Cover me in debt, debt to the eyeballs (or advice on buying a shoebox in England)

[Dauphin]

Shame I'm only 27.

[DrSpike]

Ah well.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Yes, the pain is just beginning.

Sorry, I mean congrats and well done - you'll really love dealing with the solicitors and surveyors, and moving.

Seeing as this thread has levitated, my news is that we hope to be exchanging contracts any day now on the place that we've been trying to get since November.

The main nightmare has been the vendor's solicitor, who has basically not done his job and caused delays at every step and has been generally been unavailable. Our mortgage expired and we had to grovel and scrape to get it extended without having to re-apply, with repeat fees and a higher interest rate (and possibility of denial due to my self-employment situation).

Now our solicitor has said that he will have to charge us more because of his extra work in chasing the other solicitor, and the combination of the final mortgage expiry date, the two months notice required on our current rented place, and all the delays is costing us £300 per week. All this at a time when my employment situation has gone tÃts-up, and I'm beginning to wish I'd never been born. Luckily I have extra savings to plunder to enable survival.

If we don't exchange this week, I think my head will explode. :explodeyheadsmiley:

[DrSpike]

Sorry to hear all that. I had my frustrations too but in the end everything worked out without major hassles.

That's a better message for Dauphin to hear right now.

[Dauphin]

I can only imagine that troubles are double for people trying to sell as part of a chain aswell.

Our mortgage expired and we had to grovel and scrape to get it extended without having to re-apply, with repeat fees and a higher interest rate (and possibility of denial due to my self-employment situation).

Do you mean the mortgage agreement after you'd had the offer accepted and organised the finer details of exactly how much you were to be lended and at what rate (as opposed to a mortgage in principle where they say how much they are willing to lend you in principle)? How long do you have between the mortgage agreement and exchange of contracts before it expires?

[Cort Haus]

Yes, the good news for us is that there is no chain, which makes it easier. I've heard of people being stuck in chains for years.

The mortgage is on a specific property for a specific amount and valid in our case for three months. Generally, you need to have made an offer on a specific property to be able to apply for the mortgage. However, once it has been accepted, it may be easier to get it transferred to another property or for a different amount without starting completely from scratch.

We were able to get an extension, but our contact at the bank who said she was doing so failed to do so, and actually left the bank, leaving us high and dry, which was where the grovelling and having the case put before some special acceptance panel came in. :banghead:

The bank also failed to notify our solicitor of the mortgage situation when they should have done- so we were messed about by our mortgage provider as well as the vendor's solicitor.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by DrSpike
That's a better message for Dauphin to hear right now.

Yeah, my advice is no assume that no-one is actually doing what they are being paid to do, and chase and double check everything.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
And BTW, how much do you think Dauphin makes?

If he made double PA I was assuming he made anywhere from 50-100k GBP.

[Dauphin]

If it was to be genuinely based on making double PA, your 50-100GBP (sans the k) could have been accurate aswell.

[Kuciwalker]

[padillah]

Originally posted by Cort Haus


Yeah, my advice is no assume that no-one is actually doing what they are being paid to do, and chase and double check everything.

Something going on in the states right now is the mortgage agents are not disclosing anything about the escrow to the applicants in order to make the payment look smaller.

So they see this loan for 120k with a payment of $600/mo. and they think everything is great! Then the escrow gets taked on at the end of the year and suddenly their payment is $850/mo. and they don't know why.

Check everything and then check out the guy you checked stuff with.

Tom P.

[DrSpike]

And above all check out any advice you get from here.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by Dauphin

Do you mean the mortgage agreement after you'd had the offer accepted and organised the finer details of exactly how much you were to be lended and at what rate (as opposed to a mortgage in principle where they say how much they are willing to lend you in principle)? How long do you have between the mortgage agreement and exchange of contracts before it expires?

That depends on the lender, and I've seen ones ranging from 30-90 days as well as ones with no limit.

In practice they're just in place so lenders can have control over drastic interest rate changes, or a deterioration in the borrower's credit rating. Renewing is frequently just a question of a quick phone call and Experian check.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by padillah


Something going on in the states right now is the mortgage agents are not disclosing anything about the escrow to the applicants in order to make the payment look smaller.

So they see this loan for 120k with a payment of $600/mo. and they think everything is great! Then the escrow gets taked on at the end of the year and suddenly their payment is $850/mo. and they don't know why.

Check everything and then check out the guy you checked stuff with.

Mortgage lending in the UK is regulated, and practices such as you describe above are illegal.

[Arrian]

I'm haggling with mortgage lenders right now (actually, one lender and one broker) to get the best deal I can get on the closing costs. The rate seems to be fairly standard no matter where you go (and it's been rising ). It's the closing costs that appear to vary wildly.

Closing June 15th, I hope. The sellers are building their next house and the weather's been awful.

-Arrian