to those buying in these difficult times! AKA buyers support network

goldengirl28

well after lurking in the background for a while i think i'll be shortly joining this thread.

I've been on the selling thread for a while and my house sale is progressing well, originally put an offer in on house, that was at the top of hubby and my budget, which was rejected................probuably a good thing as hubby got made redundant 2 days later.

After searching for 3 weeks, i viewed a house yesterday that is easily affordable on my wage alone.............it is a dump (no door on the bathroom was the best bit), approx 30 years old, but they have not looked after it, but if you look past the cosmetics it has great potential.

Hubby and I are going back on sunday, if hubby likes, we'll put an offer in straight away as we need to move

House is for sale by the owner, so i suppose we will have to start haggling soon.

wish me luck

<sebb>

<sebb> wrote: »

I'm currently part way through buying a flat and am really starting to get cold feet. I'm not sure whether I'm just being paranoid or sensible!

Little things started to bother me from the start, not major things that would make me pull out, but enough to make me think that the vendor wasnt putting as much effort in as he expected me to.

The property is a 100 year old house in london that was converted to 2 flats about 18 months ago. It's never been sold as two separate flats (I'm buying the upper flat) and it's share of freehold.

Firstly, there was no HIP (yes I know they are a waste of time, but they are a requirement!) and after chasing it finally arrived two weeks later, incomplete and full of mistakes - even the address and council tax band was wrong. It also didnt have any of the required searches or a copy of the lease. I'm still waiting for the searches a further 2 weeks later.

I was told there was no lease yet because it hadnt been created and had to wait weeks to see a copy of the draft.

Then the survey comes in and it says that the conversion is substandard and the roof was "amateurish" (a large dormer had been added to the top floor and a new extension was built at the back). They also highlighted that it would need regular maintainance as so much of it was a flat roof (more than they had expected to see according to the report). I decided to get a roof inspection done but before going to this added expense I wanted to see what my solicitor had to say about the papers she'd already received.

To top it all off, I decided to check the planning documents on the council website for the conversion and they dont match the layout of the two converted flats! I spoke to my solicitor and she said she was still waiting for the building completion certificate and that they wouldnt have got this if it didnt match the planning permission.

So I decided to put off the roofing inspection until I see the building completion certificates, but it's all starting to worry me now.

I guess I just have to wait and see what turns up with but I'm finding this process quite stressful and seriously considering pulling out.

My story ^^

Well it's been over a week now since we requested the building completion certificates from the buyer's solicitor and still no response. Why they didnt include them with the original papers is beyond me! Surely they must have known I would need to see them? Based on the planning application, and the survey report I really suspect they don't exist in which case I'll be pulling out of the purchase.

Chris_Quartly

purpletopaz wrote: »

Chris quarterly! How did the viewing go!

Well after 3 months( since first viewing ) we complete tomorrow! went to Sols today and handed over the rest of the 25% dep and their fees! Never thought we would get there she said the mortgage funds are through.

Now the fun ! Moving! Will be off line for a while but Hope all your hunting and searching goes well! ! XX

Congratulations on completion!

We had our initial bid rejected (£10k under asking) but apparently not far off, will offer £1k more and see what happens

Chris_Quartly

Have just offered £1k more as a second bid, and am quite proud at myself for how I conversed with the estate agent putting my points accross. Hopefully they will accept but not the end of the world if they don't and we might walk away for a week at least. Fingers crossed.

Chris_Quartly

Had my offer accepted! The chain is complete apparently as the people we are buying from have had an offer accepted on a place and those owners have also had an offer accepted on a place that is empty.

Now the scary stuff begins I guess!

forumgrazer

Just had a week's holiday away for my 30th and feeling just about refreshed enough to think about the house again....Why is it that everything else in life comes around really quickly while this house buying lark takes so long? 8 weeks since offer now.

Met the vendors on our proper second viewing last Monday just before our flight. Good to finally meet vendor's OH and try to get across our urgency... we're now in our 6th month at SiL's and she's trying to get ready to sell her flat too. Trouble is they're not very rushed - new baby = lots of family visiting and they're finding rentals difficult to view on anything but Saturdays.

Still at least we've a date to aim for now and we're more comfortable having heard things directly from them. Lets just hope they don't get tempted looking at sales now.

forumgrazer

Chris Q - don't envy the chain but hopefully as its all in place you'll be able to push things along quickly - good luck!

AstraTurbo

...............

RacyRed

<sebb> wrote: »

My story ^^

Well it's been over a week now since we requested the building completion certificates from the buyer's solicitor and still no response. Why they didnt include them with the original papers is beyond me! Surely they must have known I would need to see them? Based on the planning application, and the survey report I really suspect they don't exist in which case I'll be pulling out of the purchase.

Fingers crossed for you Sebb.

My surveyor goes out this week. There are a few points I spotted on the viewings that I'm a bit worried about so I'm starting to feel very nervous already

RacyRed

AstraTurbo wrote: »

...
Anyone else put a cheeky offer and managed to buy ?

Depends how cheeky What % below asking price did you offer?