UkWinds5353

Thank you for that information. Do you have any idea what the usual fee is for a relocation agent in addition to the fee for a UK real estate agent ?
And is it negotiable? I don't want to break decorum or rules but I do look for avenues to save money when possible.

Jerseygirl

https://www.which.co.uk/money/mortga...s-an2n90t09n2g

Pulaski

I sold my house in the UK for 1.25%, but that was after the estate agent charging 1% (who was generally well regarded and very active in the area) botched two deals that fell apart, and I fired them.

That said, the effort to sell a house in that neighborhood only required that the agent pull the list of buyers who had already expressed an interest in that neighborhood out of their desk drawer and phone them all to arrange viewings. I bought that house when when I was on such a list, and was the seventh person to view the house on the first day it was available, and seven more were school for the next day. I jumped to the head of the queue as I had no property to sell, offered asking price, and was prequalified for a mortgage.

UkWinds5353

Thanks Jerseygirl

Very glad to have posted my plans otherwise would not have known the difference in process UK vs States until on holiday in august. I see there is no agent fee in buying a home in the UK which is great. Only for the seller. But the VAT which we are well aware of, but not happy about, more than makes up for those other savings. Ouch! But everything in life cost money.

Thanks for your posting. Have a little homework to do.

UkWinds5353

P, You sound like a sharp business person. Have you purchased more than one property in the UK?

I look forward to the difference in process in the UK, should be interesting. A lot of people get perplexed over all the mundane issues involved in moving somewhere new. To me it's an opportunity to learn and it helps as well when one has a ton of patience. I have three kids. I'm marathon tested. My only issue is the VAT but there is no way around it because we will keep our home residence in the States. And we have investment properties.

Jerseygirl

IMO one huge difference is that the purchase is not legally binding until contracts have been exchanged. That can take a week or so...or months. Until that time, either parties can back out without any penalties. If you are able to pay cash...you can exchange contacts and close within a couple of weeks. Normally a house purchase takes a couple of months or more.

jayandbill

Sussex is my place of birth and I love it but housing is a bit pricey. Easy access to London being a bonus. Can't grumble about the weather too much either, not too wet, not too cold and a reasonable amount of sun. I spent the 55 years of my life there so had a bit of experience. we left for NZ 9 years ago to join our family in The Bay of Plenty .

UkWinds5353

That is quite tricky and a bit suspenseful when thinking about it. Someone could come alone and offer a higher bid and stop the deal on the table. Talk about a unforeseen roadblock. Wow that is interesting.

I usually prefer properties that have been on the market for a while. Makes negotiating on both sides less stressful and concise. We will have a reasonable amount of time for inspections and it will be a cash purchase.

spouse of scouse

I've purchased three properties for cash in the UK, the shortest time for contracts to be exchanged was 5 weeks, the longest 7 months.

Just some help with your terminology, the tax you pay on purchasing a property is Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), not VAT.

rebs

Yes, you have mentioned before about the draw of London for your kids in general terms - I was asking about how you had selected the specific area within London for the houses you linked to. What was it about that particular part within London (rather than London in general) that you liked.

UKwinds, I can't remember if you are keeping your house in the US, but something to perhaps keep in mind is that there is additional stamp duty (over and above the normal amounts) due if you have other property -
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/stamp-du...rates-apply-to

christmasoompa

Our house is currently on the market (wanna buy it?!), and our estate agent fee is 0.75%. It's a 'normal' estate agent, but you can use agents such as Purple Bricks that don't charge commission too, just a set fee. Unfortunately for Purple Bricks, they valued our house at £400,000 less than all the other agents, so we rather lost confidence in them with that and didn't pursue it. No agent proposed a fee of more than 1% to us.

A relocation agent normally charges a set fee (say £500), and then a 'success fee' of around 1.5%-2%, from which the original set fee is deducted. That's for a house search, if you want driving around areas, schools, help with other stuff, then they usually charge extra for that.

HTH.

yellowroom

The vast majority of houses for sale are listed at rightmove , even other online agents like purplebricks. Many agents list on zoopla too, but the latter is mostly useful for historical searches of house prices. The expectation is that you will put in the legwork.

Pulaski

And I suspect that most of the business for relocation agents is from corporations paying for the service for their employees, not from Joe Public, who is already stretching the limits of his budget. In other words, if I had an "extra" 2% available, I would add it to the price I would pay for a house, not pay for a relocation agent.

rebs

Could always apply to be on Location Location Location, and not have to pay for the service

https://www.channel4.com/4viewers/ta...ation-location

yellowroom

Agree. I know I've only one experience of using a realtor to find somewhere to live, but I found the process very restrictive and time-consuming. A low brow version of Locationx3 if you like. I didn't like it because I like being in control of processes like finding somewhere to live, and I don't think the realtor really "got" me.

It makes sense if you are so new to the country that you would be lost without a realtor or relocation agent, or are moving to a place with very different language/culture, or have trailing spouse/family that needs the support you get from your colleagues. But the advantage of the UK system is being able to look at the property details yourself and then visit the area/road to rule it in/out before even making an appointment to step in the front door. And these days you can do it all online (even viewing the area/road). All my house purchases were done the old fashioned way of visiting all the estate agents in town, registering my interest with them all, coming out with handfuls of A4 listings (with one photo at the top of them), reading them all, narrowing them down and then driving round the area with AtoZ in hand to narrow down even more and THEN ringing the agent to make a viewing appointment. It makes me tired just thinking about it!