₦airaland Forum

Ralphlauren:
I shared the info below last year on the old thread. Its still very relevant with the exception of the stamp duty holiday which was closed last year.

https://www.nairaland.com/4158866/living-uk-life-uk-immigrant/523#98157720

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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. grin

When bidding/buying a property, calculator is your best friend. grin 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.

Ticha:
All this applies to England and Wales. In Scotland, you can skip the survey part as a home valuation pack is always included from the get go and solicitors also handle the negotiation process.

1. Firstly get an approval in principle. It's easier to get this from your own bank. It doesn't tie you to them either. An approval in principle or decision in principle gives you a very good ball park of how much the bank (give or take most banks) will lend you. This tells you what sort of budget to set when you eventually start house hunting. A broker can also do this for you. Use a whole of market broker. Some brokers aee restricted to certain lenders. If in doubt, use London and Country. They have brokers everywhere.

2. Set up an alert on Rightmove. There is a chrome extension called property log - it shows you what changes have been made to listed properties, how long they've been listed for etc. Some agents will remove and relist a property every 14 days if it's not selling. Some will tinker slightly with the prices often. Property log shows you all this.

3. Decide on where and then what you want to buy. Where - location, access to schools, transport links or hubs. What - house, flat, no of bedrooms. Semi, mid or stand alone, garden (orientation of the garden as well), south facing gardens gets the most sun in the UK. In Scotland, find a solicitor. I use McVey and Murricane Solicitors.

4. Start viewing houses. Be friendly with the agents. Never, ever give them your full budget - remember their duty is to get the most amount possible for the vendor. Some big chains (Countrywide etc) will insist you get qualified by their mortgage advisor and some will not even show you a property or take your offer unless you do so. It's not illegal although it's questionable as by law they must present all offers to the vendor. If you have a broker - direct them to your broker at this point, Otherwise, you can share the AIP but be aware they will then try to push you to your max budget.

5. When you view houses, take a note pad with you. Note things as you go along. The state of the inside, outside, roof (cross the street and check for missing tiles etc). Open every cupboard and door. Check if it has an attic - check that it is lined or insulated (climb in), check for basements. Look out for damp walls, bulging paint work (evidence of issues), musty smells (damp) etc
Check what the electrics and boiler looks like. Seek permission and take pictures and or a video. Some will say no hence the notebook so you can remember as all the houses will start blurring into each other.

6. Call agents regularly. Some will call you before the property even hits Rightmove if you have a good relationship with them.

7. When you find a place you like, visit the street at different times of the day. For houses we live in, I do mornings (rush hour), afternoons (rush hour) and evenings/ night (party central, people hanging about aimlessly etc). Properties are flying off the shelves now so you may not even have time for this.

8. Make an offer if you like it. It's a bargaining process. The rule of thumb is knock 20% of what is your best and final offer and inch towards the final figure. Some agents will openly tell you offers below a certain amount won't be considered. Ignore them and make an offer anyway. In Scotland - your lawyers handle this process

9. When your offer is accepted, instruct a solicitor. Find out from your bank or broker if they have a panel (some do and won't accept a solicitor not on their panel) Stay away from solicitors recommended by the agent. I tend to also avoid online solicitors even though they're cheap. Experience tells me they are slow and also shift work around so you end up having more than 1 person to deal with.

10. If you want to carry out a survey, find a surveyor once you've instructed a solicitor. Ensure that they are a RICS surveyor. Be prepared to spend between £600 and £1000. You own this report and the surveyor works for you. A lot of surveys will also contain many arse covering statements which can be pretty daunting at first glance. Ask the surveyor to list and split into categories like must do now, can do in the next 3 to 6 months and can do within 12 months. Use the survey to negotiate further. We once got 20k off the agreed price after the survey. We then finally pulled out and sold the survey to the seller join

11. Put in a full mortgage application. This can take upto 4-6 weeks to come through. Your broker will do this once an offer has been accepted if you have one. Or the bank will do it if going direct.

12. Be patient and be prepared to wait! It takes an average of 12 weeks to complete on a property. The solicitor will complete searches, AML checks then come back to you with an exchange date. Once contracts are exchanged, you don buy house be that and cannot pull out without incurring penalties. However, you can pull out with no consequences as can the seller till you exchange contracts. The exchange process is faster in Scotland and can be binding from earlier on as well (called missives rather than contract).

In a fast moving market - like now, you probably may skip several of these steps as FOMO sets in.

Anything else I've missed, please chip in!

PS - Interest rates - go to any bank site, click on mortgages. You should be able to play around with interest rates and monthly payments.
This is from Natwest. https://www.natwest.com/mortgages/mortgage-calculators/how-much-can-i-borrow.html

Fixing for 2. 3. 5 years means you pay the same amount every month for that duration. Being on a variable rate means your payments fluctuates as interest rates fluctuates.

deept:
To add to what the property 'gurus' have posted

1. Be wary of buying flats especially leasehold flats especially in England when management companies are involved else you will just turn to cash machine for these management companies.

2. Flats again - the cladding issue has trapped a lot of property owners where lots of them are going into depression because their flats are not mortgageable and cannot be bought. In one estate we used to live years ago, flats listed are cash only buyers because a lot of banks will not offer mortgage to buyers so sellers have had to drastically reduce the asking price for these properties. If you see a flat with asking price too good to be true, look twice and look again.

3. Read your is it TP50? and read it again. If you don't understand understand a clause or anything there, call your solicitor and ask for explanation. That is what you are paying them for.

4. When you exchange contracts, you don buy house be that. You cannot pull out without penalties. Make sure you understand what you are getting into before you exchange.

5. If you don't like the terms of the contract - pull out of the deal, other opportunities will come. Better to take the hit for legal fees than to be trapped and be at the mercy of some freeholder or management company, those guys are merciless.

