[Hom3r]

Originally Posted by weenie

I'm so lucky that my son and his other half listen to advice. On Monday they took me to at a flat that there friends were selling and right away alarm bells were going off in my head.

The first thing was that the flat had a factor at £70.00 pcm, then they needed to sell it for the price they paid there was to be no coming or going with the price at all, then I asked to look at the boiler which in my opinion is at least 13 years old and the final one was that they made out they were doing the kids a huge favour in leaving the washing machine etc then and only then I spoke out I asked how old is the washing machine and they could not tell us. Then I spoke out and said the reason you cannot tell us is because these were left in the flat when you bought it three years ago then I turned to the kids and said these could need replaced sooner than you think along with the boiler.

Something was just was sitting right with me about this property so once I got home I googled this address and found out that since 2006 this flat had not once made a profit so therefore I sat the kids down and explained negative equity to the kids and when they said that they were there friends I simply said there is no friends in business.

I then went on to new home deals and showed them that they could get a three bedroom (for ever home) if they went down this route. This brand new home gives them a NHBC Buildmark Warranty which gives you a 10 year structural warranty and a 2 year fixtures and fittings warranty as standard. I also explained that everything is brand new, kitchen, bathroom etc for the same payments of the 12 year old flat but there is a compromise and that would be the area plus extending there mortgage to either 30 or 35 years which only they can decide. I explained that 35 years is nothing as we took out a 25 year endowment mortgage that fell short so in the long run our mortgage ended up being just short of 35 years.

Anyway last night my son said that his so called mate is not happy with me for drawing attention to the negatives of his flat and I have one word for that tough! as I could not see one positive in them buying this flat at all only heartache and regret imo plus I been there done that and there is no way I could just sit back without explaining this to the kids I mean £70.00 pcm for a factor this £70.00 could go towards quite a few extra thousands for a better house imho so I said this. Plus hubby and I think buying a property which has not made a profit since 2006 is very worrying indeed and your only buying trouble.

I'm just so lucky that they trust our advice.

What does a factor of £70.00 mean?