First time buyer advice needed!! valuation/offer!

sarat1357

Me and my partner are in the process of buying our first house together. We have made an offer of 120k which was accepted ,the seller has since said she would not accept any less. The house was on the market for 145k and we know that the seller paid 139 k , 7 years ago. We thought we were getting a bargain as it is a lovely house.

The valuation has recently come back as the house being worth 120 k so now we feel abit deflated as were only paying what the house is worth, especially in current economy we thought we'd make a little. We are unsure if we are being ripped off as the valuation highlighted a few faults :

• The valuation says the house has suffered movement ie cracks in walls
• It says the electirical installtion gave cause for concern and reccomends specialist advice.
• It says the central heating boiler location is too close to the electricity and gass meater and needs to be moved.
• the guttering and stop ends on the conservatory need replacing
• there is damp in the conservatory - which required a damnand timber contractor to investigate
• and lastly it says the damp proof course on the conservatory is bridged and needs doing properly..

I faxed this through to the estate agents and they informed the seller. She has had an electrician round and they are inserteing a new fuse box to fit with regualtions. The boiler has been serviced by british gas and is ok. This still leaves the other problems.

Will the person carrying out the valuation take all these into account when making his valuation? Do you think we should try and negotiate lower? I read somewhere that valuators are being very strict at the moment so he might have done this at lower price due to this? This valuation was done by halifax , do we also need to get a survey done or this the same thing? Any help and advice with this would be greatly appreciated as we are totally new to this and kind of 'winging' it as we go along , dont want to make a big mistake!

Thanks

MacMickster

The valuation will rarely, if ever, come back with a higher figure than the agreed sale price.

If the lender considers that anything is urgent they will put a retention on the mortgage. Unless the valuation reportsays that the movement is longstanding I would pay for a structural engineer to check it out. I would always recommend getting a full survey done however.

TonyMMM

You have offered £120k, and the valuer has confirmed it is worth £120k ...... ???

What sort of survey did you have done ? If it was a basic valuation , it is only designed to confirm to the lender that the property is reasonable security for the amount being borrowed ...NOTHING MORE..

You don't have to have any other survey done at all ... it is up to you. From the comments above, I would consider getting someone to look at the cracks/movement, but the rest of the comments seem pretty standard for any valuation.

sarat1357

so this is something different to the valuation that the halifax have done? i was lead to believe they are the same thing ?

Doozergirl

Firstly, a mortgage valuation will never value a house at more than you are paying. You could be buying Buckingham Palace for £120k and Halifax would still only value it at £120k.

The damp in the conservatory, well it looks pretty obvious what the problems are as the surveyor has already stated them. If the surveyor has an opinion on the guttering then you're lucky enough that it must have been raining when he surveyed, to see how it performs. If the guttering is broken then excess water will hit the walls and soak the ground around the conservatory. Guttering is really cheap and the fact that it's a conservatory means no added expense of scaffolding etc so it's a cheap problem to fix.

As for the damp proof course being breached, that's nearly free to fix. Dig the earth away or remove paving from up against the wall. Only needs to come down a few inches and you'd usually cover the gap you've left with a bit of gravel. Once those two things are done, the conservatory will be fine. I personally would not see any need for a proper damp survey on a conservatory, especially if there are clear symptoms already of poor maintenance which would allow water ingress.

You can ask the vendor to do the repairs to the conservatory, but it's not expensive to sort out; not a deal breaker IMHO.

The surveyor has valued the house at £120k regardless of any defects. He has taken into account what he has seen and stated, but he still thinks the price you are paying is a fair one.

sarat1357

ok thanks for these comments they have put my mind at rest and we will continue with the process

sarat1357

TonyMMM wrote: »

You have offered £120k, and the valuer has confirmed it is worth £120k ...... ???

What sort of survey did you have done ? If it was a basic valuation , it is only designed to confirm to the lender that the property is reasonable security for the amount being borrowed ...NOTHING MORE..

You don't have to have any other survey done at all ... it is up to you. From the comments above, I would consider getting someone to look at the cracks/movement, but the rest of the comments seem pretty standard for any valuation.

yes we offered 120 k and thats what it was worth. It was a valuation done by the halifax , our mortgage provider. We will look in to someone going to see the house in relation to the cracks then.

