Ralphlauren:


I have a lot to share but I will start with pricing.

Houses are usually advertised as FIXED PRICE, OFFERS IN THE REGION OF and OFFERS ABOVE A CERTAIN PRICE.

Before you place a bid or even consider buying a property, the first thing you should look at and read carefully is the valuation report (called the Home report in Scotland). This report is prepared by a valuer registered with the Royal institute of Chartered Surveyors and it details independent checks carried out by the valuer on the property, the reinstatement value of the property and most importantly, the value of the property in the open market.

The value of the property as stated in the valuation report should be compared with the starting price advertised by the sellers and the price at which similar properties have sold within the same area for a particular period.

Please note that there isn't any bank that will lend you money (mortgage) that is higher than the value of the property stated on the valuation report. A lot of first time buyers make this mistake/false assumption and when they realise they can't fork out the difference, they pull put of the purchase and the sale falls through, leaving them with legal fees and disgusted sellers, etc.

For example, if a property is valued by the valuer as £300,000 and the seller asks for offers above £300,000 and he accepts a bid of £350,000, the bank will lend up to £300,000. This means the buyer would have to put down a deposit of 15% of £300,000 (most lenders are currently not accepting deposits below 15% because of the current economic uncertainty due to covid) and the £50,000 difference will come from the sellers purse plus additional legal fees. So in total, the buyer is putting down £95,000 as deposit.

Its very important not to get carried away with bidding wars and pay over the value of a property. My first purchase was advertised as fixed price and I was able to get £1000 knocked off as the property didn't come with a fridge/freezer and washing machine. Personally, I have never bought a property above the value stated on the valuation report. I take my time, do my research and get the one that fits my budget.

When bidding/buying a property, calculator is your best friend. you need to have a budget and stick to it. During bidding, start with £1000 above the guide price and instruct your lawyers to keep in regular touch with the seller's solicitors until you agree on an acceptable bid or you walk away.

My most recent purchase was advertised as asking for offers £10,000 below the value of the property. I started bidding by adding £1,000 each time and after some back and forth and assurances to them that missives will be completed within 5 weeks, they accepted a final sale price which was exactly the value as seen on the valuation report.

I will also suggest leaving an impression with the sellers during viewing. I have a friend who bidded for a property but the sellers accepted a lower bid from a young couple because they said my friend was buying the property for investment unlike the young couple that were just starting out with a baby on the way.

If you are not the first time buyer of the property, I will suggest you look at the previous sale price and how much the property has appreciated or depreciated in value throughout its history. You can do same for similar properties in the area and this will give you an idea on the potential future value of the property.

Set up property notification alerts on zoopla, rightmove, espc, etc and arrange a viewing as soon as you see a property you like. The earlier you put in a bid before other buyers, the better. You do not have to wait until your lawyers put in an offer on your behalf. Let the selling solicitors know that you would like to put in an informal note of interest and your solicitors will be in touch.

You also have to consider legal fees, mortgage advisor fees and stamp duty fees.

Stamp duty fees are so annoying. What you pay depends on if the value of your property is above a certain threshold and whether or not its your first home/main home. There is currently stamp duty holiday which i believes end in March.

Finally, interior decor of a property is key. It can influence the value of a property and attract big spenders to purchase the property.

If you have other questions, tag me and I'll respond.

Thank you for these explanations.

But from what I understand,you don't get to do the valuation of the property until you have placed a bid and it has been offered.

The only way I have been checking the prices is by using the data gotten on Zoopla or right move coupled with ourproperty.co.uk.

Or I'm I mistaken?

Inkredible:
Sun flexing most probs.

Amazing.
Was this shot with OnePlus? If yes with Gcam?

TRAY2:


In addition to what Lexusgs had said, Check on rightmove.co.uk for houses and click on the house of your choice you will find the cost of houses sold around that area,then use it as a bargaining proof,and the thing is if the house is overvalued during valuation your lender might reject the price, for me i was lucky the owner was my colleague who was retiring and relocating, so it was direct no estate agents involved, as for new builds i try to avoid them as the rooms are quite small most without wardropes, but more energy efficient, as the developers are more interested in making profit. I hope you get sorted soon.

