Lawyer fee - house ?
- Thread starter Jasdent
- Start date
Jaffa
"Your nothing more than a line in my book"
Why would you need a solicitor to offer for you?
He can say the same words as you?
If your offer is accepted then you employ a solicitor etc.
Dont waste your money!!
He can say the same words as you?
If your offer is accepted then you employ a solicitor etc.
Dont waste your money!!
I purchased a new place (first time buyer) about 6 months ago, as Jaffa says, ring up the estate agent that's advertising the property, say you want to make an offer. They'll ring the owner, and get back to you with whether they accept or not, can do this as many times as you like. No charge.
Get Solicitor once you have offer accepted to do paperwork for contracts etc.
Get Solicitor once you have offer accepted to do paperwork for contracts etc.
Does anyone know if this is the same in Scottish law ?
Also, does anyone know of a better mortgage than 10 years fixed at 5.64% followed by 15 at 6.45% ?
Would love to hear folks advise on their mortgages within the last 6 months.
cheers VERY much.
Also, does anyone know of a better mortgage than 10 years fixed at 5.64% followed by 15 at 6.45% ?
Would love to hear folks advise on their mortgages within the last 6 months.
cheers VERY much.
No, in Scotland you really need the solicitors. Most will advertise their fees on their website. They tend to work in bands in Aberdeen, i.e. if the house is 0 - 100k, they charge e.g. £500 for doing the paperwork etc. Most will only charge you if you are successful too. Try to get to see places first, and get an offer in quickly - fewer other people to make a note of interest.
I wouldn't get too hung up on your initial mortgage right now, as you will likely be able to remortgage onto a better deal in 9 months when the property price has risen, and your LTV (loan to value) requirement will have dropped, so you get the better deals (unless you have a hefty deposit saved up). It's also really hard to know how much you will really need with the offers over too.
Most of the bigger firms will charge the same(ish) rate. They tend to make more of their money from the sellers, not the buyers. You'll probably get a listing of solicitors from the solicitors property website in your area.
Mike
I wouldn't get too hung up on your initial mortgage right now, as you will likely be able to remortgage onto a better deal in 9 months when the property price has risen, and your LTV (loan to value) requirement will have dropped, so you get the better deals (unless you have a hefty deposit saved up). It's also really hard to know how much you will really need with the offers over too.
Most of the bigger firms will charge the same(ish) rate. They tend to make more of their money from the sellers, not the buyers. You'll probably get a listing of solicitors from the solicitors property website in your area.
Mike
TRS1
Topper Harley
Why do you need a solicitor to put an offer in in Scotland? Surely it's just like buying a car? You say to the owner "will you take X amount?" and they say yes or no? Or do you need a solicitor to buy a car in scotland too? 
AndyMac
Retired from service
Forget 25 year mortgages (thought they went out with the ark), go for a totally flexible one if you can. The One account is brilliant (used to be Virgin), you get a statement every month and every pay packet knocks down the interest. Really does focus the mind, but you do need to be in a position where you're not totally stretched just to make the minimum payments, which I guess is less likely these days.
Everything is handled by solicitors up here, it's just the way it is. Once an offer is made it can be pretty much legally binding - no pulling out at the last minute like in England.
The system does give a lot more protection once a deal has been agreed. There is no threat of gazumping etc, you don't get chains as an entry date forms part of your offer. The problem with the system in the current market is that it is far too much in the favour of the seller - this really hurts as a first time buyer.
Prices are typically listed as offers over; the survey value of a place will be greater than the offers over price. You go view a place and you can do a few things:
a) get your solicitor to enter a note of interest with the selling solicitor
b) make an offer subject to survey
c) make an offer after getting a survey organised
If you are the first to go look around a place and be interested, you're best off going for b). What a note of interest does for you is mean that if anyone else makes an offer, you have to be informed. Usually once there are 4+ offers a closing date will be set. This is when it goes to sealed bids, with your offer and entry date. Again, you can do this pre or post survey. Some solicitors will advise you to get a survey at this point, as it makes your offer more attractive - that can start to get very costly if it takes you 5 goes to get a place. If I was selling, I'd personally go for the one with the most cash...
When it does go to a closing date, that's when prices start to get higher. Right now, places are typically going for 10 - 20% over the offers over price (which will often be higher than the survey value to, which is the number mortgages are worked out against). There are lots of examples of places going for double the offers over price, especially in the lower end of the market (i.e. your average 1st time buyer). I know of one place that was offers over £345k, and the bloke wanted a minimum of £420k - about 20% over (although at that sort of money I don't think the 20% rule is as hard and fast, as £70k seems a lot just to automatically add on).
The only exception to this above is when something is listed as fixed price. These are either new builds (which you could probably do without a solicitor) or a house that has been on the market for a while that hasn't sold, so they fix the price to make it more attractive to a buyer. The idea is you know what you are paying, and the first to meet that number (or slightly less) gets the place. Fixed price is much more like the rest of the UK, except that an entry date is still fixed, and once it's agreed if anyone pulls out it's something like 30% of the agreed sale price is owed to the wronged party.
It takes a bit of getting used to; there are good bits to both the Scottish and the rest of the UK's system. Take a look at www.aspc.co.uk if anyone is really interested, I think it explains it a bit there.
Sorry for the long answer. If anyone is thinking of moving up it might help...
Mike
The system does give a lot more protection once a deal has been agreed. There is no threat of gazumping etc, you don't get chains as an entry date forms part of your offer. The problem with the system in the current market is that it is far too much in the favour of the seller - this really hurts as a first time buyer.
Prices are typically listed as offers over; the survey value of a place will be greater than the offers over price. You go view a place and you can do a few things:
a) get your solicitor to enter a note of interest with the selling solicitor
b) make an offer subject to survey
c) make an offer after getting a survey organised
If you are the first to go look around a place and be interested, you're best off going for b). What a note of interest does for you is mean that if anyone else makes an offer, you have to be informed. Usually once there are 4+ offers a closing date will be set. This is when it goes to sealed bids, with your offer and entry date. Again, you can do this pre or post survey. Some solicitors will advise you to get a survey at this point, as it makes your offer more attractive - that can start to get very costly if it takes you 5 goes to get a place. If I was selling, I'd personally go for the one with the most cash...
When it does go to a closing date, that's when prices start to get higher. Right now, places are typically going for 10 - 20% over the offers over price (which will often be higher than the survey value to, which is the number mortgages are worked out against). There are lots of examples of places going for double the offers over price, especially in the lower end of the market (i.e. your average 1st time buyer). I know of one place that was offers over £345k, and the bloke wanted a minimum of £420k - about 20% over (although at that sort of money I don't think the 20% rule is as hard and fast, as £70k seems a lot just to automatically add on).
The only exception to this above is when something is listed as fixed price. These are either new builds (which you could probably do without a solicitor) or a house that has been on the market for a while that hasn't sold, so they fix the price to make it more attractive to a buyer. The idea is you know what you are paying, and the first to meet that number (or slightly less) gets the place. Fixed price is much more like the rest of the UK, except that an entry date is still fixed, and once it's agreed if anyone pulls out it's something like 30% of the agreed sale price is owed to the wronged party.
It takes a bit of getting used to; there are good bits to both the Scottish and the rest of the UK's system. Take a look at www.aspc.co.uk if anyone is really interested, I think it explains it a bit there.
Sorry for the long answer. If anyone is thinking of moving up it might help...
Mike
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