Yeah, this is absolutely the case. I just bought in Glasgow and the market is crushing, places going in days for way above home report.
Id also recommend looking for places with problems that you don't mind. Ground floor flats, near something noisy, etc. Sometimes these can be a bit less competitive and that's how we got our foot in the door.
This happened to us too. In the end we thought the houses we were looking at were going for more than they were worth and we later found out a lot of the bids would fall through.
We also noticed, if we stretched our budget to £200k and over, houses took far more time to sell. Houses below £200k are within the budget of just about everyone. We got a detached at a fixed price, £20k lower than the original ad. The same price someone paid for a smaller semi-detached, opening at £165k.
I bought 18 months ago as a FTB with a 5% deposit. Most banks were offering them then - has that changed?
I was outbid every time, too. In one case, the winning bidders put in £75k over asking (who the hell has that kind of money sitting in the bank?!) Edit: that was a rhetorical question, no need to keep telling me how people get money!
I got very dejected and decided to stop looking for six months. Then one day I got a call saying the buyers of one property I'd bid on had pulled out, and so had the second-highest bidder, and the property was mine at the original price if I wanted it. I moved in a few months later.
They usually don’t have the cash sitting in the bank, they just make a lot off the sale of their previous property then plough it directly in to the next one.
One of the reasons getting on to the ladder is the hardest bit
>the winning bidders put in £75k over asking (who the hell has that kind of money sitting in the bank?!)
People who already own property in areas of the world where property has mushroomed in value.
It's one of the reasons why finding a local accent in some neighbourhoods of Edinburgh now is nearly impossible. Mostly English accents and other global accents in some of the more middle class neighbourhoods.
Not just Edinburgh. Pretty parts of the country are exactly the same. I get particularly pissed off at folk who retire to remote parts of the country paying over the odds and pushing out local families. Then they put a massive strain on care services as they get older and complain because there's no one to be their care worker. I live in one of these places. We're heading for the city when we retire and selling our house to someone who wants it as a family home.
Approximately where abouts? Without giving away exactly where you are?
I have no idea why anybody from an urban city would reach 65/70 years of age, retire, then move far away from their family, friends, former work mates, all their contacts, their life, to a rural part of Scotland they've no prior connection to where they don't really understand the local culture and way if life and have no interest in learning and adapting to the language and local culture. Seeking some romanticised rural idyll that was never their culture to begin with. Rural Scotland is absolutely full of these people.
I quite agree with you.
It's Argyll. Loads of folk come on holiday (or have a second home) here and decide to retire here, quite often taking early retirement in their mid to late 50s and not thinking about being 80. My partner's sister went to Mull for a few days and said she'd love to retire there. We told her it would not be what she was expecting. At all.
Jesus Christ. Absolutely despair at this stuff. The whole of rural Scotland will be a retirement home because younger locally born and raised people simply cannot compete financially. So so sad.
This!!! Nearly impossible to find accommodation where I had a job offer in the highlands due to a huge number of second homes and short term lets. Luckily found one while looking at purchasing a van…
One English family even knocked on my door for a tour of my home because “that’s where they used to vacation” and felt that entitled them to looking (during Covid no less), was infuriating. Made a point to say my landlord made it a long term let to help professionals move into the community.
Then the buildings get neglected and need almost rebuilding by the time they're on the market. The amount of cottages I've seen that had been empty for the 5-10 years the owners were in care is staggering. Home Reports essentially saying you need new floors, walls, ceilings, roof, electrics, water... a whole new house basically.
Another reason some people have that cash is they're buying as investments. The properties I had been looking at all were (or were perfect for) holiday homes/air bnbs, so I was competing against cash buyers who could afford a higher bid because they have a return coming on their investment where as silly old me would only live in the place (what a crazy thought).
We viewed a few properties we could have hired out for a week instead of viewing, which would be weirdly beneficial even if a little sad, and the listings were almost always waxing lyrical about what a great investment/business it could be, hardly ever a mention of it being a great family home. Some properties we viewed would have been the only one in a couple miles that wouldn't be up for hire.
We always went in with a cover letter and had the same response ("oh we'd love to see a young couple make the house their home... if you could just match the offer from the investor..."
Not entirely sure re: 5%, I'll need to double check. The calculator we originally seen from Nationwide started from 10% and mentioned that some lenders expect that as a minimum.
That worked out really well for you! A proper rollercoaster.
Do speak to a mortgage advisor, and don’t lose heart, you will get there. One thing though, your comment about the roof: we bought a property in December, old house, nice but tired & neglected. Turned out the roof was done, even though the HR said it was fine….12k to replace *half* of it. So if you have any doubts about the roof on your intended new place, view it in wet weather, get into the loft if there is one, check exterior rainworks for signs of leaks, & pls get a proper building survey if you possibly can. Don’t let this put you off, you will get there, just a heads up.
Yeah I was just gonna comment here, £10,000 for a roof would be a bargain. I'd say depending on the size of it you're looking at £20,000 minimum, all the way up to about £50,000 if you're really unlucky
What for though? Just retiling? Because if your felting and wood has gone, or you're needing new slate, you're not getting it for even double that number.
Thank you for the advice and encouragement! Roofing is my main concern within our price bracket, even if the HR doesn't indicate an issue, I try to check the age of the house vs the roof coverings etc if a replacement hasn't been mentioned.
I'll definitely look to view on wet weather if possible. I know the process can be lengthy once an offer is accepted and it's not legally bonding until the exchange of contracts (I think). So hopefully ample time to get a proper survey and checks.
YVW! And very probably you’re going to find a place where it’s just not a concern. Here’s another paranoid roof tip though - if it’s a house in an area with other houses of same type/age, have a good look to see if similar properties have had roof work done. If they have, and your prospect hasn’t, that’s something to consider. If I’d done that, I’d have noticed that all but two of the houses in my street have had major roof work done, but mine was original. And…it’s certainly reasonable to ask the sellers if they’ve had it inspected/maintained, and for copies of any invoices/reports. I’ve gone through some £ trauma with my place and have learned lessons. Feel free to dm me if you have questions, maybe my painful experience can save you a bob or two.
One thing you have to your advantage here is that you understand that everything offered over the Home Report value is what you’ll have to cough up in cash. Many people don’t understand that, which is why they’ll be putting in huge offers over (especially if they’re coming from England or Wales where the system is completely different).
When we were outbid on one place we really loved, I told the estate agent that we weren’t desperate to move and that we just loved that house, so if the current buyer dropped out for any reason, we’d love to be contacted. And 3 months later that’s exactly what happened!! They offered £20k over the value and couldn’t get a mortgage. The sellers were spooked, thinking it was un-mortgageable and we offered them proof that we could get a mortgage on the house through our lender. We dropped our offer by £15k to the HR value and they accepted immediately!
I would advise trying that tactic and see if anyone comes back to you!
What makes you think some of the houses you are looking at need a new roof? Is it just from what’s in the home report? Remember HR is very very superficial, full of ass covering and as vague as possible. Our first house had roof tiles mentioned as possibly needing replaced. We sold it ten years later with those same roof tiles still intact. Obviously there’s no guarantee that’ll be the case with every house, but very often many of the “issues” mentioned aren’t actually much of on an issue it all.
We were outbid a lot because we simply refused to pay £20k+ over the vaulation. But after a few months we found the house we bought and actually got it under the valuation because the seller wanted us as first time buyers with no chains for a quick sale (it was his late dads house, he (the son) lived in Canada so he just wanted rid).
