The nervous wait to exchange....

Soldato
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It's a struggle sometimes to manage it. I think completion is usually are 12pm/1pm for all parties

I've only done it once but we loaded up the van the night before with as much stuff as we could. Also try and move stuff into homes of family if you can. I think sometimes you can end up dumping stuff on driveways and all sorts!

Great fun!
 

McB

McB

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Movers are used to it - they might be waiting around outside for a bit in the afternoon until keys are released to you after completion and the monies have rolled up the chain- it always comes off the lorry quicker than it went on!

Last time we had pack and move - basically 90% was packed and on lorry day before and just skeleton stuff needed like kettle etc to pack up on completion day.
 
Associate
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That looks great. Very jealous of the double garage! Think i always thought Norwich was pricier than that too

The area we are moving too is shall we say a little remote and untapped currently but if we had tried to get that house 3 miles down the road in a very popular village it would have been more like 450k. But you can still find some well priced houses in norfolk but prices are always on the up. Even our 3 bed linked detached place has increased in value by 63% in the five years we have had it but i think the main reason for that increase was the single story extension we put on it
 
Man of Honour
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Yeh thought so - the market for very expensive high end conversions and purpose built maisonettes has dropped significantly I’m afraid - all across London. Expensive areas like Wimbledon, Earlsfield, Clapham, Balham and then further in to Kew, Ealing etc has all dropped to more reasonable levels. I would be inclined to take agents advice (cumulative over three different firms) as there really is nobody better to advise you despite the added BS.

I saw the market rise over 30-40% in three years from 2013 and then mid last year it stopped. Abruptly. Now, your London property is worth either the same or less than it was for example in jan 2016.

I'm contemplating a flat in London but a bit concerned about having missed the boat and end up catching a downturn. Main priorities are rapid access to the City and room rental appeal (my plan is to get a 2 bed and rent 1 room out). I am tempted by the value proposition in Barking (Cheap borough, 15mins to Fenchurch St and lots of gentrification going on) but not sure how much it would appeal to renters.
 
Soldato
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Can someone straighten out my scrabbled brain

so everything is moving forward with the houses but I was thinking to myself last night having never done this.

Both purchase and sale are going to complete on the same day how does this work with moving out? Do you get till midday or something along those lines to move out?
For the most part everyone understands that its a hassle and accommodates each other. Contractual completion time is usually 2pm but in long chains it often goes past that. At least now the CHAPS cut off is 6pm, used to be 3:30 and that caused all sorts of problems.

I did once have an estate ring a client of mine at 10am to say she was trespassing as she hadn't moved out yet even though the money had been transferred. Totally lost my rag with her but heard nothing but good things since :p
 
Soldato
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Well we’ve just done the stupidest thing we could.

There was a house very close to us that’s been on the market for a while and it’s offers over 280k. Our very very top limit is 280k so it was always risky.

Having viewed the house we both absolutely love it to the point it’s made us agree to cancel a second viewing we had elsewhere.

Only issue is we could do with doing a few things straight away which could be up to 10k of work and it’s really not possible to do that :(
 
Soldato
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I'm contemplating a flat in London but a bit concerned about having missed the boat and end up catching a downturn. Main priorities are rapid access to the City and room rental appeal (my plan is to get a 2 bed and rent 1 room out). I am tempted by the value proposition in Barking (Cheap borough, 15mins to Fenchurch St and lots of gentrification going on) but not sure how much it would appeal to renters.

Where abouts in Barking are you looking mate? I am renting out a flat in barking, there are lots of new builds about too, some good, some bad. A decent 2 bed should get you £1300 - £1350 per month. When the Elizabeth Line is up and running prices are going to shoot up :)
 
Soldato
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Viewed our first property yesterday - we could arguably move very quickly, but I imagine it might be a 9-12 month thing, and I wanted to get an idea of where the market is at. Ironically, the house is in the same part of SW London I grew up in, and was adamant that I'd never move back to! The walk around Bushey Park after the viewing brought back a load of very happy childhood memories, and figured it's probably an ideal spot to raise a family.
 
Soldato
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Had an offer accepted last week on my first home, it was only the second place we'd viewed in person but it just ticked every box for us. We initially went in a few grand under the asking price but after a bit of salesmanship/other bids from the estate agent we decided to just go in at full asking price with our best and final.

