Owning your own home

Thanks all. Quote for £340 - £400 so actually not that bad

Hope you get sorted soon.

We've been hearing between 30 and 60 days is happening at the moment, depending on the lender.

Thanks.

Supposedly we're not far away now so should hear before Tuesday. We're also using our mortgage advisor's lawyer which has sped things up as they talk everyday. All searches are done apart from the local one so fingers crossed things should move quicker after next week.

I'll spam here as well.
Anyone looking to change energy supplier ?
I have an ecotricity referral voucher scheme.
You get £50 I get £50
Runs out end of November.
Let me know....

No worries - I hope you get it all resolved. Everything seems to be so slow at the moment.

For anyone else looking for a lender. We went with Atom Bank in the end. Decent rate on a 5yr fix, no fee (although I argued that their £475 valuation charge was as good as a fee) and really fast turn around. Their early repayment charges are pretty high but they have a generous 20% annual overpayment allowance.

From what I was told a load of staff got furloughed so everything ended up with massive backlogs. My completion date got pushed back by a couple of weeks recently as it would take up to three weeks to process releasing the funds.

We're going to see a place in Leyton next Saturday that needs 'significant' work, with the EA recommending that we take a builder in with us - can anyone recommend one they have used east? We're pretty new to all this so honest non-pushy type obviously beneficial! thanks

To save yourself an awkward ball-ache in finding and persuading a builder I'd just go look at the place.

Beforehand, look at the place on the map online, find equivalent places nearby that are for sale, look at them. That can give you an idea of what is possible.

If you then can imagine what the place would be like and want to proceed further, start looking for the services you need that could bring the place up to scratch. Could be builder / architect / engineer etc. Only once you have a firm idea of who you might use to do the work and that you are likely to make an offer should you take them to the property really.

Buying places that need really significant work is not for the faint of heart - see Bear's experience back in this thread.

^agreed - maybe take your handiest pal and/or someone you know who has done a renovation. they probably won't be able to catch more material structural/roofing issues but should be able to give you a ballpark estimate on the potential ballache / costs

builders are a generally busy and ornery bunch - getting time for them to come quote for work can be a task in itself. I don't know but presume they're even less likely to help randoms view houses...

Yeah we're super keen on location etc and we know what we want to do with the place, its one of those old terraces loads of comparable stuff which is reassuring.
At the moment the listing has one single photo of the outside and a floorplan so just wary of missing something major with the inevitable property development wankers circling (comes PP for loft/party wall/extension).

Is it mid or end terrace? If it is end terrace, make sure you have a good look at the gable end, looking for cracks either internally or externally.
If you are interested it might be worth knocking on neighbours doors, see if they have owned their places for a while and if they have any issues that you might also end up having.
There are things you can do yourself to check, probably a load of lists online, things like taking a spirit level with you and seeing if the floors are level on the upper floors, could be a sign of failed floor joists. Take lots of photos esp. of the boring things like consumer unit, any exposed plumbing etc, can give you an idea of when work was last done and whether someone has been bodging things for years.

I've recently finished renovation of my place in Leyton, Perth Road E10 - a bit of a remodel and plenty of damp and structural work required, I did most of the work myself.

If you struggle finding someone I'm happy to come along and be an extra pair of eyes

If it’s Victorian, expect that any kitchen wall out the back you plan to renovate or extend might not have any footings and be held up by the outside crapper (guess how I know that!)

Depends how bad it is.

If the walls are moving apart or the propriety isn't water tight you might it might not be mortgageable.

If it's just not been touched for 30 years then you'll know you'll have to budget for a new roof, probably windows (which is expensive) new kitchen, bathroom plus electrics and plumbing. Plus however much you want to spend on finish.

But you can work that out without a builder.

On the subject of places that need significant work, I've been looking at places in Chelmsford recently, and enquired about this property...

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-97201091.html

...and was told by the estate agent that they weren't showing people around the place unless you were willing to make an offer for it beforehand! Er, what?! Needless to say we passed on that, but is that common?

Adding to mortgage application times chat. My HSBC 85% LTV application was submitted 24 September, mortgage offer received yesterday.

I used Mike Brown from Crystal Clear as my mortgage broker (thanks for the recos everyone here, he's great!).

It's listed as cash buyers only. Existing building is probably completely fucked and they are looking for developers to come and knock it down. So it kind of makes sense. Kind of.

gah, still waiting on ours, applied 25th August.

Sure, that the building is fucked is clear, but surely asking for offers beforehand is just silly - you could just say whatever to view it. Smells like some basic dishonesty is behind the approach. Surely just asking for cash buyers only is enough...

At least the previous occupants managed to keep the garden nice!

Thanks all - yeah mid terrace and inhabited until recently so interested to see what state its in, has double glazing which is a start. seems to be anything that needs work is cash buyers only/EAs are forcing them through over mortgagees. Demand is crazy at the moment for whatever reason; we went and saw a 2 bed needing work near Forest Gate at a 'reasonable' OIEO 415k and owner had 30 viewing within 48 hours of it going online and was sold within 72 - impossible to keep up!

@BobbyBriggs that is kind, would be keen to pick your brains if we got it!

At least the previous occupants managed to keep the garden nice!

We went to see somewhere in a similar state inside. Garden looked like this

our place looked like that inside too when we bought it. here's the cooker we removed - fun times

Assuming that's where I think, it now looks like this...

1 Attachment

We're first time buyers though so maybe it's that?