ecocharm

The clock starts ticking when you drawdown the mortgage ie when the funds are released to the developer. Until then, the only risk is loss of application fees because usually that is not refunded.

I don't think you need market guidance. No one has a crystal ball! You are at the edge, you are looking for the push.... I'd say go for it. Worst case there is a market crash, prices drop by 15 or even 20 percent. It you are able to pay your mortgage and don't intend to keep drawing down equity ( hoping for rises), what's the problem? You buy a television and a year later you can definitely buy it for much less... Do you worry? Bottom line is if you are going to use the house as your home for the foreseeable future, the market matters less... It's if you need to cash in your house to move on, you need to worry about the market. Sensible people can buy and negotiate the market right. Ask yourself just one question before you buy...Can you sell it? Also in my opinion offers over are just silly... What were you thinking? No, it was just getting desperate and anxious about losing the property that must have led to that... Not that the property was actually worth more!!!

Its a no-brainer. Offer 10 % less than what she bought it for and put the offer in writing. If she wont sell it to you for that, she wont but then she might come back with something. If she doesn't, then she isn't desperate to sell actually. You got to have some patience on these things in my opinion. The entire buy and sell is hinged on how much you react emotionally and get into a panic mode to return with offers. If she comes back, make a final offer of £5000 less than what she bought it for, again in writing and put a time frame , like the offer stands for two weeks, STS. Wait again for a response or no response. I have bought before and don't care for making excuses for my offers. Just tell them the offer is what you see as the value of the house and don't bother to take too many phone calls from the agent. The agent will usually have a negotiator who will try to get you to become desperate, suggesting a middle ground to make you feel like a winner etc etc. Ignore all the noise, make up the number in your mind and stick with it. Doesn't seem like there is a big risk of the pisspot being grabbed by everyone from your description of it. Good luck

Not so sure. There is more juice to squeeze in all forms. A lot of which won't be considered by the average 'i want to get a foot on the property ladder types'. Public sector pay rise next year...keep all happy. Pound devaluing. Rethinking the new mortgage rules. Shifting stamp duty thresholds. Making sure too many properties are NOT built, starting a war to keep the economy up...so on. Then of course everyone ends up needing to put down roots due to schooling, rental uncertainties etc. Forces against a crash are strong...very strong. Even if there is a crash in real terms...people might not notice it! Like salaries have crashed over the last seven years

I have some limited experience in attempting this but gave up after the initial response from the our local council was tepid. We have a bran on an edge of village location with mains water and electricity supplied to the barn. We made an initial enquiry for conversion of the barn to a Passivhaus with the submissions including a whole site permaculture design. The proposal was put together through an architect and a planning consultant. Cost some ££ to get it together and took a year to put together. Whole site topographical survey, feasibility study, architect design, planning consultant fees...it could go on. We got a single sentence response from the officer stating that it was highly unlikely that the proposal would be supported. There was no appetite to actually raise a discussion or explore any further. I considered whether I wanted to spend my money fighting a system which did not really support positive design or newer ways of thinking and decided that the proposal could end up just being money spent on nothing. Finally we purchased a 60s bungalow adjoining the site, giving us access to the site (though we also have shared right of way to the plot and which we continue to enjoy). I think it depends on how forward thinking your own council is. I found ours to be uninterested in good quality development. There are nearly 3500 new homes being built against the south boundary of the plot over the next 5 years. Very nice box houses. So the moral of the story essentially is who you know and not that you need a really considered proposal!

Couple of ways actually If the offer was made subject to survey and there are issues; you can ask the vendor to rectify and then you are happy to go ahead with the purchase. Most vendors don't want to do this because of hassle etc. or you can change your offer to make good for the problems. You can factor in inconvenience as well. You can also change the offer if the surveyor comes back with a lower valuation than the offer. For eg. surveyor says its 100K and your offer was 110K. I have usually done this over the telephone and followed by a registered letter. Slimy fellows estate agents can be , with mail going missing and all. If you are shrewd you can arrive at an opinion about how quickly the vendor wants to sell and the circumstances of the sale. If you feel there are compelling circumstances for the sale, go for the jugular and put in an offer which embarrasses you. You might be surprised.

My guess is that we'll see all the cards played almost predictably 1. Keep housing static to small crash by keeping interest rates low 2. Start the market with Help to buy etc etc. 3. Slack planning to increase building 4. Create movement by changes such as no council tax rebate for empty properties, cut down tax benefit for primary residence by decreasing time to 18 months etc. Next 5. stamp duty thresholds reset 6. 5% deposit mortgages back Have election. 7. devalue sterling! sorted...

Total rip off. 1. Be wary. The high quote guys usually have made more than their money when they have delivered the raw materials which they will get at around 40 to 60 % of whatever they will bill you. So, just delivering the material they have made enough vitamin m to not bother returning to the job! 2. They have plenty of work and don't want to lose another big clueless fish. So they'll take the job, deliver the material and return as is convenient to finish the job. You call them to chase them and if they lose their head, they wont return. Doesn't hurt them as per No.1. 3. Best to use one of the websites to get quotes. Place description as you already have. give you budget and see if there are any takers who will visit and quote.

