Are you moving house?

Thanks for that Franbern perhaps you’ll pop back with advise now and then. So far all paperwork has been done online all the ID stuff anyway so I’m ready to go on sale as soon as I give the go ahead. I’m in no hurry and take on board not to get invested in a property till it’s signed and sealed.

I wouldn't argue with anything you said *Franbern, except possibly letting Estate Agens do the viewings, unless you want them to.

I began letting the agent do the viewing, but ended up with so many queries, I have found that it is easier to do them myself. I know the house and the area so can field questions about what the village is like, I can also quickly suggest ways the house could be used to meet what he viewer is looking for.

DD1 in the property business says all prospective buyers are cash buyers, whether it’s cash in the bank, from a mortgage or hidden under the mattress (joke) - it’s whether or not they’ve a property to sell that makes the difference.

Georgesgran

DD1 in the property business says all prospective buyers are cash buyers, whether it’s cash in the bank, from a mortgage or hidden under the mattress (joke) - it’s whether or not they’ve a property to sell that makes the difference.

But if you tell the Agent that you are cash buyers, the moment your offer is accepted you need to provide proof of funds and send them bank statements to prove that the ‘cash’ is actually in your account, then they will accept your deposit and continue with the sale.
If you don’t have all of the money sitting there in your accounts, then to them you are definitely not a ‘cash buyer’.

Georgesgran

DD1 in the property business says all prospective buyers are cash buyers, whether it’s cash in the bank, from a mortgage or hidden under the mattress (joke) - it’s whether or not they’ve a property to sell that makes the difference.

Or their buyer has a a property to sell. In fact just how long the chain is.

have moved 19 times as an adult both here and abroad and the last move was from my lovely house to this ground floor flat , in the middle of covid so no help from the normal sources. So here are some ideas that I have gleaned over the years and hope that they are helpful.

Once you have decided on a particular area you would like to live in, get the local paper for that area delivered to you every week, or whenever it comes out. You will certainly get the value of having it over time. So as you look at it week by week you will then get to see patterns and information that you wont get from the estate agents. If you keep seeing a particular road mentioned in articles about fights near a pub or endless roadworks complained about etc, you can make a note in the thumbs down list. Perhaps there are some gardens open in a road that looks really good.

I get two notebooks and put the same information in each. One you put away with your documents so that in the future if you need to refer back to something you can easily find it, with appropriate dates etc. The other is your one to keep with you as you go along, so you have an instant referral to check against.

Do you know anyone who lives in that new area, or do you have friends whose family live in that area? Once you get to the stage of seeing possible roads or specific houses that appeal being able to ask a local person for any details about it is very worth while. For my previous move we saw a house that looked very possible, but I wondered why it hadnt already sold and so thought it was worth the effort of a personal check out. I got organised and wrote out a list of different traffic down one side with a time across the top and then took myself in the car with a picnic, coffee etc etc and had radio 3 to keep me company and just put ticks into the appropriate boxes as the day went on. A bit of a pain to do in a way but it was actually very worth while, as it became very clear that this road was used as a rat run and was very busy from about 7-10am and 4-7pm. I then found out - from the said paper - that there was to be some major road works not far away and this in the end decided me not to go ahead with buying the house. When I passed it in later times was glad that I hadnt moved there.

Do you have a particular hobby? if you belong to any club, gardening, bridge, wi , etc have a look in the library of your new area. They always have the up to date information about clubs etc and contact numbers. That way you can see if there is a club or group that you might look to join, but that as you get nearer moving you might contact for advice, i.e. the gardening clubs I have always found very helpful and they will know the soil and what grows well etc .

Another thing I have done quite early on in the search is to look around for a local b@b and then deliberately stay there in the winter or a very non holiday time, not christmas or easter where there will be extra things happening. You want to see just how the town works on an everyday basis, and again you can just walk about in the centre or drive around and see how easy it is to park or get to shops or hospitals etc.