Thanks.
Zoopla has this feature to. It sometimes states how much it was last sold.

You're right, new builds are energy efficient, but the rooms are tiny, even the lounge, garden.....

Lucky you indeed.

Endlessgrace:


This is it
First time buyers- advice and discussion uk

Joined, thanks

LagosismyHome:


Some houses in uk have made a killing especially london in terms of appreciation. You see prices way over the average salary affordability and yet once listed it doesnt stay in the market for london. It crazy

I been tracking house prices fall for some years and have given up hope that it happening anytime soon. Instead it goes up and up

London is on another level. The closer you are to London, the more expensive properties are.

Endlessgrace:


Firstly I’ll recommend you register on ‘checkmyfile’ it’s a platform that has all the three credit agencies (Equifax, Experian and transunion). They’ll be able to give you a comprehensive credit report from all the three and i think the first month is free. The score isnt as important as your report(missed payments, ccjs, UVA, etc) so look out for that.

Secondly, register with developers for new builds or estate agents for old builds. Most houses would have been on the estate agents’ websites for some time before finding its way to Zoopla, Rightmove and others. And with the current climate (due to stamp duty holiday) properties are gone before you can say ‘jack’.

Only offer what you feel a house is worth to you and never go overboard, there’s no crime in putting down any offer, the worst that can happen is the seller saying no or to decline your offer.

There are lots of property buying groups you can join on Facebook, they helped me a lot when i was getting my place.

If you have more specific questions, feel free to ask and I’ll try my best to answer the little i know

I did Experian free trial and my record is clean. However, they miraculously deducted 52 points saying that I'm not on the electoral roll, which because I reconfirmed for the electoral office.

I would check on the estate agents website as advised.

Could you please give names of this groups. "Property buying uk". Isn't bringing valuable results.

Thanks for your input.

EngrSaks:



On the market for 6 months can mean the home owner is asking for an above market price. On the flip side it could be that the deals keep falling through and you would get an owner who would want to sell fast...

Go as low as you want, houses currently on the market are overpriced so feel free to take off as much as 20%...if they reject the offer you can top up a little...

Thank you for this. But if an advert says bids over 800..... Can one go ahead and bid below the price?

Lexusgs430:




Before you start making any bids at all..............

Do yourself this very big favour, register with www.ourproperty.co.uk.............

By taking/making this vital step, you would see how much properties sold for within set miles (going back about 10 years)........

You might even see the property, you are intending to place a bid on (to know how much then wan chop for your head)...........

I have registered. Thanks.

The thing get has e be. Some houses on Zoopla includes their price as seen on land registry.

Sometimes I don't understand how they come about their prices within a short period of time.

Do houses appreciate as fast as bitcoin

Senior home owners, how did you lowball(made a bid).

I have read almost all articles online. The advice is 10 to 15%.

However, checking Zoopla for houses that have been sold, there's an average of just 5k off the listing.

Is there any tip about making a good and acceptable. tip from your personal experiences?

Can you lowball a listing that says "prices over..." Or guide price "30-50". Even though it has been on the market for almost 6 months.

Tray2, RalphLauren, justwise, Lexusgs430... plus everyone that has an advice.

Btw, credit score is taking shape and working on getting my records from TransUnion and Equifax.
Thanks to everyone that gave their input.

erico2k2:

14 hours is a learner, some up to two days, you won't even feel it wen yu get put on a 5 star plus hotel as the case of Egypt air, I loved it 2013 lol

They didn't collect your passport. They did in 2019 tho.

Activist001:
Braket how far. You still dey alive?

How are you doing man. Long time. I just read your thread from start to finish and you did a nice job showing us how life is in Germany from the eyes of an average Nigerian. Thanks.

I'm still alive and well. I'm just enjoying myself and cutting down social media presence

justwise:
[/b]

How is that done?

*365#.
TheGuyFromHR. This is the second consecutive year I have opted-in for this and my number still works. It the second sim on my phone. I recently switched it off because I'm tired of the spam texts that keeps entering.

