membrane

We're in the process of buying our first house, but the stumbling appears to be a transfer of a charge (loan for his estate agency business) from the house we are buying to the sellers new home. This appears to have been dragging on for about 4 weeks now & unfortunately the owner is the estate agent, we've been fobbed of for a number of excuses the latest has been that the cheque the company sent to transfer the charge was for the wrong amount & will take another 7 to 10 days does this sound fishy , do they even send cheques any more pram I just being sceptical because its an estate agent & they know we know nothing of the process? Thanks in advance Membrane

Many thanks for that, you've put my mind somewhat at rest. The solicitor was chosen as a recommendation, as we wanted someone we could trust, as you say with the biggest financial decision we'll probably make so budget wasn't a factor & I've no problem with the quality of her work (now you've explained the boundary thing), it's the communication that's so annoying (2 conversations a week? I wish, we've had none, except a couple badgered through by ourselves, where we just get "you don't understand the process, it's your first time", with no explanation of the process) all we got was just various searches through the door with no idea when they will end it how things are going are when they will end. Anyway we must be close now. Oh & thanks for doing my solicitors job for her

I'm currently in the process of buying my first house, & have a couple of questions about the process as I'm not over confident with our solicitor, who appears to have taken a vow of silence & only seems to answer 1 question per correspondence & that's in the vaguest terms possible. Anyway I've had lots of search results through the post all coming up apparently fine, but the priorities of the responses seem odd to say the least ie I've had a massive run down about the chances of getting Japanese knot-weed at the property, but when it came to the house boundaries there was a tiny black & white thumbnail picture no bigger than 5cm with just a red pen line drawn around it, is this normal, I was expecting a massive spiel with coordinates down to a gnats nidger blah blah blah but no. I basically haven't a clue how much will be mine (I can assume with the fence lines, but is that right?) The other question I have is the we have received the completion statement with all the relevant bills asking for us to pay Asap, but we haven't exchanged contract or anything which a quick Google tells me is the norm (well as far as we know we haven't exchanged contracts but again that may have something to do with the vow of silence), however the mortgage people require 7 days release notice & that hasn't been asked for (check with the mortgage people who do talk to us), so why should I pay the sizeable deposit into just this random account number & sort code we have been given (presumably just taking her word for it that its a business account instead of her own personal in doing a runner account, how can you tell, what protection do you have?) when we haven't even got a completion date? thanks in advance Durged

Thanks for that & yes I do agree to a certain extent, but I've always been up for the short term pain, long term gain, hence the whole position I'm in now to start with. She has every intention of overpaying by as much as possible (may not make the 10k a year max over payment allowable in the first couple of years) & I agree rates arn't going anywhere upward for a couple of years at least barring a real shock, it's years 4 onwards that could give sleepless nights. Come the end of the fix any residual mortgage left I could stump up if neccesary, but who knows what state we'll be in by then? A 6k loss after 5 years for an insomnia free decade is a hit we're willing to take (especially as I'm not taking it) I/we could be quids in depending on the scenario.

The mortgage is based over 20 years, but it's a 10 year fix, the repayments being approx £658, not sure if that makes it a better or worse decision on your calculations, but would be interested to hear what you think as I've not shown a great deal of interest in it as I'm not paying it (just liable for half of it as my name is on it as well), however you have put the statement "if interest rates are still low" which is the big worry & main reason this has been chosen in these interesting times. All I know is £658 a month for 10 years is more than mangeable, & I'm a big fan of peace of mind over piece of ar5e. As for bailing her out or me paying cash for the rest of the house & her paying me back with interest, I think that would start the relationship down a road I wouldnt want to go down (eg if interest rates were 9%, I couldnt charge her 9% interest even if I could get that from savings.) This way its as clear cut as it can be in our situation & we'll only annoy each other for the more trivial things in life ......hopefully.

I see what you're saying, but I want to hedge against all possibilities, what if IR's are 9% in 7 years time, after a bond collapse or something, she couldn't afford the SVR mortgage she'd then be on, on a house that will be worth vastly less than when we bought (especially if IR's are that high.) She has every intention to overpay as it is (the mortgage is for 112k as she's putting in 20k in deposit) Also I think it's a good idea to have some kind of a mortgage as it wouldn't surprise me if TPTB decide to throw some kind of helicopter money at "hard working families" with mortgages. especially with an election to contest. I bloody hope not, but something has to give in all this. Peace of mind is a price worth paying in my eyes. No one has a crystal ball, who'd thought we'd be where we are now even just 5 years ago?

Reducing my cash exposure certainly was a factor in the decision, & the cyprus theft certainly spooked me, but I don't believe property is the future either, in fact I havn't a clue what will actually keep up with the manufactored infaltion right now, let alone make a profit.. Cash going down in value, property going down in value, i've a few grand in shares, which i'll keep in but have little confidence in that. Gold is just a sentiment investment in my mind (has very little real use.) I'm just trying to hedge against every possible position the morons in charge decide to take....Something is serously going to implode..I just dont what & this seems to be the best I can come up with with the cards i've got.

