The House Thread

[craigjames]

Decided to get an estate agent in to see if was worth doing any work to the house prior to putting it on the market.... a week later it's sold! Went with Yopa for an estate agent, local bloke and his daughter working effectively self employed under the larger companies banner; their prices were what attracted me £500-800 less than others had quoted. Everything with viewings and offers goes through the Yopa portal and is really easy to use.

Got an offer accepted on a house which will suit us to the ground, driveway, garage and garden. Most importantly not in the middle of Plymouth. Needs no real work apart from specifics we want to do and good location for taking the dog out: https://www.primelocation.com/for-sale/details/58115114/. Everyone in the chain seems lined up ready to go, just crossing everything that no one pulls out!...

[Luke Rainbird]

On 4/15/2021 at 0:52 PM, craigjames said:

Most importantly not in the middle of Plymouth.

Worth every penny.

[manuel]

Awww I miss living in Devonport. 

[MadManMike]

Well, we moved in just over a month ago...

Since then I've redecorated the bedroom and built a new bed for it. Done a ton of improvements, mostly minor, which means I can focus on taming the garden now - it's hugely overgrown and is going to take a fair bit of elbow grease to sort.

Just took delivery of our new sofa and chair, which barely fits in the lounge. We ordered it based on the floorplan before we moved in, so I suspect the floorplan wasn't entirely accurate lol. It fits, but it's quite a bit tighter than I was expecting!

Loving it here though, it's so nice to be somewhere quiet and to have more space - I really felt caged in the two bed flat we had before, made worse by being stuck indoors for the majority of the 14 months since being made to work from home. Just being able to go downstairs or out in the garden makes a massive difference.

[Mark W]

So, few months after we got our offer accepted, still basically not much real progress.

I posted in here before about how the seller was sour about the fact we waited for our mortgage to be approved before booking in our survey, as that was an "unnecessary delay" and was going to slow down their purchase of their new property, which at that point they'd apparently had their searches returned on (this was at the tail end of March).

Having had the survey, an issue with the roof was flagged so we were trying to get a roofer in to look at it. We contacted a load of roofers and then generic builders, but everyone was so busy that they either didn't reply, or did reply to basically tell us to do one. This was all within a few days of the survey report being sent to us.

The seller contacted us via the estate agent to essentially give us an ultimatum, saying they wanted a resolution by the end of that week. We eventually got a roofer to check it out, and fortunately found that there wasn't really anything that needed doing immediately so we informed the sellers via the estate agents and our solicitors we were happy to go ahead.

There were a few outstanding things from the initial info that the sellers should have provided that our solicitors were waiting for (and had been since early April), as well as some other info/evidence required as a result of the survey. Our solicitors emailed theirs on the 3rd May.

They were then pushing for replies throughout May (we know this as we were copied in on the emails). Throughout this time, the estate agents kept hassling our solicitors asking them what the status was and wanting to know about progress, despite being told repeatedly that it was the seller's solicitor that wasn't replying.

We finally got an email from the seller's solicitor yesterday saying they "hadn't received the original email", which is bullshit as we have a copy of it that shows the time/date they were sent it. They've also received multiple pushes for an answer throughout the month, so even if they'd somehow not received the email (again: bullshit), you'd have thought that the several prompts they received would have caused them to ask for more info or a resend earlier than now.

Our solicitor resent them the email and passed on the info that we aren't super happy about them dragging things out. Their solicitor then replied to say that "it would appear that your clients are unaware that my clients have a related purchase which needs to tie in with this sale". f**king cheeky bastards. It's almost like the person who should have been informing everyone of what was going on hasn't been informing everyone of what's going on.

They went on to say that the original purchase they were going for had fallen through, and that they're currently waiting for results on searches for a new property. The timeline they provided for when this has all been happening means that either the sellers were lying originally when they were complaining about how long things were taking, the solicitors are lying now, or a combination of the above. What we do know for sure is that when the sellers were giving us an ultimatum for the roof they had nothing ready to go their end, and continue to have nothing ready to go now. It's pretty clear that their solicitor wilfully hasn't been replying just to buy them some time.

