When I was there the big attraction was 40 minutes to the City and Docklands, roughly 60% of people were in finance. Even they won't or can't move at present. No new wave seems to be moving out of London any longer. That is a real sign of the times.
That is the bottom line as we understand it from our neighbour on each side of us respectively. The ones who are selfbuilding actually went for that rather than conversion because they got a mortgage for constructible land on one salary which left the other free for a loan for materials along the line. Very different to other countries where it is the property that interests them because it is collateral in the event of default.
I have been given the impression that the banks are not interested in the property itself. They are only concerned about your ability to repay the loan.........Am I mistaken?
Agree Sarah, but you can organise an agreement in principle with your bank that you will get your loan. I did this purely so I knew which price range I should be looking in. It turned up trumps in the end though as the fact that I already had the principle of the loan agreed, put me ahead of the other buyers.
I also think that banks are more open to providing simulations than they were about ten years ago simply because the simulations can be done at the push of a button now.
But yes you are right to apply for a mortgage you generally have to have a project ready to present to the bank.
Oh no!
The problem is that a mortgage can usually only be applied for after an offer is accepted and sometimes can only be agreed between the Compromis and Acte Finale.
Its a bummer for you to miss the sale; the buyers will probably get their deposit back as refusal by a mortgage company is one of the few clauses that protects the deposit
Good luck with finding another buyer - I have my fingers crossed for you!
Thank you Jane...and thank you everyone for kind comments. Its a case of getting things in perspective. Ive just seen a little facebook video about a 17 year old boy with an osteosarcoma (malignant tumour affecting bones). The film was about his last months, his family, friends, his music and mostly about how he lived his days......he died this week.
We lost a buyer....makes you realise what you are dealing with isnt so bad. My husband, kids and friends are all ok.....thats what really matters.....and anyway...the summer is coming....so a lot to look forward to!
Carol, I am so sorry, you must be spitting feathers.
I had no idea that an insurance company was involved in the mortgage. We always had a firm mortgage offer before we agreed to buy a house.
I will make sure that I remember that one, should we, for any unforessen reason, have to move over here.
I really feel for you both.
I know.....its luck of the draw...Newbury is 55 minutes from Paddington so a very popular commuter town...plus its only just over an hour to Bournemouth and the coast. Houses are at a premium.....I think I mentioned the one we used to own, that we sold 4 years ago, is now valued at nearly 65k above what we sold it for. Cambridge lovely, but not convenient commuterland...a bit too far and too expensive by train.
At least they gave the game away, plenty of them plead dire poverty from what I hear.
We know the people who intended buying here were putting in a pool and doing up an outbuilding, well that would have cost over 50k...so they have the money to buy. We are not playing the game Brian, Ive already politely refused a meeting with our agent on Friday....if he suggested dropping another 50k (we are somewhere around 200k lower in price than we were 2 years ago)...I might accidentally smack him! If it means we stay here, then so be it. We may well put the house with a holiday company and return to the UK anyway.
My friends from opposite where I lived many years in Cambridgeshire are trying to sell up because the husband retires this year. They have a fantastic house in Italy, the wife's family being Italian, now completely modernised and ready for them to move in. The husband is a partner in one of the biggest planning companies in the east of England and has agreed a price for selling his share to his partners, has a good private pension plus his state bit and no doubt she has her bit well sorted. All good and fine. Their house has been on the market since June last year, 20 minutes from the city centre, easy access to the M11 in 15 minutes, A14 and A11 near enough, good link roads to the A1 and M1, on the best business side of Cambridge. Nice village, no problem neighbours and nothing negative really. For all of that, a single viewing. Some parts of the UK are simply not moving.
You're going to get this sort of problem more and more often. The only people buying 'lifestyle' residences at the moment are older people who, often, have the cash or can raise a mortgage fairly easily. The banks are not creating the problems: it's the insurance companies who 'insure' the loan (even though the banks already have a hypothèque on the property - this is the real scandal). Often the banks will give an unofficial nod on the loan before a compromis is signed ...but then the insurance jokers get to work sifting through your medical history. The slightest doubt - or omission (you 'forgot to mention that hernia op in 1993) - will mean the dossier is rejected.
Every time I have a customer over 60 (often) I ask them if they have verified their 'status' with an insurance company. Most of them have never thought about it.
The catch in there is that no matter how 'sympathetic' your agent appears to be, they are usually colluding by making soothing sounds about dropping the price. My OH doesn't do it, but along the chain others do and that spins off on her. The problem is, ultimately, that with the present market, if they get 50k down then they will go for 80-100k instead. It is very sadly a buyer's market right now. I recently heard about a place worth over 200k where an offer of 50k was tried on. The people selling (they are in the Netherlands) said a firm no and the same people have upped their offer to 80k. They have almost certainly simply worked out from the length of time it has been on the market that there is surely no competition and were probably banking on the people needing to sell.
I am afraid I found I was bored in France and returned within less than a year. My husband is in France and comes over to the UK for a week every month.... We both want to be back in the UK...the property market is amazingly buoyant there....houses in Newbury where we live are coming on the market and going under offer within days.
We understood we had got to the equivalent stage...everything was signed (Compromis) the deposit lodged, and I believe we are on day 8 or 9 since we received the deposit...but if the mortgage is not forthcoming...then they keep their deposit and walk away...whereas we have spent over 600 euros on diagnostics..not to mention my costs of coming over to pack up....engaging an estate agent for our UK property (we are going to have to pay them as their contract states once they have started marketing your property, if we withdraw we have to pay costs...) that is marketing, advertising photographs etc. Seems if you are selling here...you will be the loser no matter what. I am going to make sure there is a letter stating their mortgage company will only give them a mortgage 50k less than they need (this is what we have been told) without a letter....it could just be a ploy... our estate agent has already 'hinted' if we dropped the house another 50k...
So very sorry to hear this Carol. I know selling houses is not happening here in Normandie. We have been thinkng of putting our house up for sale and know that we would be very lucky to sell within 2 1/2 years! I always thought your area was much more sought after...............
Over the years we have learnt that until the contracts are exchanged, anything can happen! Hope you get another buyer very soon - apart from the stress of it all!!
Keep positive and hoping you get anothr buyer very soon xx
I went back to UK and just as bad there so came back after managing to cope there for two years. Very strange place now - very American so came "home" again. Good luck anyway
would rather have the very effective Scottish system....frankly its nigh on impossible to make plans here...I am now going back to the UK and leaving a rather devastated OH here....nothing I can do...and I need to return to work...
Used to be an estate agent here and UK and things here are different. They may give you a "OK" on a mortgage at a french bank but talking to an established estate agent just this morning, he says the banks are saying one thing one day and another the next and definitely clamping down on mortgages and lending only to the "very safe" clients. Good luck with sale and sorry but things are getting tighter here also.
Anger plus possible complications - I agree with how you see it, life really is too short...