News | Barry Home Buyers

31/12/2015 By property

Estate Agent -12 Tips to Persuade them to be on Your Side

Estate agents works for the seller. Even so, they only get paid if they do a deal. If you win them to your side, it can get you to the front of the queue when viewing houses, and can help you get a better price. But if you are in their bad books, you can fail to get a deal

Make sure you meet the estate agent

Always ensure you meet all the estate agents face-to-face as that shows tr ue interest in doing business rather than the bossy type who only know of giving requirements. You should see all the local estate agents in the area you are interested in.

Demonstrate your seriousness from the offset

Lots of people often mess estate agents around. Show them you aren’t another time waster.
Ensure you get a mortgage in principle before you start house hunting. This will enable them to know that you will be able to act quickly, and will put you right at the front of the estate agent’s mind when new properties pop in.

Exchange the contacts: May I have your number please…?

Get the individual agent’s name, mobile phone number and email. This will not only ensure you always have a point of contact, but will also allow you to develop a relationship with them. It is easier to deal with an individual if possible, rather than a whole office.
Give them all your contact details.
Give them a rough estimate of what you are looking to spend. However, never give them full details of your financial situation as it could put you at a disadvantage in negotiations if they know you can afford more.

Brand them the “goldmine” of advice

Estate agents have extensive local knowledge and often enjoy sharing it. Rather than telling them exactly what you want, simply inquire their advice.

Give them your requirements

In the first meeting tell them the type of properties you are looking for, and which exact area(s) you would most like to live in. Make a distinction of what you could be willing to change and those you won’t.

Keep giving specific feedback after every view

After each viewing tell the agent what you did and did not like about the house. This will allow the agent to build up a better picture of what it is you’re seeking

Don’t waste their time

Always stick to property that befits your budget. Otherwise, it could give you dissatisfaction and annoy the agent.
How to get an estate agent on your side

Always be in regular touch

Call them (when they fail to call you) every few days and tell them that you are still on the hunt. Ask if they have any news of new properties on the market. If they don’t hear from you, they may assume you are no longer interested.
Always respond to their emails and telephone calls even if it is just to explain why you are not interested in a property.
Even after you have put in an offer, make sure you keep in touch so as to gain access to the property for surveying, mortgage valuations, etc.

Buy some time to view properties

Good houses sell quickly. So, ensure you are always available to look at them. Otherwise, the agent won’t think you are serious. Either, missing may be interpreted by the agent to be a sign of rudeness.

Keep in Mind that Agents Trade.

Although the agent often side with the seller, and are incentivized to get as high a price as possible for the house, they do have a slightly different interest which can turn them on your side: if they don’t trade, they’re rewarded nothing for their efforts.
For sole agents, they will be worried that if they don’t get a seller to agree a deal, the seller will put it out to multiple agents. If they are already in the multiple agents list that markets the property, they will fear that if they don’t seal the deal, another agent will.
All this means that agents can be keener than the seller to give in to a lower price, just to ensure they get a deal. If a property is proving a little hard to shift, and is perhaps overpriced, the agent can effectively end up on your side and try to get the seller to agree a lower price.
They might encourage the seller to accept an offer £10,000 lower than asking price. While that might be a lot of money to you, it only equates to £200 in fees for the agent, and it is far better to get slightly lower fees than no fees at all.

Create Them a Good Impression

The vast majority of estate agents are decent people working hard in a very competitive market. So, if you charm them, they might well respond nicely.

You can have a plan B …

When all the above is way too much, you can always use a buyer’s agent, who will do this work on your behalf.

For more details feel free to get in touch.

29/12/2015 By property

Estate Agents Problems

Generally, Estate Agents do a commendable job at helping people buy and sell houses. However, they are also experts at squeezing every possible penny from clients or convincing people to settle on the sale that best serves them. Here is how to keep your cards close to your chest and pinpoint their monkey games before they pull punches.

Getting you a chilling dread

It’s the estate agents’ job to blow the horn over a property on sale. When it fails, they may design fear by organizing appointments when other buyers are also viewing the property just to make it look a “hot cake”. Rather than working through offers one at a time, they might try to introduce “sealed bids”, which pits you against other buyers without you knowing how much they are willing to offer.