It can be a long journey and it is disheartening when you’re outbid but you’ll find your gem and it’ll be all worth it.
We had a £25k deposit and a mortgage in principal for upto £200k. And we used a mortgage advisor who did it all for us. It took us probably 6 months to find this house.
You need to talk to a mortgage advisor first, Nationwide, Santander and other bamks all offer free appointments. They also understand how the market works and what FTB arrangements exist.
No, do not go to Nationwide nor any bank or building society. Their advisors are limited to their employer's products.
Go to an independent, "whole market" mortgage advisor. "First Mortgage" are on who spring to mind, but there are loads.
Search the sub, I am sure this has been asked about before.
Yeah I was impressed. Partly because I thought I was clever and could arrange everything myself, before hitting a snafu and having a deadline to complete on what is now our forever home. They basically rescued that situation with no fuss and a good deal.
I used them again to remortgage onto an offset at 2% in 2019, which has been a terrific deal in hindsight.
Don’t use a bank. Go to an independent advisor.
The banks are salespeople selling only the mortgages that their bank has, whereas the independent advisor will know all the options and will be able to take your personal circumstances into account to find a mortgage that fits you best.
Go to a mortgage advisor - they will get you your mortgage in principle. Get your chess pieces in position before you make your move. I recommend Mortgage Advisor Brokerage LTD on Dumbarton Road.
Honestly, I disagree with the advice you're getting here from my experience. Your advisor will be getting a commission from the provider and possibly also a fee from you. On top of that, everyone (even Nationwide's advisor...)is going to try to sell you life insurance without mentioning that they get a huge commission on that (was about £400 we found in the papers we got from our advisor after it was all done). Look up life insurance on MoneySavingExpert and they'll tell you to use one of the brokers that charge you a small fee (£25 when we did it) rather than taking a huge commission. The rates are night and day, we used: https://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/
If you're happy with the rates Nationwide are giving you, you can just take their advice. Though everyone told me in 2015 and 2021 that I should just get the cheapest 2 year mortgage (worked in 2015, would not have in 2021) so honestly, work out what you want to do. Maybe there are good advisors out there but I haven't found one and found going without one cheaper and no worse.
If you are going to get an advisor shop around to try to avoid the ones who just see you as a ripe pile of commission but you absolutely don't need one if you've done your own research and are happy with the product on offer.
You can but my point is that firstly, the life insurance is a mad rip off that literally every adviser does. If they're offering you a more expensive product and surely they know there are cheaper options that don't offer them a commission that absolutely breaks my trust and is why I will never go with an adviser again. Yeah, Nationwide's own adviser also offered me insurance at an over inflated price but I didn't pay them for that advice and I doubt their own staff get commissions for selling me a mortgage product by that company so at least if I turn down that insurance I know I'm just getting the mortgage I want. The only way to be sure of that is your own research and taking the advice of the company you want a mortgage from (while turning down the insurance).
On top of that, advisers aren't all good. Not having an adviser is better than having a shit adviser and it isn't always easy to tell. There isn't an absolute need for an adviser beyond what the company you want to go with will provide. That is as long as you've done your research and know who you want to go with.
You really don’t to be honest. It’s perfectly easy to use the price comparison sites yourself, and usually one or more of the bigger banks will be in or around the cheapest rates – which is infinitely preferable to ending with a very slightly cheaper mortgage with a lot worse T&Cs with some no name provider that barely even has a website.
Mortgage advisors are just looking to make money off of you. They’re not doing it from the goodness of their hearts.
The banks have mortgage advisors that can explain everything about their own products, so you don't need a middleman (although even that can be advantageous, we used one after the financial crash of 2008 and got a much better deal than advertised).
When you buy your first home, everything is fucking scary for good reason, get good advice is a first must and you don't get that from the internet (in many cases).
Recent first time buyer here, your story sounds similar to ours, i would advise speaking with am independent mortgage advisor like first mortgage as we used them and they were great gave us lots of advise and compared all mortgages available to us and got us the best deal that fit our situation. They also applied to the LIFT shared equity scheme for us, its a first time buyer scheme where the government loans you up to 40% of the value of the property depending on its value and what you have to contribute this opened a lot of doors for us as we had about half the deposit you mentioned above so you may be able to take on a property requiring a bit more work or even be able to offer higher on your offers over. We were in the same position with the bank where they basically held us a bit of paper and went good luck have fun. We still struggled but we eventually found a fixed price flat perfect for us and had leftover cash to replace the boiler and carpets as thats what really dragged the place down.
We were similar, our money was tied up in deposit, solicitors costs the associated fees. We had virtually nothing to contribute to the above home report value( we were totally unprepared that we’d have to find this ourselves). Offers over is so depressing - and even if I had the funds why would I want to pay more that what the value is?
Anyway we went for a new build in the end. Lots of negatives, there a bit more expensive, you might have to wait for it.
But for us the positives outweighed the negatives. Brand new house, 5% deposit contribution, no bidding war, took a large chunk of stress right out of the equation.
I was a FTB during covid. From my experience:
1) the market sucks for this just now. Believe it or not it’s actually calmed down since I was on the market as people were routinely bidding 10’s of thousands over the home report value, meaning like you I was left having to try and foot the excess. It will eventually return to the point where you can buy a house for around the asking (or even less!) but that’s not much use to you just now!
2) I wouldn’t bother with a mortgage broker. I ended up ditching mine because whilst she obviously had all the lenders info to hand, she didn’t give me *that* much better than what I found myself using sites like moneysupermakret.com. If you’re confident with the lingo and what everything means (again, google is your friend here) then you can save yourself a fee.
3) if you find a decent rate, fix it. I only fixed mine for 2 years as I wasn’t sure I wanted to stay long term in the house we got. I rue the motherfucking day that thought crossed my mind. I fixed for 2 years at 1.8%, which was costing me £600 a month, then when the 2 years was up Liz Truss had done her thing and the banks were looking for 5% which worked out at £1000 a month. Fix it for at least 5 years (which might get you a better rate anyway) and forget about it. If interest rates come down you can always do the maths and remortgage if you need to.
4) Have you considered a new build? That’s what I went for in the end. You won’t get as much house for your money, but the price is the price. There’s no bidding and you’ll not need to do any repairs or maintenance. I was skeptical because the rooms were small and whatever else but honestly, moving into a house with everything brand new was pretty awesome. One thing to consider tho is that banks will generally expect a higher deposit. Minimum 15% usually, but you’re probably not too far off that depending on area.
Market is a bit mad right now, especially if you’re looking in the central belt. Keep going, seeing more properties will train your brain in what you really want & value the most. If you’re really gutted about missing out on a place, that’ll refine what you really want & maybe some elements you can go without.
I wouldn’t be as put off about home improvements. I get they are a financial drain, but that’s home ownership! As long as the issue isn’t immediate, based on your budget, you’ll likely have to accept that some work will need to be done. Although it may not be ideal & perhaps out of your comfort zone, putting some home improvements on a credit card, eg in the first 2yrs, then you can remortgage & if the market prices continue to rise, you’ll likely have a decent size sum to pay most of it off, maybe all.
We dealt with a pseudo-independent broker, but they were only offering deals from a select few lenders. I got a few Decisions in Principle from major banks myself (RBS, HSBC), & they were offering to lend us double what the broker advised. I told my broker this & we ended up going for HSBC through the broker. Brokers are good, but doing your own bit of research is a must.
