Buying a house

[tell-me-more]

What are the essential elements of the house-buying process in England? I'm particularly interested in the case where the vendor and buyer make contact without going through an estate agent. What sort of proportion could they save on a house with a value between �120 and �150k?

[clancyblob]

I bought a house without estate agents, having become aware through a friend that a property was about to be put on the market. Our place was not on the market. The sellers used an estate agent to value the property, but didn't sign up with them to sell it. We used this as a guide valuation, and agreed a price between us. We approached our building society which calculated what they were prepared to lend us based on our outgoings and income, etc. We arranged a survey by an independant firm, the report being given to the building society so they knew they were not lending money on a pile of rubble. They hold the deeds as security until we pay back our loan. We completed the transaction using a solicitor to draw a contracts of sale & purchase. The solicitor also checks the history of the property in case there are any doubts about ownership and past sales, and whether there are any legal clauses affecting the property eg rights of way, maintenance of boundaries, ditches, joint liability for sewers, etc etc. We agreed a date, passed over the money via the solicitor, and moved in. We could've risk doing the legal bit ourselves, but didn't have the time or confidence to understand the process. Estate agents charge a fee based on a percentage of the sale price.

[CheekyChops]

I also bought my house privately from a friend with no estate agent involved.

The process was pretty much as described above ad all went smoothly. I moved in about 6 weeks after the whole process started.

[Golden Shred]

To answer your question, estate agents typically charge 1.5 to 2 per cent. So the saving on the figures you give would be �1800 - �2250 or �2400 - �4000. The description of the process by clancybob is old-fashioned, and it is really quite simple now to convey property yourself with a little know-how. Deeds have long since been done away with.

[Buenchico]

Estate agent's fees are typically around 1.5% to 2% of the sale price of the house. This means that a vendor who bypasses estate agents will save between �1800 and �2400 on a sale price of �120k, and between �2250 and �3000 on a sale of �150k.

There are no automatic savings for the purchaser because he doesn't pay anything to the estate agent. It may be, however, that the vendor is prepared to reduce the price because of the money which he has saved by not using an agent.

I've only ever sold two houses but neither of these sales were through an estate agent. The first sale was direct to a friend but the second sale was achieved by knocking up a 'For Sale' sign on my computer and having this transferred to A2 fluorescent paper, at a local copy shop, to place signs in the windows. This cost me about a couple of quid. (I also produced some brochures for potential purchasers). Nobody ever needs to use an estate agent to sell a property. It's easy to do yourself and can save you thousands of pounds.

Chris

PS: Don't use solicitors either. You can do it yourself but it can be rather daunting for the uninitiated. The solution is to used a licensed conveyancer. These people charge low fixed fees and they seem to be far more efficient than any solicitor I've ever had dealings with.

[buildersmate]

A saving of between 1.75 and 2% on a sole agent arrangement for this sort of house value. Phone a few agents - they'll be happy to chat if they think you might register your house with them.

[buildersmate]

A follow-up thought to Chris's excellent observation on solicitors. All solicitors practices apart from the very smallest use Licensed Conveyor staff to actually do the transaction work these days. That keeps the qualified solicitors free to do other work - so you getting the same animal in any case as if you go a Licensed Conveyor practice, as Chris is suggesting. I was quoted about �550 from a range of solicitors for a sale transaction (remarkably consistent values - that Law Society certainty knows how to keep their boys and girls in line). I found a Licensed Conveyor 250 miles away in Manchester through the web, never met her, exchanged most info by emails (except the main legal documents). She did an excellent job for about �300.

[tell-me-more]

Thanks very much for your responses. So the elements so far are:

Valuation; Surveying; Mortgage Arrangement; Legal/History Checks (in case of doubts about ownership/past sales/legal clauses affecting the property/rights of way/joint liabilities etc.); and Drawing of Contracts of Sale and Purchase.

Is that the most sensible order? I presume surveys are carried out as part of the valuation process. How are they charged for? A fixed fee agreed beforehand? Should I get a mortgage agreed in principle between valuation and the survey?

I'd like to do as much as possible myself. Is there such a thing as Conveyance Tax (is that Stamp Duty?)

Also, Deeds a thing of the past? Have they been replaced by something else?