Owning your own home

Thanks everyone, hopefully this isn't too pricey!

Not sure if it will quote properly so I will copy and paste too but that looks to be an amazing deal... Leytonstone next stop then!

rightmove.co.uk/property-for-­sale/property-31253817.html?premiumA=tru­e

Works now. Not that far from me.

won't work for me.

Never read through here before but have had my mum move up to Manchester with us within the last month in our rented place and have just had an offer accepted on a house that you can see from our front door (even closer to the beer shop and next door but one to the chippy) Mum has cash bought some and my wife is getting a mortgage for the rest, I'm staying away from all that as my credit rating and personal debt would be very unhelpful. Still, it's kinda exciting and will make things at least half as expensive per month, probably better.

Valuation instructed. The process creaks along

In negotiations with the vendor of 1 bed flat, as the Survey threw up joist work that needed doing in the bay window as the result of underfloor ventilation being screwed up and neglected. Mortgage company have put a £2k retainer on pending the work being done, been quoted the best part of that to sort it out, so trying to get the same off the price. They offered a £1k reduction, I pressed or more, so they got their own quote which came out at about 1150(fair enough) except that the quote is only for a chemical damp proof course in the walls, nothing to do with sorting out the under-floor issues!

...I knew this had been going way too smoothly.

I know a decent Easts plumber - on holiday for two weeks though

Buyer looks to be pretty steadfast on not increasing their reduction. Any last last ditch tricks for getting them to budge?

Do you think you could stand walking away over £1k?

If yes, then try the bluff but be prepared to either walk away or look silly.

I got to the point where I just accepted that there were risks that I'd have to throw a few grand at damp issues, etc. It would have been more costly to pull out and go for something else (especially since the prices have continued to rise, albeit at a slacker rate).

Yeah, I've come to the same conclusion, I've thrown one last amount of £1425 in which is the amount on the quote they got done (+vat) even though it's pretty irrelevant. Not holding out too much hope though, vendor doesn't sound like the reasoning type.

Contract came through together with most of the searches and land registry info. I'm not allowed a caravan!
Apparently the area was a brick quarry at the end of the 19th century but aside from that has led a pretty dull suburban life.
Also Yorkshire BS's underwriters are a very odd bunch. Explaining the details would be long and tedious but suffice to say they require copies of paper docs to be certified but will blindly accept downloads from online banking provided you produce them to a different date range to what they ask for. All of the above is considered fine to be emailed.

Could someone who used Martin Browne from Gisby Harrison PM me to let me know what sort of fees I could expect to be paying?

We've found another place and viewed it with a builder but I think we're going to get sucked into a bidding war against people I don't know but already despise!

For us it was about £1,200 plus a survey cost.

Thanks. Was it £1200 for the conveyancing alone? That's a little more than I expected, I had read £500-£750. Is a four-figure sum normal?

I suppose we're willing to pay it for someone who has been vouched for and someone who could speed up the process and potentially save us rent in the interim.

I had the same with YBS. I took printouts of my bank statements into the branch, which they said were unacceptable. They advised me to go across to the branch of Barclays across the street and have them signed / certified, which I duly did. The YBS branch then sent them off the central processing. 10 working days later central processing call me to say I need to resend bank statements. I ended up emailing them pdfs...

I honestly don't remember what it included. He'd be more than happy to give you an overview of the fees before you get started...

Great. I sent him an email today and will hopefully get a reply or get to speak to him in the week.

I have just seen that where I was looking at fees, searches were listed separately to conveyancing, but also as part of the solicitor's remit, which is probably where the extra comes in.

I can only hope we will actually need him at some point soon.

Our solicitor says it'll be £1300+search fees (£333.20) if that means anything. I think you can get cheaper (and if we knew we were going to use YBS I'd have been able to use relatives for free :( ).
I think you can get specialised conveyancing solicitors who charge less. Also you could always use one in a cheaper part of the country so long as they don't expect you to visit in person for ID checks or anything.

If that's about standard I will happily go with one who's been recommended by many on here. I think personal recommendations are worth a lot.

No idea if it's standard or not. I think it may be high but so far I'm happy with what they've done. Early days yet - searches just came back and we got the contract through from the vendor so the real solicitoring starts now. Doesn't look like there's anything too worrying though.
Also got a text from YBS on Friday saying they've received the valuation survey and they'll be in touch. Had a second viewing today and the agent said the valuation survey was fine.
Expecting things to get interesting this week!

That's what I want. Getting sick of traipsing around with agents now. Although shout out to Outlook in Leyton and especially Wilkinsons in Forest Gate, for the most un-cuntlike agents, a couple of whom are actually verging on likeable.

The single-office agents usually aren't so bad.

I don't know, they've been some of the least reliable in my experience, this weekend alone I've been messed around by Swayams and Stand Stone.