FireWyrm

OK, lets try to put this in perspective a little.

A) Are you buying this house to speculate on the property market because that boat well and truly sailed a year past.

b) You didnt have a proper independant survey? That's fine, some people dont, they make entertaining TV when their house falls down one rainy morning....

C) the survey that Halifax carried out wasnt for your benefit although you doubtless paid for it. Halifax are only concerned whether they can wring their money out of you if you default. The valuer wasnt working for you and frankly, short of the house being totally derilict, couldnt give a damn about you.

sarat1357 wrote: »

We have made an offer of 120k which was accepted ,the seller has since said she would not accept any less. The house was on the market for 145k and we know that the seller paid 139 k , 7 years ago. We thought we were getting a bargain as it is a lovely house.

Part of your answer right there. You're getting a 'lovely' house for £25K under price....I'd run all the way to the bank singing and dancing to secure that property.

sarat1357 wrote: »

The valuation has recently come back as the house being worth 120 k so now we feel abit deflated as were only paying what the house is worth, especially in current economy we thought we'd make a little.

Ahh...you're trying to speculate...forget it hun. You'll be lucky to hang onto that house if the mortgage prices go to 14% like they did in the 70's. Sit tight and thank your lucky stars you managed to a) secure a house in the first place and b) you can presumably afford it.

sarat1357 wrote: »

We are unsure if we are being ripped off as the valuation highlighted a few faults :

NO house is perfect....say it again just for clarity...absolutely NO HOUSE. There are only degrees of 'bad'

sarat1357 wrote: »

• The valuation says the house has suffered movement ie cracks in walls

An excellent reason why you should have a survey of your own done and not rely on the Halifax valuer to actually get out of his car and take a close look, let alone tell you his professional opinion. Anyway, all houses move slightly. Best to get a professional independent opinion on it to be safe.

sarat1357 wrote: »

• It says the electirical installtion gave cause for concern and reccomends specialist advice.

They all say this....get a survey yourself. It's remarkably inexpensive to do so.

sarat1357 wrote: »

• It says the central heating boiler location is too close to the electricity and gass meater and needs to be moved.

Depends what year's regs he's quoting, but get an engineer fromt the yellow pages to give an opinion. 30 minutes of his time should do it.

sarat1357 wrote: »

• the guttering and stop ends on the conservatory need replacing

Do you live near B&Q, Wicks? There are miles of isles for guttering and everything you could possibly want or need. Grab a book from the library or your partners father...anyone even remotely experienced in the building trade will know how to fix this.

sarat1357 wrote: »

• there is damp in the conservatory - which required a damnand timber contractor to investigate

Survey.....there's always damp in the conservatory.....

sarat1357 wrote: »

• and lastly it says the damp proof course on the conservatory is bridged and needs doing properly..

Dig the dirt from around the DMP and stop the wet breaching the layer. Half a days work for a strong bloke.

sarat1357 wrote: »

I faxed this through to the estate agents and they informed the seller. She has had an electrician round and they are inserteing a new fuse box to fit with regualtions. The boiler has been serviced by british gas and is ok. This still leaves the other problems.

Not really. She's assured you with the Gas Cert that it isnt going to blow the house off the planet and she's made sure you wont electricute yourself when you turn on the light in the hall. I'd say that was pretty reasonable of her myself.

sarat1357 wrote: »

Will the person carrying out the valuation take all these into account when making his valuation?

They charge extra for actually getting out of the car.

sarat1357 wrote: »

Do you think we should try and negotiate lower?

Heck no.

sarat1357 wrote: »

I read somewhere that valuators are being very strict at the moment so he might have done this at lower price due to this? This valuation was done by halifax , do we also need to get a survey done or this the same thing?

No, Yes and No.

sarat1357 wrote: »

Any help and advice with this would be greatly appreciated as we are totally new to this and kind of 'winging' it as we go along , dont want to make a big mistake!

Thanks

None of us do...we're all scared to lose over £100K when it comes down to it.