Be some tough cookie; don’t fall for it. All of this is aimed to push you into driving your price way up much higher than you can afford. So keep in mind what you can pay and stick to this – there’s no point in getting your dream home if you will be broke for the rest of your life.

Watering the Sweet Deal

Never let them know your lowest take (when selling) or your highest bid (when buying). If you do, you are most likely to settle for it.

In order to gain the best deal, often showcase your product to more than three different agents. You can then evaluate an appropriate price.

Throwing in some ghostly offers just to scare you

Your purchase asking price has been accepted. The property you are buying gets off the market and all seems clear towards completion. Then the preceding week, the Estate Agent calls to alert you that someone else (who viewed the property previously) has thrown in an offer above yours. You smell a rat. If you suspect this is a false bid, challenge the Estate Agent and ask for proof in writing that this third party existed and is willing to make a higher offer.

Whether real or hoax, being gazumped is both disturbing and costly. To evade such, there exist two popular options though they all go at some cost.

A Good Will Charter: where both parties pay a deposit which they will lose if they don’t go through with the sale. It’s not very safe. However, it could help you weed out people who aren’t serious about the deal.
A lock-out agreement: here the seller has to take the property off the market for a limited amount of time while the deal is being completed. You will have to move quickly to get everything done before the time period is up. Discuss the pros and cons with your solicitor.

Misleading you over Help to Buy

Help to buy phase 1 allows some people to get a government loan of 20% of the price of their house. Since it is a loan, it will still require to be repaid. However, some lenders advertise the property at 80% of the price. That will deliberately mislead Help to Buyers into thinking they are entering a cheaper deal.

Pressurizing you to use their mortgage brokers

Some estate agents have been reported to be mounting pressure on people to use their mortgage service. They claim that one will get preferential treatment or, worse, claiming they will be unwilling to work with them unless they did. Such acts are illegal. By all means, if you have the time, get a quote from the Estate Agent’s mortgage adviser before shopping around, but bear in mind that:

Estate agents are almost always getting some kind of commission for their mortgage services – commission that you will ultimately pay for.
Such agents are likely to have a far narrower selection of mortgages than if you look further afield.
There may be an upfront charge for their advice whereas banks and some mortgage brokers can give you mortgage advice for free.

Also be aware there have been accusations of mortgage brokers and estate agents working closely together, openly discussing potential buyers’ budgets in order to get as much money out of the buyer as possible. So again, be free to find out what deal they can offer while keeping in mind that you are under no obligation to accept their weird mortgage offers.

Charging a little extra for advertising

If your house isn’t selling, you may need to think about changing your scheme. Your estate agent might then advice you to pay them more for advertising your property.

Here is an argument: why haven’t they done everything they can to market your property already? And is the extra money refundable if you still don’t get an offer?

24/12/2015 By property

3 ways to break the housing chain

Being stuck in a housing chain can be both stressful and expensive. That often means you won’t get the home you want. Imagine if just one person drops out in a property chain, the whole chain is likely to crumple; in that case, you and everyone else on it will be back to the drawing board. Luckily, there are things you can do to break housing chains though they all go at a price.

Why break the housing chain?

When you let it loose …

It makes house buying far more certain, as you will not be subject to events beyond your fingertips. That will enable you to curb the loss of thousands of pounds as you will be autonomous.
It puts you in a formidable position when buying. Most sellers would prefer to engage a buyer who has the cash in his/her bank than sign into a waiting game where their sale is dependent on finding a third party when buying their house.
You are less likely to be gazumped. If you settle on a decent offer the buyer is unlikely to take another when contrasted with a property chain.

Here are three main approaches to break the housing chain:

Sell before you buy.
Get a bridging loan.
Retaining it, but increase the mortgage on a different existing property to use as deposit.