We're first time buyers, they're moving in with family while their new property is being built, i'm reluctant to say but cautiously optimistic that it could move quite quickly.

The property is the same as this internally, except our garden is bigger, detached and has a garage.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70918202.html
 
Man of Honour
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Where abouts in Barking are you looking mate? I am renting out a flat in barking, there are lots of new builds about too, some good, some bad. A decent 2 bed should get you £1300 - £1350 per month. When the Elizabeth Line is up and running prices are going to shoot up :)

Nowhere in particular as I don't know the area, I am considering it purely based on price, commuting time and buzz around gentrification. I know a bit more about areas to the north i.e. Ilford (stayed there a few times), Barkingside (got a friend there) and Woodford (my Gran lived there).
 
Soldato
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15,765
After much deliberation, I've decided to buy somewhere in the UK rather than abroad.

Been away a while though...anyone got a mortgage broker recommendation? The days when I'd trust Google to find something like this are well and truly over!
 
Soldato
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Well we've done the stupid thing of looking at this. It's around the corner from our current house and we like the area.

Just look at it, it's everything i love in a house. Big, imposing and solid looking!

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70413578.html

Only issue is there are a few things we'd need to change to make it workable and it's already at the top end of our budget!

- Boiler is new, but quite noisy and in the 3rd bedroom. Would need moving as it's too loud to sleep in there - Hoping less than 1k to move to the room below

- The kitchen only has a small under counter fridge, the fridge/freezer, washer and dryer is in a seperate building. We've had this in a previous house and it's a pain. Would want to extend the kitchen to accommodate this- £20k ish

- No Garage - One of the main reasons for moving in the first place - £20k

- No downstairs toilet - Again on of the main reasons for moving. There's a cupboard this could be done so assuming around 2k

Big questions is whether we want to spend all that on it so soon.
 
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I assume it has plenty of land to build the garage on. The list of things you say need doing would put me off a little but my wife always says I'm very picky with houses and i would want those things before we moved and but of course that may add 20-30k to the purchase price but if you did these things after you move in its probably going to add that value and more if you decided to sell in the future. Out of your list i'd say 2 of those things i'd want to achieve within the first year others could be done when funds allow, boiler and kitchen extension are the priorities by the sounds of it.
 
Soldato
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Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
Yeah, boiler would definately have to be done as soon as we moved in, luckily it *shouldn't* be too expensive as it would be going into the room directly below where it is now. Would probably be worth getting that done at the same time as converting the downstairs cupboard to a toilet as it's all the same room and would take advantage of a plumber being on site.

Kitchen is less of an issue for me but is more so for the wife. The gripe is that whilst the stuff is in that outbuilding i can't then use that space as a workshop which is what i'd want. If that works for me then the garage is a non-issue as that was to be it's main purpose.

We've currently got a loan which is around £350 month and due to be finished June 2019. We could probably clear it earlier which would enable us to get an additional loan for the kitchen work in around 12 months time.

I do keep joking with my parents that it makes sense to receive some inheritance early so they can see me enjoy it and help when i need it rather than when i'm 60 and wouldn't benefit from it as much.

The hints aren't hitting home though :p
 
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Well finally got to the searches stage for the new property its taken the vendors solicitors 3 weeks to even get to that stage but hopefully it should speed up now also got confirmation today the mortgage has been fullly agreed which is good. Just got to hope the completion date is around the start of march as I relocate for work
 
Soldato
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Caddington
Two weeks today is completion date..... Not nervous about this at all. Picking our van up on the Monday to load it up with big things like the Sofa's and the dining room stuff the night before the move. Thankfully ours is quite a small chain being Our purchasers who are renting out their current house, Our Purchase and then Our purchases purchase (the lady at the top of the chain is moving into her daughters) so it should all happen relatively quickly.

We are on good terms with the people we are buying from as well and they have agreed we can move all of our Firewood and spare wood over this weekend and the following weekend prior to the move saving us about 4/5 hours of time on the move day. All this means that in 2 weeks time I can say good bye to this... http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69131624.html and hello to this... http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-67091054.html

FYI I sold for bang on the money and bought for less so yay.
 
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