To recap: f**king cheeky bastards.

[Ali C]

sounds so tedious!! 

[Ali C]

May as well update my situation.

 

I'm still living with my fiancée, her mum and her mums boyfriend in a two bedroom flat. It’s fiiiine, we all get on and there’s zero tension (as far as I can tell) but I’m desperate for my own space.

 

The housing market is still awful and there’s nothing coming up in our budget in any place we’d want to live. However due to a turn in events we might not need to look for a house after all.

 

Sadly Jane’s elderly Aunt died last month (at 93). She was diagnosed with cancer just in February and refused treatment...because she was of sound mind and knew what was coming she made sure her will was updated and put Jane as her power of attorney.

 

She didn’t have any children of her own and was fond of Jane and her brother so has left the estate to them. Jane is keen to buy out her brothers share in her Aunts house and for her and I to move into it...fortunately none of Jane’s family have any objection to this.

 

We are waiting back on a survey to tell us exactly how much the estate is worth and that will determine how much we owe her brother so nothings set in stone yet.

 

The house itself is a 1960s detached two bedroom bungalow and is lovely! The rooms are big and it’s in amazing condition (her Aunt was the type that puts notes on the batteries in the clocks saying when they were installed...meticulously neat and tidy). It has a single garage which is perfect for my bikes and has garden space all around. The bonus is that it’s got a great potential to convert the loft into another two rooms (either making it a 4 bedroom or 3 with an office) which would be amazing.

 

The area it’s in is considered one of the poshest parts of Glasgow, it’s rare to get a house here and all the neighbors are retired rich types...we’d be the youngest in the area by a long way. They’re all very friendly though, a minister is across from us as well as a Jewish and Indian couple who are all very nice people.

 

The downsides are that it’s a lot further out of town than I’d considered (though does have easy motorway access) and there is zero riding (trials or MTB) out of the door, I’ll definitely be needing to drive to do any riding.

Its also next to a road so there is some traffic noise, especially at school times as there’s a school just a few hundred meters  down the hill. It’s only a 30mph zone and not a main route so not too bad the rest of the time.

 

It’s sad that Jane’s lost a family member but with all the hardships she’s had I think its a lovely gift from her Aunt. here’s hoping we can afford to buy out her brothers share.

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

1 hour ago, Mark W said:

*snip*

I hope you're not paying your solicitors per hour (or per letter/email etc.)! Such dickheads!

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

27 minutes ago, Ali C said:

Also *snip*

Sorry to hear of Jane's loss but that does sound really promising for you guys. Hopefully you can work something out with her brother once the estate is sorted out.

[J.KYDD]

We've been busy at it since moving in February too. All our upstairs rooms have now been redecorated and shown some love. Most of the work in our bedroom, involving getting a radiator moved so we could change out where the bed was, and having an electrician adding some new sockets and lighting. Also wood panelled the wall the bed now sits against. 

Most importantly though we've now got our plans for the extension all drawn up and sent out to builders to quote on

 

 

[Joe Aston]

We have finally accepted an offer on the flat. Thankfully via purple bricks and not the other agent, we went with. Considerably less than we initially planned for but we believe this is an accurate price for where the market is in London. Now we need to find somewhere to buy. 

[manuel]

10 hours ago, J.KYDD said:

We've been busy at it since moving in February too. All our upstairs rooms have now been redecorated and shown some love. 

TMI dude 

[JT!]

Sold my cheapy flat bar roadbike that I f**ked over converting it to a 1x for $100 less than I bought it for new, so now the hunt is on for a roadbike.

[Little Yoshi]

This is a house load of wood, just need to get round to making the kit. 

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

If that was me it would turn into an expectation vs. reality meme...

vs.

 

[Mark W]

Sounds like we may be exchanging contracts and stuff in the next week or two. I'll believe it when I see it, but it seems like we're getting somewhat closer to completion now...

[J.KYDD]

Fingers crossed for you. At least once the contracts are exchanged you're pretty much all locked in

[dann2707]

Excellent news Mark. Good luck dude. 

