groundhog day!!!!!!!!!
 

Well, it's been about 3 months since we decided categorically thta Oz was not for us. Since then we have spent $2690 marketing our house and have had two (good) offers and contracts, both which have crashed after the buyers have failed to raise the finance!!!!!!!!!! What'swrong with the Uk system where you prove your finance before making an offer! I know it't s swings and roundabouts but ffs the ozzie contracts seem to have so many conditions that they are no better than those in the Uk!

anyway ..............rant over, hopefully 3rd time lucky!

Olias

Re: groundhog day!!!!!!!!!
 

Excuse me? "the Uk system where you prove your finance before making an offer" Not in my experience they don't. We were dangling over the pits of hell right up to the last minute when the money changed hands at the very end.

Personally I like the Spanish system. You agree to buy, you shake hands, and you have to hand over 10% of the purchase price. The house is then yours, providing you stump up the rest on the appointed day. If you fail to do that, you forfeit the deposit. If you are gazumped, then the seller has to give you back double the deposit.

In the UK, you can rack up lots of costs preparing to buy/sell a house, only to have it all wasted if the other party pulls out.

Re: groundhog day!!!!!!!!!
 

Must be your agents!

Every time I have bought a house in the UK I have had my finance agreed in principle and a letter as such from the bank to show agents I am a serious buyer.

Siilarly, whenever I have sold a house in the UK, my agents have asked for proof of finance before accepting an offer.

In Oz, what's the point of a contract at offer, if they then say it's conditional on pest and buildings, finance, etc etc etc - all of which takes weeks and gives them an excuse to get out an any time for the most spurious of reasons.

Even my agent has admitted that many people put in multiple offers/contracts on houses, just to keep their options open, with no intention of pursuing many of them!

Re: groundhog day!!!!!!!!!
 

Amazing. I have never heard of such a thing here. Mind you, my lawyer was useless. Worse than useless. A steaming pile of ordure in short.

Our experience in the UK was hell. Apart from the problems in raising the money, the Spanish one was a walk in the park.

Re: groundhog day!!!!!!!!!
 

Was wondering how you guys were going with your move! Hope it all works out - as you said, third time lucky!

Re: groundhog day!!!!!!!!!
 

Hi Bil, just wondering if you're heading back to the UK? If so, why do you prefer the UK?

Re: groundhog day!!!!!!!!!
 

As the poet said, I could a tale unfold....'

We decided some 7 years ago to develop our back garden, build a nice house of slightly unusual design, fund it by selling off a plot, and keep the rest as garden (another two plots). Simple, eh? The whole plot was within the village envelope even if most of it was in the conservation zone.

Our neighbours, who had all either sold portions of their gardens for building plots or had bought/built houses on said polts all rose up demanding we should not be allowed to do anything so henious. Hypocritical sons of wh*res.

After two years of hassle and spite, we decided that the last thing we wanted to do was to live anywhere near these people, so we decided to sell up and take early retirement.

We were throughout all this messed about by the planners to a degree you wil probably find hard to believe. They would throw our design out because the building did not conform to the character of the area. The quarter of the village we were in had no two individuals houses that were alike, and no two cul de sacs or groups of houses that were alike. Hence, in order to be in character, we had to produce something that was different to everything else, whereupon it was thrown out for being out of character.

Another time it was thrown out for having windows on the first floor on one side, because they overlooked someone's garden. Fair comment. So we redid all the drawings with no windows (Because they would not accept fixed windows, small windows or opaque glass windows there) on that side on the first floor. It was then thrown out on the grounds that it had no windows on the first floor on that side.

Another time an application was thrown back for reasons A, B & C, which were fixed, the application was then thrown out for exactly the same reasons, indicating that the guy hadn't even bothered to read it.

Lies were told about what we could do and what we couldn't.

When we finally turned to a developer, they too were jerked around until they withdrew because by then the ruling had come in that South Cambs are allowed to seize half of your land for social housing.

O Joy.

Not only that but you have to pay for all the services to the land, just like the famous Valencian land grabs, and on the top, they are then able to demand that you are only allowed to build small houses on there which further slashes your profit margin.

The last time we put in an application, we used the design and layout that they suggested, only to have it rejected on, wait for it, design and layout.

If of course we dared to complain, we have been advised that they will make our lives hell. To be honest tho I am no loger sure how that would differ from what we are getting.

So, if the bit of land I own had been 10 miles south, none of this would have happened, and I would, a year ago, been able to give my kids a start on their house deposits, clear all my bills, be living in Spain, new car on the drive, money in my pocket and not a care in the world.

Instead we are still stuck in rental in the UK.

Things are so expensive that now the kids are off to Uni, the wife will be off to Spain in Feb to live, we are trying to organise a loan to buy a cheap second hand car, and I will be renting a room here in the UK, commuting to and fro to earn a living, and having to scrimp and save to get done all the things we want to achieve.

Now do you see why I am so prone to depression? All in all it has been seven solid years of sh*te, and anyone who thinks it is funny, or I deserve it, then I hope they get cancer.

Re: groundhog day!!!!!!!!!
 

No, not at all funny for you. You don't, however, sound as though you are heading back to the UK so just wondered why you were on the MBTUK forum? That's why I asked

Re: groundhog day!!!!!!!!!
 

I research stuff fairly carefully so I pay attention to the problems people have and the reasons they come home. A lot aren't relevant to me, but there are sometimes very valuable nuggets of information that aren't available in threads focussing on going out and other aspects.

Re: groundhog day!!!!!!!!!
 

Oh poor you, sounds like you are really having a hard time of it. I think that this is going on all over at the mo, including the uk. The banks are withdrawing so many mortgage products that you may find that those that offered did think they could afford it, but now those products are not available to them.

Have you though about dropping your house price so that you can get a quick sale? Realistically it may be a better option than keeping it on the market for so long as emotionally and financially it will probably cost you more in the long run.

Good luck and I hope that you get HOME very soon.xxxx:)

Re: groundhog day!!!!!!!!!
 

Unfortunately it is a buyers market right now, so beware. There are so many properties for sale. In the uk too. There are the most amount of houses unsold for 15 years.

You could get agent to tell purchasers that you will only accept offers from those who have proof of mortgage offer. That way it saves the agent time too, as they can sort the serious from the time wasters. That is what we would do where I worked in the uk. The agents are working for you at the end of the day, and it is in their interest (commission wise) to keep you sweet. Also you can tell them that you will only give them a certain amount of time to sell it, this can be built in to you agreement. Also sometimes offering them a bonus if they sell it within a short space of time will encourage them to work harder. Carrot, donkey........Don't let them bully you, or tell you a croc of S*T!!!!! You are paying their wages at the end of the day!!