1st time buyer no mortgage needed - timescales
Discussion
Stepdaughter has a legacy from her deceased father, which is enough for her to outright buy a ‘better than average’ 2 bed house in a nice area (period terrace, recently refurbished to what seems to be a high standard), with some money (about 30k) left over. So no mortgage required. She is in a minimum wage job, and in all honesty always will be. It will be her first (and probably only) house (long story).
The house she is looking at is a former Airbnb, so presumably is up to modern safety standards. Currently vacant, no chain, owner wants out of the market.
Other than a generic survey as a ‘just in case’ (and I know most surveys are loaded with codicils, from painful experience), and getting a conveyancer to sort the purchase, what would you expect as a timescale? And as a (very rare) *genuine* cash buyer, would a reduction for quick sale be outrageous? Subject to financial rules, she could release the money in a matter of days. All money is in instant access accounts.
Advice welcome.
The house she is looking at is a former Airbnb, so presumably is up to modern safety standards. Currently vacant, no chain, owner wants out of the market.
Other than a generic survey as a ‘just in case’ (and I know most surveys are loaded with codicils, from painful experience), and getting a conveyancer to sort the purchase, what would you expect as a timescale? And as a (very rare) *genuine* cash buyer, would a reduction for quick sale be outrageous? Subject to financial rules, she could release the money in a matter of days. All money is in instant access accounts.
Advice welcome.
If owner wants out there’s a chance the air bnb has been ‘run into the ground’ may look OK on the face of it but dig a little deeper and you may find some issues.
Timescales…no idea. It will only move as fast as the slowest solicitor. Allow 3 months? All depends how motivated the seller is
Timescales…no idea. It will only move as fast as the slowest solicitor. Allow 3 months? All depends how motivated the seller is
PhilboSE said:
There are a number of external dependencies like searches etc, hard to hurry those, but they come back quicker now than they used to.
The fastest I’ve ever done it, with all parties motivated and keeping the pressure on the conveyancers, was just over 3 weeks from offer acceptance.
That seems like the minimum I was expecting. I have a good (local, not a phone farm) conveyancer who helped us with our purchase. In all honesty she is technically a dream buyer (genuine cash available on a very short timescale) and the seller (in theory for this type of property) is a dream seller, as in up to standards (note below) and immediately ready to move in.The fastest I’ve ever done it, with all parties motivated and keeping the pressure on the conveyancers, was just over 3 weeks from offer acceptance.
Point taken from 3rd poster as well, I appreciate that.
I promise I will update!
Bikesalot said:
If owner wants out there’s a chance the air bnb has been ‘run into the ground’ may look OK on the face of it but dig a little deeper and you may find some issues.
Timescales…no idea. It will only move as fast as the slowest solicitor. Allow 3 months? All depends how motivated the seller is
Thanks Bikesalot. I appreciate the reminder. If it helps it isn’t a ‘party house’, it’s in a small town close to Hadrian's wall and catered to people doing the Hadrian's wall trek, so I would assume the occupants have been at least on the gentle side, noting there is no such thing as a certainty!Timescales…no idea. It will only move as fast as the slowest solicitor. Allow 3 months? All depends how motivated the seller is
Be careful trying to push for speed.
You don’t want to weaken negotiating position by appearing to be too in love with it.
Personally I’d be surprised if, in practice, you would actually get it done quicker than searches + 2-3 weeks. Of course, she could forgo the searches if she wanted to.
I assume she has seen it more than once?
You don’t want to weaken negotiating position by appearing to be too in love with it.
Personally I’d be surprised if, in practice, you would actually get it done quicker than searches + 2-3 weeks. Of course, she could forgo the searches if she wanted to.
I assume she has seen it more than once?
Perfect without any delays I reckon 12-14 working days.
I would say in reality you can add 5 working days on for "work load" and probably another 5 working days for any delays, agreeing completion dates etc.
That gets you to give or take about 25 working days. I think that's probably realistic if no issues crop up.
I would say in reality you can add 5 working days on for "work load" and probably another 5 working days for any delays, agreeing completion dates etc.
That gets you to give or take about 25 working days. I think that's probably realistic if no issues crop up.
I bought a property the years ago it was a small commercial. I was a cash buyer and it was the run up to Christmas so I thought I'd do an experiment and I appointed my usual solicitor and just left them to it and didn't chase them. I didn't have any surveys or was literally me just wanting to have some money over and get the deeds transferred.
3 months
I reckon your looking at 7-8 weeks of your on top of them.
The work can be done inside a day but they have to justify their very high fees for the very basic work they do.
3 months
I reckon your looking at 7-8 weeks of your on top of them.
