House buying.

[Jameshow]

Leylandi belong to neighbours don't know how willing he is to take them down?

Slight amp due to high exterior patio levels up to brickwork. Cutting a trench and filling with gravel should sort.

 

[Psamathe]

I don't know how much of an issue it is these days but one advantage of local firm is you can go there with a passport/drivers license to prove who you are (no grief with formally certified copies), can deliver bank details to them in person and thus be sure of avoiding any SCAMs (that were an issue a few years ago?). etc.

Ian

 

[Dashing]

I was in a similar spot last year and ended up shifting focus after looking abroad. Ended up checking out El Bosque Nosara in Costa Rica, surprisingly straightforward process and less stress than here. Found it through a friend, and it made me rethink what I really needed space-wise. If you're flexible and open to something different, it might be worth having a look.

 

[Profpointy]

Many years ago I asked a surveyor's office the following to decide whether it was worth getting the survey done:-
Q1) there is a tree in the garden about 20 ft from the building, are you able to advise as part of your survey?
A. You would need a tree expert to tell you if that was likely to be a problem.
Q2) The consumer unit looks like a museum exhibit, so do you advise on this and wiring.
A. We can tell you roughly the age of the consumer unit.
These answers confirmed the doubts I had about the worth of (at the time, 30 years ago) £600 for a survey.

I had a survey done for my previous flat. I think the fee was nearly a grand. The report was mostly listing things they hadn't checked (advised getting specialists for every single trade) and what they did check they did badly. "a random sample of windows were checked and found to be sticking" Hang on, there are only 8 windows in the whole f'in place. Moreover it would be nice to tell me which one you bothered to look at. I checked them all and they were all fine. "crack in ceiling potentially costing thousands to replace. Unable to examine closely as didn't have a ladder". It was peeling paint, and wtf didn't you bring a ladder. I had my doubts if they even had a biro and just typed it up from memory afterwards. I got far more structural advice, actual genuine information about the flat, from my superb solicitor, who, as far as I know, never visited the place. Not wholly convinced the surveyor actually visited the place.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I had a survey done for my previous flat. I think the fee was nearly a grand. The report was mostly listing things they hadn't checked (advised getting specialists for every single trade) and what they did check they did badly. "a random sample of windows were checked and found to be sticking" Hang on, there are only 8 windows in the whole f'in place. Moreover it would be nice to tell me which one you bothered to look at. I checked them all and they were all fine. "crack in ceiling potentially costing thousands to replace. Unable to examine closely as didn't have a ladder". It was peeling paint, and wtf didn't you bring a ladder. I had my doubts if they even had a biro and just typed it up from memory afterwards. I got far more structural advice on the place, actual genuine information, from my superb solicitor, who, as far as I know, never visited the place. Not wholly convinced the surveyor actually visited the place

I heard of a surveyor who was know to drive past a house and if he had surveyed a similar one in the same area he just drove past and redid the old one
This was from a solicitor who said it was not as uncommon as it should be

 

[oxoman]

First question.

Local solicitors or national firm?

Seems a large variety of pricing.

I've excluded the brokers rightly or wrongly.

My wife up until 6 months ago had spent 35yrs working in accounts for local solicitors and she always used to moan about national and then online conveyancing solicitors and also estate agents. They don't care if you have problems or the other side has issues and rarely will they go out of there way to help. I've known the wife stay late chasing through lost payments in the banking system and making sure people can move when they need to. Apparently its quite common for payments to get stuck going through the banking system for various reasons. Smaller reputable well established local solicitors will tend to be better with the personal touch as well. Whichever way you go good luck.

 

[oxoman]

I heard of a surveyor who was know to drive past a house and if he had surveyed a similar one in the same area he just drove past and redid the old one
This was from a solicitor who said it was not as uncommon as it should be

Drive buy surveys are still regularly carried out alongside using the sales pictures. They rely on homebuyes reports as well.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Smaller reputable well established local solicitors will tend to be better with the personal touch as well. Whichever way you go good luck.

Fortunately my mate is a Solicitor with his own firm. Everything was done in good order when I bought my house, in fact it was so speedy I actually had to ask them to hold off as I wasn't actually ready to move by the time they had everything in place!

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Been talking to the bloke who has just moved in 2 doors down

apparently their move here was delayed because their buyers were slow

slow to the point of offering a price for their old house - which was accepted
and shortly after negotiating a new 12 month contract of the lease of their current house

Then insisting on separate surveys for EVERYTHING and insisting on doing each one and getting the report - BEFORE organising the next one


he said they were hoping to move in in January - and finally moved in here a couple of weeks ago!!!

 

[Profpointy]

I heard of a surveyor who was know to drive past a house and if he had surveyed a similar one in the same area he just drove past and redid the old one
This was from a solicitor who said it was not as uncommon as it should be

Given how much they charge for what should be a couple of hours' work it really is a piss take to not do it properly.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Given how much they charge for what should be a couple of hours' work it really is a piss take to not do it properly.

Exactly

When I used to live in Bangor the house opposite was sold about 4 times

The Estate Agents used mostly the same photos every time - just swapped a couple where obvious changes had been made
even the bush in front of the front door was totally different after a while so it was kinda obvious!!!

They were still the EA that was best at getting your house sold though!

 

[Profpointy]

Exactly

When I used to live in Bangor the house opposite was sold about 4 times

The Estate Agents used mostly the same photos every time - just swapped a couple where obvious changes had been made
even the bush in front of the front door was totally different after a while so it was kinda obvious!!!

They were still the EA that was best at getting your house sold though!

To be fair to estate agents they do often have to work hard to show round a load of time wasters, chase up deals, get 90% completed then it falls through and so on, which balances out those where a desirable house during a boom sells in an afternoon.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Just listening to the Pop doing his address (wife is from that side of the fence)

He did a bit in Arabic as he was going through the different languages

Which make a statement better than many words

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

I’ve had to get an EWS1 certificate for the flat I am currently selling. My estate agent recommended three companies that may be able to do it.

The first was no longer offering the service but the second would happily do it and sent me an invoice for £2,340. 10 minutes after I paid the invoice I received the certificate by email. A lot of money for someone to open an existing file, change the name, and email it over!

 

[Drago]

To be fair to estate agents they do often have to work hard to show round a load of time wasters, chase up deals, get 90% completed then it falls through and so on, which balances out those where a desirable house during a boom sells in an afternoon.

They could always go and do something useful instead.