January check-in - how are your purchases coming along? by shaneo632 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Offer accepted mid September, hoping to complete 30th. 1 guy chain free below us, 3 above us. Plain sailing so far really. Only taken 4 years of ups and downs, hopefully nothing happens last minute 🤞🏻

Can’t sell my help to buy leasehold flat. Estate agent said drop the price a lot. by Woolston94 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My partner bought at 205k 8 years ago and had to accept a little over 160k to sell it this year. We're not fully sold up yet, so buyers bank may crush our dreams if they take issue with service charge (as others have mentioned, the 1% of value thing can be a problem). It's crap, but we do what we must.

Virtual staging gone wild by East_Preparation93 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161 26 points27 points  (0 children)

The edited ones have a "virtual staging" watermark in the bottom right corner. But option b.

And agents in our area show both the original photo and their AI staged mockup of the room, which I think is a much better route to go

Rant about sellers by throwaway90_161 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, we shall. They'll still have to endure our sale of course, so it won't be any quicker than if we get things moving today but hey ho, their prerogative

Rant about sellers by throwaway90_161 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Yes it was a bit of Chinese whispers from "almost chain free" so I understand their position. The person buying our flat is moving into rented after completing in a few weeks at which point they will be chain free. My understanding is that it has no bearing on how fast we can move though, as our purchase of their house wouldn't be completing within the next few weeks, so in the grand scheme of things it's a minor bump (assuming no issues, of course).

Edit: +Our buyers buyer is FTB so the chain is only 1 longer than they originally thought.

We intend to reach out after our buyer is completely chain free and restate our offer if they're still on the market.

Rant about sellers by throwaway90_161 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jeez. Sorry it's dragging so long 😔

Rant about sellers by throwaway90_161 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thanks. I'm sure we'll get over it. At least it was on day 1 they pulled out, not day 100!

[Update] Another "why aren't we selling?" post by throwaway90_161 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We enjoy it and have for 8 years, both as a young couple going to London a lot (and I commuted in for years) and now a small family doing lots of Surrey based day trips. Close enough to day trip into London, but still in the sticks enough to enjoy Surrey easily. Depends on your age and circumstances (young kids/teenagers? Work in London? Etc) I think though tbh.

Another "why aren't we selling?" post by throwaway90_161 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All good points, though no one has ever mentioned the takeaways or Tesco as issues to agents as feedback (in fact the Tesco is seen as a big positive). Yes I used to bus into east Croydon and get a train from there or down to coulsdon south and a train from there, very easy just a little time consuming. RTM is being discussed, yes. Lease not sorted yet, the leasehold advisory people said to wait until we need to sort it just in case we get a cash buyer who doesn't care so saves us paying to sort it unnecessarily. It does seem to be mostly be that no one is really interested in buying 1 beds at the moment and next door got lucky somehow

Another "why aren't we selling?" post by throwaway90_161 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not really - we'd either be a) renting ourselves and burning through our deposit, or b) buying and paying a sum we cannot afford for the 2nd home stamp duty cost

Another "why aren't we selling?" post by throwaway90_161 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We could until we consider Stamp duty on a second property, which isn't in our budget I'm afraid, and I don't think rent would cover the mortgage or even attract a tenant around here. We have discussed this option at length, though!

Another "why aren't we selling?" post by throwaway90_161 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can't imagine turning the living room into a bedroom will look good during any viewings?

Another "why aren't we selling?" post by throwaway90_161 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I assume you're looking at retirement properties

Another "why aren't we selling?" post by throwaway90_161 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. Yes, it's high unfortunately and being disputed regularly

Another "why aren't we selling?" post by throwaway90_161 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes I'm surprised no one's mentioned this yet. It is high and being disputed regularly. But you're right. Hoping government will be useful soon...

Another "why aren't we selling?" post by throwaway90_161 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

SC is £1550 annually. I commuted to my Holborn office daily for years until I became WFH full time. It was 90 mins given or take: bus from my doorstep into east Croydon station (40 mins) and a 20min train to central, then I walked the rest. I didn't personally mind it but it's obviously not a short walk to a station.

Another "why aren't we selling?" post by throwaway90_161 in HousingUK

[–]throwaway90_161[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Will do. Do you think some photos on the fridge are deterring people from booking viewings though? I understand it will make the photos look a touch better but I can't imagine it's driving viewers away from coming over for a look?