 

We still haven't found a house we like, despite me making this thread several months ago! Bloody pain in the arse but it doesn't help that we are really limiting where we want to live due to wanting a decent area. Got bummed out of a house a few weeks ago, put in an offer 8k over and still didn't get it. 

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

Prices seem to be going pretty crazy at the moment... Glad things are looking promising for you, Mark, and you're finally at the end of being dicked around!

[J.KYDD]

Houses down our way have been going for 20-30K over asking price recently. It's bonkers

[isitafox]

Most round here now aren't even making it on to the market, lad at work has bren looking and he says he's lucky if they get even a day online before selling over the asking price. 

Glad I'm skint with zero outlook of ever owning otherwise I'd be really pissed off! 

[Mark W]

Holy smokes. We might actually have a completion date... We have to give a months notice on our rental place that has to apparently run from the 25th of a month (which is a sloppy bag of dicks in and of itself), and completion is looking like being the 25th - it means we have to pay a full months rent here while also paying for a mortgage and stuff but it is what it is really. Moving house is a needlessly expensive process so it's just more imaginary money going onto the big imaginary bonfire. 

The plus side is it does give us plenty of time to do the small bits of decorating we want to do and choose a day/some days to do the actual moving part of it without having to do it all in a mad rush.

[Private Repress]

3 minutes ago, Mark W said:

Holy smokes. We might actually have a completion date... We have to give a months notice on our rental place that has to apparently run from the 25th of a month (which is a sloppy bag of dicks in and of itself), and completion is looking like being the 25th - it means we have to pay a full months rent here while also paying for a mortgage and stuff but it is what it is really. Moving house is a needlessly expensive process so it's just more imaginary money going onto the big imaginary bonfire. 

The plus side is it does give us plenty of time to do the small bits of decorating we want to do and choose a day/some days to do the actual moving part of it without having to do it all in a mad rush.

Congratulations Mark, wishing you both the best of luck with the move. That sucks about the full rent situation, but definitely try to use it to your advantage

[MadManMike]

29 minutes ago, Mark W said:

Holy smokes. We might actually have a completion date... We have to give a months notice on our rental place that has to apparently run from the 25th of a month (which is a sloppy bag of dicks in and of itself), and completion is looking like being the 25th - it means we have to pay a full months rent here while also paying for a mortgage and stuff but it is what it is really. Moving house is a needlessly expensive process so it's just more imaginary money going onto the big imaginary bonfire. 

The plus side is it does give us plenty of time to do the small bits of decorating we want to do and choose a day/some days to do the actual moving part of it without having to do it all in a mad rush.

Have you tried to negotiate the rent?

Our landlord reduced ours to 2 weeks, which gave us time to move but also meant we saved £500. Worth asking, as they might want to get in sooner to tidy up / take photos.

[Mark W]

Yeah, we tried. Our lettings agency are absolute f**kwits* and wouldn't budge. No option of pro rata rates or anything like that to reduce rent, even though they have to pro rata the final month because it's offset from our payment schedule. Proper piss-take. We let them know ages ago but they just kept saying that it has to be notice given on the 25th of a month to last until the 24th of the following month. 

Definitely not what we were told pre-moving in, but it seems that agent we spoke to was just making shit up.

Thanks again for the help @Private Repress!

 

*Fun fact: There's a local e-biker who keeps posting videos of him really egregiously Strava-lining his way down local trails, straight lining through/over turns and berms just to try and get some KOMs. He's adamant that he can do whatever he wants on them until all the trail builders involved message him personally to request otherwise. He also used the fact he apparently has 'all the KOMs in the area' (he doesn't, even with his cheat lines) to chat shit to one of the nicest guys around here, who also builds some of the best trails here - said trail builder was riding up a hill on his normal bike, and this dickhead came up behind him on his e-bike turbo'd up and had a rage at him for not moving over fast enough and ruining his time going up there. He was having a pop at him for not 'respecting' him and his KOMs enough by taking too long to move out the way. Turns out that guy is the son of the family who own the lettings company who we deal with, and is an estate agent for them. Suddenly it all made sense.