Trying to buy a house in this area is near impossible

[LondonMix]

In Scotland the seller has a survey done that is provided to the buyer before they can market the property as well as an independent valuation.

Therefore, the buyer has no risk on that side and makes an offer in full knowledge of the state of the property and the valuation it will have that a bank can rely on. In my opinion that is how it should be. Its much more stressful to make an offer as a buyer, and then only find out after you've paid for a survey that the property has subsidence or serious damp and that the morgage company values it below what the seller was asking.

Having the seller be responsible for the survey and valuation is why in Scotland you can go fully binding at the offer stage on both sides-- gazumping is illegal.

[Mick Mac]

I wouldn't swap the Scottish system for ours.

Buyers have to pay for a survey on a house they may never get. They may have to do this often.

Every sale if effectively an auction - highest bid wins and no visibility on what other buyers are possibly offering.

I think that's how it works anyway.

[KidKruger]

Sorry I don't get this bit, apols if I'm missing something obvious:

"In Scotland the seller has a survey done that is provided to the buyer before they can market the property..."

If survey is provided to the buyer before the property can be marketed, how did the buyer find out the property was for sale ?

[AbDabs]

LondonMix Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> In Scotland the seller has a survey done that is

> provided to the buyer before they can market the

> property as well as an independent valuation.

>

> Therefore, the buyer has no risk on that side and

> makes an offer in full knowledge of the state of

> the property

It's a really nice idea to imagine that a surveyor will act equally for those who don't pay him/her and for those that do but I wouldn't rely upon something that I hadn't paid for directly. And when was the survey done? I know that houses are selling before the details are typed up in ED but elsewhere properties can sit on the market for months. Things happen in that time; drains collapse, slates fall, trees grow.

As Mick Mac says, buyers still have to pay for surveys and end up paying for far more of them.

[Otta]

Mick Mac Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Twirly Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> I can get just a

> > little bit more..." and keep on marketing after

> > they've accepted an offer.

>

>

> Likewise a buyer can offer the asking price

> immediately to secure "exclusivity" and then

> further down the line start to eat away at the

> offered price when the survey comes up with

> relatively minor issues.

Which is exactly why it would be a good idea for both parties to put some money in the pot.

But I have to say, that even if an issue is "minor", if it's going to cost the buyer money after they've basically put everything they've got in to buying the property, why shouldn't they chip a bit off the price?

[Otta]

LondonMix Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> How's the flat search going Otta?

If all goes well, we'll be moving mid Feb...

Paying ?5k less than he had it on the market for, but ?10k more than similar properties on the same estate. But just want to get it done. Buying a flat in a block on an estate was never really the dream home I'd imagined, but that's where we are, and what we can manage, so that's what we're doing.

At least I'll inherit half a house in ED one day... :-S

[Help-Ma-Boab]

MrBen will be along in a minute MM...

Offers over in Scotland. I think all the solicitors know each other and have a fairly good idea of what the other offers maybe. Never bought a house/flat but its something along those lines.

Mick Mac Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I wouldn't swap the Scottish system for ours.

>

> Buyers have to pay for a survey on a house they

> may never get. They may have to do this often.

>

> Every sale if effectively an auction - highest bid

> wins and no visibility on what other buyers are

> possibly offering.

>

> I think that's how it works anyway.

[Twirly]

In Scotland, the seller has a survey done, and it has to be redone/update every three months if the property hasn't sold. The survey is available to the buyer from day one, so you'll know if you're taking on somewhere that has to have a new roof, etc. It's a bit like the EPC, but obviously more extensive, you currently have done when selling in England.

What I don't get about the Scottish system is the "offers over" system, and that didn't work for us. Scottish buyers are taking on that part of the English system, seeing the price set and in a buyer's market (which it was when we sold the flat) and making offers under (as happens here too in a buyer's market. Of course we are effectively adopting that part of the system here, and yes, an auction is taking place - your home is valued, put on the market and with the current feeding frenzy out there, offers over the asking price come in and some are going to sealed bids.

[simonethebeaver]

The whole area is the same unfortunately. By area, I mean every neighbouring bit of East Dulwich and some beyond.

[lane lover]

I think you will find most of London is increasing at a rapid rate. Forest Hill and others around ED are also benefitting.

