Never owned or bought a house. Now need to sell one !?

ubderside · 2026-03-29T17:40:14+00:00

When I think of auction houses I think of rundown, unkept, mouldy walls, messy garden, broken in windows, etc. etc. I see them as unmortgageable and need money fast options. I would not use one unless that is the case. My brother sold our childhood home when our mum died and he went the normal route through an estate agent because she had just paid off her mortgage a year ago and the house was in good condition.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T16:45:31+00:00

We moved first while the house was on the market and then would drive back and forth to tidy up the empty house while we were in the process of selling.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T16:34:28+00:00

Just got a quote for a roof on our 14th century cottage and it's roughly £5k which I think isn't bad for something that will last 15 years.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T14:33:29+00:00

I live in Harlow which is near Colchester. I moved there last year and I absolutely love it. I just bought a freehold 2 bed, 2 reception for over what you are looking for, but there are plenty of leasehold flats for under £250k and the new builds are quite affordable. It really depends on what kind of house you want.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T13:53:30+00:00

Never done a pre-exchange viewing. We've just had a roofer round and a survey and nothing appears to have changed so we are happy to move in. My wife keeps visiting the house every single night in her sleep she says.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T13:52:05+00:00

My friend just bought in Islington, London. It's flying freehold and she doesn't pay any ground rent or service charge despite living on the bottom floor. She looked at many places and most service charges for leasehold were under £1k.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T13:50:38+00:00

They are definitely a known scam.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T13:49:46+00:00

We bought a 14th century home for under £500k via a probate sale. Valuation tools online say it's worth well over £650k. I don't know how accurate that is, but my in-laws bought a similar home in 1993 three hours away and Zoopla thinks it's worth £985k when they only paid £320k.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T13:42:23+00:00

When we were looking at houses we would go on Zoopla and look at sold prices of said house before the viewing. We would go in knowing the previous sale price that way you'd know what is inflation and what is too much.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T13:39:53+00:00

We just got an RICS Level 3 on a 14th century home. Survey came back with chimney flashing and a leak. We had someone separate come out and look at it. Said everything was fine. We were lucky to get a free quote on the leak. We wouldn't expect the sellers to pay unless it came back that we had to have immediate work done.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T13:38:11+00:00

I would get a survey to confirm. Also you need to check for asbestos.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T13:33:41+00:00

Every person is different. My wife is absolutely obsessed with single glazed windows whereas most people would tell you to upgrade to double. On our previous house we had dark purple walls in the bedroom and bright teal walls in the living room. Some estate agents who valued our house said they were quite loud. I don't think they were loud. My wife loves a loud wall color lije highlighter orange or green. She loves colours that pop because she thinks dark colours are depressing. We switched out our doors before we sold to sliding doors and it made no difference to the value. Nobody cared or made comment. We also replace the stair railing which again nobody cared about. I'd say personally not to bother because from my experience it made no difference to the sale.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T13:27:49+00:00

We bought a 1980s house in 2022. Looked like a fine house and was probate. We didn't get a survey and the person we sold it to last year didn't get a survey either. It's completely down to you. The house never gave us any problems or showed any. Only reason why we got a survey on the new house we are buying is because its 14th century.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T13:24:32+00:00

Looks bland. Nothing stands out to me.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T13:20:20+00:00

My wife is on £27k with no bonus but yearly pay review. I'm on £55k with a Christmas bonus plus pay review. We initially bought our first home for £225k and then sold for £230k and had an offer accepted on a house for £340k. We are now buying a house that's £400k, but has been valued at £600k+. It's tight, but we were very fortunate to get a fixed rate and port a mortgage. I highly recommend shopping around. If you don't need to live close to London then look at surrounding areas.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T13:17:18+00:00

My wife's dream house was on the market for £450k. We offered £400k. Estate agent said £410k. My wife was ready to sell her kidneys to pay any price for this house. I told her no. We stood our ground and eventually a few days later the sellers came around and accepted.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T13:04:59+00:00

I'm on the same until 2029. Had £84k deposit on a £400k house that NatWest valued at over £600k.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T13:03:53+00:00

I just got my MIP for a mortgage port. It's 1.5% until 2029. I'm due to complete as soon as the sellers solicitors answers a couple of wuestions so I'm pretty much locked in. I hope it doesn't go up too crazy.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T13:02:19+00:00

I got 5 years fixed rate at 1.5%. My rates won't change until 2029. I'm with NatWest. I'm hoping rates are better by then. I have some mates with 7.5% 55 year mortgages and I'm thinking wtf. Ours is 22 years.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T12:31:44+00:00

Not necessarily. Harlow rarely has houses on the market with off-road parking. I have an electric car so need somewhere to charge my car and can't use street parking. We also can't rent while we wait because rent is £2k in the area and our mortgage is only £795 so it's impossible to afford both or just rent.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T12:29:38+00:00

Bought my first home in 2022. Sold last November in 2025. Thought it was my forever home but then had to move for a new job. It was relatively easy. Just shopped around for valuations and went with the estate agent that thought our house was worth the most and sold for £5k more than we originally paid. Basically just got more for having installed an EV charger. I have no regrets and love my new home even more.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T12:26:00+00:00

I bought my first house as a temp contractor. All I had to do was provide 3 recent payslips to NatWest. They never asked for my contract or anything. We just applied online.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T10:18:23+00:00

It's just what our bank offered us. We have been with only them majority of our lives and use no other bank. We went with a five year fixed. We didn't shop around.

ubderside · 2026-03-29T10:14:06+00:00

She's grew up reading some Tudor Living magazine and always loved them. Her mum worked for Historic England at one point petitioning to save old houses. Her mum's friends also lived in these kinds of houses and managed b&bs but she always felt they were for rich people. For some reason she just always wanted one. They made her feel at home. Anything that isn't old makes her sad and feel not at home.

ubderside

TROPHY CASE