Plus I was also able to check my NIN enrollment with. So it still works.

mimilyrics:
Okay. I'll definitely check them out once the restrictions are eased because I still need my Naija number, can't lose it now after the stress of loading it and using it for a call every 3-6 months.

You know you can opt-in for keep my number? You pay a certain fee yearly to keep the number. I know mtn does this.

Lexusgs430:



I arrived in the winter, many moons ago..... I wore a jeans, t-shirt, socks, hings boxers, hings singlet, jeans jacket + brown brogues and face cap...... With £5.00 in my back pocket.....

All essential checking out tools...........


Wow, nostalgic moments. Got goosebumps all over my skin, reminiscing on this.............

Many many months you mean?

wonlasewonimi:


Banks are generally crazy in this country, they can decide to close your account without giving a valid reason. Most of the time they rely on automated alerts which could trigger the closure.
This is how they coined computer says No.

Right, I think it is in their terms and conditions not to say why.

But they ought to have notified the owner about the closure.

mdeeokoye:
I am more of .Net MVC,.Net Core,Angular and React Js guy. Honestly i think there are lots of roles for different stacks. My coding test was to analyse a set of data, create a schema around it, perform some CRUDE operations around it, created a UI and there were marks allocated to proper coding standards around it and further additions and effizy you can add that earns you extra points. But the Q&A was alot around .Net/ Core, Architecture and Behavioural questions.

Thank you. Congratulations on your new role.
I didn't know how popular C# was until I started seeing them in 90% of job searches.

Lexusgs430:



You dey find expo.........

Is it bad ni?

mdeeokoye:
So i will share my experience. I got in Oct 17th 2020, I happen to be a software engineer and i can say that there are lots of opportunities in Software engineering once you know the craft and got some good experience. I got in on a Saturday and started applying on Monday lol. I enrolled and uploaded my CV in Total Jobs and edited my CV and took out the locations from my work places (watched this from a video and felt it made some sense) but my last role as a Software Engineer in one of the Big fours and a dev project for a US firm i added the location because i felt it will stand out.
I had a family friend that got me a GifGaff SIM the weekend i got in because i felt they will call. On Monday i received lots of calls and started interviews the next day, interestingly most of them went well, for those with software experience just study algorithms and data structures, although different firms have their own type of questions. One of the recruiters i spoke to that day said she has a role that just has two stages of interview and they are one of the big players in the Insurance sector in Uk and US, i saw the JD i loved it!, did the first interview, it was a Q&A with their Head of Engineering and some senior engineers, i was struggling to hear some of the questions but again they were not so difficult i did well and they scheduled the next day for the final phase which was a coding test to be submitted in two hours and i did it before the allocated time and went into a Pair Programming exercise and as God may have it also went well. We discussed salaries and they gave me an offer on Friday same week and i resumed 2nd December.
I recently applied for NI so the HR said that would not be a problem as i should update it on the portal once its ready. About my experiences so far, its been an interesting one even though we are all working from home due to the lockdown and most developers are scattered around the country and it seems to be a work from home policy till june next year i think.
Lastly i was specific about the firm because they are amongst the list of firms that can provide sponsorship and we spoke about its possibility next year. If you are a developer i think you will do fine in the UK! Cheers!!!

Thanks for the update. With the job ads I'm seeing, there's a lot of opportunities in the uk software sector. Not surprised you finished recruitment within two weeks.

Do you mind stating your stack and what the coding test you did entailed.
It will be really helpful.

maternal:


Someone has already posted the article. Ottawa to be exact. But any major Canadian city really. Transit operators have a strong union, and a good CBA. So unless you know what's in the CBA, you're just speculating. Your head is scattered because your parents lied to you. You can't comprehend how a bus driver with only a secondary school education, and a drivers license can make over 179k per year. According to your father that's not possible. They also receive amazing benefits and a nice pension plan when they retire since they are government employees. Hence why I was laughing at that lawyer that doesn't want to do "dirty jobs". You think he ever sniffed 170k=over 52 million naira in one year as a rubbish lawyer in naija ?