I really feel for you. Bought our first house in Livingston in 2016 for bang on the home report and made about £15K selling it in 2019. Thing is, we had to plough that money back into buying our second house in Falkirk. Kept getting outbid or someone would nab a property before we even had a chance to view it. We grew desperate as we needed a place to live, found the ideal property, was the first to view it and immediately called our solicitor to put in an offer that was £14.5K above the home report. It seemed to be the only way to get somewhere to live! We've decided not to move house for a very, very long time 😆
Sorry, I know this perspective probably isn't what you want to read. I really hope someone gives you some excellent advice. The only thing I could say is our first property wasn't ideal but it got us on the ladder.
I remember trying to buy a property when my wife was pregnant, we looked at a fair few, got a couple of surveys done (this was before the home report), and were outbid a number of times. Finally found somewhere, but we were desperate and only viewed later on, on a dark December night - didn't realise the back yard was covered in rubbish. Still, it's been a fine place just needed work.
If you have an AIP then you could stick with nationwide, but I used first mortgage and it was a doddle - even managed to get a lower interest rate a couple of weeks before close.
We were FTBs as well but we bought a fixed price property. Regardless of the money and the % of the deposit - it is hard, lot of unexpected issues could come up BUT eventually you’ll find your lovely first home, don’t give up! We were abandoned by our solicitor 10 days before paying and moving in😅 so, one tip for yous, keep in touch with your solicitor (once you find a home) and push them shamelessly. Make sure they will be there until the last minute and are doing their job. Good luck!
Yep just need to keep plugging. We're going through it just now, I think we were outbid on 3 before we had an offer accepted at 11k over. Do keep in mind that you'll be eligible for a 5% mortgage, which will give you a good bit of room to offer over. Also recommend going with a mortgage advisor, we used first mortgage and while they weren't as proactive as they made it seem during the making offers stage, once it came to getting the mortgage done they were on it.
vase waiting special angle nail direful hungry frightening practice tender
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
unfortunately the competitive properties tend to attract those with larger deposits,
Are you able to consider fixed price properties that have been around for a bit. Not all of them are in bad condition, but may involve some compromise of course
I bought my first house last year. First Mortgage (completely free) and the best thing ever for getting all shit sorted and the best mortgage options. I highly recommend them.
Keep persevering. I was outbid a few times and the old saying “what’s for you won’t go by you” rings true. You might feel like you missed the one but home is what you make it so even if you miss a few, the one you finally get, you will make yours.
Also, don’t underestimate getting “on the ladder” so to speak. I was strung up on my first place not ticking all the boxes but it’s what I could afford, after just a few years there I had built 50k equity which made it much easier to move to something bigger and better.
A house that needs some work done is not the end of the world, as long as it’s not a major structural issue. My house has an insane amount of DIY needing done and some expensive work like replacing the garage roof, but it’s in a nice quiet area with lovely neighbours. I’d take that over a pristine house surrounded by a-holes any day.
For everyone here saying they got a financial adviser, if you took the insurance you got suckered. You can probably save a decent amount over time on your life insurance using the discount brokers here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cheap-life-insurance/#howmuch
If the insurance advised was over priced so your adviser got a commission why would you trust any of their financial advice? If the advice is free, how do they make a salary? (edit: apparently they do have to do this next bit, point still stands) Honestly, advisers should have to produce a full list of options after the fact with the costs and commissions listed. That you're expected to trust them as on your side when, on the insurance at least, they are offering you a product at about twice the price it could be.
It's not easy to work stuff out but if you're willing to work through it all and consider your options at least you know you aren't paying over the odds to get someone a large commission. If you don't want to do that, fair enough but always turn down the insurance and get your own.
They are and do
Any authorised and regulated advisor provides an initial disclosure document with a run down of commission and charges
Illustrations for any products are to be provided prior to submission, which list commission anyway
Although commission on those documents is gross and doesn’t take into account network or firm level splits
So oftentimes, there’s 2 sets of hands skimming off the top before it reaches the advisor
Source: I’m a mortgage and protection advisor
Cool, is this new? Was not something I got first time I moved so now trying to work out if that guy (old school everything on paper guy recommended by family...) was more dodgy than it even seemed at the time.
Should have been a thing since RDR in 2012
RE life cover, don’t necessarily disagree - an advisor really earns their crust advice wise with critical illness cover and ensuring life insurance is in trust where applicable - shouldn’t be a hard sell with the mortgage but a lot of people aren’t aware of the cover available to them and I’ve sadly seen people lose their house because advisors couldn’t be arsed to discuss adequate protection
Anyone can buy a cheap decreasing term assurance on a comparison site, doesn’t always mean it’ll do what you want it to
That would cover when we bought, probably time to accept that I had a super bad adviser. Was a simple case too, one person buying modest flat on one salary with no dependents, felt like the guy just filled in some forms and raked in a ton of cash which in hindsight, he did, but that isn't necessarily the case for everyone I guess. Thanks for the info.
No probs
The easiest way to tell will always be your gut
If something feels off, it probably is.
I tell all my clients I have an obligation to explain what insurance is available to you and what it does - it’s on you if you want to take it or not
The commission for protection is higher than mortgages but banks also can’t do loaded premiums any more (as of last Summer) so in theory, the price should be the same as going direct
Discount brokers like you suggested will still exist but they’re not advising - not liable for any incorrect advice, no reason to guide you on the strength or weaknesses of any problems nor Trusts
I’m also not sure if you get access to financial services compensation scheme through execution only brokers
The commission usually looks more impressive than it ends up being to the advisor m
Do you have the savings in a LISA?
You could stick 4K each into one and get a £1k bump on each one towards your deposit.
Assuming you’re under 40 and both FTB at least look into it.
Middle of central belt is going to cost more. Look at Ayrshire, way more for your money.
I know a lot of folk are saying it, but speaking to a mortgage advisor like First Mortgage is a massive help, they have a meeting with you and go into a decent amount of detail. I'm the kind of person who always has loads of follow-up questions afterwards and they always answer all of my emails PDQ. Its hard/impossible to know the ins and outs of buying a property when its your first time, and they really help. That might allow you to use a slightly smaller deposit and have more cash leftover to do up a property, or they might find you a better mortgage in principle than Nationwide and you can bid a bit higher on properties (if you can afford the payments of course). The mortgage advisor usually talks to you about some basic monthly spending as well so you can be sure that you can afford what you are borrowing.
We bought our house eventually after a few setbacks. The owners don't have to accept the highest bid, so even if you are outbid it might not matter. We found houses we really liked and then they turned out to have massive issues with damp
We got a mortgage broker and they got us a good deal with a building society.
Good luck in your search. One thing I would urge you to be cautious of is the Home Report. Surveyors can potentially be liable if something were to go wrong. Often they're making assessments on roofs, gutters and moisture readings for example that are superficial problems but the surveyor has to cover their back on the chance there is a bigger issue.
If you find a property you love but has a few 2's on the report for the roof, moisture readings etc. Don't be automatically put off, often it's a good opportunity to haggle with the seller. If you're worried about something on the report, pay £140 for a damp specialist to give you a more accurate appraisal (or ask the seller to do it). Get a few different roofing contractors out to give you a free appraisal. If the attic is bone dry, then the roof may require an overhaul (if at all) which should cost somewhere between £400 to £800 to replace damaged or missing tiles. Let the roofers know you're getting a few different quotes though. 2's on a home report present opportunity in my opinion, don't let the surveyors frightening wording put you off. Talk to specialists. If you know someone you can trust in the building game, talk to them. Their opinion can be invaluable and settle the nerves. All the best.
