[Help] New house viewing - dilemma

[Uncle Spielberg]

It took us 4 months. Bloke viewed ours in early July, we moved early November. Our buyer was a cash buyer and old lady we bought from was going into a nursing home.
Our buyer was a picky sod and delayed it by about a month though (in the end we had to tell him to exchange contracts within a week or forget it).
No way will it get through by March 31st, even if cash buyers.

I agree

 

[pasty]

We had the same issue with roofing work that needed doing when we were selling our last house.

Our potential buyer raised it with us, and provided a quote which was in the £5K area and said they would reduce their offer by that amount. It was a bit of a no-brainer for us in the end really as we did not want to fork out to have the work done ourselves, and we quickly realised that any other offer we got would have the same issue, so we accepted their reduced offer.

Hopefully you get the same result.

 

[Normal Rob]

We had the same issue with roofing work that needed doing when we were selling our last house.

Our potential buyer raised it with us, and provided a quote which was in the £5K area and said they were would reduce their offer by that amount. It was a bit of a no-brainer for us in the end really as we did not want to fork out to have the work ourselves, and we quickly realised that any other offer we got would have the same issue, so we accepted their reduced offer.

Hopefully you get the same result.

V. useful - thanks. Did they raise it after having seen the survey?

 

[pasty]

V. useful - thanks. Did they raise it after having seen the survey?

Yes that's right.

 

[Bozza]

Whilst I appreciate that a roofer isn't a doctor and sworn to patient (customer) confidentiality, it doesn't feel quite right to me to be use that information pre-survey, however tempting it is.

And, from a "getting the house" perspective, which it seems is probably what you want, kicking the transaction off and getting some way down that path feels like it should give you the greatest chance of success as once the dodgy roof officially comes to light, the vendor will be well under way with their plans and is unlikely to want to re-list the house and start again.

The potential risk, of course, is the survey misses the roof issue, but your fallback could then be to use your inside information.

 

[Chicken Run]

Whilst I appreciate that a roofer isn't a doctor and sworn to patient (customer) confidentiality, it doesn't feel quite right to me to be use that information pre-survey, however tempting it is.

And, from a "getting the house" perspective, which it seems is probably what you want, kicking the transaction off and getting some way down that path feels like it should give you the greatest chance of success as once the dodgy roof officially comes to light, the vendor will be well under way with their plans and is unlikely to want to re-list the house and start again.

The potential risk, of course, is the survey misses the roof issue, but your fallback could then be to use your inside information.

This


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[Normal Rob]

Whilst I appreciate that a roofer isn't a doctor and sworn to patient (customer) confidentiality, it doesn't feel quite right to me to be use that information pre-survey, however tempting it is.

And, from a "getting the house" perspective, which it seems is probably what you want, kicking the transaction off and getting some way down that path feels like it should give you the greatest chance of success as once the dodgy roof officially comes to light, the vendor will be well under way with their plans and is unlikely to want to re-list the house and start again.

The potential risk, of course, is the survey misses the roof issue, but your fallback could then be to use your inside information.

Yes. I'm certainly leaning this way. I think that, if we go ahead, I'll go down the route of 'loving' the property in front of the homeowner (I genuinely hope I do - my wife saw it first time, not me). However we just would not be able to afford to do the remedial work on the roof over and above the asking price.

 

[Arthritic Toe]

Yes. I'm certainly leaning this way. I think that, if we go ahead, I'll go down the route of 'loving' the property in front of the homeowner (I genuinely hope I do - my wife saw it first time, not me). However we just would not be able to afford to do the remedial work on the roof over and above the asking price.

Careful with that - the more you appear to love it, the less likely they are to drop the price if they reckon you are hooked on it.

 

[HAILSHAM SEAGULL]

How big is the roof, is it a semi detatched, does it have hips, gables and valleys. K15 sounds juicy

 

[Normal Rob]

How big is the roof, is it a semi detatched, does it have hips, gables and valleys. K15 sounds juicy

yes, its' not a simple roof at all. House is 250 years old. Detached, gables, hips, the lot.

 

[Gazwag]

Some estate agents are only showing buyers round if they already have an accepted offer on their property but there is no ban.

This is what they say and they are not allowed to do anything if no offer

 

[schmunk]

This is what they say and they are not allowed to do anything if no offer

That's just them being ****ish, not the law.

 

[Bozza]

Careful with that - the more you appear to love it, the less likely they are to drop the price if they reckon you are hooked on it.

Bit of a difficult balance though, isn't it? Not many people try to buy a house that they're "meh" about.

 

[mwrpoole]

That's just them being ****ish, not the law.

Agree!

If you say your a cash buyer or its going to be a 'buy to let' they soon shut up.

 

[Arthritic Toe]

Bit of a difficult balance though, isn't it? Not many people try to buy a house that they're "meh" about.

It is, but better to appear to be considering several options, and to look like you're not afraid to pull out if it came to it.

