First time buyer - baby on the way

olly300

MrChips wrote: »

Some relatively good news this morning After my wife has got involved and basically been a bit less polite than I am (I am too English ) they have offered to meet us half way.

Final suggestion from them - £500k for the house, £2.5k for chattels and we pay £5k to the agent as some sort of "finder's fee" or something like this - my wife didn't quite get that bit and I'll call to clarify. I guess the implication is that this will be passed onto the vendors...

We are prepared to spend £507.5k cos we do love the house and we can afford this. I think the chattels are now at a more believeable price based on previous comments!

My only concern is with the additional £5k.

Sorry the 2.5K for chattels and the finders fee is a rip off.

The junk is worth £500 max.

You are being a mug. People on this thread are trying to stop you being ripped off.

MrChips

Thanks for all the support so far - we are standing our ground! Fingers crossed we'll get another call next week

neverdespairgirl

MrChips wrote: »

As a newbie, quite how dodgy is this? Is it a case of "they're all at it" or are people genuinely shocked about this?

i am quite surprised, by the cash part, yes. Would make me steer well clear of the agents ever again.

neverdespairgirl

MrChips wrote: »

Vendors are refusing to budge on price...we will see!

Meanwhile got this list of chattels sent through with an approximate valuation. Any comments on whether they fall into the "justifiable" range?

Freestanding wardrobes first bedroom £1000
Freestanding wardrobes second bedroom £1000
Carpet
Curtains/curtain tracks
Ceiling light fixtures £500
3 fridges in the garage £500
Custom made garden shed £600
tv Aerial £200
satellite dish £200
Freestanding bookshelf in garage £100
Bookshelf £100
HD cables in wall living room £100

I guess I don't really care if the items are worth exactly what they say, just if they fall into the range where eyebrows would be raised.

Yes, some of those would seriously raise eyebrows - the £2k's worth of wardrobes, for example. Unless they are seriously nice antiques, 2 second hand wardrobes are worth very little. TV ariel and satellite dish @ £200 each? That's just taking the proverbial.

As for HD cables in the wall, the mind boggles about how they could take them if you don't buy them!

MrChips

Well....after waiting for a week, guess what - I got a call today to say they are prepared to accept £500k + £2.5k for chattels

We have accepted and we'll be appointing solicitors and finalising mortgage details in due course. Fingers crossed we'll be in by Christmas!

Thanks to everyone for help, advice and support over the last few weeks! We're delighted

[Deleted User]

Please make the offer subject to survey and the house being taken off the market. And to be honest I agree with everyone else.., u are going to be extremely lucky to get away with the HMRC not regarding the house as being sold at over 500K.., is the house worth the extra tax u will probably have to pay.., its a huge amount extra.

They quite clearly are trying it on, and don't have any buyers whatever they are saying.., otherwise they wouldn't have come back to u at all proposing reduced offer prices. Please think this thru.., offer 500k, no extra, no money for F&F's and just sit and wait. If u lose it, u found one place that was 'even better' than the original place u had your offer turned down on.., u can find another. Your baby only needs a lie down buggy and baby bag in the first few months.., u can make do with one of those nice travel systems and just carry the car seat thing up and down stairs quite happily.

MrChips

Offer will be subject to contract/survey/being taken off market.

I'm fairly relaxed about the chattels - if we are cutting it fine with HMRC surely my solicitor will tell me? Or am I misunderstanding what solicitors do?

Catatonia

I totally agree with Deanna. And I doubt that they will lose a sale for the sake of £2.5k on a house priced at this much.

Tell them you are worried about HMRC and so after consulting with a solicitor your final offer is £500k and no extras.

BornAtTheRightTime

You'll be absolutely fine with £2.5k chattels on a £500k house, just be sure you can back up the £2.5k with a list of reasonably-priced items. That's from my experience - be aware lots of posters here tend to assume the worst and are not speaking form certain knowledge or experience.

As far as reasonably-priced goes, the ebay value of second hand is too low. The fact that the items are there in-situ adds a lot. For example, if you had to go and buy new carpets it would cost thousands, so the true value to you for in-situ carpets is somewhere between ebay value and new value.

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Now for the valuation:eek: Any bets on how much the Lenders will now under value the property. I reckon the valuation will come in at £485k!

best guestimates here:D


AMD