Tips for buying a new house?

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Spotted a house that we would like to buy, have to sell ours then borrow a bit more. Have been approved for a new deal and a good rate from the bank.

Just wondered if any for forumites have any general tips to pass on, that will make the process smoothier, from selling ours, negotiating to buy the new one or any pitfalls that I might need to be aware of?
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  • mrkbmrkb Frets: 6635
    Is it a new as in “new build” on a new building site or just new to you?
    Karma......
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  • mrkb said:
    Is it a new as in “new build” on a new building site or just new to you?
    Apologies, title is misleading... just a new house to me.
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  • monofinmonofin Frets: 1118
    Sounds like you haven't sold yours yet so don't set your heart on anything until you've got a sale.


    Oh... And if an estate agent tells you the sky is blue go outside and check for yourself

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  • Find a good estate agent. There are some bad ones out there, but there are some honest, hardworking ones who genuinely want to help too. 
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  • thermionicthermionic Frets: 9498
    Househunting sucks. I sold my house for £5k below the asking price, which realistically, I was quite happy with. Saw a nice house despite the estate agent’s determination to prevent me me from viewing it. I offered the asking price, but was told they’d accepted an offer from somebody else and wouldn’t allow me to up my offer. Then my buyer pulled out, despite having been in my house twice with a builder, poking around nonchallantly. Then I reluctantly accepted a much lower offer. Saw another nice house and offered £15k more than the best offer, but was rejected. I upped it by another £10k and didn’t hear anything back for days. After a bit of pestering I was told somebody had offered the asking price. So I offered £5k over the asking price and was told they’d accepted more from somebody else. Meanwhile, my estate agent is phoning me up twice a week asking when I’m moving out.
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  • skunkwerxskunkwerx Frets: 6838
    Make sure its made of bricks otherwise I shall huff and I shall puff and it might fall down. 
    The only easy day, was yesterday...
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  • thumpingrugthumpingrug Frets: 2890
    No advice, just wish you well.    We bought and sold a couple fo years ago.  The estate agent we sold with was a local one with a good reputation.  They worked well, arranged lots of viewings and our place sold quickly.  The agents for the house we bought were a big national chain and count give a toss.  We were lucky that we could deal directly with the vendor and arrange visits to ask questions.  They invited us to dinner one evening and we met the neighbours over a nice meal a few weeks be our moving.  Our issue was solicitors and the conveyancing which took far longer than it should have and at one point put the sales risk until both I and the vendor contacted our solicitors on the same day (coordinated attack) and threatened them with a complaint unless they got things moving.  Each was blaming the other party and we knew because we were talking regularly that they had the information they were claiming to be waiting for.   After our purchase went through I did make a complaint to the solicitors and receives a bit fo a refund and an apology from the head of the practice, but suspect that this was only because they had been found out.

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  • Phil_aka_PipPhil_aka_Pip Frets: 9794
    mrkb said:
    Is it a new as in “new build” on a new building site or just new to you?
    Apologies, title is misleading... just a new house to me.
    I was going to say "Don't. Get an old one"
    "Working" software has only unobserved bugs. (Parroty Error: Pieces of Nine! Pieces of Nine!)
    Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
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  • ModellistaModellista Frets: 2039
    edited July 2018
    ^ similar to above. The stress of house buying is in my experience largely due the laziness and incompetence of certain members of the legal profession. Choose your conveyancer with care. Preferably a small practice that just deals with conveyancing. Both times I've had to deal with practices that offer conveyancing as one part of a wide portfolio seem to think it's beneath them and put it to the bottom of the pile until the last minute. 

    Try and be on in good terms with your buyer and vendor and communicate with them independently of the conveyancers. Otherwise it's a horrible game of Chinese whispers with the lawyers trying to cover their backs and talking nonsense. Being able to converse with the other parties is the only way of getting things properly moving. Similar story to thumpingrug above. 
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  • darthed1981darthed1981 Frets: 11669
    any pitfalls that I might need to be aware of?
    Mostly the money-grabbing tosspieces who fleece you at every stage of the process, and the pathological stress levels of trying to complete in a sea of professional indifference...

