Home Buying in the U.K

We plan to start house-hunting as soon as we get to Bath in early summer, and I'm dreading the whole process. We just listed our house over here a few days ago, and I am already tired of keeping it spotless, clearing out in short notice--and if this bugs me I can't imagine how I'll handle house-buying on the other end!

I went along while a friend viewed a house when we were living there before, and I was--bemused shall we say?--by the state of the house. Piles of dirty laundry all over the floor and someone had had a proper fry-up for breakfast and not bothered to even clean the pot.

And don't you feel really wierd looking at houses and being toured around by the homeowners themselves. I'm sure we had an open house thing when we would move back in the US and we'd scatter out of the house while the agent showed the house.

We only saw one house that was occupied and I felt really uncomfortable having her right there watcing us look at her house.

  This is my first post here and I could not resist getting in this discussion.  We have been here in a rented house for one year and I can't wait to move into my own house!  We have had our own homes for the past fourteen years, and renting in the UK feels awful.  The place was a mess when we moved in and the Landlord did as much as he was willing to do to make me happy, but it wasn't enough to make me feel at home.  We began our property search in earnest in the fall and finally found a place that fit the bill.  So, we put an offer on the place at the end of January and I must admit, the process was slow at first because we didn't know what we were supposed to do next!!  Aside from the solicitor going on a three week holiday just after we hired him, we have had great treatment by the estate agent so far.  The broker that we chose tried to blame us and then the mortgage company for the delay in getting a valuation survey ordered and done, and I just have had to be the squeaky wheel, and make phone calls to babysit the process along.  I told the broker that I didn't really care whose fault it was, I just wanted to get this moving and if I had to chose another broker, I would.  The estate agent told me today, when I warned him about the mortgage company that we chose (as having a history of mistakes and delays), that they haven't met me yet!!!   Well, I got the ball moving this week (with all the calls) and the valuation is set for Monday,  the full building survey for Thursday.  We will be out of the UK all of April and it would be great to be moved by the end of March but maybe I am dreaming???  Anyways, the solicitor will be back from his holiday on Monday or Tuesday and there is no chain, so all should proceed smoothly with me on everyones tail, right???  I am actually learning more here in the UK about buying a house because of all that I have had to do in the process, compared with the States, where we just sat back and waited for the various parties to contact us and the agent managed it all.  So, if anyone out there needs a house buying manager, or has any questions, maybe I can answer some questions.  We even went to an auction and bid on a property, but it went for higher than our budget in the end.  I will let you all know when we sign those papers. 

Debi

Debi, it sounds like we've been having the same sort of problems with the broker, even them trying to place blame on everyone else!

The mortgage company is doing their survey on Wednesday, we hope to get a response by Thursday and hopefully get the contracts exchanged the week after. I hope I hope!

To you new homeowners: how long where you in the UK before you decided to buy?

My wife and I have only been here 6 months but we already love London so much we're considering buying a small flat on the outskirts.  But I've heard nightmare stories that if you don't have permanent leave of residency that you cannot get a good mortgage rate.  My wife has a 4-year work and residency visa if that makes a difference. And we already have UK credit cards and always pay our UK bills on time. 

We also still own a house in Virginia, which we just bought two years ago. We bought our house in a day including closing...Sounds like the UK house buying process is a LOT more complicated!

I was here just under a year but my husband (the Brit) has been here quite awhile longer.  He was living in a flat across the street when I moved in with him.  I was there about 7 months, during which we married.  The house across the street came up for sale and we bought it.

To you new homeowners: how long where you in the UK before you decided to buy?

I've been here just under 2 1/2 years.  DH was renting a flat in Middlesbrough when I moved over and we then went on to rent a house when we moved up to Newcastle.

But I've heard nightmare stories that if you don't have permanent leave of residency that you cannot get a good mortgage rate.  My wife has a 4-year work and residency visa if that makes a difference. And we already have UK credit cards and always pay our UK bills on time.

I don't know what the penalties would be, but our mortgage guy did check to see that I had ILR.  I would assume that those without ILR would either pay a larger down payment, receive a higher interest rate, or be subject to some sort of indemnity.  I do know that some of my colleagues who applied for mortgages whilst working on non-permanent contracts had to pay an indemnity, which they got back when they were made permanent.

We also still own a house in Virginia, which we just bought two years ago. We bought our house in a day including closing...Sounds like the UK house buying process is a LOT more complicated!

Things do take longer over here.  DH and I are in a good position as we're first time buyers buying a new house, so there's no chain involved and all of the surveys are more or less a formality.   From reserving the house to exchange should take about 4 weeks in our case.

I've been here little over 3 years now. We only waited this long to buy a house because we simply couldn't afford it before.