My options are. 1) buy the whole house with my hard earned cash I'm down 250k on a depreciating asset, gf lives for for free, but has no house to call her own 2) I pay half of the house with other cash I have (not in ISA's) , so am £125k down on i believe a depreciating asset but gf pays other half on 10 year fix mortgage @ 3.99% on a house she believes will increase in value. Now I have another 125k currently earning ME 3% tax free which I believe will be higher than 4% a few years down the line mitigating "losses" on her paying 3.99 the previous years plus keeping the tax free status of said 125K. We hopefully both win You choose!

Sorry yes there is a fee of £295 with £200 cashback so a massive £95 I do apologise, I'm not spending 3% I'm getting 3% on my ISA's which is compounded every year all tax free, also I believe that interest rates will be higher in 5 years (let alone 10) on my savings but she'll still be paying 3.99% on whatevers left of the mortgage (can overpay by £10k a year without penalty as well.) If I thought house prices were fair value I would have paid cash for it, however I don't & don't see why I should take the hit on the whole house on the crash I believe is coming .another reason is the gf not only wants to pay half, but believes the market will go up, so wants in. Also having a mortgage it's not our responsibility to look after the deeds. I'm also hedging against whatever hair brained scheme the government might come up with to keep the party going (MIRAS, free money to clear debts, who knows with the nut jobs in charge but if its ever on the cards I/we want a slice of it. Oh & the mortgage is costing me nothing, nada, zilch, she's paying it all, I'm just on the mortgage as I have to be (but realise I'm liable for half should it all go Peter tong) You may think very strange, I think very logical.

Thanks everyone, it's good to get the views of the people on here, it helps my confidence levels in the decision,I would love to see the whole story out & will still frequent this website (still as addictive as it was in 04) , but the whole system seems so rigged I feel this is the best I can do with the cards I have been dealt.

Norwich & Peterborough http://www.nandp.co.uk/mortgages

28K, but OT on top

She earns more than me, so I'd be the semi retired Mummy, not that kids are on the horizon, who'd want to bring up kids in the world we're living in today, I don't think it's fair on them to have kids because I want them...................in fact I love my kids so much I refuse to have them, hows that for unconditional love? (Another side to my mental-isms.)

Why would I pull out I've the money in the ISA's to cover any perceivable eventuality? If I want to move I could become on of those evil buy to letters. Both are our names are on the mortgage but she will be paying it (yes I know that could cause complications, but there will be a deed of trust whereby 75% of the house is mine & once she's paid it off transfer the other 25% to her so we own 50% each (oh & she's putting in 20K deposit). The ISA's that is in her name, is a risk, as it has been for the last 20 years I've been with her but I have control over usernames & passwords for the online account. And yes the mortgage is a repayment which you can over pay by 10K a year, which she intends to do as much as possible, but depends what happens with interest rates. How will she hurt me if I leave my savings in my name only? The ISA's arnt joint accounts. Oh & there has been no real luck involved, quite the opposite (lost loads in stock market crash 2000), its just been down to saving hard on a average wage job, lots of overtime equivalent to 6 day week & sadly living with the GF parents for over 10 years (all whilst waiting for the madness to end oh & I'm 42.) However In that time I have travelled the world & not had a sober weekend so its not been a totally wasted decade really, just the stigma of living like Ronnie Corbett in Sorry being the only wounder in the whole set up. I do still feel like a traitor really, like the regime has won, but what can you do?

I've given in to the madness & bought. I will be paying £250K for a 4 bed detached (south west) when it was on for £285K (& apparently 310K in 2007) so avoided the ridiculous 3% stamp duty. I could have bought the house cash myself but the gf insisted (I put up no resisitence to that funnily enough) on paying her half, so now I'll pay half cash & I'll go on the mortgage for the other half which she will just pay entirely. The mortgage is a 10 year fix @ 3.99% with no fees, this was the clincher for me to finally give in, as now the rest of the cash is sat in our ISA's paying 3% (first direct for over 40K...still on offer.) so she's effectively paying 1% for the mortgage & if interest rates go up in the next 10 years, it'll pay for itself (don't think we'll start to realise that for the first 5 years but the next 5 who knows) plus I get to keep the tax free status of what was supposed to be the house buying fund originally. I have a very firm belief that the value will go down hugely eventually but over many years & none of us are getting any younger (she obviously thinks it will go up based on absolutely no facts, but we've just agreed to disagree.) Have I completely sold out or does this seem like a no brainer for a hedge against these interesting times we live in (FFL, homebuyers schemes, threat of legalised theft from savings accounts a la Cyprus (even though QE , inflation is doing that anyway) etc etc?