Buying a house

Started by Boolerhead Mel, January 06, 2009, 03:54:19 PM

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laceer

Quote from: Jimmy on December 16, 2015, 09:35:07 PM
Thought I'd give this thread a bump as I'm sorta half interested in trying to buy a house.

Anyone any recent experience? I'm working in Belfast now so would be interested to hear from anyone who's bought there.

Good time/Bad time/missed the boat after a property recovery?

I don't think prices are going to increase an awful lot more but they won't be going down any time soon so if you're thinking about buying then sooner rather than later would be better imo. Interest rates can only go up as well so mortgages are never going to cheaper than at the present time.

Collecting the keys of our first house tomorrow. Daunting enough process but the best advice I got was to research everything thoroughly - look at how much similar houses in the area have sold for, take a drive about, go to the local pub, the shop, the chippy - they'll give you a feel for who your neighbours will be. Speak to the person who is selling the house if possible - the estate agent may not give you the full picture if it is not in their interest. Remember that the estate agents and solicitors are glad of your business - without you they wouldn't be earning anything so make sure to ask them as many questions as you need. Phone them up and ask for updates if you think they are stalling.

If you are not in a chain and have a mortgage approved in principle then you are in a great bargaining position - don't allow the estate agent to tell you any different. I read a good quote that a house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it - sometimes the estate agent needs to be reminded of this!

DennistheMenace

In Belfast especially, the 3 most important things to consider in a house are, location, location, location.

general

Just bought a house to be built feb/march completion - although they are putting the roof on this morning.

http://www.bestpropertyservices.com/ballyblaugh-meadows/d1541

Just outside Newry, a few mins from the North/South Motorway. Belfast in 35 mins, Dublin in 50 mins.

20 3 bed semi's being built by a local builder who has completed numerous developments over the last 10 years with no stories about bad building or any horror stories you sometimes hear about.

3 Bed semi for £120k, reasonable enough, middle of the country but close by to Newry, Dublin, Belfast. Also given a PC SUMs to go off and purchase kitchen, tiles, bathrooms etc. Found this very tight but if you shop around its wild what some people will charge you. I priced like for like in bathrooms & Kitchens and saved £1500 on the bathrooms and £3500!! on the kitchen.

Longshanks

Bought a house recently, it was a repo and obviously needed someone attention but is a good house. the sitting room floor is wooden and we asked the estate agent to turn the water off while we bought it. They turned it off, disconnected the water to the tank and opened all the radiators.
Anyway we dont know if there is a connection but the day after getting the keys there is a rise of nearly two inches in the wooden floor beside where the radiator is in the sitting? would we have any come back and does anyone have any ideas?
This wasn't there either of the two times we first looked at the house.
On a side note does anyone know where you could get borax? I'm based in Belfast at the moment but moving into mid ulster.

Cheers in advance

Owen Brannigan

From the time you sign for the house and it is legally yours then the responsibility for anything falls to you.  This unfortunately includes any building defects that may have been present that you did not raise with the seller and negotiate a lower price.  Given it is a repo then you are probably in a weaker position.  Though hard to see how a leak in the heating only became apparent after you bought it.


Longshanks

Quote from: Owen Brannigan on March 13, 2017, 10:21:34 AM
From the time you sign for the house and it is legally yours then the responsibility for anything falls to you.  This unfortunately includes any building defects that may have been present that you did not raise with the seller and negotiate a lower price.  Given it is a repo then you are probably in a weaker position.  Though hard to see how a leak in the heating only became apparent after you bought it.

Aye its just last time we were in the house was maybe 8 weeks ago when we made the final decision to go for it and the rising in the wooden floor has happened between then and now and not something we expected, aye think we are in a weak position alright just annoying as its not something we accounted for or that was part of the deal and think it could be the fault of the estate agents for the way they dealt with the radiators perhaps. Hard to know but just frustrating.

tc_manchester

Folks,
   I just moved to Newbridge, Co. Kildare from Manchester last year. I'm an I.T. contractor and I'm currently working on a UK contract through my UK company. I've had a UK limited company for 20 years. I'd like to buy a house in Newbridge but the 2 mortgage brokers I've went to in kildare are telling me that the banks will  not take into account my UK earnings. Since I'm earning only sterling this leaves me in limbo. I'm only looking for a 50% mortgage at about 1.5 times earnings. I'm assuming that living in the south and earning sterling would be common enough around the border areas. Has anybody recently been able to get a euro mortgage while working in the UK?

