Martin25

Went to look at a repossessed house last week and was told that offers had to be made in writing by today, the house is on the market at £70k so we offered £77k. Estate agent rang today saying they had 10 offers and we were 1 of 3 who were possible candidates. They then advised if our offer is accepted, that once we had got a survey carried out there was no guarantee that the vendor would accept our offer and we could be out of pocket with solicitor & survey fees. In the meantime the house is still being advertised and will be until exchange, even though we were under the impression it was sealed bids to be in by the deadline & that was it. They did say that if we went with their agents solicitor we would only pay search fees and the other fees would only be charged if we exchanged. We havnt found a solicitor yet so would we better to go with theirs or should we just appoint our own one? Is this normal practice for buying repossessed houses?

True, 10 years is a long time i suppose

From what i've read in 5 years time interest rates are likely to be higher than what they are now, so if your getting a fixed rate mortgage wouldn't it be best to do it over 10 years instead of 5 so you can take advantage of the current lower interest rates? And am i right in thinking that if you did go for a 10 year fixed rate and came out of it early the penalty charge would be that same as coming out early of a 5 year fixed rate mortgage?

Well i rang the EA on Friday to find out if they had any news and basically got fobbed off saying they were waiting for the vendor to get back to them sometime after easter. I was curious so asked if i was able to increase my offer and they said no - all the offers had been submitted and that was it - personally i would have thought they would want people to make higher offers so they can play the bidders against each other to make more money

Hi, after talking about it with the mrs we're wasting money renting at the mo so would like to hold out for prices to drop but we're throwing our money away in rent. SO i rang the EA this morning and made an offer for £83k. The EA rang me back at 5.30 this evening informing me that he was confirming my offer and if i wanted to increase my offer it had to be done then otherwise i wouldnt be able to increase it afterwards. I asked if any other offers had been made and he said had 11 offers but when i asked if anyone had offered more than me he said he couldnt say but didnt know - hmmm. So i thought sod it - if i get it i get it, if i dont i dont. So i said that was offer we were making and we wernt increasing. I dont think we've clinched it but i'll let you know how it goes I dont want to get ripped off and theres plenty of houses out there for us to look at

Right cheers for the advice guys - guess i need someone to put my feet back on the ground. I still say it can be done for £10k (i know you guys are talking from experience though so dont doubt i can be wrong)- that was for the materials not labour, im a plasterer & my dads a plumber, my girlfriends brother is a sparky & his mate is a window fitter so that would save nearly all the labour costs. Having read all your views i dont know what to do now Earlier today i was set on jumping straight in with the asking price, then after discussing it with the folks thinking about offering a bit less - and now thinking about not bothering with it at all. Guess im going to have to sleep on it and if i do make an offer knock £10k off the asking price and see what the EA says about that. I can now start to see why this house buying is a headache and im only just starting

This is the Property It needs new: Double Glazing Central Heating Kitchen Bathroom Plastering Roof Repairs Flooring.. Tiling etc.. The EA said all offers have to be made by 12pm tomorrow so just wondered if we offered £2k less than the wanted price do people think we'd stand a chance. The EA i suppose has played everyone to get them to all see the property in a block viewing which will makes it look like theres alot of interest - just wondered if anyone had been in a similar situation and if so how they got on ?

Hi, i've seen a house which is completely run down so needs £10k spent on it to get it up to standard, its on the market for £90k and once done up would be worth something between £110 - £120k. The estate agent did a block viewing and quite a few people turned up to have a look, being 1st time buyers we're interested as it has quite a bit of potential. What would you suggest to offer - should we jump straight in and offer the full asking price as it attracted so many people, offer £500 more than the asking price to clinch the deal or offer less - if so how much less? If we offer less and someone offers the asking price will the agent inform us and give us the option to increase our offer or does the 1st accepted offer mean thas it. Anyone been in a similar situation?

Right this is making more sense now - i've seen that most of the mortgage lenders offer portable mortgages which must mean i can transfer it to another property if i move. One thing is that a couple of you have said to take 2 years fixed but surely it would be more costly than opting for the 5 years fixed e.g. in my case Halifax 4.89% fixed for 2 years =£512 per month then rises to 6.5% for the rest of the mortgage. But if i chose Halifax 5.19% fixed for 5 years @ £529.01 per month then also rises to 6.5% this would surely be cheaper over the 5 year period and be the best option out of the 2, 5 & 10 year mortgages as i wouldnt be tied down for 2 long and would know where i stood for the 1st 5 years?

Oh right so if i get a fixed rate mortgage i'l get penalised if i move? Should i be looking at a discount mortgage instead then as we're planning to move to another house within a few years?

Test

oops sorry

Is it better to get a fixed rate mortgage for 5 years or 10 years? If i got one for 5 years would i be able to jump to another mortgage provider to get a better deal without being penalised? I read that most people change mortgages on average every 5 years so dont know if its wise applying for a 10 year fixed rate if im going to get penalised if i change to another company before the 10 years are up. Im a first time buyer