Home buying

[bartholomew]

Hi my name is Bart and I come from Poland. I would like to buy a house/flat in the UK, but without a number of professionals willing to extort money (like estet agents for instance). In my country it is possible to buy a property that has been listed in an advertisement. You contact the owner, pay what the property is worth plus the structural survey (if you want).

I can't believe that in order for anyone to buy a property in the UK you have to go through all these people who rip you off.

any suggestions welcome!

[FP]

You don't have to go through an estate agent, Bart.  Lots of properties are listed privately to avoid estate agent's costs to the seller.  Buyers do not pay anything to the estate agent.  Structural surveys are not compulsory, but if you want a mortgage the lender will insist on a survey just to make sure that they can get their money back if anything goes wrong.  You can do your own conveyancing, but this is probably tricky.  However, this would be a lot cheaper than using a solicitor, who, in my experience, don't do a great deal for their money.  There are lots of other things like stamp duty and land registration, but I don't know enough about these to offer any advice.

[Hammer]

Estate agents won't charge you anything as a buyer. They only charge the seller.

It sounds very similar here to the way it is in Poland - you see a house advertised, make an offer (tip - make your first offer 5% - 10% less than the asking price) then get a survey (not compulsory but highly recommended) and away you go!

Be aware that you must pay a solicitor (probably around �2000 based on my experience) and stamp duty (1% of the value above �120,000)

[Loosehead]

It's only difficult if you have to borrow money if you have the cash then all the risks are your own, cut out as much as you want only a few things need doing by law. If you have to borrow then the lender will want you to pay for and jump through a lot of hoops!

[kittyboo3]

If you want to avoid Estate Agents.........why dont you buy privately through a website?
I just found my property I am buying on www.iwantmorespace.com.

Happy shopping !!

[jester2003]

Bart, these are the rough estimate to the costs you will pay.  You don't state how much you wish to spend on the property but these are the costs you expect to pay.

Local Search �200 - varies county to county.

Drainage Search �40.00 - varies county to county.

Lenders Fee - �100.00 varies depending which solicitor you use

Solicitors costs �600.00 varies who you use

Land Registry Search �4.00

Bankruptcy Search �2 per name

Telegraphic Transfer Fee - �40.00 varies which solicitor

Land Registry Fee to register property this varies on the price of the property up to �200,000 is �150.00

Stamp Duty 120,001 - �250.000 1%, �250.000 to �500.000 3% over �500,001 4% of purchase price.

If a property is leasehold then expect legal fees to be higher.