This may all sound too much effort and an expense but I have always found it has been worth it, and the good thing is that if you have spent even 3 days stopping there you have already found out basic things like where the good butcher is and which cafe you like. Also , especially when I have moved long distance , or when I had everything coming from storage I chose to stay bed and breakfast for two nights , either side of the actual moving day. So that was for long distance moving , but even for short distance to stay b@b the night of the actual removal works well. That way, you do not have to do the beds first when you are really exhausted and emotionally drained by the day. If they do evening meal too, even better. That means you can work at your own pace, in your new house, knowing that at 6pm you are going to leave the mess, lock the door and go off to have a shower and a nice meal and a rest. You can go back to do a bit more if you have the energy or just leave it until the following day, when a good nights sleep and a decent breakfast puts new heart into you and you will work much better and faster then.

The important thing in your new place is as soon as possible put a comfortable chair, probably looking out at the garden, a decent light you can read by, and the radio or music or whatever, so that that is your escape corner you go to whenever you feel overwhelmed, tired, or cannot just see what you need to do next. So long as it is turned away from the mess, it will give you a breather.

Hope this doesnt make you feel worse about the move. I write it to help you feel you are still in charge and that these things, whilst not legal or specific house buying things can be a help to you. One last quite a crafty but useful thing you might do, is if you do not seem to be getting anyone looking at your house , to get a friend , who is not local, to go to your estate agent and give a description that would fit your property and ask what is available in your area. If the estate agent gives a good idea of your place fine, but if they dont put it forward or miss out the features that you feel are the important ones, you could try sending a second person in later so that you have a couple of times to compare, but you may then discover that the estate agent is not doing a good job for you and you could change plaaces. When we were moving about 60 miles away and were not getting many properties being sent to us, I went thee and looked in the windows of the estate agent, saw something very possible and then went in and asked if they could check the details and information I had left with them. They did so and when I asked why this place had not been passed on to us, he said well he would have done but first they were being given to someone who was selling through them as well. By this time we were a cash buyer and I told him that and he had missed a good sale etc. So it is worth just checking out if you are being treated properly. I hasten to say that the great majority of people we dealt with were very helpful and this was an unusual situation. I have always kept again a small notebook with each room of the house having a few pages to itself. Then every time you decorate or whatever this will have the sizes and lengths of curtains etc etc . Very handy , if like me , you have champagne tastes and beer money! Sometimes have found good curtains in a charity shop or rolls of wallpaper in sales etc. So also put things in like which floorboard you can take up to look at pipes etc. When I have liked the person buying my house, I add at the back, the names and adds of electricians, plumbers etc that I have uwed and the local butcher baker shop info. They will make their own minds up but it is usually appreciated to have that for the first few weeks. Good luck with the move and let us know how things go on

Madeleine45 my goodness you really do go to great lengths.
I already have 4 family members living in the area and have spent time there they are all really comfortable there. My daughter is an administrator for estate agents and is keeping a good eye on things. So I am aware of what’s going on.
Thanks for the advice.

That's right Oopsadaisy, you're only a cash buyer if you have the money to complete a purchase without having to sell a property and/or obtain a mortgage.

madeleine45 almost everything you mention can be done so much more easily online these days. All houses for sale in an area are on Rightmove and our experience is that nowadays people look there and then contact the estate agent wanting to view. They rarely ask the agent what else they have that might meet their criteria

The other thing is to do the important recce work before you even start looking at houses. We spent quite some time online looking up all the towns in our area of interest, checking where doctors surgeries were, hospitals, dentists, supermarkets, activities we could join.

We then spent several days driving round the area. Doing all that enabled us to focus our house search on only two towns in quite a wide area, and we are only looking at houses in those two towns.

We use google maps and street view to look at the area round every house that interests us -and a lot get rejected immediately because of the area round them - again this can be done at home

Many local papers have folded these days, but almost every community has a Facebook page, some times several, and these are excellent for on the ground info about a community and how it works. I also googled all my activities to find out if I could do them conveniently at our chosen location.

I have spread sheets with all decorating details and the year it was done. So much simpler than carrying notebooks around.

Tanith wen I read your post about your daughter and g.daughter near to you, at present, in London whom you will be leaving - it could have been me making that post back in 2019. OF course, that g.daughter whom I was so close to and helped with the earlier years as Mum was and is a single parent with a very demanding career, Would have made little difference as g.daughter went off to East Anglia to University in 2021, and is now settled there with partner and a job - so even if I had stayed in London would not see her much.