Dear HPC forum member, I write with great regret that Mr Harold Jones has sadly passed away in Pretoria. Through our extensive research, we have discovered that you are the last surviving relative. As legal managers of Mr Harold's estate, we have been seeking the suitable individual to transfer the sum of GBP18000000 to his last surviving relative. Please transfer the initial administration sum of GBP839 to A/C number....Also please attach details of your bank such that we can facilitate immediate transfer to your account. Mr Friday Pepple Attorney Pepple, Sunday and Honour Solicitors Pretoria

The days of bartering one pair of old shoes for two pounds of carrots will come! Fiat currency is gradually losing increasing value. With nothing to print it against, soon the masses will lose confidence in it and perhaps people will opt for more tangible asset creation ie. a run on the bank and then change that money into stuff like food, clothes so on and so forth! There will be a reset and the world currencies will fail as the entire system of fiat currencies folds on itself. Sounds like a plot for a Hollywood movie...but then could this actually happen?

Essentially overpaying is like having an offset without the option of cashing the overpayment if necessary. Given the current climate I wouldnt be surprised if lenders dont allow you any respite for eg. like a payment holiday if your situation changes (like you need some cash for lets say new boiler or car etc), even though you've overpaid. On the other hand if you overpay, you're doing your self a favour in terms of shrinking the mortgage sooner (check out the RBS one account offset website to get a idea of how your overpayments shrink your mortgage and the interest you would pay over the lifetime of your mortgage). If your £ 100 isnt working for you to make you some money, then the best investment would be to overpay considering the current interest returns for savers. Too many people forget the very basics when they start getting disposable income. A roof over the head is not a luxury its a bare necessity. Clearing the mortgage sooner would create a mental peace which would outweigh the pleasures of having the 'I wants'!! Of course then its all decided by individual philosophies....

Interesting question by the OP...35 yrs old and 300K pot... I dont think I'll be saying what might have not already been said...Land (to grow food) and shelter(a house to live in) are the only two meaningful assets...however both are manipulated by strong lobbies and hence dont have to follow common reasoning in terms of value...simple evidence is the fairly well maintained inflation of housing in the UK and the bullish run on agricultural land inspite of a housing crash sentiment ie very poor contruction activity... these two are ususally linked ie good housing activity means more value for land...but the manipulations are clear for all to see...housing inflation maintained by gradual devaluation of currency through a wide variety of things such as frozen salaries, increased cost of living, QE etc etc.... so there exists risk in these classes as well. Op could retire if he was able to follow (in my opinion) the three rules to master spending: 1. Make a distinction between what is a need vs. a want. 2. Easiest way to make money is to not spend it. 3. Its not a good deal if you dont need it. Then he would be able to live quite sensibly and not buy as per the consumer agendas, fritter money on DVDs/CDs, eat dinner for 30 pounds when he can make the same meal for a fiver etc etc... He needs to realise that this is how most retired people perhaps live ie sensibly in the context of poor savings rates and the general insecurity of old age. If he were to retire at 35 with the 300K, he'll also need to turn into a monk to exist perhaps! If he wanted to ensure that he can have some control on the inflation ripping off his fund, he'll also need to accumulate a good skill set as an insurance policy to ensure he can return to brief periods of work to make some adjustments for losses through inflation. The adsense income highlighted by one contributor would be a suitable example. But if op wants to actually sit on his backside at 35 and expect the 300K to be a good enough investment pot to live off...its quite unrealistic. The spend it all and get on the dole option comes to mind. I think the OP would do well to realise that getting an exceptional return (I think 10% after adjusting for inflation) on 300K would also re

Interesting question by the OP...35 yrs old and 300K pot... I dont think I'll be saying what might have not already been said...Land (to grow food) and shelter(a house to live in) are the only two meaningful assets...however both are manipulated by strong lobbies and hence dont have to follow common reasoning in terms of value...simple evidence is the fairly well maintained inflation of housing in the UK and the bullish run on agricultural land inspite of a housing crash sentiment ie very poor contruction activity... these two are ususally linked ie good housing activity means more value for land...but the manipulations are clear for all to see...housing inflation maintained by gradual devaluation of currency through a wide variety of things such as frozen salaries, increased cost of living, QE etc etc.... so there exists risk in these classes as well. Op could retire if he was able to follow (in my opinion) the three rules to master spending: 1. Make a distinction between what is a need vs. a want. 2. Easiest way to make money is to not spend it. 3. Its not a good deal if you dont need it. Then he would be able to live quite sensibly and not buy as per the consumer agendas, fritter money on DVDs/CDs, eat dinner for 30 pounds when he can make the same meal for a fiver etc etc... He needs to realise that this is how most retired people perhaps live ie sensibly in the context of poor savings rates and the general insecurity of old age. If he were to retire at 35 with the 300K, he'll also need to turn into a monk to exist perhaps! If he wanted to ensure that he can have some control on the inflation ripping off his fund, he'll also need to accumulate a good skill set as an insurance policy to ensure he can return to brief periods of work to make some adjustments for losses through inflation. The adsense income highlighted by one contributor would be a suitable example. But if op wants to actually sit on his backside at 35 and expect the 300K to be a good enough investment pot to live off...its quite unrealistic. The spend it all and get on the dole option comes to mind. I think the OP would do well to realise that getting an exceptional return (I think 10% after adjusting for inflation) on 300K would also re