Negotiating lower offer after survey

matmad

Need some advice.

We put in an offer of £240k on a property with an asking price of £249,950 back in August. It was accepted.

We probably didn't negotiate well at the time, as I later saw it had been advertised on the internet for £239,950 at some point before.

Trying to be sensible we've had a full building survey done, and it has flagged up loads of stuff.

Seven issues came back as 'do now' category, with an estimated top end cost of approx £21k.

More issues came back as 'need doing, but can wait a bit' category, with an estimated top end cost of approx another £19k.

Overall, the property is structurally sound.

The survey recommends that we get in more accurate estimates from 5 or 6 specialist contractors, but time has really become a factor now and we're at the bottom of the chain holding everyone else up.

We want to lower our offer of £240k in light of the survey.

Bearing in mind that in theory, we've already had £10k off the asking price, I'm trying to work out a figure to give to the estate agent in light of the results of the survey.

£230k would be acceptable to us, but we don't want to pay any more than that.

What price would you suggest we go in at to start negotiations, taking on board the information given?

Gwhiz

Go low and work your way up!

Only you know what it's worth to you and only the vendor knows how much of this extra work they may feel they had already factored in in their minds.

jebervic

It all depends on how much you want the house and are you prepared to lose it if the vendors won't reduce or get annoyed and pull out of the sale.

Personally I would email the estate agents giving the problems highlighted in the survey and in view of the problems raised you wish to reduce your offer by ???????. Stand back and await their response, in the current climate you stand a good chance of getting the reduction. To be honest you have to be convincing that will be prepared to walk away.

sarahevie

We had this in 2007 when we bought our house. The EA guilt tripped us and said that the vendor was very upset and that there would be no room for negotiation (we wanted the house) at the time we had been gazumped on several and the market was particularly buoyant. Our next door neighbours (identical house) with similar problems sold for the same price as ours a couple of months before.

However there was another house on our street that didn't sell for 12 months after we bought ours and eventually went for £12K less so we might have been better to have sat it out, we bought at the worst time just before the market started to slide but we are happy with our purchase.

tomitma

I would tell the sellers the results of the surveys, and an estimate of how much it is going to cost to put right, then just tell them that you want the price lowered due to the fact that you will have to spend 20,000. If they are desperate to move out they should accept it. But I certainly wouldn't pay 240 with all the work that needs doing.

matmad

Thanks for your replies.

Yep, we are prepared to walk away, despite the fact the location is great for us.

What do you suggest is the best way to get £230k?

Just say £230k - or we walk away?
or
Offer £225k and negotiate to £230k if necessary?

jebervic

matmad wrote: »

Thanks for your replies.

Yep, we are prepared to walk away, despite the fact the location is great for us.

What do you suggest is the best way to get £230k?

Just say £230k - or we walk away?
or
Offer £225k and negotiate to £230k if necessary?

225K and negotiate to a final figure of 230k, don't forget to stress the reductions come from the survey and the fact that these problems will be found by any other buyers they may find.

mcc100

matmad wrote: »

Seven issues came back as 'do now' category, with an estimated top end cost of approx £21k.

More issues came back as 'need doing, but can wait a bit' category, with an estimated top end cost of approx another £19k.

So in effect £40,000 worth of work needs to be done.

I would have gone in with an offer of 10% below asking price ie £225,000 before the survey had been done ...... this is the norm at present.

Deduct the £40,000 worth of work required and you are looking at £185,000.

It's only my opinion but I would not pay more than £185,000.

Jackinbox99

Well my slant on this is that if the property needed no work doing to it then it would probably been advertised for a higher price initially, and so the price advertised for reflects the work which the property may need.

In addition, surveys highlight a lot of items which can sound serious but are not and obviously have not affected anyone living in the house already.

For example, the house I just bought, I looked around it myself and I could see what needed doing. The house was priced because it needed stuff doing to it. The survey flagged a few things as "mega serious" which included "the fuse box is old" - well of course its old, but its not dangerous and hasnt caused problems with the current owners. The survey made it sound like a major problem and recommended I get a quote from a specialist. Which I did, and the specialist quoted £1200. In actual fact I had a new fusebox fitted and the whole electrics inspected for £300 in the end.

Likewise, the survey flagged things such as "loft insultation urgently needed" - cost me about £75 to do myself, and other such cheap minor things, but if you got a professional to do them they would rip you off nicely.

I didnt go back and try to get the house for less, as id already shook on the deal, and the house was priced becuase it needed the work doing to it.

ILW

What is a mortgage valuer going to come up with, assuming it is not a cash purchase.

ILW

Jackinbox99 wrote: »

Well my slant on this is that if the property needed no work doing to it then it would probably been advertised for a higher price initially, and so the price advertised for reflects the work which the property may need.


I didnt go back and try to get the house for less, as id already shook on the deal, and the house was priced becuase it needed the work doing to it.

That does sound rather naive to me.