 

[Playmaker]

My advice, as a retired proprietor of an independent Brighton agency for 25 years, is that you don't need to show the owner any emotion as to how much you love the property. Just be calm, collected and considered with your viewing and simply thank the owner for having shown you round. The owner will be predominantly interested in your offer and your ability to proceed as will the agent. (Hopefully you have either accepted an offer on yours or you have nothing to sell so are able to take it to the next stage without delay).

As far as the roof - After you've completed your mortgage application, the agent will receive a call from surveyor within a few weeks wanting to arrange a time to visit the property - That is where the agent should advise the surveyor to make a special note of looking at any potential problems with the roof - Just make sure you ask agent to put a note on file to do this at that time and for them to advise you when the survey is being conducted - You'll then be able to check to see if they have followed your instructions in respect of giving the surveyor the heads up on the roof. It's extremely unlikely, even with a basic mortgage valuation (survey) that any surveyor will miss any problems with the roof. I would advise at least having a homebuyers report - this is the next level of survey up from the basic and below a full structural (which I wouldn't put you off having). It will obviously cost more, but it does provide complete peace of mind, especially when spending hundreds of thousands of pounds.

As far as reducing your offer post survey, if the roof is indeed in need of replacement, and that if the owner is happy to play ball with the reduction, please bear in mind that it will be the mortgage that's reduced by the £15K not your deposit, so make sure you have the finance readily available if the house does need a new roof. Alternatively, as has already been mentioned, even after a price reduction, your lending source may retain the £15K from the mortgage until the works are completed to their satisfaction - Again you'll need to have the funds to be able to pay for it to be done before they release the balance of the mortgage to you.

Hope that’s of some help.

 

[Spiros]

Whilst I appreciate that a roofer isn't a doctor and sworn to patient (customer) confidentiality, it doesn't feel quite right to me to be use that information pre-survey, however tempting it is.

And, from a "getting the house" perspective, which it seems is probably what you want, kicking the transaction off and getting some way down that path feels like it should give you the greatest chance of success as once the dodgy roof officially comes to light, the vendor will be well under way with their plans and is unlikely to want to re-list the house and start again.

The potential risk, of course, is the survey misses the roof issue, but your fallback could then be to use your inside information.

There should be no risk at all of the survey missing the roof issue because any half-decent surveyor will ask you about anything you want them to look at/concentrate on before they do the survey. The real conundrum would be if you do this and even then the surveyor misses the roof issue, but I would think that unlikely

 

[Normal Rob]

My advice, as a retired proprietor of an independent Brighton agency for 25 years, is that you don't need to show the owner any emotion as to how much you love the property. Just be calm, collected and considered with your viewing and simply thank the owner for having shown you round. The owner will be predominantly interested in your offer and your ability to proceed as will the agent. (Hopefully you have either accepted an offer on yours or you have nothing to sell so are able to take it to the next stage without delay).

As far as the roof - After you've completed your mortgage application, the agent will receive a call from surveyor within a few weeks wanting to arrange a time to visit the property - That is where the agent should advise the surveyor to make a special note of looking at any potential problems with the roof - Just make sure you ask agent to put a note on file to do this at that time and for them to advise you when the survey is being conducted - You'll then be able to check to see if they have followed your instructions in respect of giving the surveyor the heads up on the roof. It's extremely unlikely, even with a basic mortgage valuation (survey) that any surveyor will miss any problems with the roof. I would advise at least having a homebuyers report - this is the next level of survey up from the basic and below a full structural (which I wouldn't put you off having). It will obviously cost more, but it does provide complete peace of mind, especially when spending hundreds of thousands of pounds.

As far as reducing your offer post survey, if the roof is indeed in need of replacement, and that if the owner is happy to play ball with the reduction, please bear in mind that it will be the mortgage that's reduced by the £15K not your deposit, so make sure you have the finance readily available if the house does need a new roof. Alternatively, as has already been mentioned, even after a price reduction, your lending source may retain the £15K from the mortgage until the works are completed to their satisfaction - Again you'll need to have the funds to be able to pay for it to be done before they release the balance of the mortgage to you.

Hope that’s of some help.

very thorough and extremely helpful. Thank you.

One question - if we were able to secure a mortgage £15k over the agreed house price, would that £15k not be returned to us as cash funds after the house payment had gone out? Thus giving us the capital to carry out the work.

 

[Playmaker]

very thorough and extremely helpful. Thank you.

One question - if we were able to secure a mortgage £15k over the agreed house price, would that £15k not be returned to us as cash funds after the house payment had gone out? Thus giving us the capital to carry out the work.

Extremely unlikely any mortgagee will lend you more than the value of the property, but I would explain your position/concerns (potential roof issue etc..) to your financial advisor who will be able to best guide you in respect of finance. The most important thing is to ensure you at least have the readily available funds should the roof need replacing. Don't forget everything is subject to contract, do everything through the agents (both verbally and in writing), and make sure you obtain at least a couple of estimates for the roof (or anything else for that matter) if problems do arise in the survey (even if your friend is likely to be the one doing the work for you).

Very best of luck