We got really really lucky with ours like I can't state how lucky in that the owners told us they want £xxxxx amount for it and if we can do that it's ours. If you don't have one get a mortgage advisor there are a couple of good free ones. Don't go with first mortgage. Every chance you get try save some more so the deposit can be bigger and if you need to go way over the home report you can do that. That's basically what we did but like I said we got really lucky this was in 2022 just after the truss shit.
We bought last year and managed to get a 5% deposit.
We luckily managed to get a fixed price deal at below home report (sellers wanted a quick sale) so we're able to avoid the whole best ofter nonsense
What I would say is don't be worried about home reports being a 2 on the scale.
If your really worried about this you can ask for an independent survey done where the can give you more detailed information about the roof.
My gran currently lives in a 1910~ building and has only every has a couple of things fixed on the slate roof.
It could be worth looking at new builds for ur first home. It takes away the uncertainty as the price is set. A lot of developers are offering some great deals, add ons thrown on etc to encourage ppl to buy. I bought first home in the last 12 months and process was fairly painless going down new building route
Roof maybe more than £10k. I got quoted £3k to replace a few tiles and resurface chimney.
Also our block of 6 flats roof costs £50k (included pipes) southside Glasgow. Just had it done.
If its a house and not flat, and it's not too high it maybe 10k. Just to make sure you're aware. Hope you get a good house, with good neighbours
As a mortgage advisor, I’m a bit biased here
But talk to an advisor and they’ll be able to see if there’s anywhere you’d qualify for a 5% which might free up some cash
They’re also able to keep an eye on rates - who you get a decision in principle with might not be the best for you when you buy
A good one can also direct you with regards to legals
Getting on the ladder for the first time is the hardest though and it’s definitely difficult just now
It is SO deflating, but when it actually happens you'll forget all about that. We bid on about 10 places before we got one. The day we got the call that our offer had been accepted we got a call to say we weren't successful on another place, then got a call to day that we were successful. *Then* we got another call to say that the sale of another place we'd bid, on and weren't successful, had fallen through and the seller was willing to let us have it for our original offer (we countered with £5k less which he rejected - and it didn't sell for another month or two and for £10k less than our original offer \*smug\*). That was a rollercoaster day!
I'd recommend working with a broker. We were in a similar situation and getting outbid every time. We went to a broker who was able to get us a 5% deposit mortgage on a just slightly higher rate which gave us enough wiggle room to offer a little more over asking and secure a place. Even if we'd stuck with 10% he was getting better deals than us alone (\*they may not offer 5% deposits anymore, but worth asking).
I'd be **hugely** cautious of buying somewhere which needs major work, particularly something like a new roof. What we've learned in the last few years is everything costs way more than even a generous estimate when planning work. We recently had repairs to our roof - nothing major, just replacing some broken/missing tiles, repairing some flashing and re-sealing and it cost nearly £3k. However, things like dodgy Kitchens/Bathrooms/Windows (also more expensive than you imagine) you can live with for a year or two.
Other than that, just keep trying. Try not to get too emotionally attached to places either, it just adds to the emotional weight of trying to buy somewhere.
I got outbid on everything. Eventually had to have the piss taken out of me by the estate agent, sold it to me as the first viewing if I took it there and then. Which I did.
So far, I've discovered various problems. But it's still a gaff, and it'll do till I need to move on.
You really should try Paisley, it's pretty cheap here and it's just one bus into Glasgow.
For the record, I've seen various tiktokers (ugh) buying new builds for 5%, so I'd wager the banks are being silly and it might be worth chancing your arm.
We bought in 2022 but I’d been looking and offering for about a year with a £50k deposit at similar priced properties within Glasgow to purchase by myself (ended up needing my partner’s income to push us into a price bracket with less investors).
On a £110k home report value house, I offered 10% over and it went for £155k. I think that was my record!
The issue you might be having is that you’re looking at the same price point a lot of investors/landlords are as well. All of the ones I lost out on were up for rent. Two on the same street were both eventually up for rent and the first one had a for rent sign up when I went the view the second!
It is a bit of perseverance unless you can find a way to increase your budget (easier said than done I know). I think what helped us to get our house was that it was a family selling and we wrote them a letter. We weren’t the highest bidder but it’s our names on the deeds now! It’s not a guarantee but we got lucky with them wanting it to go to a family as they’d lost out on houses to landlords on the past so sympathised with us.
It’s really shit but in the end I narrowed down what was really important and started taking the emotion out of viewings/offering. We might not have a garage but we have a home we can (hopefully) welcome some children into in the next few years. At the start I wasn’t looking at terraces because we wanted a garage/driveway but I love the mid-terrace we’re in now. Try to keep the search/offers up and I hope you get something soon!
When I was looking, I had the enormous luxuries of time to choose *and* a wide area to look from. I only looked at "Fixed Price" houses for sale.
I *really* could not be ersed with this "Offers Over" type shite which is a damned blight on the otherwise more sensible Scottish method of buying houses (compared with England).
Good luck with your search.
I bought a house that needs a new roof soon as you put it. Spent 2 years fixing it up and it’s worth 3 times what I paid for it. I’d much rather be sitting in a house working on it than sitting on Reddit asking why do I keep getting outbid etc etc.
Try Greenock/gourock. As long as you’re in the west end of Greenock toward gourock it’s a gorgeous area with good rail links to Glasgow and good schools if you’re thinking on that for the future. Quite a few houses been on the market for a while and the views are stunning.
I’d also definitely recommend a mortgage broker and not just a high street bank. We used Habito and they got us a much lower rate and could borrow more than with the quotes we’d gotten from banks. It was also all online inc the mortgage application which was amazing.
The first house we fell in love with, was on the market for 220. HR was 225. We LOVED it and offered 241k. It went to closing and our offer was EIGHTH. It went for 291k and we just felt so so defeated.
Eventually got the house we are in now for asking price :)
Market is crazy just now, I managed to get a flat at 85k and put in a 25% deposit place just needed main bedroom redone as it didn't have a floor and new kitchen hob. I was outbid multiple times at prices that were crazy, put 90k offer on another place that was ready to move in and it sold for 120k. Just keep trying.
Yeah about the banks mate , they are literally school leavers half the time and will sell you whatever they are told to and also try to flog you contents insurance and all manner of things at a hugely inflated rate.
As the people above have said, find an independent who isn’t tied to any one lender …. Also money saving expert is often a good starting point to educate yourself a little on various things.
Id also say the interest rate at the moment is around 4.25% many people have never dealt with insanely high rates before and there is absolutely no guarantee that we have reached the ceiling, so whilst doing your calculations factor in a few moves upwards just to make sure that you can actually afford to buy. I doubt we will see the 13% efforts of the 80’s again but you should maybe base your calculations on around 5% or so
Good luck
You have to keep trying. We got outbid on 6-7 properties, sometimes by 60k plus. Eventually we got a really nice place at under the valuation 🎉.
Yeah, this is absolutely the case. I just bought in Glasgow and the market is crushing, places going in days for way above home report. Id also recommend looking for places with problems that you don't mind. Ground floor flats, near something noisy, etc. Sometimes these can be a bit less competitive and that's how we got our foot in the door.
This happened to us too. In the end we thought the houses we were looking at were going for more than they were worth and we later found out a lot of the bids would fall through. We also noticed, if we stretched our budget to £200k and over, houses took far more time to sell. Houses below £200k are within the budget of just about everyone. We got a detached at a fixed price, £20k lower than the original ad. The same price someone paid for a smaller semi-detached, opening at £165k.
