Here are some of the common things which need to re-consideration beforehand you buying your first home.
1. Getting a yes
You’ve spent ages shopping around and going to endless viewings of pokey places to finally find somewhere half decent and within your budget.
So you make an offer.
But then you wait. And wait.
Now here’s the thing – you might have offered the sale price or even a little above it, but your offer might still be rejected for something as trivial as, oh I don’t know, the shoes you were wearing when you did the viewing.
These things happen.
2. It takes an unreasonably long time
When you’ve found your perfect place and your offer has been accepted, your troubles have only just begun.
Sales of homes generally take a minimum of eight weeks to complete, even when you’re paying cash.
During this period, your lawyers have to complete various searches on your behalf and get the paperwork together.
The process is almost invariably delayed by responses like ‘it takes five or 10 working days’.
And like all bureaucratic processes, each stage is hampered by more paperwork.
By the end of it, you’ll probably have written and read the equivalent of a novel.
And you’re secretly hoping you never wandered into this house buying world.
3. The money side of things
You will probably need a mortgage.
Inevitably, that means more paperwork and endless waiting.
Your first five applications might be rejected, too.
4. You’ll have mentally moved in
If you have always wanted to own your own home, you’ll have mentally moved in long before the sale is complete.
You know what furniture is going to go where and have even worked out the best routes to work and located your nearest dentist.
Basically, you just need to move your stuff in, which unfortunately means that everything that gets in your way suddenly becomes 10 times more frustrating than normal.
5. Getting a completion date
Unless you’re buying a new build, you’ll have to wait for the seller to be ready in order to set a date to complete the sale.
They, in turn, have to wait for the seller of the property they’re going to buy if they’re staying in the housing market.
This could turn into a long chain of buyers and sellers – a nightmare to negotiate if everyone is completing on the same day.
So if one party is delayed, it could potentially mean everyone in the chain is delayed.
6. Paying for your home
Unless you’re making high-value transactions all the time, you probably won’t know that there is a limit on the amount of money your bank will allow you to transfer out in a day.
Even if you have the cash in your current account, you still can’t just transfer it to someone else.
The upper limit varies from bank to bank but it could be as low as just £5,000.
This means that you’d have to transfer the funds over a number of days or go to your bank to arrange a Chaps payment. At an additional cost to you, naturally.
7. Furniture and all that other fun stuff
You’ve finally moved in, great stuff.
But guess what, there’s no time to relax because now you have to buy furniture and probably a whole load of other stuff you never knew you needed.
Yes, that means taking days off work to wait for deliveries that don’t show up and unpacking all the things you spent ages wrapping to perfection.
And then the real fun begins.
You remember when you used to call your landlord to sort out all the issues with the plumbing, the leaky roof or your broken window?
Yeah, that’s all yours now.
Enjoy your new responsibilities.
0 comments: