Well things are currently in Limbo in regards to the flat below. We have let our neighbour know our interest and have given an offer of £198,000.00. However, she indicated that they would probably be unable to accept this. She intends to speak to the bank next week and also take a look at the house prices in general to consider what they may be able to buy. She has said however, that she will speak to us first before approaching an estate agent to place the property on the market.
It really has been an extremely stressful time for both my wife and me. We really would like to purchase the flat below if my neighbour does decide to sell, but we will be stretching ourselves financially if we do this. It is also very dependant on a survey of the property, as the surveyor would need to give an estimate of how much he believes the property can be let for. If this comes out significantly less than we would need to let this for, then we’re scuppered.
Part of me wishes that we hadn’t gone to Canada earlier this year as the extra money would have made it much more likely that we would have been able to purchase the flat. Then again, when we went on holiday we really had no idea of what the future would hold and besides it really was an excellent and very much needed holiday.
If only we could win the lottery (that is if the local lottery was worth winning!)
As I said, all very, very stressful.
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4 comments:
Yup, I'd forgotten how stressful buying property is. And I agree about Canada, BUT we did have a fantastic time, AND we really did need that holiday :) Guess I'll just have to hope for a miracle too :-/
Here's to knowing 1 way or the other......
I have a useful (or possibly useless!) suggestion. Find out the rateable value of the flat and, if possible, the dimensions of the rooms. Then phone 3 or 4 estate agents and ask what they would expect the flat could be rented for. If you take the average result then the surveyor is likely to come up with a similar figure. I would expect the rent to be at least £1,050 per month.
....Marie has just pointed out to me that the usual max mortgage on a buy-to-let is 75% of the valuation and that she seems to remember that banks usually want the monthly rent to be at least 130% of the monthly interest payments.
I know this is an obvious statement (but I'm not good at things that aren't obvious) but you could consider increasing your mortgage on your current flat (lower interest rate than buy-to-let) and the excess just needs to be secured on the buy-to-let property. (You'd need to check on the level of the bond you have on the current flat - this may need increasing)
This will lower the buy-to-let mortgage amount and make it easier to pass the 75%/130% benchmarks.
...Then you've only got the very small problem of actually PAYING the mortgages......which if you plan working until you are 103 should be no problem at all! ;-)
Hi, thanks for all the suggestions. I must admit that I’m rather lost in the potential mine field of mortgages and properties. We are looking at increasing our current mortgage and then using the excess towards the buy to let. Thankfully we are leaving most of the details at present to an independent mortgage specialist to sort through and work out. Only once we have potentially agreed upon a sale price will I sift through all the finances to see if we can realistically afford to go through with the transaction.
Yeah paying the mortgage will come a shock I’m sure… Why can’t these sort of things come free???
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