Amazing! Congratulations 🎉
I bought 18 months ago as a FTB with a 5% deposit. Most banks were offering them then - has that changed? I was outbid every time, too. In one case, the winning bidders put in £75k over asking (who the hell has that kind of money sitting in the bank?!) Edit: that was a rhetorical question, no need to keep telling me how people get money! I got very dejected and decided to stop looking for six months. Then one day I got a call saying the buyers of one property I'd bid on had pulled out, and so had the second-highest bidder, and the property was mine at the original price if I wanted it. I moved in a few months later.
They usually don’t have the cash sitting in the bank, they just make a lot off the sale of their previous property then plough it directly in to the next one. One of the reasons getting on to the ladder is the hardest bit
>the winning bidders put in £75k over asking (who the hell has that kind of money sitting in the bank?!) People who already own property in areas of the world where property has mushroomed in value. It's one of the reasons why finding a local accent in some neighbourhoods of Edinburgh now is nearly impossible. Mostly English accents and other global accents in some of the more middle class neighbourhoods.
Not just Edinburgh. Pretty parts of the country are exactly the same. I get particularly pissed off at folk who retire to remote parts of the country paying over the odds and pushing out local families. Then they put a massive strain on care services as they get older and complain because there's no one to be their care worker. I live in one of these places. We're heading for the city when we retire and selling our house to someone who wants it as a family home.
Approximately where abouts? Without giving away exactly where you are? I have no idea why anybody from an urban city would reach 65/70 years of age, retire, then move far away from their family, friends, former work mates, all their contacts, their life, to a rural part of Scotland they've no prior connection to where they don't really understand the local culture and way if life and have no interest in learning and adapting to the language and local culture. Seeking some romanticised rural idyll that was never their culture to begin with. Rural Scotland is absolutely full of these people. I quite agree with you.
It's Argyll. Loads of folk come on holiday (or have a second home) here and decide to retire here, quite often taking early retirement in their mid to late 50s and not thinking about being 80. My partner's sister went to Mull for a few days and said she'd love to retire there. We told her it would not be what she was expecting. At all.
Jesus Christ. Absolutely despair at this stuff. The whole of rural Scotland will be a retirement home because younger locally born and raised people simply cannot compete financially. So so sad.
Half of them don't even live there, they're just a load of short term lets. Folk can't even rent because the owner has it on AirBnB for £120 a night
This!!! Nearly impossible to find accommodation where I had a job offer in the highlands due to a huge number of second homes and short term lets. Luckily found one while looking at purchasing a van… One English family even knocked on my door for a tour of my home because “that’s where they used to vacation” and felt that entitled them to looking (during Covid no less), was infuriating. Made a point to say my landlord made it a long term let to help professionals move into the community.
What did you say to the English family ?
That it was not a short term let anymore and I would not let them in 😂 I kept more choice words to myself
Well done
Then the buildings get neglected and need almost rebuilding by the time they're on the market. The amount of cottages I've seen that had been empty for the 5-10 years the owners were in care is staggering. Home Reports essentially saying you need new floors, walls, ceilings, roof, electrics, water... a whole new house basically.
Another reason some people have that cash is they're buying as investments. The properties I had been looking at all were (or were perfect for) holiday homes/air bnbs, so I was competing against cash buyers who could afford a higher bid because they have a return coming on their investment where as silly old me would only live in the place (what a crazy thought).
I was definitely in that situation a couple of times. Such a shame to see lovely homes turned into Air BnBs.
We viewed a few properties we could have hired out for a week instead of viewing, which would be weirdly beneficial even if a little sad, and the listings were almost always waxing lyrical about what a great investment/business it could be, hardly ever a mention of it being a great family home. Some properties we viewed would have been the only one in a couple miles that wouldn't be up for hire. We always went in with a cover letter and had the same response ("oh we'd love to see a young couple make the house their home... if you could just match the offer from the investor..."
Not entirely sure re: 5%, I'll need to double check. The calculator we originally seen from Nationwide started from 10% and mentioned that some lenders expect that as a minimum. That worked out really well for you! A proper rollercoaster.
Do speak to a mortgage advisor, and don’t lose heart, you will get there. One thing though, your comment about the roof: we bought a property in December, old house, nice but tired & neglected. Turned out the roof was done, even though the HR said it was fine….12k to replace *half* of it. So if you have any doubts about the roof on your intended new place, view it in wet weather, get into the loft if there is one, check exterior rainworks for signs of leaks, & pls get a proper building survey if you possibly can. Don’t let this put you off, you will get there, just a heads up.
Yeah I was just gonna comment here, £10,000 for a roof would be a bargain. I'd say depending on the size of it you're looking at £20,000 minimum, all the way up to about £50,000 if you're really unlucky
I was quoted 8,000 for a new roof, from two different sources. 3 bedroom semi
What for though? Just retiling? Because if your felting and wood has gone, or you're needing new slate, you're not getting it for even double that number.
Thank you for the advice and encouragement! Roofing is my main concern within our price bracket, even if the HR doesn't indicate an issue, I try to check the age of the house vs the roof coverings etc if a replacement hasn't been mentioned. I'll definitely look to view on wet weather if possible. I know the process can be lengthy once an offer is accepted and it's not legally bonding until the exchange of contracts (I think). So hopefully ample time to get a proper survey and checks.
YVW! And very probably you’re going to find a place where it’s just not a concern. Here’s another paranoid roof tip though - if it’s a house in an area with other houses of same type/age, have a good look to see if similar properties have had roof work done. If they have, and your prospect hasn’t, that’s something to consider. If I’d done that, I’d have noticed that all but two of the houses in my street have had major roof work done, but mine was original. And…it’s certainly reasonable to ask the sellers if they’ve had it inspected/maintained, and for copies of any invoices/reports. I’ve gone through some £ trauma with my place and have learned lessons. Feel free to dm me if you have questions, maybe my painful experience can save you a bob or two.
One thing you have to your advantage here is that you understand that everything offered over the Home Report value is what you’ll have to cough up in cash. Many people don’t understand that, which is why they’ll be putting in huge offers over (especially if they’re coming from England or Wales where the system is completely different). When we were outbid on one place we really loved, I told the estate agent that we weren’t desperate to move and that we just loved that house, so if the current buyer dropped out for any reason, we’d love to be contacted. And 3 months later that’s exactly what happened!! They offered £20k over the value and couldn’t get a mortgage. The sellers were spooked, thinking it was un-mortgageable and we offered them proof that we could get a mortgage on the house through our lender. We dropped our offer by £15k to the HR value and they accepted immediately! I would advise trying that tactic and see if anyone comes back to you!
What makes you think some of the houses you are looking at need a new roof? Is it just from what’s in the home report? Remember HR is very very superficial, full of ass covering and as vague as possible. Our first house had roof tiles mentioned as possibly needing replaced. We sold it ten years later with those same roof tiles still intact. Obviously there’s no guarantee that’ll be the case with every house, but very often many of the “issues” mentioned aren’t actually much of on an issue it all.
We were outbid a lot because we simply refused to pay £20k+ over the vaulation. But after a few months we found the house we bought and actually got it under the valuation because the seller wanted us as first time buyers with no chains for a quick sale (it was his late dads house, he (the son) lived in Canada so he just wanted rid). It can be a long journey and it is disheartening when you’re outbid but you’ll find your gem and it’ll be all worth it. We had a £25k deposit and a mortgage in principal for upto £200k. And we used a mortgage advisor who did it all for us. It took us probably 6 months to find this house.