6. Ask questions no matter how silly, this may save your life.

Ralphlauren:
The key strategy for securing US visit visa as a first time applicant resident in the UK is to demonstrate recent travel history within Europe.

Unlike Nigeria, the consular officers don't really care about or ask for bank statements. What they look at is recent travel history (flipping the pages of your passport), the information provided on your online application (your job title, your gross income and detailed explanation of your job description/roles/responsibilities) and your attitude, confidence and answers provided during the interview.

People have been in the UK for 1 to 4 years and they've never bothered to visit anywhere in Europe as tourists yet they want to fly all the way to America to visit Times Square ??

In summary, apply for schengen visa and visit any European country of your choice at least once or twice. Then apply for US visa as a TOURIST with an intention to vist a city known as a tourist location. e.g. New York for 7 to 10 days.

Current students - speak to your international office and they will provide you the letter you need to apply for schengen visa. Those with part time or full time jobs - you need your payslips.

Fat account balance is not required for schengen visas. As long as your account balance equals the multiplication of the daily subsistence (i believe its around 30euros a day) and the number of days you plan to stay in Europe. E.g. you plan to visit for 5 days, all you are required to evidence in your account is minimum 150 euros. Cheap tickets are available from budget airlines especially for journeys during the week. Cheap accommodation can be sourced from the likes of booking.com and lastminute.com. Affordable travel insurance can be purchased from price comparison sites.

Its standard 2 years for Nigerians even for renewal. Ghanaians get 5 to 10 years when they renew. To the best of my knowledge, Dropbox doesn't apply in the UK.

Cc aopecy hustla SamReinvented

mrcodebreaker:
How does one get a credit card?

Experian is asking for 3 years uk address which I don’t have.

Also can I get a credit card if I’ve not lived here that long.

I added rent to creditladder.

I’ve don’t basics like NI, electoral role. So what else?

Bluebird24:
Hello, everyone... Pls does anyone have an idea of how I can get a copy of my UK refusal letter from the embassy, I lost the copy given to me from 2013 and the school I am applying to said I have to submit it before I am.issued CAS. Thanks

babranancy:
Please house, what are the recent covid requirements for individuals who are well vaccinated traveling traveling to UK. Thank you.

Amarathripple0:
Yes you can and you can also continue with your education alongside the perk of working full time.

specialenvoy:
Yea and you can now take a full-time job with your studies

If you wish, you can covert your study to Part-time, but make sure you complete your study!

umarwy:
Yes

mrcodebreaker:
Anyone working in london hybrid and living outside london?

I secured a role which would require me coming in twice a week during my probation period. Also I beleive the human interaction with my manager is good for the first few months to have a better bond.

My plan is spend a night in a hotel every week with my commute being just back and forth from outside the city weekly.

Two questions -

Where can i stay once a week for 3 months asides a hotel? Are there people I can pay to stay once a week close to paddington?

For people in this situation that don’t want to move to london. How do you navigate this predicament?

Ralphlauren:
As lexusgs430 has suggested, travel to the US and do all your shopping. Its cheaper than you think. If you travel off peak, you can get return BA flights from London to New York for around £350-£400.

Prior to the pandemic, I would travel to the US at least twice a year for vacation and stock up on casual/office wear. Talk about using one bird to kill two stones. My username says it all. You get the best RL outfits for the best prices in the US.

If you do not hold a foreign passport, getting a US visa is very easy. You just need to understand the "common" strategy that applies for UK resident applicants.

mimilyrics:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/requests-for-personal-data-uk-visas-and-immigration/request-personal-information-held-by-uk-visas-and-immigration

https://visas-immigration.service.gov.uk/product/saru

ybahrbz91:
How can I keep my Nigerian Sim Active in the UK?

Widall:
Good evening house, please who stays in or around Dorchester or Bournemouth?
I want to make an inquiry from the person

Emmyk:
I live in Bournemouth and it's also quite expensive too. It's 2hours + away from London by Coach and only an hour drive by normal car. Studio apartment gets as high as £800 per month.

umarwy:
ask your questions for bournemouth.


its easier to just drop a question, so those with the knowladge can aswer.

justwise:
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Feel free to redefined poshness but i see nothing posh about Newcastle or people from there, yes they have some well-known celebs and maybe some posh post codes but in general Newcastle is not talked about in that sense.

babajeje123:
I live in Sunderland which is very close to Newcastle. Newcastle is expensive but of course, not as expensive as London and the areas close to it. You can get a 2 bed unfurnished between 550 -650 depending on the location and taste. The weather is not bad, colder than Sunderland though and jobs are readily available, both factory and care jobs.

babajeje123:
I live in Sunderland which is very close to Newcastle. Newcastle is expensive but of course, not as expensive as London and the areas close to it. You can get a 2 bed unfurnished between 550 -650 depending on the location and taste. The weather is not bad, colder than Sunderland though and jobs are readily available, both factory and care jobs.

AgentXxx:
Yes mostly handcraft but I can/use some basic machines too like the post machine for stitching broque and Chelsea boot, normal filing machine and the normal flat bird machine, Sold all of them...

Widall:
Hi bro. Do u have an idea how much it is in Dorchester?

phyl123:
The hotel?

elisinho:
Boss I dey sunderland abeg apart from Hutchinson and that African shop on hylton where u dey get correct African stuff and which night club u dey attend

icon8:
@Chreze
Trust all is well? You’ve been unusually quiet since you informed of your household contracting Covid. I hope you all have fully recovered? Sending you and yours love and best wishes.

babajeje123:
Newcastle is not bad as you are portraying it. At least, for starters, it's a good place considering cost of living.

phyl123:
The hotel?

fatima04:
honestly puts me off when watching some UK movies.The drag and all