I no longer drive, but have found trains are a marvellous, nearly stress-free (mostly), way of travelling, and have long weekends at my daughters three or four times a year.

The reasons I say to let agents do first viewing, is that I started off doing all my own, reasons as others gave felt I could give any additional information required. However, found people did not keep to time, found myself trying to juggle two different groups viewing at the same time, although booked with a good hour between them. Then there were the ones that arrived 'mob handed' Young couple plus both sets of parents ( one of the Mums staying with me, whilst
to others wandered around the house, she trying to get me knock a considerable sum of the price!!! I felt under siege!!!!

Also were the viewers, loudly criticising everything about the house goodness knew why they were viewing, details were all clearly displayed by Estate Agents brochure), area wrong, rooms wrong shape/size, garden not big enough, decorations (all mine) all wrong, etc.etc very demoralising,.

Do wait until you have a firm offer starting (at snails pace) to proceed with your Solicitor before you start the process of viewings and making offers. However, it is important for you to have some knowledge of the prices of properties you hope to purchase, where you want to purchase, so that you can know if what sort of offer on yours you can accept

Note don't forget to allow money for estate agents fee, solicitors fee both selling and buying, removal expenses, plus some more towards the general cost of moving home. Also, most people who move will tell you that money just seems to be spend, spend, spend, that first couple of years. You think you have bought a property 'you can just move into'. then when you do...........you find out you need to re-do the kitchen, bathroom, carpets, etc.etc. I am now into my sixth year here and this is the first of those years that there is not something that I need to have had done

Once you have accepted an offer, and had your own one accepted, be prepared to keep nagging at the Solicitors. They were very slow back in 2019, they are far worse now, often with no=one in the office some days. The files of those people who do NOT nag, will be the ones at the bottom, taking the longest. So be prepared to keep chasing them up. Help this by making sure, before you even start that as much as possible you have information and certificates ready for them.#
All and any work you have had done on your existing home, from new kitchens, etc to new windows, swept chimneys, roof or brick work, anything to do with plumbing and/or electricity sor any building work, should have relevant paper work and certification, even that annual check-up on the boiler. Pass these all over to the Solicitors, (Having taken photocopies for yourself).

Find out how many people are in your chain, the less the better. Try, as soon as possible, to get some sort of agreements amongst you all for a final removal date. Be prepared for those really lovely would-be purchasers of your home, to let you down without good reason several months further down the line.

During that time continue with regular de-cluttering, and more de-cluttering.

If you are moving to ablock of flats can be useful if you can contact their Residents Committee, and introduce yourself. One in-comer here did that with me, and together, over the phone, we sorted out several queries which had already been with his solicitors unanswered for a couple of months - thereby speeding up the process.

Thank you for such good info. I’d forgotten about stamp duty till the other that’s a whacking big chunk to add to costs luckily my agents halved their fee so that’s a bit saved. One house I like is chain free which would be good but of course that won’t be in every instance. I’m going at snails pace.

Good luck Tanith, I’m sure you will succeed now you have made your mind up!

And stamp duty goes up in April, thanks Reeves …

Thanks midgey and Barleyfields I noticed that too so even more to add to my costs.

Smileless2012

That's right Oopsadaisy, you're only a cash buyer if you have the money to complete a purchase without having to sell a property and/or obtain a mortgage.

In our case, even though our planned purchase is dependent on us selling a house, we will be cash buyers because we will not need a mortgage to buy the house we have our eye on.

The house concerned is not in good condition and anyone wanting a mortgage on it, or a substantial mortgage may well have difficulty getting it or have substantial withholds until certain work is done. As a potential buyer not requiring a mortgage, in other words, buying with cash only, we are attractive to the seller, and it is a point in our favour.

MOnica I am in exactly the same position my house sale will fully fund the new house I don’t need a mortgage. I am not a cash buyer as I don’t have the full cost in cash in my bank. I’ve clarified this with my agent and online.

I viewed a house yesterday which was attractive in many ways. Ticked a lot of boxes. However I probably shouldn't even be looking until I have a definite buyer for mine or even the money in the bank.
The vendor seems keen to sell and is moving to a new build.