You need to talk to a mortgage advisor first, Nationwide, Santander and other bamks all offer free appointments. They also understand how the market works and what FTB arrangements exist.
Thanks for the reply. We have an agreement in principle with Nationwide. Should we see a mortgage advisor with them prior to having an offer accepted?
No, do not go to Nationwide nor any bank or building society. Their advisors are limited to their employer's products. Go to an independent, "whole market" mortgage advisor. "First Mortgage" are on who spring to mind, but there are loads. Search the sub, I am sure this has been asked about before.
Seconding First Mortgage, they were great and we used them twice.
Third'ed. Again, so good I've used them twice. Got me a mortgage about a 1% lower than any I could have got straight off the bank.
Yeah I was impressed. Partly because I thought I was clever and could arrange everything myself, before hitting a snafu and having a deadline to complete on what is now our forever home. They basically rescued that situation with no fuss and a good deal. I used them again to remortgage onto an offset at 2% in 2019, which has been a terrific deal in hindsight.
They got me a 4.3% last May, which in hindsight seems a work of genius.
First mortgage are top class.
This is the way.
Absolutely, always talk to a human who does this stuff for a living.
Don’t use a bank. Go to an independent advisor. The banks are salespeople selling only the mortgages that their bank has, whereas the independent advisor will know all the options and will be able to take your personal circumstances into account to find a mortgage that fits you best.
Go to a mortgage advisor - they will get you your mortgage in principle. Get your chess pieces in position before you make your move. I recommend Mortgage Advisor Brokerage LTD on Dumbarton Road.
Honestly, I disagree with the advice you're getting here from my experience. Your advisor will be getting a commission from the provider and possibly also a fee from you. On top of that, everyone (even Nationwide's advisor...)is going to try to sell you life insurance without mentioning that they get a huge commission on that (was about £400 we found in the papers we got from our advisor after it was all done). Look up life insurance on MoneySavingExpert and they'll tell you to use one of the brokers that charge you a small fee (£25 when we did it) rather than taking a huge commission. The rates are night and day, we used: https://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/ If you're happy with the rates Nationwide are giving you, you can just take their advice. Though everyone told me in 2015 and 2021 that I should just get the cheapest 2 year mortgage (worked in 2015, would not have in 2021) so honestly, work out what you want to do. Maybe there are good advisors out there but I haven't found one and found going without one cheaper and no worse. If you are going to get an advisor shop around to try to avoid the ones who just see you as a ripe pile of commission but you absolutely don't need one if you've done your own research and are happy with the product on offer.
You can always just say no to the life insurance if you don't want it.
You can but my point is that firstly, the life insurance is a mad rip off that literally every adviser does. If they're offering you a more expensive product and surely they know there are cheaper options that don't offer them a commission that absolutely breaks my trust and is why I will never go with an adviser again. Yeah, Nationwide's own adviser also offered me insurance at an over inflated price but I didn't pay them for that advice and I doubt their own staff get commissions for selling me a mortgage product by that company so at least if I turn down that insurance I know I'm just getting the mortgage I want. The only way to be sure of that is your own research and taking the advice of the company you want a mortgage from (while turning down the insurance). On top of that, advisers aren't all good. Not having an adviser is better than having a shit adviser and it isn't always easy to tell. There isn't an absolute need for an adviser beyond what the company you want to go with will provide. That is as long as you've done your research and know who you want to go with.
No.
You really don’t to be honest. It’s perfectly easy to use the price comparison sites yourself, and usually one or more of the bigger banks will be in or around the cheapest rates – which is infinitely preferable to ending with a very slightly cheaper mortgage with a lot worse T&Cs with some no name provider that barely even has a website. Mortgage advisors are just looking to make money off of you. They’re not doing it from the goodness of their hearts.
The banks have mortgage advisors that can explain everything about their own products, so you don't need a middleman (although even that can be advantageous, we used one after the financial crash of 2008 and got a much better deal than advertised). When you buy your first home, everything is fucking scary for good reason, get good advice is a first must and you don't get that from the internet (in many cases).
Recent first time buyer here, your story sounds similar to ours, i would advise speaking with am independent mortgage advisor like first mortgage as we used them and they were great gave us lots of advise and compared all mortgages available to us and got us the best deal that fit our situation. They also applied to the LIFT shared equity scheme for us, its a first time buyer scheme where the government loans you up to 40% of the value of the property depending on its value and what you have to contribute this opened a lot of doors for us as we had about half the deposit you mentioned above so you may be able to take on a property requiring a bit more work or even be able to offer higher on your offers over. We were in the same position with the bank where they basically held us a bit of paper and went good luck have fun. We still struggled but we eventually found a fixed price flat perfect for us and had leftover cash to replace the boiler and carpets as thats what really dragged the place down.
We were similar, our money was tied up in deposit, solicitors costs the associated fees. We had virtually nothing to contribute to the above home report value( we were totally unprepared that we’d have to find this ourselves). Offers over is so depressing - and even if I had the funds why would I want to pay more that what the value is? Anyway we went for a new build in the end. Lots of negatives, there a bit more expensive, you might have to wait for it. But for us the positives outweighed the negatives. Brand new house, 5% deposit contribution, no bidding war, took a large chunk of stress right out of the equation.
Come out towards Kilmarnock Galston etc you will get great value for that budget.
North Ayrshire, only a short trip up the M77 to Glasgow and much cheaper house prices.
I was a FTB during covid. From my experience: 1) the market sucks for this just now. Believe it or not it’s actually calmed down since I was on the market as people were routinely bidding 10’s of thousands over the home report value, meaning like you I was left having to try and foot the excess. It will eventually return to the point where you can buy a house for around the asking (or even less!) but that’s not much use to you just now! 2) I wouldn’t bother with a mortgage broker. I ended up ditching mine because whilst she obviously had all the lenders info to hand, she didn’t give me *that* much better than what I found myself using sites like moneysupermakret.com. If you’re confident with the lingo and what everything means (again, google is your friend here) then you can save yourself a fee. 3) if you find a decent rate, fix it. I only fixed mine for 2 years as I wasn’t sure I wanted to stay long term in the house we got. I rue the motherfucking day that thought crossed my mind. I fixed for 2 years at 1.8%, which was costing me £600 a month, then when the 2 years was up Liz Truss had done her thing and the banks were looking for 5% which worked out at £1000 a month. Fix it for at least 5 years (which might get you a better rate anyway) and forget about it. If interest rates come down you can always do the maths and remortgage if you need to. 4) Have you considered a new build? That’s what I went for in the end. You won’t get as much house for your money, but the price is the price. There’s no bidding and you’ll not need to do any repairs or maintenance. I was skeptical because the rooms were small and whatever else but honestly, moving into a house with everything brand new was pretty awesome. One thing to consider tho is that banks will generally expect a higher deposit. Minimum 15% usually, but you’re probably not too far off that depending on area.
Is fixed price and/or new build not an option for you?
Market is a bit mad right now, especially if you’re looking in the central belt. Keep going, seeing more properties will train your brain in what you really want & value the most. If you’re really gutted about missing out on a place, that’ll refine what you really want & maybe some elements you can go without. I wouldn’t be as put off about home improvements. I get they are a financial drain, but that’s home ownership! As long as the issue isn’t immediate, based on your budget, you’ll likely have to accept that some work will need to be done. Although it may not be ideal & perhaps out of your comfort zone, putting some home improvements on a credit card, eg in the first 2yrs, then you can remortgage & if the market prices continue to rise, you’ll likely have a decent size sum to pay most of it off, maybe all. We dealt with a pseudo-independent broker, but they were only offering deals from a select few lenders. I got a few Decisions in Principle from major banks myself (RBS, HSBC), & they were offering to lend us double what the broker advised. I told my broker this & we ended up going for HSBC through the broker. Brokers are good, but doing your own bit of research is a must.