These said jobs must be very easy to do

Sholaystar4me:
Well, UK has the best Healthcare system in the world.

Will edit and submit an evidence to back this claim up in the morning

Used to. There are other European countries with better Healthcare system than UK.

I know Germany does.

Let's see how well you have travelled through the eyes of Nairalander's.

Where is this?

By now it's no news that everywhere hot. Although, not crazy hot as last year yet.

I'm currently outside in a nearby park lying on the floor and looking at the stars in the sky . I took too much cappuccino and I can't sleep even though I really want to.

Anyways, my mind flashed back to when I was in Nigeria and we often have to lay outside at night because of too much heat, I remembered how horrible it used to be.

The mosquitoes feasting on us, wild neighborhood cats and rats running over us sometimes. It's really hard to chill outside in Nigeria except maybe you live in a penthouse in which I unfortunately didn't live in.

styles2009:


you and small small bills, anyway forward all the prescriptions and receipt to your insurance, they ought to balance you up.

My insurer hasn't responded to my mail yet. Holiday periods

Danielhouston:


I don’t use extensions. I just dread my natural hair and leave it to grow. You can go to work with dreads or braids or whatever hairstyle, nobody cares. Anybody who talks about your hair is discriminating against you. Except it is written in your contract. IT professionals even wear slippers to work. You can have red hair like chicken and earring falling from your tongue, nobody cares. As long as you can do your work.

Thanks. Let me wait till I can do my job well

Danielhouston:
In today’s rant. I’m tired of the black hairdressers we have in Berlin. I wish we could have more experienced hairdressers here. They don’t keep to appointments and even when they show up late, they don’t apologize. Many of them also don’t know what they’re doing.

One lady from Ghana was trying to fix dreadlocks on my hair last week, she almost ripped out my skull. She was so rude as well and had no experience, whatsoever. Fixing dreadlocks here can cost up to €140 for one person. Imagine how much money they could make if they had more clients. Even office workers make €10 per hour, working for 8 hours a day.

Anybody coming here, who hopes to practice any kind of handwork, pls learn it well and be able to do it well. The world has evolved past amateur service. In Germany if you want to go to a barbing salon, you have to make an appointment beforehand and you have to be punctual. You cannot just walk into a salon to get a haircut without prior appointment.
Some Turkish salons would allow it if they don’t have many customers and African salons don’t mind. But in general, it is the professional thing to do.

Do you use lock extensions? If yes where do you get them from?

Might be safe to ask if it's fine to show up with dreadlocks or braided hair to an office work(IT). I have been confused about this for a while now.

Any advice on this?
https://www.loqbox.com/en_gb/how-it-works/

Lexusgs430:


Open another account to run parallel, push funds to said account and enjoy your overdraft.......

Overdraft is like a loan, so it builds your credit profile.......

Okay thanks for the heads-up. Will work on this for the main time

Lexusgs430:



Braket....... See what you made me do...... Hope you would fill the bracket, when the bill starts to appear..........

Twale oh. Let's order Lexus or umidigi nah?

Can overdraft be used to increase credit score? Plus how do I use overdraft when I'm not low on cash in the said account?

ecstacy29:


Same here. I was offered a £500 CC when I started banking with them but I refused out of fear/not understanding the way CC works. After I had gathered info on this platform and from others, I went back, applied and was offered a £2k CC and £4k OD.

If I may ask, what year was this? Did you apply for it online or in branch?
They keep referring back online and won't do it for me in branch.

Summer Queen

missjekyll:
HSBC is a very newly arrived expatriate oriented bank. They can also offer you a credit card straight off. I would suggest asking your employer for an advance on your salary instead. such advances are interest free .

Goodluck to you.

Hsbc credit card straight off? Maybe in the past. After one year of banking with them, they are still refusing my credit card app.

styles2009:


That's a bit strange , please forward the receipt and doctor's prescriptions to your insurance and ask for refund cos you should be refunded.

Ja, I already sent an email to my insurance company. But the most recent payment I made is €12 for paracetamol and ambro....