The work can be done inside a day but they have to justify their very high fees for the very basic work they do.
I’d do all the following and not rely on a survey. Point above about it being an Air BnB and maintenance is a very good one.
On a period property I would get the electrics and heating checked properly. Heating system is it a modern boiler ? If it an old boiler is it in a location that should it need replacing a new boiler can be fitted without moving location. Make sure all the rads are working etc.
Electrics, don’t rely on the safety cert that the seller has to provide. Get your own. Electricians can game the certification, they only have to physically check a % of the circuits so you can have a house that passes certification but still have 60 year old wiring in parts of the house.
Buy a damp meter and check the inside of external walls…surveyor should do this but a meter is probably £20 so do it yourself.
External woodwork have a good look at it…paint can cover up a horror story. Just applying some pressure with a screwdriver could reveal issues.
Visit at times when you know the neighbours will be there to check noise.
If it has had any alterations that require planning check that it’s all as should be and do a planning search on neighbouring properties,
That may all sound a bit onerous but from personal experince I think that is all necessary…
On a period property I would get the electrics and heating checked properly. Heating system is it a modern boiler ? If it an old boiler is it in a location that should it need replacing a new boiler can be fitted without moving location. Make sure all the rads are working etc.
Electrics, don’t rely on the safety cert that the seller has to provide. Get your own. Electricians can game the certification, they only have to physically check a % of the circuits so you can have a house that passes certification but still have 60 year old wiring in parts of the house.
Buy a damp meter and check the inside of external walls…surveyor should do this but a meter is probably £20 so do it yourself.
External woodwork have a good look at it…paint can cover up a horror story. Just applying some pressure with a screwdriver could reveal issues.
Visit at times when you know the neighbours will be there to check noise.
If it has had any alterations that require planning check that it’s all as should be and do a planning search on neighbouring properties,
That may all sound a bit onerous but from personal experince I think that is all necessary…
fridaypassion said:
I bought a property the years ago it was a small commercial. I was a cash buyer and it was the run up to Christmas so I thought I'd do an experiment and I appointed my usual solicitor and just left them to it and didn't chase them. I didn't have any surveys or was literally me just wanting to have some money over and get the deeds transferred.
3 months
I reckon your looking at 7-8 weeks of your on top of them.
The work can be done inside a day but they have to justify their very high fees for the very basic work they do.
Its ironic that if they said they could sort it by next Wednesday they would have a queue of people willing to pay twice as much 3 months
I reckon your looking at 7-8 weeks of your on top of them.
The work can be done inside a day but they have to justify their very high fees for the very basic work they do.
.Expedited conveyancing is a available as a service but normally on high end deals. Theres very little work involved in normal conveyancing it's just the volume they are all drowning in that creates the timescales. Smoke and mirrors for low level solicitors to keep the fee structures somewhere near to a proper solicitor. A Proper solicitor told me this!
Cheib said:
I’d do all the following and not rely on a survey. Point above about it being an Air BnB and maintenance is a very good one.
On a period property I would get the electrics and heating checked properly. Heating system is it a modern boiler ? If it an old boiler is it in a location that should it need replacing a new boiler can be fitted without moving location. Make sure all the rads are working etc.
Electrics, don’t rely on the safety cert that the seller has to provide. Get your own. Electricians can game the certification, they only have to physically check a % of the circuits so you can have a house that passes certification but still have 60 year old wiring in parts of the house.
Buy a damp meter and check the inside of external walls…surveyor should do this but a meter is probably £20 so do it yourself.
External woodwork have a good look at it…paint can cover up a horror story. Just applying some pressure with a screwdriver could reveal issues.
Visit at times when you know the neighbours will be there to check noise.
If it has had any alterations that require planning check that it’s all as should be and do a planning search on neighbouring properties
MOST of this is sound advice, though I’m not sure poking at all the external joinery with a screwdriver is likely to make you many friends with the owner and generally isn’t necessary to assess the condition, even if somebody has done a quick slap and dash.On a period property I would get the electrics and heating checked properly. Heating system is it a modern boiler ? If it an old boiler is it in a location that should it need replacing a new boiler can be fitted without moving location. Make sure all the rads are working etc.
Electrics, don’t rely on the safety cert that the seller has to provide. Get your own. Electricians can game the certification, they only have to physically check a % of the circuits so you can have a house that passes certification but still have 60 year old wiring in parts of the house.
Buy a damp meter and check the inside of external walls…surveyor should do this but a meter is probably £20 so do it yourself.
External woodwork have a good look at it…paint can cover up a horror story. Just applying some pressure with a screwdriver could reveal issues.
Visit at times when you know the neighbours will be there to check noise.