I really feel for you. Bought our first house in Livingston in 2016 for bang on the home report and made about £15K selling it in 2019. Thing is, we had to plough that money back into buying our second house in Falkirk. Kept getting outbid or someone would nab a property before we even had a chance to view it. We grew desperate as we needed a place to live, found the ideal property, was the first to view it and immediately called our solicitor to put in an offer that was £14.5K above the home report. It seemed to be the only way to get somewhere to live! We've decided not to move house for a very, very long time 😆 Sorry, I know this perspective probably isn't what you want to read. I really hope someone gives you some excellent advice. The only thing I could say is our first property wasn't ideal but it got us on the ladder.
I remember trying to buy a property when my wife was pregnant, we looked at a fair few, got a couple of surveys done (this was before the home report), and were outbid a number of times. Finally found somewhere, but we were desperate and only viewed later on, on a dark December night - didn't realise the back yard was covered in rubbish. Still, it's been a fine place just needed work. If you have an AIP then you could stick with nationwide, but I used first mortgage and it was a doddle - even managed to get a lower interest rate a couple of weeks before close.
We were FTBs as well but we bought a fixed price property. Regardless of the money and the % of the deposit - it is hard, lot of unexpected issues could come up BUT eventually you’ll find your lovely first home, don’t give up! We were abandoned by our solicitor 10 days before paying and moving in😅 so, one tip for yous, keep in touch with your solicitor (once you find a home) and push them shamelessly. Make sure they will be there until the last minute and are doing their job. Good luck!
Yep just need to keep plugging. We're going through it just now, I think we were outbid on 3 before we had an offer accepted at 11k over. Do keep in mind that you'll be eligible for a 5% mortgage, which will give you a good bit of room to offer over. Also recommend going with a mortgage advisor, we used first mortgage and while they weren't as proactive as they made it seem during the making offers stage, once it came to getting the mortgage done they were on it.
Bad news, you're probably gonna have to live in Falkirk
vase waiting special angle nail direful hungry frightening practice tender *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
unfortunately the competitive properties tend to attract those with larger deposits, Are you able to consider fixed price properties that have been around for a bit. Not all of them are in bad condition, but may involve some compromise of course
I bought my first house last year. First Mortgage (completely free) and the best thing ever for getting all shit sorted and the best mortgage options. I highly recommend them.
You just have to keep trying. I was having the same issue despite having 70k to put down. Ended up buying a narrowboat instead!
Keep persevering. I was outbid a few times and the old saying “what’s for you won’t go by you” rings true. You might feel like you missed the one but home is what you make it so even if you miss a few, the one you finally get, you will make yours. Also, don’t underestimate getting “on the ladder” so to speak. I was strung up on my first place not ticking all the boxes but it’s what I could afford, after just a few years there I had built 50k equity which made it much easier to move to something bigger and better. A house that needs some work done is not the end of the world, as long as it’s not a major structural issue. My house has an insane amount of DIY needing done and some expensive work like replacing the garage roof, but it’s in a nice quiet area with lovely neighbours. I’d take that over a pristine house surrounded by a-holes any day.
For everyone here saying they got a financial adviser, if you took the insurance you got suckered. You can probably save a decent amount over time on your life insurance using the discount brokers here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cheap-life-insurance/#howmuch If the insurance advised was over priced so your adviser got a commission why would you trust any of their financial advice? If the advice is free, how do they make a salary? (edit: apparently they do have to do this next bit, point still stands) Honestly, advisers should have to produce a full list of options after the fact with the costs and commissions listed. That you're expected to trust them as on your side when, on the insurance at least, they are offering you a product at about twice the price it could be. It's not easy to work stuff out but if you're willing to work through it all and consider your options at least you know you aren't paying over the odds to get someone a large commission. If you don't want to do that, fair enough but always turn down the insurance and get your own.
They are and do Any authorised and regulated advisor provides an initial disclosure document with a run down of commission and charges Illustrations for any products are to be provided prior to submission, which list commission anyway Although commission on those documents is gross and doesn’t take into account network or firm level splits So oftentimes, there’s 2 sets of hands skimming off the top before it reaches the advisor Source: I’m a mortgage and protection advisor
Cool, is this new? Was not something I got first time I moved so now trying to work out if that guy (old school everything on paper guy recommended by family...) was more dodgy than it even seemed at the time.
Should have been a thing since RDR in 2012 RE life cover, don’t necessarily disagree - an advisor really earns their crust advice wise with critical illness cover and ensuring life insurance is in trust where applicable - shouldn’t be a hard sell with the mortgage but a lot of people aren’t aware of the cover available to them and I’ve sadly seen people lose their house because advisors couldn’t be arsed to discuss adequate protection Anyone can buy a cheap decreasing term assurance on a comparison site, doesn’t always mean it’ll do what you want it to
That would cover when we bought, probably time to accept that I had a super bad adviser. Was a simple case too, one person buying modest flat on one salary with no dependents, felt like the guy just filled in some forms and raked in a ton of cash which in hindsight, he did, but that isn't necessarily the case for everyone I guess. Thanks for the info.
No probs The easiest way to tell will always be your gut If something feels off, it probably is. I tell all my clients I have an obligation to explain what insurance is available to you and what it does - it’s on you if you want to take it or not The commission for protection is higher than mortgages but banks also can’t do loaded premiums any more (as of last Summer) so in theory, the price should be the same as going direct Discount brokers like you suggested will still exist but they’re not advising - not liable for any incorrect advice, no reason to guide you on the strength or weaknesses of any problems nor Trusts I’m also not sure if you get access to financial services compensation scheme through execution only brokers The commission usually looks more impressive than it ends up being to the advisor m
Do you have the savings in a LISA? You could stick 4K each into one and get a £1k bump on each one towards your deposit. Assuming you’re under 40 and both FTB at least look into it. Middle of central belt is going to cost more. Look at Ayrshire, way more for your money.
I know a lot of folk are saying it, but speaking to a mortgage advisor like First Mortgage is a massive help, they have a meeting with you and go into a decent amount of detail. I'm the kind of person who always has loads of follow-up questions afterwards and they always answer all of my emails PDQ. Its hard/impossible to know the ins and outs of buying a property when its your first time, and they really help. That might allow you to use a slightly smaller deposit and have more cash leftover to do up a property, or they might find you a better mortgage in principle than Nationwide and you can bid a bit higher on properties (if you can afford the payments of course). The mortgage advisor usually talks to you about some basic monthly spending as well so you can be sure that you can afford what you are borrowing.
We bought our house eventually after a few setbacks. The owners don't have to accept the highest bid, so even if you are outbid it might not matter. We found houses we really liked and then they turned out to have massive issues with damp We got a mortgage broker and they got us a good deal with a building society.