Donagh

After moving from the north and trying to get a southern mortgage my guess is you'd be best to sit tight for a while, open Euro current & savings accounts in Kildare and pay into these regularly for about 6 months from your UK company account, before looking a mortgage. I have heard of mortgages based on overseas earnings e.g. for returning emigrants but they are at silly interest rates.

Owen Brannigan

Quote from: Longshanks on March 13, 2017, 11:10:34 AM
Quote from: Owen Brannigan on March 13, 2017, 10:21:34 AM
From the time you sign for the house and it is legally yours then the responsibility for anything falls to you.  This unfortunately includes any building defects that may have been present that you did not raise with the seller and negotiate a lower price.  Given it is a repo then you are probably in a weaker position.  Though hard to see how a leak in the heating only became apparent after you bought it.

Aye its just last time we were in the house was maybe 8 weeks ago when we made the final decision to go for it and the rising in the wooden floor has happened between then and now and not something we expected, aye think we are in a weak position alright just annoying as its not something we accounted for or that was part of the deal and think it could be the fault of the estate agents for the way they dealt with the radiators perhaps. Hard to know but just frustrating.

It is possible for a floor to lift without a leak in the radiators.  It could be that you have a damp problem at floor level and the cute estate agents may have had the heat running low to keep the damp down.  When the rads were off then the damp was absorbs into the floor and caused it to swell.  I have seen this happen with a floating floor where it collected the damp and swelled up with enough force to lift a piano!  Check this out.

aontroim

Quote from: Longshanks on March 13, 2017, 10:07:57 AM
Bought a house recently, it was a repo and obviously needed someone attention but is a good house. the sitting room floor is wooden and we asked the estate agent to turn the water off while we bought it. They turned it off, disconnected the water to the tank and opened all the radiators.
Anyway we dont know if there is a connection but the day after getting the keys there is a rise of nearly two inches in the wooden floor beside where the radiator is in the sitting? would we have any come back and does anyone have any ideas?
This wasn't there either of the two times we first looked at the house.
On a side note does anyone know where you could get borax? I'm based in Belfast at the moment but moving into mid ulster.

Cheers in advance

I've used this lot before with no hassle Longshanks.  Plenty of choice for product based on what you're treating - eg. Woodworm / Dry Rot / Wet Rot etc.
http://www.boron.org.uk/Boracolshop.htm



The_geezer

Hi folks,. Have a query. 2 brothers live in Australia and are looking to buy a house a home which is currently on the market. Both have plenty of money but the bank won't give them a mortgage as they don't live at home currently. Has anyone come across this before or Know if any ways round it?

Hardy

Quote from: The_geezer on May 29, 2018, 09:07:09 PM
Hi folks,. Have a query. 2 brothers live in Australia and are looking to buy a house a home which is currently on the market. Both have plenty of money but the bank won't give them a mortgage as they don't live at home currently. Has anyone come across this before or Know if any ways round it?

My son in Australia has just bought a house back here in Cork with a view to coming home next year. He organised the mortgage here through a mortgage broker. There was no difficulty. So it may be just the bank your brothers approached that has that policy. I'd say tell them to shop around or contact a broker.

It's 4:25 a.m. in Perth right now, but if you want more details let me know and I'll contact him tomorrow.

The_geezer

Cheers that would be great. Alot of their money which they have been sending home is currently in this bank. So they havn't shopped Around at all yet.

Hardy

Sent you a p.m. geezer.

Rois

Buying a new build (in the north) and contract just landed from vendor - they aren't adopting the roads so will be private roads.

Anyone have any experience of how people deal with that?  Really really putting us off if we can't get a resolution.  Does it suggest the builder/developer not constructing roads up to right standard?