Selling before you find a house to buy

Selling and then renting is often stressful; similarly, being gazumped or feeling undersold by a property chain is just as stressful. When you sell before you find a house to rent, you will enjoy the following:

PROs

You remain in control of the sale of your own house. That means, you will not be pressurized into selling cheaply as you won’t need to make a quick sale.
It gives you a strongest negotiating position if you have adequate time.
You may get a better price if you buy a new property and find a seller who is keen to move in quickly.
You will know exactly how much you can spend because you’ll have the money from your sale in the bank. Thus, buying your new home won’t be dependent on achieving the expected price on your existing one.
If prices are falling, then houses get more affordable as you wait.

CONs

If you sell first, expecting to be able to buy quickly after, you may be disappointed and instead have to rent for a time, which can prove very costly.
If prices are rising fast, by the time you’ve sold your house and sorted out somewhere to rent, a new house will be much less affordable. For instance, if you rent for a year, and shoot by 10% in that year, than you be able to afford 10% less.

Bridging loans

A bridging loan is often risky, and not cheap. But, if you have found that dream home and need to put down a deposit for the mortgage then it might just be worth temporarily getting a short-term loan secured against your property, and paying it off once you sell.

PROs

It breaks you out of the chain
Demonstrates to the buyer that you are serious about buying
Let’s you buy that dream house

CONs

They have high interest rates.
If you get one before you have exchanged contracts and then get gazumped, you will have wasted a lot of money can.
If you be unable to sell the house soon after taking the loan, you may struggle to pay back the loan as the interest builds up. Always have your property on the market and ensure that there is some interest in it before taking out a huge bridging loan.
If interest is not high, you may be under pressure to accept a lower price for your old house to pay off the loan as soon as possible.
If property prices are falling, you may be left without the means to pay off the loan. Thus, only get a bridging loan if you hold most of the equity in your current property.

Extending the mortgage on your existing home

The other way to break a chain is by extending the mortgage on your existing home and using that money as a deposit for the mortgage on the new property. You can then either:

Rent out your old home, and then use the rental income to pay the mortgage on that property. This can be a good investment property. This transaction is known in the trade as “let to buy” – you are letting out your old property to pay for a mortgage that helps you buy a new one.
Sell you old home at your own pace. You will have two mortgages for a while, but you will be able to use any profits from the sale of your old house to pay off some of your new mortgage.

NOTE:

Such is applicable to one with a low loan to value ratio (LTV ratio) on his/her existing mortgage. If not, one will not be able to prolong his/her mortgage enough to pay for a deposit on the new house.

PROs

Allows you to break the chain by making it more likely that you will get the house you want.

CONs

If you get gazumped before exchanging contracts, you will end up with lots of debt capital owing to the accumulating interest.
Mortgages with early repayment penalties may attract extra costs when you go to pay off the mortgage on your new house.
If you have trouble selling your house afterwards you may end up owing lenders more than you can afford monthly. Thus, have your property on the market beforehand.

22/12/2015 By property

Suspended Repossession

Suspended Repossession

A suspended repossession order is a legal arrangement made between you and your lender following a repossession court hearing. This means that a repossession order on the property has been suspended (you are not ordered to leave your house – yet). This suspension will usually have some strict conditions attached to it. The two most common conditions are:

You agree to pay in full your monthly mortgage payments, plus an additional amount to pay towards the arrears you have incurred. Be careful not to over-commit yourself to any unmanageable repayments.
You agree to sell the property within a certain time scale and replay the mortgage in full. This will only usually be accepted if you can show you have already found a buyer for the property and are just waiting for the sale to ‘complete’.

Caution: A judge will give you a suspended repossession, instead of a normal repossession order if they believe the mortgage arrears issue can be resolved. If you have a suspended repossession order on your property it is important to stick to the terms of the order as failure to do so may result in you being evicted from your home without your lender requiring another repossession court hearing.

Suspended Repossession – The Terms & Conditions

If a judge has made a suspended possession order, you are permitted to stay in your property for as long as you keep to the conditions detailed. The conditions will be explained in the court order, but if they are unclear you should seek professional advice.

Typically, the order will say you have to pay a certain amount off your arrears alongside your usual mortgage payment. Most mortgage lenders will ask for the arrears to be paid off within a certain time frame, e.g. 3 years – but the time scale will ultimately be decided by the judge based on your financial circumstances, and in some cases the arrears may be spread across the remaining mortgage term (though uncommon).