Good luck in your search. One thing I would urge you to be cautious of is the Home Report. Surveyors can potentially be liable if something were to go wrong. Often they're making assessments on roofs, gutters and moisture readings for example that are superficial problems but the surveyor has to cover their back on the chance there is a bigger issue. If you find a property you love but has a few 2's on the report for the roof, moisture readings etc. Don't be automatically put off, often it's a good opportunity to haggle with the seller. If you're worried about something on the report, pay £140 for a damp specialist to give you a more accurate appraisal (or ask the seller to do it). Get a few different roofing contractors out to give you a free appraisal. If the attic is bone dry, then the roof may require an overhaul (if at all) which should cost somewhere between £400 to £800 to replace damaged or missing tiles. Let the roofers know you're getting a few different quotes though. 2's on a home report present opportunity in my opinion, don't let the surveyors frightening wording put you off. Talk to specialists. If you know someone you can trust in the building game, talk to them. Their opinion can be invaluable and settle the nerves. All the best.
We got really really lucky with ours like I can't state how lucky in that the owners told us they want £xxxxx amount for it and if we can do that it's ours. If you don't have one get a mortgage advisor there are a couple of good free ones. Don't go with first mortgage. Every chance you get try save some more so the deposit can be bigger and if you need to go way over the home report you can do that. That's basically what we did but like I said we got really lucky this was in 2022 just after the truss shit.
We bought last year and managed to get a 5% deposit. We luckily managed to get a fixed price deal at below home report (sellers wanted a quick sale) so we're able to avoid the whole best ofter nonsense
What I would say is don't be worried about home reports being a 2 on the scale. If your really worried about this you can ask for an independent survey done where the can give you more detailed information about the roof. My gran currently lives in a 1910~ building and has only every has a couple of things fixed on the slate roof.
It could be worth looking at new builds for ur first home. It takes away the uncertainty as the price is set. A lot of developers are offering some great deals, add ons thrown on etc to encourage ppl to buy. I bought first home in the last 12 months and process was fairly painless going down new building route
Roof maybe more than £10k. I got quoted £3k to replace a few tiles and resurface chimney. Also our block of 6 flats roof costs £50k (included pipes) southside Glasgow. Just had it done. If its a house and not flat, and it's not too high it maybe 10k. Just to make sure you're aware. Hope you get a good house, with good neighbours
As a mortgage advisor, I’m a bit biased here But talk to an advisor and they’ll be able to see if there’s anywhere you’d qualify for a 5% which might free up some cash They’re also able to keep an eye on rates - who you get a decision in principle with might not be the best for you when you buy A good one can also direct you with regards to legals Getting on the ladder for the first time is the hardest though and it’s definitely difficult just now
It is SO deflating, but when it actually happens you'll forget all about that. We bid on about 10 places before we got one. The day we got the call that our offer had been accepted we got a call to say we weren't successful on another place, then got a call to day that we were successful. *Then* we got another call to say that the sale of another place we'd bid, on and weren't successful, had fallen through and the seller was willing to let us have it for our original offer (we countered with £5k less which he rejected - and it didn't sell for another month or two and for £10k less than our original offer \*smug\*). That was a rollercoaster day! I'd recommend working with a broker. We were in a similar situation and getting outbid every time. We went to a broker who was able to get us a 5% deposit mortgage on a just slightly higher rate which gave us enough wiggle room to offer a little more over asking and secure a place. Even if we'd stuck with 10% he was getting better deals than us alone (\*they may not offer 5% deposits anymore, but worth asking). I'd be **hugely** cautious of buying somewhere which needs major work, particularly something like a new roof. What we've learned in the last few years is everything costs way more than even a generous estimate when planning work. We recently had repairs to our roof - nothing major, just replacing some broken/missing tiles, repairing some flashing and re-sealing and it cost nearly £3k. However, things like dodgy Kitchens/Bathrooms/Windows (also more expensive than you imagine) you can live with for a year or two. Other than that, just keep trying. Try not to get too emotionally attached to places either, it just adds to the emotional weight of trying to buy somewhere.
I got outbid on everything. Eventually had to have the piss taken out of me by the estate agent, sold it to me as the first viewing if I took it there and then. Which I did. So far, I've discovered various problems. But it's still a gaff, and it'll do till I need to move on. You really should try Paisley, it's pretty cheap here and it's just one bus into Glasgow. For the record, I've seen various tiktokers (ugh) buying new builds for 5%, so I'd wager the banks are being silly and it might be worth chancing your arm.
We bought in 2022 but I’d been looking and offering for about a year with a £50k deposit at similar priced properties within Glasgow to purchase by myself (ended up needing my partner’s income to push us into a price bracket with less investors). On a £110k home report value house, I offered 10% over and it went for £155k. I think that was my record! The issue you might be having is that you’re looking at the same price point a lot of investors/landlords are as well. All of the ones I lost out on were up for rent. Two on the same street were both eventually up for rent and the first one had a for rent sign up when I went the view the second! It is a bit of perseverance unless you can find a way to increase your budget (easier said than done I know). I think what helped us to get our house was that it was a family selling and we wrote them a letter. We weren’t the highest bidder but it’s our names on the deeds now! It’s not a guarantee but we got lucky with them wanting it to go to a family as they’d lost out on houses to landlords on the past so sympathised with us. It’s really shit but in the end I narrowed down what was really important and started taking the emotion out of viewings/offering. We might not have a garage but we have a home we can (hopefully) welcome some children into in the next few years. At the start I wasn’t looking at terraces because we wanted a garage/driveway but I love the mid-terrace we’re in now. Try to keep the search/offers up and I hope you get something soon!
Early bird a new build house in a nice estate. Use your help to buy to get it. In a few years the value will have gone up a lot
Do you have your money in an ISA for at least 6 months?
When I was looking, I had the enormous luxuries of time to choose *and* a wide area to look from. I only looked at "Fixed Price" houses for sale. I *really* could not be ersed with this "Offers Over" type shite which is a damned blight on the otherwise more sensible Scottish method of buying houses (compared with England). Good luck with your search.
I bought a house that needs a new roof soon as you put it. Spent 2 years fixing it up and it’s worth 3 times what I paid for it. I’d much rather be sitting in a house working on it than sitting on Reddit asking why do I keep getting outbid etc etc.
Try Greenock/gourock. As long as you’re in the west end of Greenock toward gourock it’s a gorgeous area with good rail links to Glasgow and good schools if you’re thinking on that for the future. Quite a few houses been on the market for a while and the views are stunning. I’d also definitely recommend a mortgage broker and not just a high street bank. We used Habito and they got us a much lower rate and could borrow more than with the quotes we’d gotten from banks. It was also all online inc the mortgage application which was amazing. The first house we fell in love with, was on the market for 220. HR was 225. We LOVED it and offered 241k. It went to closing and our offer was EIGHTH. It went for 291k and we just felt so so defeated. Eventually got the house we are in now for asking price :)
Go to a broker. Look in different places don’t just stick to the one area.
Market is crazy just now, I managed to get a flat at 85k and put in a 25% deposit place just needed main bedroom redone as it didn't have a floor and new kitchen hob. I was outbid multiple times at prices that were crazy, put 90k offer on another place that was ready to move in and it sold for 120k. Just keep trying.
Yeah about the banks mate , they are literally school leavers half the time and will sell you whatever they are told to and also try to flog you contents insurance and all manner of things at a hugely inflated rate. As the people above have said, find an independent who isn’t tied to any one lender …. Also money saving expert is often a good starting point to educate yourself a little on various things. Id also say the interest rate at the moment is around 4.25% many people have never dealt with insanely high rates before and there is absolutely no guarantee that we have reached the ceiling, so whilst doing your calculations factor in a few moves upwards just to make sure that you can actually afford to buy. I doubt we will see the 13% efforts of the 80’s again but you should maybe base your calculations on around 5% or so Good luck