(no subject)

[mstislavl]

I've developed a crazy idea to buy a flat in NCL. I have enough money for a deposit and there are banks that provide mortgage to people on work permits - Halifax, for example. As soon as I bring nIcholas over, I wouldn't be able to rent a room and flat's rent is comparable with a mortgage. So why waste the money?

Comments

[eastexpert.livejournal.com]

How large a deposit are Halifax satisfied with? (not the absolute amount, but rather what share of a mortgage is wanted as a deposit?). Because I also think of getting myself this at a somewhat later point, and I'm also here on a work permit.

My bank (Barclays) has informed me that until I get my ILR, the only mortgage I can get starts with min. 30% deposit (OUCH!) and is just a standard variable rate one (the best options like "offset mortgage" are not available from them without a permanent resident status).

[oryx_and_crake]

А что, папаша, овёс нынче дорог? How much is a decent apartment in a decent neigborhood nowadays? 5 years ago, you could buy a townhouse (maybe they are called terraced houses in Britain, I'm not sure - the kind where you have neighbours on your right and left, but your own street entrance) in Tyne&Wear for as low as 15 to 30 K GBP, depending on location, the age of the house etc. And what is the minimum downpayment?

In Britain,

[farraige.livejournal.com]

townhouses and terraced houses are two different things, although the basic notion of having neighbours to your right and left, but not on top + own front door and garden(s) is applicable to both. a townhouse in the British sense of the word is a three-storied affair with a garage on the ground floor and a utility room/kitchen at the back, whereas an ordinary terrace lacks those niceties.

[eastexpert.livejournal.com]

30K? Ahaha :)

My neighbour has decided to leave for Canada. She sells a two-bedroom *apartment* in our converted manor right now. Not a large one, I must say. The price's bloody £165K! Tell me about "affluent neighbourhoods"... This is probably near the top of the range I could afford without indebting myself forever, and deteriorating my quality of life -- and without a second income source (read: a partner).

All that happens thanks to strong buy-to-let demand who drive the prices through the top. If this insanity doesn't stop, there will be no entry to property market (in South East) even for people like me... definitely not the worst-paid in this country. I really hope the bank regulations discourage further practice of irresponsive lending (which most of buy-to-let really is), so there will be still a remote possibility of clinging to the bottom rung of the property ladder for me and people like me.

[oryx_and_crake]

Well, I saw these advertisements with my own eyes; but please keep in mind that
it was a) 5 years ago and b) in North-East where the housing is generally
cheaper than in South.
As to leaving for Canada, here you won't be able to buy anything decent for
under 200 K CAD (it will be either a very small 2-bedroom condo apartment or
condo townhouse, or a detached house in the middle of nowhere and you'll have to
spend 2-3 hours a day commuting). At least these
are Toronto prices; in other Canadian cities the housing is cheaper but the job market is
much worse... same as everywhere else, I guess.

[oryx_and_crake]

However, if one is a S.I.N.K. ( Single Income No Kids ), one could probably afford a smaller but better apartment (not needing a house) closer to downtown, if need be, or even a lakeshore one with a beautiful view onto lake Ontario...

[oryx_and_crake]

I don't know how it is done in Briatin, but here in Canada if you buy some realty you have to pay lots of fees - and then, if you have to sell it within a few years, you might actually carry some losses. Of course, the price of your house/apartment might go up, but it might go down as well. If (let's consider the worst scenario possible) you have to leave the country in, say, 3 years from now (your work permit is not extended, immigration laws change etc.), the price stays the same or goes down, you are forced to sell anyway, and then you'll be still indebted to your bank or building society, your credit history will be ruined, which might create problems if there is a global european database on credit histories etc. I am not trying to dissuade you, just trying to show the other side of this coin.

[oryx_and_crake]

Briatin = Britain... way to go, straight to nedosyp :-)

[lojka.livejournal.com]

видишь, реально to buy flat - это означает вложить выгодно деньги и экономить на аренде жилья, а не типа остаться там на всю жизнь.

главное, чтобы визовый статус не попортил дело...

[mstislavl]

see
http://bratok.co.uk/showthread.php?t=15265

lotsa rubbish, but there's some useful information as well. it seems that 10% should be enough for a deposit although offset mortgage is not available. Barclays is not the best bank to be a client of...don't they even charge for taking cash from cash machines?

[mstislavl]

a PhD student from the lab next dooor just bought a house for 25K. hovewer, she says that the area is reaaly bad: drugs, people on the dole, rubbish everywhere. The school in this area must be awful and my son is going to school in a year. Terrraced houses in the area where I live now cost about 180 - 200K, i can never dream about it. modern flats cost the same. but I've seen a couple of two bedroom flats in Wellsend advertised with starting price 58-60K. this should be within my grasp if Halifax provides its usual 3,25 annual salary morgage.

I know about fees, additionally now there is a capital gain tax for flats over 60K. the real question is whether I intend to stay in UK for more than 3 years. I do.

Actually Barclays is not that bad

[eastexpert.livejournal.com]

First of all, among four high-street banks I approached when just arrived into the UK, one clearly showed their lack of interest for immigrant; two others couldn't answer my simple questions about foreign currency operations; and Barclays welcomed me, provided a cheerful personal banker who was able to answer all my questions. So in fact I opened my account with them on the same day.

It was in Barclays where I received a credit card right off the bat (and many my colleagues had to wait 6 months before that...). Methinks they actually tweaked some cryptic parameters on my CC application - like how many months have I spent here... Anyway the result was clear.

No, they don't charge you for taking cash. In fact, life becomes much better as you get more products with them. Then comes Platinum account and Platinum Barclaycard. Many niceties become in fact FREE.

Barclays' Online Banking is one of the best of its kind, and supports statement downloads into Microsoft Money (v. important for me as I use it profoundly). Quarterly statements with funny information. They also provided me with ISA.

In fact, don't have reasons to complain about my banking with them. (Except mortgage, but I guess that's common attitude to immigrants).

ода Барклаю

[mstislavl]

mini-ISA or maxi ISA? if mini, they can't do better than Intelligent Finance - 4.5%