If it has had any alterations that require planning check that it’s all as should be and do a planning search on neighbouring properties
And I’ve known many trained surveyors who struggle to use a damp meter properly, so just walking about and sticking it in a wall without any technical knowledge or wider context is unlikely to teach the OP much. Good surveyors use damp meters as part of a wider process of identifying damp, I used to generally do it to back up and quantify existing suspicions, though I know residential surveyors, who might be doing multiple surveys each day, tend to take a different approach.
EDIT to say, yes conveyancing can be done rapidly, but it only happens at the stepped of the slowest party. So I think the OP would be best working on about 4-6 weeks as a feasible minimum, which would still be very rapid in general terms. And as somebody else said, it’s not a good idea to rush too much, doing proper due diligence now can save years of stress…
Edited by Cow Corner on Saturday 21st December 09:24
Edited by Cow Corner on Saturday 21st December 09:26
Just coming back to this - often the very quickest sales will be professional buyers, who have their own team ready to go and often won’t bother with surveys etc as they either have sufficient knowledge themselves or are planning to redevelop the property and will have priced in and accepted some ‘risk’. They will often know the area and its housing stock very well.
This is a very different proposition to an inexperienced buyer who will (and should) have a very different attitude to risk.
This is a very different proposition to an inexperienced buyer who will (and should) have a very different attitude to risk.
OP here.
Second viewing today, we have put in an offer at 10% below asking (so 150k) including all furniture and appliances.
House has been an Airbnb for 3 years, catering to Hadrians wall walkers and golfers. Most recently had full council inspection 6 months ago including electrics, boiler, all certificates signed off.
The offer has been accepted, we will get a basic survey just for the sake of sanity.
Second viewing today, we have put in an offer at 10% below asking (so 150k) including all furniture and appliances.
House has been an Airbnb for 3 years, catering to Hadrians wall walkers and golfers. Most recently had full council inspection 6 months ago including electrics, boiler, all certificates signed off.
The offer has been accepted, we will get a basic survey just for the sake of sanity.
If you want to do it all quickly then it’s worth identifying where any holdups can be:
Seller (getting all the paperwork back to conveyancer)
Sellers conveyancers
Buyers conveyancers
Buyer
Surveyor
Third parties (searches etc)
IME delays rarely sit with the last 2. Doesn’t take a surveyor long to cut and paste his tale of hypotheticals, and the searches are generally computerised now.
It’s the conveyancers you need to look to. You need to tell them you need a quick sake. Most conveyancers working for a seller don’t do anything until they’ve got everything they need from the seller. Many buyers conveyancers don’t do anything until they’ve got the entire pack from the sellers conveyancers. Some don’t even initiate the searches until that point, on the excuse of saving you money in case you pull out.
Both buyer and seller need to keep the pressure on the conveyancers if you want things to go faster than the usual snails pace that most conveyancers work to.
Seller (getting all the paperwork back to conveyancer)
Sellers conveyancers
Buyers conveyancers
Buyer
Surveyor
Third parties (searches etc)
IME delays rarely sit with the last 2. Doesn’t take a surveyor long to cut and paste his tale of hypotheticals, and the searches are generally computerised now.
It’s the conveyancers you need to look to. You need to tell them you need a quick sake. Most conveyancers working for a seller don’t do anything until they’ve got everything they need from the seller. Many buyers conveyancers don’t do anything until they’ve got the entire pack from the sellers conveyancers. Some don’t even initiate the searches until that point, on the excuse of saving you money in case you pull out.
Both buyer and seller need to keep the pressure on the conveyancers if you want things to go faster than the usual snails pace that most conveyancers work to.
Imo there isn't much difference between a cash buyer and a buyer in a strong position with a mortgage. Our Halifax mortgage when was sorted in 4 days (Saturday to Tuesday) - we didn't have an AIP, as it was very rushed.
Does it really matter how long the purchase takes?
We bought our current house in 5 weeks during COVID (with a mortgage). That said the conveyancing leg work had been done as the sale had fallen through due to a broken chain. We went with the previous buyers solicitor (who wasn't great at all). I believe if you're a cash buyer and happy to accept some risk you don't even need searches to be conducted.
Just make sure all the funds are ready to roll, I think it took me a week to transfer funds around from various places.
Does it really matter how long the purchase takes?
We bought our current house in 5 weeks during COVID (with a mortgage). That said the conveyancing leg work had been done as the sale had fallen through due to a broken chain. We went with the previous buyers solicitor (who wasn't great at all). I believe if you're a cash buyer and happy to accept some risk you don't even need searches to be conducted.
Just make sure all the funds are ready to roll, I think it took me a week to transfer funds around from various places.
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