djgritt
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Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
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I've heard that this is the sub forum to be seen in these days, so, after selling the VXR to fund a house purchase, it seems like everything has happened really quickly since!
We have just reserved a new plot/build in Shaftesbury, North Dorset. We drove around the existing plots on Friday, viewed a couple during the day on Saturday, then was up there lastnight filling in some initial paperwork and reserving the property.
A 3-Bed Semi, with garden, single garage, and 2-car driveway (albeit nose-tail rather than side-side, unfortunately).
£214,995. Not atall bad for the region either.
Floorplans;
Currently, just a concrete foundation is there, and the garage, strangely. Expected to be ready mid December....
Now we have to choose a Solicitor, apply for the Mortgage and the rest, and then have to decide on what, if any, options we fancy adding. I know fuck all about these processes too, should be fun. 
We are using the Help to Buy scheme for this, we are qualified now so that is one thing down already I guess. 
[Edited on 11-01-2016 by djgritt]
[Edited on 11-03-2016 by djgritt]
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Cavey
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Registered: 11th Nov 02
Location: Derby
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We bought through the Homebuy Direct scheme, solicitor fees were £1500-2000 because of the extra paperwork with the government being involved. (I'm assuming the help to buy will be similar)
We were also forced to use their IFA, the guy was a complete cock, (whch we told Miller, and they said we weren't the first people to say that)... And got us on deals that I thought were unfavourable, but the missus was new to it, so I just agreed to get it all sorted out 
[Edited on 09-09-2015 by Cavey]
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VegasPhil
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Registered: 16th Jan 05
Location: Fareham, Hants Drives: Octavia VRS
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Nice one. Get some regular pics of the build. Surprisingly they are quite interesting to look back on!
Corsa 2.0 16v Vegas - Sold
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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Nice one 
Regarding the whole buying process for newbies, I think everyone is pretty much the same. I hated it as it's very stressful and a lot to take in. I also didn't have a clue what was going on bundles of paperwork to sign and money being spent here there and everywhere.
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spencer88
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Registered: 6th Oct 08
Location: cornwall
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Taylor Whimpey?
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djgritt
Premium Member
Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
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quote:
Originally posted by Cavey
We bought through the Homebuy Direct scheme, solicitor fees were £1500-2000 because of the extra paperwork with the government being involved. (I'm assuming the help to buy will be similar)
We were also forced to use their IFA, the guy was a complete cock, (whch we told Miller, and they said we weren't the first people to say that)... And got us on deals that I thought were unfavourable, but the missus was new to it, so I just agreed to get it all sorted out
We are using their affiliated Advisors, who can access the developers systems etc to keep up on progress with us, which seems good.
We are likely going to use one of their affiliated Solicitors too, as we are getting £1k off of them as part of our deal.
Also, Stamp Duty is being covered by the developers as a buying incentive...
quote:
Nice one. Get some regular pics of the build. Surprisingly they are quite interesting to look back on!
We intend to. The site is fairly local to us, and there are completed homes near our plot, so we can get right in front of it at any time too.
quote:
Nice one
Regarding the whole buying process for newbies, I think everyone is pretty much the same. I hated it as it's very stressful and a lot to take in. I also didn't have a clue what was going on bundles of paperwork to sign and money being spent here there and everywhere.
I am being left to deal with some of the decisions - solicitor, mortgage deal etc. Missus is going to sign what she needs to and pay half of the overall costs.
Luckily, my Aunt works in a large finance and business organisation with lots of involvement in property/banking etc, so she is keeping tabs on us to make sure we don't a) fuck it up and b) get stung.
quote:
Taylor Whimpey?
Charles Church.
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spencer88
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Registered: 6th Oct 08
Location: cornwall
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Was the 215k the advertised price?
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spencer88
Member
Registered: 6th Oct 08
Location: cornwall
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Charles Church are also part of Persimmon - be careful!
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djgritt
Premium Member
Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
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quote:
Originally posted by spencer88
Was the 215k the advertised price?
Yep.
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djgritt
Premium Member
Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
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Progressing...
Paperwork is dull as fuck though. Been difficult to do with being both away from home and on nights, but managed anyway.
Solicitors underway, Mortgage in principle done - full application underway, H2B authority to proceed granted, etc
Build is slowly coming along - first pic is from the day we reserved the place.
Other pics from this weekend. Can't see much mind.
We have an appointment to go through the pplans etc on the 2nd, to be able to move a few things around and choose some of the standard options - we will also likely be notifying them of the chargeable extras we would like to have done too - door changes, kitchen/bathroom upgrades etc.
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VegasPhil
Premium Member
Registered: 16th Jan 05
Location: Fareham, Hants Drives: Octavia VRS
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Will fly up now it's out the ground!
Corsa 2.0 16v Vegas - Sold
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whitter45
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Registered: 15th Nov 02
Location: Norton
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looks great - you are quite over looked by 3 properties though
congratulations - great feeling
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MarkM
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Registered: 11th Apr 01
Location: Liverpool
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Few tips as I bought a new build 3 years ago....
1. Unless you really feel you need to don't take any of the options they offer. They're overpriced and for the same price you can buy much better quality items yourself. For example we were offered a gas fire for £1,500 on the purchase price as the house didn't come with a fireplace. A class 1 chimney was on the outside of the house and all the gas pipework was in the cavity ready for a fire to be installed but unless you accept the offer they plasterboarded over it so you just had a blank wall. The option offered was a standard gas fire with wooden surround. We decided against it and had our own installed. We got a solid limestone surround and much better fire (on a remote control etc) than the builders option and we only had to pay a bit more than the £1,500 the builder wanted. We did the same thing with carpets - we got much better thicker carpets for the same price, wooden flooring, chrome light switches instead of white and turf in the garden etc etc. Yes it may take a while to have it all done but the end spec will be much better and you won't have the cost of those things on the mortgage which you'll pay interest on. In the end we paid approximately 30k lower than the asking price because they builder could finish the build a lot quicker - it was also because we were due to complete at the end of the third quarter and our house was in the final phase on the estate.
2. If you have already agreed to pay the purchase price ask for stuff extra thrown in like better quality appliances etc. I know you've reserved the property and probably paid £500 to do it but the builder won't want to risk losing the sale for he sake of installing better quality stuff.
3. Try and time paying the deposit and then completion until the end of a financial quarter as you'll have more chance of the builder bending over backwards to meet your demands as they'll want the sale in the accounts for that quarter.
3. Make sure before you complete the purchase (pay the balance for the house) that all of the snagging has been completed as once you have the keys you transfer to the builders after sales team. Let's just say the threat of delaying completion because an issue needs to be resolved is the best way to get a builder to pull their finger out! After completion everything takes ages and you dont becaome a priority anymore.
3. If you will be living in the house and they are still building ask the builder to pay for a window cleaner to visit every week until the site has been finished. Again do all this before you pay your deposit (nto the reserve fee). Your windows will be full of dust and they'll be happy to pay the £5 odd a week if it means the sale goes through.
To make the buying process go smoothly ask you solicitor for everything to be done over email so you can print, sign, scan and email documents back to them when required. It just speeds the whole thing up so you don't have to wait for 3-4 days at a time for the post or have to drop things off at their office. Obviously there are a few documents that need hard copies sent to you for signing but the majority of the stuff can be emailed. I think we paid around £1,250 for solicitor fees including disbursements for searches etc for our purchase. I had them emailing everything to my work email so I could print everything off in work and put it into a folder so that way I still had a hard copy of everything.
If I think of anything else I'll let you know.
[Edited on 09-10-2015 by MarkM]
[Edited on 09-10-2015 by MarkM]
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djgritt
Premium Member
Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
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Exchange is done.
State of the build as of this weekend just passed;
Getting there. Current completion estimate is 31/12...
We want to complete mid January instead ideally to reduce our overlap with rent/mortgage.
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MarkM
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Registered: 11th Apr 01
Location: Liverpool
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People moved in next door already? We done that. It wasn't good. Don't really settle in till its competed.
[Edited on 02-11-2015 by MarkM]
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Rob_Quads
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Registered: 29th Mar 01
Location: southampton
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Yup I would be wanting all the windows and my car regularly cleaned in that environment. It will get covered and in horrible stuff like brick dust etc
I would hold back full balance until the road and all services are delivered. A couple of friends have had nightmares trying to get them sorted on their new build
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djgritt
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Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
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quote:
Originally posted by MarkM
People moved in next door already? We did that. It wasn't good. Don't really settle in till its competed.
Our builing/plot and one next door (can see in background just) are the last buildings to be built. Others are done with people in already yeah.
[Edited on 31-10-2015 by djgritt]
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VegasPhil
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Registered: 16th Jan 05
Location: Fareham, Hants Drives: Octavia VRS
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Còngrats on the exchange. I Bet you are very excited!
[Edited on 01-11-2015 by VegasPhil]
Corsa 2.0 16v Vegas - Sold
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djgritt
Premium Member
Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
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Coming along. Brickwork is pretty much done. Front & Rear.
We've had two letters in the last week or so - first (earlier) one said Dec/Jan for completion, second (later) one suggests now December.
Getting a bit more exciting now.
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djgritt
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Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
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So, we completed on the 18th - all happened very quickly towards the end, developer obviously wanted money in the bank sooner...
Feels so good to have our own place now, but still feels a bit weird too.
Spent the weekend with a mate and a LWB Van moving most of our stuff across. Busy but productive. House is looking pretty good in general, although there are a couple of issues on the snag list already. Mostly finishing niggles, but one more 'major' one is that they haven't stuck down any of the vinyl flooring and the other annoying one is no Aerial is fitted so we have no TV until our Sky is installed - we have Aerial sockets in each bedroom that all go to nothing in the loft - frustrating as we paid for additional sockets and you would assume that they would be connected to something...
Couple of bits missing/unfinished too on the outside - no canopy over the front door, where there should be one. The Driveway is not finished as the final building under construction is next door and scaffold is still up - where our drive should be... No garage access for vehicles as a result, but they have boarded it up and put a personnel door there in the interim though, so it can be used as a form of storage.
Still, we have put in all the appliances and also had blinds fitted throughout to gain some more privacy.
Will get some pics once I am off work for Christmas.
Now we have to get on with unpacking, so that we can sort some more of our furniture out - we're hopefully getting some new stuff between Xmas & NY.
Then, we can chill out a bit.
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whitter45
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Registered: 15th Nov 02
Location: Norton
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good man and congratulations
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nibnob21
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Registered: 16th May 10
Location: South Derbyshire
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Congrats. We've been in our new place for about a month now and it still seems a bit odd. Big sense of relief when you finally get in and get unpacked.
Shame about the niggles! I'm guessing they're all things the contractors should sort out fairly promptly and free of charge?
MX5 Project Thread
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Chris C
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Registered: 2nd Jan 05
Location: Hemel Hempstead
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Congratulations, vinyl flooring wouldn't normally be stuck down.
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JM_16v
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Registered: 17th Oct 05
Location: Essex Drives: GLC63S
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quote:
Originally posted by Chris C
Congratulations, vinyl flooring wouldn't normally be stuck down.
yes it would
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Jimbothebarbarian
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Registered: 19th Apr 07
Location: Cumbria..........drunk..
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quote:
Originally posted by JM_16v
quote:
Originally posted by Chris C
Congratulations, vinyl flooring wouldn't normally be stuck down.
yes it would
Have do disagree, had it fitted in both a new build and on several occasions to replace old floor coverings, and it's not been stuck down.
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