Its about what you can afford, and dont forget to allow for interest rates to increase by at least 3% in the next 5 years.

[Twirly]

I suggest you try further afield, although it probably won't have quite the same feel.

After extensive research, we started looking in Carshalton and ended up buying in Wallington - we're getting a 3 bed semi with garden and double garage (for my massage business/a craft studio!) for an extra ?30k on the cost of our 2 bed, gardenless flat in ED. I reckon the commute (via East Croydon to Mayfair) will probably take an extra 15 minutes or so, but will obviously cost quite a bit more. It seems very green, quite friendly, and every time I tell anyone where we're moving I either get "ooh, it's nice around there" or "that's quite up and coming! - exactly the comments I got when I said I was moving to ED over 15 years ago (though I am not expecting it to go quite the same way!).

ED is lovely, but it has changed enormously and will continue to do so with more people with more money coming into the area.

[MrBen]

Sigh. Even allowing for some minor flaws and my natural bias, the Scottish system beats England's hands down. Speaking of which I'm currently selling my grandparents ex-council house in Queensferry. End of terrace, 3 beds, nice garden, quiet friendly street and by a park. View of the famous bridges from the back bedroom. All for ?125,000 Londoners.

[MrBen]

I'll even sell it for ?115,000 because all of the proceeds are going to Edinburgh Council to cover care home costs.

Otta - congratulations and hope the move goes well. If you stand to inherit part of the house one day, make sure you transfer it into your name 7+ years in advance of your parents leaving. We didnt.

[Mick Mac]

I had in mind that Scottish buyers did their own survey before making the offer. That may have been the case once. But agree if the seller does it as part of the sales pack that makes sense.

[Mick Mac]

IHT, Mr Ben, a horrible tax to pay and an unwelcome burden on the bereaved. Double sympathy.

[Ratpack]

We had a flat in East Dulwich and wanted to upgrade. We looked everywhere and by chance when cycling out to the country found this lovely place called West Wickham - half an hour from Dulwich. It's on the edge of the countryside but 10 mins by bus to Bromley. There are loads of houses coming on the market that need loads of work and they've all got huge gardens, garages and big rooms. Also the schools are really good.

It's a bit old at the moment but it's got a lovely community feel, a nice leisure centre, library and a Marks and Spencers food.

It's a real find and well worth a look.

[muffins78]

Only caught the end if this thread, need to read more of it. But just thought I'd say to be aware that when you do a PET (the 7 year thing for IHT purposes), that if it is a home, the person who transfers the property, and if they remain living in it, will have a reservation of benefit. Therefore subject to tax based on what would have been gained if the property was rented out for instance.

Sorry, if it's written badly, my eyes are shutting with tiredness :) But that's it on a high level.

[Mick Mac]

Parents can gift the house and rent it back at market value rent while still living in it until death but suggest it needs professional advice for it to work.

[KidKruger]

Pretty sick how the money / assets you graft for all your life, paying tax all the while, doesn't even entitle you to try assist your offspring when you're dead without further tax. I wonder what the final tax % paid is in these circumstances.

[????]

Yup, of course you can do what Mick says. Well known men of the people marxist/socialists such as Mr R Milliband and Mr Tony Benn did or have done this without a hint of principle all property is theft apart from my ?4 million pad in Holland park eh Tony...easy enough to renounce a peerage but less so your own dosh eh....Socialist hypocrite tosser

[Loz]

IHT is a middle class tax. Poor people don't pay it and rich people have good enough tax advisers so they can avoid it.

[Romnarz]

If you cannot afford a house in this area you have to look elsewhere , it's that simple ! I would like to live in Knightsbridge ( as I once did years ago ) but now can't afford to so I have to slum it in Dulwich.

[ratty]

Lots of anger from ????s there.

[Trevor Moore]

You can find out completed sale prices of properties by specific address here: http://houseprices.landregistry.gov.uk/ - as far as I can tell, Zoopla just averages out and can't differentiate much, but if you know something that's directly comparable to yours, you can get more of an idea on the Land Reg site. No doubt +/- several per cent, depending on when the sale took place etc.

[BigED]

I have no problem with IHT - you worked for your money, not your offspring or other beneficiaries of your will. It's not a tax on the recipient's earned income but on an unearned windfall. If IHT troubles people so much, they should spend it during their lifetime.