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Evening all,
Looking at making an offer on a house. Haven't done this for a while! I have a couple of questions I wonder if anyone can help with. Looking at moving from my current house to a new house with a joint mortgage.
1. Mortgages for people on a fixed term contract. I have a permanent job of 10+ years but my girlfriend is currently on a fixed term contract and the first mortgage provider we checked would not consider her income when calculating the mortgage they would offer. Are others more lenient and if so could anyone recommend some to try. At this point we are just looking to secure an agreement in principle and would probably see a financial adviser before settling on the one we go with (if it all gets to that point).
2. Stamp Duty. I could do with understanding this a little bit better. I want to sell my current house and the way this is normally done is in a chain with buyers and sellers on the same day. If I buy and sell at the same time I just pay stamp duty on the house I am buying - fine. But we may not need the money from this house to get a mortgage to cover the new place and if that were the case it is likely to make us more attractive to the seller of the house we are interested in and I could then sell my current house in a more leisurely fashion. But I think that makes me liable for the second home owner stamp duty even if I only have the both for say 30 days? Is the judgement literally made on payment day or is there a period of grace? Seems a bit of blunt way to do it but I guess it keeps it simple (and sets up this whole fragile chain issue that seems like a big problem in the UK house sales process).
3. Selling your own house. A big part of selling a house now seems to be Rightmove. I live in a popular area and houses here generally sell quickly and are quite comparable (there are six parallel streets like mine each with pretty similar 2/3 bed terraces). Is it realistic to consider avoiding estate agents and fees by using something like Purple Bricks to get it on Rightmove or am I ultimately likely to get a better price by using an agent (even if experience round here is that they are less than stellar).
Thanks in advance.
Some companies will take fixed term contracts as long as there's 3 or 6 or 12 months left, the criteria differs. A good bet would be at the bank where your partner banks as they can observe long term finances. Otherwise get a broker.
I wouldn't waste time with a bricks n mortar agent. I used housenetwork.co.uk who were great. I can't speak for purple bricks.
For the mortgage, try speaking to these guys. They're very good when it comes to sorting anything out of the ordinary mortgage-wise.
Like the look of housenetwork.co.uk and that they can list on Rightmove. Thank you.
We have had a mortgage with fixed term contract with Yorkshire Building Society, but they wanted to see evidence of continued employment, so a couple of fixed term contracts back to back. Alternatively, a broker can apparently find deals not available directly, something to do with the way you are credit checked. You'll just have to ring around.
Stamp. At the time of exchange of contracts, if you are not in a position to complete on the same day for both selling and buying, your solicitor will need 10% deposit plus the normal stamp duty plus 3% of the total property price. Any solicitor represnting you will need to see the money before they will exchange. If you later sell a property (within 2 years I think) you get a refund of the 3% applied via the solicitor and HMRC claim they refund within 2 weeks. So it's a cash flow issue really.
PurpleBricks are an estate agent. You pay them a fee and they do the same stuff as a bricks and mortar agent. You are right that almost all sales are generated by online websites now. We used PB and liked the fact they are contactable outside normal working hours (good for us but great for getting interest because it is massively easier to book a viewing). They have been very good post sale too (cambridgeshire area).
Why not speak to a financial advisor/broker already and they’ll be able to advise? My finance guy doesn’t charge until the mortgage has actually been taken out? So if after the mortgage in principal I’d of decided to go elsewhere I wouldn’t of paid a penny. Anything he before he just writes off as the risk with a new client. He’s been brilliant with the toing and froing with nationwide which hopefully we’ll have secured and be fully agreed by tomorrow. Without him I’m not sure I’d of ended up with a mortgage.
Re stamp duty. Konagirl is right in that it’s 3% of your total purchase price if you haven’t exchanged at completion and still own your existing home. This will be part of your bill to your solitctor paid on completion. No grace periods. If you sell your existing home within 3yrs you can claim this back.
I went through this 6months ago and we are still on the market for our previous home.
In your particular circumstance I’d just use a mortgage broker. They can often get better deals and they’ll know which companies to approach - will save you a ton of time.
Stamp duty has been covered - we were nearly in the same position - I would always try to exchange / complete as part of a chain. If you complete on your purchase first and the sale goes pear shaped you could have issues.
If you tell them she is on a full time fixed contract they don't actually ask for proof. You should definitely tell the truth though because liars get lower mortgage rates and that's the last thing you'd want.