I was assuming a cut in the next few months would signal the start of rates coming down but they would probably do so slowly. So the longer term 5 year fixes might price in more cuts over the coming years but banks wouldn't be expecting rates to fall that much within 2 years so we'd maybe see 5 year fixes staying lower than 2 year fixes?
Just check with your current lender if they lock you in if you take a new deal with them. Depends on the lender if as some will say if you take a new deal with them you can change it before your current deal is up if they have a better deal. But, won’t let you move away from them.
Dream viewing this week. Gonna be hard not to mark out and offer on the spot
2 bed flat with newly fitted ensuite, brand new kitchen and this terrace for <200k
Is this in Worcester? The place where everything vaguely near the river ends up underwater? Are you sure about this?
Thankfully that's a canal not the river.
I've been ruling apartments out of my search but I'd imagine 200k means you're not hearing the sods above/below/to the side of you.
It's an extra 50 thousand pounds to avoid that issue or cut the space in half. My current place has an fire alarm that beeps every 30 seconds if the flat isn't at 27 degrees. I can survive it.
Fair dues. Looks like a nice enough deal with the kitchen and bathroom. I'd love to just walk into a place within budget with no extra work to do.
Aren't you at risk of getting absolutely bummed by service charges with flats? It's what put me off.
Yeah check the lease out Phonics before you offer and don’t listen to what the estate agents say they never have a fucking clue.
Check that the ground rent doesn’t have an escalation charge as lenders won’t generally allow that and it normally also can’t be more than 1% of the value of the property.
Then with the service charge find out how much it is and again what if any escalation charges there are as lenders aren’t as fussed by the service charge but I’ve seen some horrendous ones down the years.
I got lucky with my service charge. We own the freehold, so we pay for building insurance and to keep the lights on in the hallways, and then if anything else crops up, like when our roof needed new insulation, it gets split seven ways. The flats out there rinsing two per cent of the value every year are a joke.
I wouldn't mind my service charge if they actually did any service. As it is, I'm out there pulling out the weeds in the communal parking with my bare hands.
Had an offer accepted on a wreck so am about to blight the next few years of my life on some sort of Grand Designs style folly.
Hopefully I don't end up like this mook.
Pretty sure the main clue that that was going to be a disaster was that the architect wore a bow tie and appeared to see himself as some sort of David Hockney-esque character, so I'll try to avoid using one of those.
Glad you closed on your place. Can't wait to see what you do with it.
I heard Purple Bricks are a bit shit, but to not even COOK PASS BABTRIDGE the front is lazy.
Does the asking price reflect the fact that you will forever be associated with kiddy fiddling by moving in there? I'm not sure what sort of price reduction I'd need to accept that.
125 grand for that part of Swansea, apparently you're getting no reduction at all.
Yeah, that seems a terrible deal then. Maybe would appeal to a paedo who's been outed in another area and is hoping people will see a different person move in and know their local pederast is gone, allowing him to operate unimpeded again, but that seems like a narrow market to be pitching to.
I like the nonces wall, but looks like it could be about 2 foot longer.
I'm a twit
With the housing crisis, we really should think twice before demolishing serial killers' homes.
I'm going to go mad.
I saw a property I was happy with but was waiting to view a property from the same estate agents before making a final decision. This took them 2 weeks to arrange. Upon seeing it I decided I would rather go with the original property to which they say 'Sorry, someone made an offer on that yesterday and it's been accepted'. I asked why they didn't inform me and they said 'Sorry we forgot'.
So onto the next one. A duplex/mezzanine 2 bed flat that looked great because I could turn the mezzanine area into an office with a foldout bed and just use the 2nd bedroom as the master.
I go view it today. There is no 2nd bedroom, there is a 1x2.5m cupboard that has a large window looking directly into the lobby of the apartment complex. I go back and check the listing afterwards and they've taken a picture of the mezzanine bedroom area from 2 different angles with 2 different beds in it.
At this point I'm getting desperate, so I start compromising and look at this place:
The entire ceiling might require me to spend far too much of my time ducking but fine. I need somewhere to live and it is cheaper than where I was looking previously.
Then I check the small print: The service charge and ground rent are approximately £5000 annually.
There's not even lifts or anything, it's a two story flat. My only assumption is that this communal area is maintained by a direct descendant of an ancient samurai trained in the art of Bonzai.
The house I'm looking to buy and knock down/rebuild has a strip of 'possessory title' running right through the fucking middle of it, which was registered in 2019. I think the vendors or their heirs have owned the place since the 50s.
As far as I can tell, without having yet seen the full report there was some sort of ad hoc road there in the 50s which has obviously disappeared over time.
No one knows who owned this strip of land but apparently there are restrictive covenants attached to it, but it is IMPOSSIBLE to find out what they are.
Everything in this country is so fucked.
Had a letter from Nationwide to say my mortgage deal is ending on 30/6/24. Current rate is 2.09% and it will automatically go onto a 7.99% rate Surely there's better options?
I'm a twit
They'll put you onto the standard variable rate which is always way higher once your fixed term ends. Look for a new fixed term one with them or some other provider. Have a search online on comparison sites but it's also worth seeing a mortgage broker as they may have deals that only they can access.
A new fixed term will be lower than 7.99% but won't be anywhere near as low 2.09% these days. You're probably looking at 4-5% depending on LTV etc.
How are you not better prepared than this, with your deal ending in 2 weeks?
The best you can hope for there is a fixed rate with your current provider rather than moving as you've such little time left. That shouldn't be too bad though as they're all shite.
Fuck that, is there no 2 year options?
What's the early termination penalty?
Ok I will chuck this out there because I see this kind of thing all the time. 10 years is a long time what happens if something changes in that 10 year period and you need to move? Then you end up paying an early repayment charge. Plus I will say they are offering you 10 years at 4.9% based on the fact they will expect rates to be lower than that on average for the next 10 years.
On the other side of it doesn't sound like your mortgage is that big so the charges wouldn't be that high even if it was 5/6/7% to come out of it.
Fair enough, I appreciate your input. Gone for 5 years instead, and knocked 3 years off the time. Easy.
I'm a twit
£327. Do you live in a bath tub?
3 bed semi.
In St Helens.
I'm a twit
I'm paying £850 atm which is comfortable. Another three years left on my fixed deal. Have to presume that'll go well north of £1k when it comes to renewing.
Of course interest rates remain unchanged.
Never going to change them during an election cycle and even so unless you are on tracker there is no benefit. Also looking at the underlying data I’m still yet to be convinced we will see the amount of rate cuts that are expected, the headline figure is 2% but that’s mostly due to the fact that energy costs have fallen lots of stuff within the economy is still running quite hot and if they hadn’t had to bump the rate up as quickly as they did I don’t think they would be talking about cuts, they would be looking to keep the rate higher and strengthen the pound to help keep import costs lower(especially oil).
Bet you don't get too many 'house type - castle' on Rightmove.
Such a weird place. In the arse end of Crawley, pretty much on a major A road, sandwiched between one housing estate and a new build development. You'd have to be actually insane to have done it in the first place, and even more so to buy it.
£1.8m reduced from £3.2m!
Let's pool our Mellin earnings all together and make it TTH's headquarters.
The outside looks more like a novelty biscuit tin than a castle.