I'm afraid I don't know about any penalties either. My lender hasn't mentioned it to us at all although just today they've taken a copy of my visa. They say it's to prove I can legally work (I'm a legal secretary, it's not like I'm going to be working illegally as a legal secretary) but I think that as I've been here 3 years, they'll realise I'm permanent. In any event, they can't raise the price as they've already given us a fixed quote.

And we put in the offer at the end of January and we're hoping that we'll close in two weeks. Two months isn't so bad here, apparently.

My huband and I have been here a year before we have finally made an offer that was accepted on a property.  I do know that six months is a minimum time to be here before applying for a loan, and it was suggested to us that we wait a year. 

Ashley, with all my telephone calling last week, the surveyor managed to do the valuation this past Monday and we will meet with our solicitor tomorrow to find out what is next and how long it will take.  It sounds like you already know! 

We have run into quite a bit of a snag, though.  We were counting on remortgaging our house in the States to get the needed extra cash, as we didn't qualify for a mortgage quite big enough to buy a house in London.  Well, the mortgage person in the States has just informed us that she cannot get us a loan/ refinance anywhere, as we don't have a US income but a British income.  On top of all that, my husband let his green card (US) expire and so that has made it impossible to get that counted upon remortgage.  And, just today, the broker told us that the bank was prepared to offer us a loan of £10,000 less that what he had quoted us.  So, in all we are about £30-£40,000 short.  I just have to laugh, as this is the biggest problem we have faced so far.  The full structural survey, that we have paid £879 for, is happening tomorrow.   

I will keep you all posted, but the important thing to remember in this process is, don't get to stressed out, because at the end of the day, it is not what really counts in life, is it?
Debi

Out of curiosity,is it at all possible to get a home loan with the US part of the couple not having been there the 3 years Ive heard it takes to establish credit?

We wouldnt be looking to buy immediately, but wed also like to not have to wait 3 years either if its possible.

Out of curiosity,is it at all possible to get a home loan with the US part of the couple not having been there the 3 years Ive heard it takes to establish credit?

We wouldnt be looking to buy immediately, but wed also like to not have to wait 3 years either if its possible.

Yes, it's possible.  Our purchase was based pretty much entirely on DH's credit history (and income) -- my name was added onto the mortgage and property deed/registration nearly at the very end of the process.

[quote author=Ashley link=topic=20608.msg267083#msg267083 date=1140809676

The mortgage company is doing their survey on Wednesday, we hope to get a response by Thursday and hopefully get the contracts exchanged the week after. I hope I hope!

Ashley, have you a date set to exchange contracts yet???  I am excited for you.  We dont know when we will exchange contracts although our solicitor said that he is ready today!  We are figuring out how to come up with the money we expected from a refinance in the States that fell through (see previous post).  We must delay the contract exchange until we know we can get the money together.  But the broker sure moved fast with my calls...
Debi

No, not yet. We today got word that the valuation went smoothly and nothing was flagged up. Now we're just waiting for the mortgage offer. I'm told Halifax is good with getting those out. I reckon we're looking at around 2-3 weeks until we complete. 

Sorry to hear about the refinance falling through. Hopefully you'll be able to think of something soon.

We received our Mortgage offer in the mail today!  We could have exchanged contracts today if we were sure that we would come up with all of the needed money for completion.  I am not sure what we will do yet.  Hubby is looking into loans from abroad, so we will probably ask a relative for a temporary loan  not exactly a pleasant idea...  Oh and also the mortgage offer was £7000 less than the broker quoted us, so we had to call the mortgage company and request a higher amount and a longer term mortgage.

Good luck. 

I think if anyone is purchasing a house in this country for the first time, just remember that you will probably need to do what you can to speed things up, ie, calls to the broker, the solicitor, and the surveyors.  I actually was calling three surveyors to get the one that could do the soonest valuation and full structural survey.  In the end, they were competing and changed dates to get our business. 

Debi

DW (British citizen) and myself (not a British citizen at time of buying) bought our house in the UK in 2003, 1 year and 3 months after both of us had moved here from the States.  We only rented in the US so were truely first time buyers.

The mortgage lender didn't ask me for any visa information or balk at lending to us as we had the 20% downpayment which was enough for them to risk lending to us without any checks.  I was a little concerned they might ask me for a bunch of stuff so I was happy that the Halifax didn't bother with any of that.  Especially as even DW hadn't lived permanently in the UK since 1998.

I'm not sure what would happen if we were to move back to the UK and buy a house as she is not a US citizen and I will not have lived in the US since 2002.  I suppose if we sold our house in the UK we'd hopefully have a big enough downpayment to allay any concerns.