I admire your bravery M0nica in taking on another doer upper!

You are correct, Tanith. M0nica’s is the the loose definition of a cash buyer.

A cash buyer is someone who can finance their purchase without a mortgage or selling their own home .

Technically, to be a cash buyer, you must have enough money available to buy the property at the time you make the offer. For example, you may have already completed on the sale of a former home, have the proceeds in the bank and be renting in order to be able to act quickly in a fast-moving market.

Sometimes people do use the term more loosely, for example, to describe someone who does not need a mortgage. However, that buyer may still need the sale proceeds from their own home, or another property, to proceed.

While someone who doesn't need a mortgage may have an advantage over someone who does, if the purchase of a property is dependent on the sale of their own property, and that falls through then they are back to square one, just like everybody else.

We only need think of the auction market where a succesful bidder must have the cash to complete within a very short time frame.

BUYERS ARE LIARS!

Our “cash” buyers have still a sale in progress, they told our agent they were proceed able as cash buyers.

Our solicitor has discovered this is not the case, they are now stalling and we will possibly miss the stamp duty deadline plus I have started packing so we could be living for weeks surrounded by packing boxes.

I am so upset, we have bought, sold and moved 13 times, the system in the UK needs to be improved.

Possibly not wilful liars, just using the loose definition of what a cash buyer is. Perhaps before accepting an offer from a cash buyer, the latter needs to show evidence that they already have the money deposited in the bank.

The other side of the coin is the “no onward chain” description for probate sales. Maybe there isn’t but that doesn’t mean that probate has been granted - which can take a very long time - and a sale cannot be completed until it has.

Your EA really should not have taken their word Sago, he should have asked to see evidence that the cash was in the bank. That would have flushed them out immediately their offer was made.

My definiton is not a loose definition. It is a definition that is key in the particular case. We are not hiding that we have a house to sell, but the house we want will be hard to mortgage because of the condition it is in, which could cause a problem if a buyer is accepted who needs a mortgage to buy it, as they may well have difficulty getting one.

When/if we buy the house we will not need a mortgage to buy it, as we will be paying cash for it, no problems over obtaining a mortgage.

There is not just one definition of a cash buyer. There are several that are specific to particular circumstances.

I’m making appointments for viewings next week seems like a daft question but how long should I allow for a viewing I was thinking 30 minutes? Don’t want to keep people waiting the houses are all within walking distance. Thanks for answering my small worries it helps calm me ☺️

About 30 minutes is ample. Daft, really - the largest and probably the most important purchase we will ever make and we allow half an hour for it originally!!!!

In some cases, you will know as you walk in the front door. something says, this IS /IS NOT my future home. Take no notice of current decorative state, you will probably want to do it up yourself once living there.

We are told that kitchens and bathrooms sell a property. True that complete renovations of these rooms costs tens of thousands of pounds, so unless, you are going in with funds for such work, ensure you can live with what is there.
Looks at general condition inside. Yes, most people tend to tidy up and even hide a lot of things for viewings, but if a property is badly kept decoratively, then it could maybe indicate that current home owners have also been rather lacksadaisical with important upkeep.

You seem to have any area in mind, make sure you know where things like, shops, buses, trains, etc etc are. Can you and visitors park easily,

Moving when you are older should also mean looking at 'future proofing' = is there a downstairs toilet, are there steps to get to front door, or even inside property. Is there room to move such things as a wheelchair inside the houses?

Hi, I've just decided to move house this week. I own a modest 2 bed semi in a low value but reasonably popular area, so I think to move to my area of preference I'm looking at flats/appts. I have found a small ground floor 2 bed appt, with garden, near to the area I like and am itching to put in an offer as soon as mine is on the market.

My 2 grown up sons are urging caution, both feel nostalgic at my selling their childhood home, but want me to slow down and look at other properties. I know they will support me whatever I decide, but it's unsettled me.

At 62, am I too young to move I to what they call a "granny" flat? Luckily I don't have any health issues but who knows what the future holds? I like the idea of living on one level, with easy access to bathroom should I need it. Anyone else bought quickly after looking at one property? Any advice, regrets etc?