FTBers - seen somewhere we like - could do with your advise pls!

Blue_Monkey

OH and I are first time buyers. We've seen a house we're really interested in... 3 bed mid-terrace on the market for £285k. The vendor has turned down an offer of £275k because she didn't like the guy who offered it (her words) and would prefer a young family moves in (us, inc 10 week old DD) and loves the house as much as she has (selling reluctantly due to divorce, has lived there for 25 years). She's not in a chain and neither are we.

We're in the processing of obtaining a Decision in Principle on a mortgage (with Nationwide), and all being well, we'd like to offer £275k. Houses are going really fast round here, and this one is in a lovely road in a great catchment area and I'm actually surprised it's not up for more.

Now... The house is in ok condition, but I don't know enough about the buying process to know how/when we get all of our queries answered. For example, the windows really need replacing and I know the asking price is reflecting this, but we'd like to get a quote to know what we're looking at. Do I ask someone to go round and look at the windows after we've made our offer? If it's really high, can we reduce our offer?

What would a survey tell us? At what point do we get one done? And again, is it possible to change our offer if the survey indicates a lot of work needs doing? How much does a survey cost? Who do we contact to do the survey?

I guess I'm trying to understand how much we commit to by making our offer? And also how much it cold cost us in surveys and fees etc. I don't want to mess the vendor around, but at the same time, this will be at the top of our budget so we need to know we can afford the house for the next few years and understand what big costs are coming our way (ie windows)...

AAS

As long as you say your offer is subject to survey and quickly organise a survey (up to £1k depending on what survey) and get someone to look at the windows promptly then I think that's really fair. EA will hassle you to get everything going e.g. solicitor & mortgage company but as long as you tell them who you are using you can stall this for a week until you are happy the survey is ok. Good luck!

Yorkie1

Firstly, check what similar houses are selling for at present. Make sure that the seller isn't being unrealistic in her expectations.

If you are happy that £275K reflects a fair price given the obvious work needing doing e.g. windows, then I wouldn't expect to try to renegotiate the price down subsequently on that basis. However, if the survey throws up unexpected items which you could not reasonably have anticipated then renegotiation on those aspects is not unusual.

After getting your DIP, you are then in a position to offer. If your offer is accepted, you then proceed to a full mortgage application - whether with NW or another lender. You will have to pay for the lender to get a valuation survey. This is for the lender's benefit, it tells them whether the property is worth what they are going to lend / what you're buying it for.

At the same time, you should get your own survey done. You can either pay a bit more as part of the mortgage application process, and the same surveyor will do a parallel report for you when they do the lender's valuation. Or you can instruct an independent surveyor at what is likely to be a greater overall cost.

Blue_Monkey

Thanks for the quick replies.

So NW would do two surveys? One for them and one for us? And that would cost approx £1k for each survey or for both?

I don't think the vendor is in a rush to leave - she needs to find a rental and is on a tight budget, but I guess the EA will want it over and done with sharpish. We're tied into our lease until mid-April but would be ok to overlap if it went through quickly or extend if needbe...

Don't suppose there's anyway to "hide" that £25k over the stamp duty threshold is there?

Blue_Monkey

Are these the NW fees? http://www.nationwide.co.uk/mortgages/usefulinformation/mortgagefeescharges/feesandcharges.htm

sirmosh

Blue_Monkey wrote: »

Are these the NW fees? http://www.nationwide.co.uk/mortgages/usefulinformation/mortgagefeescharges/feesandcharges.htm

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/mortgages/usefulinformation/mortgagefeescharges/feesandcharges.htm#tab12 This one is the fees, you're looking at £590 on a property of that value.

If you were buying for £252k you might be able to argue that you're going to give them £2k for chattles to bring the price down to £250k but at £275k there's no chance, you'll have to pay the high SD rate.

Blue_Monkey

Thank you. And would the Homebuyers Report be sufficient to tell us what work might need doing? Or should we go independent?

hazyjo

What sort of age is the house? That will help determine what survey you need (homebuyers report or full structural).

The valuation fee might be included with whatever mortgage you go for. You can opt for the survey through your mortgage lenders, or use an independent surveyor.

Several people on here would refuse to buy from a divorcing couple, so tread carefully! The talk of wanting to sell to a family strikes me as delaying tactics. Most people in this market would bite someone's arm off for an offer.

Jx