    So, have fun! ;)
    We have to be so very careful, what we believe in...
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  • spark240spark240 Frets: 2073
    Its been a while....but I did sell me flat for less than I wanted and paid over asking for a house....that said it was a good  move so no regrets at all...sometimes you have to do whats best for you...not just the bank balance.

    And yes....most agents Ive dealt with have been pretty useless....so start on that basis and it can only get better ;-) 


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  • monofinmonofin Frets: 1118
    I'm in the middle of a double move. Sold and moved out of our house in April. Now renting while we wait for new house to be built - hopefully moving in September.
    Seem to have been constantly paying g people large amounts of money for very little return all year

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  • PVO_DavePVO_Dave Frets: 2364
    Just try and stay calm through it, don’t get your hopes up on a place you can’t offer on yet (until you have a buyer for yours) and keep your fingers crossed for decent buyers!

    We moved the end of April after a tonne of stress, our house went on sale Jan 4th, sold the same weekend, that then fell through (due to our buyers buyer dropping out), we sold again for more than we were expecting to get the same day the original sale fell through, they then lost their buyer. In the end us and the second buyer agreed to both drop our prices so they could take less on their place for a quick sale. I’d managed to get the people we were buying from to hold on for us, they’d been let down a few times already so were keen to find a good buyer.

    All worked out in the end, but the final exchange and completion date was delayed by about 3 weeks due to a complete numpty of a solicitor a few people down the chain.

    Tonnes of stress, but couldn’t be happier in the new place :) - Good Luck!!
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  • ChalkyChalky Frets: 6807
    Three things to remember:
    1 For most folks, house-buying is the largest financial transaction of their life, so you need to be at your most mature and decisive.
    2 You are not in control and cannot speed up the process, it will happen when it happens.  You will meet people who will tell you they "pushed theirs through". They delude themselves into thinking that to feel better about how long it took.
    3 It is like a visit to the dentists. You want it but it is going to hurt in more ways than you expect.  Like a long haul flight you just have to put up with it. The end will justify your endurance.
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  • Phil_aka_PipPhil_aka_Pip Frets: 9794
    wis @Chalky

    Hold out for what you want.

    "Working" software has only unobserved bugs. (Parroty Error: Pieces of Nine! Pieces of Nine!)
    Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
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  • HattigolHattigol Frets: 8175
    My advice, for what it's worth:

    The two most important things are 1. Location and 2. Plot size. 

    Anything else, you can change but not those. So make sure you find somewhere that ticks those boxes.
    "Anybody can play. The note is only 20%. The attitude of the motherf*cker who plays it is  80%" - Miles Davis
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  • NiallseroreillyNiallseroreilly Frets: 504
    edited July 2018
    Thanks for all the sage advice....i guess it is as i expected....a couple of months of melt...
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  • midlifecrisismidlifecrisis Frets: 2341
    dont be afraid to haggle the estate agents down bigtime with their commision. We were offered 1.5% but we offered  a flat £2000 fee inc vat.  we sold for 550k so it worked out less than 0.5% on total sale. they still got £2k not bad for not much work.
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  • DefaultMDefaultM Frets: 7271
    One of the worst days I've had was the day before we were due to move.
    I left work and my car Engine light came on. Managed to get it round to the garage, took out my phone to call my wife and saw I had a voice mail. It was from the solicitor, very casually telling me that the sale had all fallen through because someone down the chain hadn't disclosed that they didn't actually own 100% of their house. Still remember his stupid fucking chuckle as he said I wouldn't be moving.
    Got inside the garage and the computer in my car had failed and it was a grand plus labour.
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  • SporkySporky Frets: 27569
    Remember that you're not buying the current owner's ugly furniture and selfie ego-wall.

    And check all the taps, windows, and doors work. 
    "[Sporky] brings a certain vibe and dignity to the forum."
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