If you think you are likely to have problems sticking to the conditions of a suspended possession order, you should contact your lender and/or get advice immediately. Never put off dealing with the situation. Such an action may make your lender (or other creditor) to evict you very easily if you either fail to keep to your original agreement or fail to agree to an alternative.

Further / On-Going Financial Difficulties

Upon a suspended repossession, some people find a way to solve their mortgage problems. Nevertheless, this is not the case for everyone. Majority of people that receive a suspended repossession order are often struggling to keep up with their current mortgage and other financial debts. When they are required to pay even more to their mortgage lender to bring to bar their mortgage arrears, it results in even more strain on their budget.

The solution to such is not an eviction if you miss just one mortgage payment. If you do receive a letter from the bailiffs, seek advice immediately. There may still be time to stop the eviction. We understand that at this highly stressful time you may feel you have no way out; however, if you contact us we may be able to see you through it. You can sell your house quickly for cash, so you can pay off your mortgage in full and any other secured debts and the remaining cash will go straight to your account. We can even arrange for you to rent your house with us either in the short term while you find your feet, or the long term if you would prefer not to move.

What Next After a Suspended Repossession?

If you have been issued with a suspended repossession order, now is the time to act in order to save your home from being repossessed. Even if the situation seems hopeless, we may be able to help you find a solution. For example, if you have lost your job, it may be possible to get the conditions of the order changed to make the repayments more manageable. If you want to change the conditions of an order, you will need to apply to the court and may have to pay a fee. However, if you are claiming benefits or have a low income you may be able to get help with these costs.

If you would like to have the suspended repossession cancelled and started freshly, then the simplest solution we offer is a quick cash sale. This involves us making you an offer typically in less than 24 hours, and we can transfer the cash as soon as the sale completes. It is a fast, reliable, and hassle free way to sell your house. We don’t even need to come and view your property; we simply base our offer in the trade value of your house. What’s more is that we will pay all your legal fees, and because the sale is direct you don’t have any estate agents fees, which in total will save the average home mover about five thousand pounds.

17/12/2015 By property

What is a Repossession Hearing?

Answer In a Nutshell: repossession hearing is a legal meeting that takes place in the court and is carried out by a judge. In attendance would be yourself (the defendant) and your mortgage provider or bank (the claimant) – which is usually their solicitor.

However, before you attend the hearing, it is important that you obtain some free advice from someone (such as us) who understands the repossession hearing process and what is involved.

What happens in a repossession hearing?

Firstly the judge will be asked to provide evidence and information on why they wish to repossess your house and take it away from you.

After the claimant has provided the evidence, it will then be your turn to provide any information or evidence. This will help the judge to make a decision about the repossession of your home. If you feel there may be a solution, you can still speak to your mortgage company/bank on the hearing day to find an alternative to repossession.

Before the hearing the hearing…

Write down all of the points you wish the judge to know about. For example:
If you wish to offer a payment plan – at this point show the judge any evidence of letters you have sent to the mortgage company/bank.
If you believe the mortgage interest to be too high.
Details of your income and expenses.
If you have any children living with you.
If you need time to sell your house.
If the claimant (mortgage company/bank) is wrong or they have not got the correct details.
After this the judge will then consider all the options and solutions available before making a final decision.

NOTE: The repossession of your house will be the last resort if no other solutions are available.

Possible outcomes of a repossession hearing

Based on your evidence, the judge can decide on any one of the following:

Strike it out – This means that your lender has no case and will stop the court action. This will happen if by the day of the hearing you have repaid all the arrears or agreed to sell your property and are paying off the mortgage in full.
Money order – This is an order that states how much you must pay the lender/bank. If you do not make the payments then the court can take action to recover the money from you. Including deducting the money from your wages or bank account.
Suspend the repossession
Outright repossession order – this is when the judge decides that there is no other option but to repossess your house. The judge will notify you of how long you have to move out of your house after this has been granted. The time you have is usually 28 days. If you feel you need more time then tell the judge if you believe it will take longer to find somewhere else to live as you may be granted more time?

After the hearing you may appeal the decision – advice is available from the court on how to do this.