Buying First House Questions

Financial Chat
23
  1. £430,000 - 3 bed end terrace in dagenham
  2. Yes - bought with help to buy scheme
  3. £21,500
  4. Around 18 months
  5. £869 2.69% interest rate
  6. Combined salary £86,000
24

I’ve just completed on my first property!

£140,000 plus £2,000 in all legal and survey fees.

No, built around 1850.

£23,000 on my own.

6 years of not having a life.

2.42%, about £413 per month.

When I started saving it was around £22,000. I’m now at around £36,500.

This is single, without a partner or parent contribution.

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25

How far back do you go though? All houses were new
at some point :joy:

FWIW, I’ve had 2 new houses in the last 10 years, and both have served our purposes beautifully.

The only downside for me is their insistence on putting in small windows to hit their energy conservation targets.

The rest of the house has been great!

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26

It’s been especially bad in the last 5 years.

I dont mean all new builds, there are some really talented master craftsman out there… I’m specifically focussing on major housebuilders.

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27

I’d imagine the bulk of people would be buying from a “major house builder”.

It feels like this is a situation where people in the industry will see things and criticise (with justification most of the time), but it’s probably never going to really affect the customer.

It would be like someone paying £1000 for a bog standard laptop, when tech experts know there is so much more for your money out there, but the customer would never get the benefit out it anyway.

If that makes sense…

So I definitely appreciate tradesmen saying they feel the major house builders are terrible, and all new houses are poorly made, but I can only go from personal experience, and that is the fact they have been absolutely fine for us (and we’ve had 2 of the worst!)

28

Fellow tradesman here and could not agree more!

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29
  1. 85k
  2. no built 1950s
  3. :exploding_head: nil 110% mortgage
  4. just got all furniture & white goods - 2 years
  5. it was 5.29% when we bought
  6. household salary £28k a year
    This was all in 2004. Can’t really believe that was 15 years ago.
    Given that I’m not sure how much my answers will help really.
30

This is a good thread.

I would go help to buy but don’t you have to pay it back in 5 years and only get the funds after you have completed of have I heard wrong?

Also on topic/off topic Persimmon homes were on Watchdog regarding a new build estate down the road from me where buildings window/balcony type things were cracking and they had to reinforce the whole lot

32

Which is better help to buy or shared ownership?

34

I heard this too about Persimmon - one to watch out for. Also just coincidently came across this article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/outrage-over-persimmon-1bn-profit-mps-offered-no-deal-rundown-uk-

35

About a week away from completing a sale. Just transferred my deposit and fees a few hours ago. For me it took a bit longer to save as I wanted to pay off debts before buying a house

  1. What was the cost of your first home? £65,000
  2. Was it a new build? No built in the 1870s
  3. What was your deposit? 5%
  4. How long did it take you to save? 3 years
  5. What is your monthly mortgage rate? 3.24%
  6. What was your salary at the time? £22,000
36

How far back do help to buy/mortgage companies go in to your history like what do they want to know?

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37

Still? I thought that was just initially…

38

We’re on with trying to get a mortgage (seeing broker this afternoon, in fact). He’s only asked for 4 months each of bank statements, credit card statements, and pay slips – which doesn’t seem super in-depth, but I’m not arguing.

39

I heard they go way back like 5+ years?

40

Not really sure what you are asking?

I don’t think the HtB people care, providing you are a first time buyer and you can get a mortgage.

From memory (I did it 4 years ago), it was just your usual 3 months of bank statements for the mortgage.

There was nothing specific around the HtB that went further back.

41

Does the Help To Buy Scheme not section off part of the appreciation on the house?

So you “owe” up to 20% on the increase in the house price, or have I just read wrong?

42

I was just wondering how far back into your history so I know what documents I’d need etc.

If it’s 3 months then cool

43

When you come to pay it off, you will need to pay back 20% of the current cost.

Now, the confusing thing is you’ll actually have 2 valuations.

  1. The mortgage company will have their own valuation (ideally, you’d like this to be as high as possible).

  2. The HtB scheme requires a RICS certified valuation - This is what determines the 20% (ideally, you want this as low as possible).

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45

Also, don’t forget you’ll have to pay around £6-800 just to close the HtB process (when you come to pay it off).

£200 HtB admin fee (lol)
£300 Solicitor fee
£300 RICS valuation fee

The last 2 are rough estimates - Cost will be dependant on where you live.

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