't be the opening gambit, but we can at least say affordability is not a problem without being found out.

Boast post!