renegotiating house price after survey - roof, electrics?

jp1181

chickaroonee wrote: »

2k sounds a lot for a roof repair to me - where I am you could have your roof replaced for that. I think it depends on what value the surveyor put on the house - if it is valued 2k less than you offered fair enough; if it is valued at the same but has a roof needing repair I don't think they should necessarily reduce the price - it'll depend how much they want to go ahead.

Perhaps they could meet you half way,

The 2k is for replacing the roof, as that is what is needed to fix the leak (wrong tiles for pitch).

Our buildings surveyor didn't value the house and the mortgage company only agreed to lend based on the offer price (I'd be amazed if they took the roof issue into account as it is not noticeable to the eye - the sellers pointed out the issue to the buildings surveyor)

Meeting halfway would be good, we would be happy with that.

somethingcorporate

They also accepted your offer knowing the condition of the roof so that swings both ways.

We had an identical issue buying our house but it was with the main roof. They accepted our offer at £250k - the roof came up as needing replacing (from 2 different builders) at a cost of £6k+. Tried to renegotiate and they budged a tiny amount (£1,500), but given we had already knocked £35k off the advertised house price I am not surprised they resisted.

We got a 3rd and 4th opinion and it only needed patching up at a cost of £400 and has been solid ever since.

No harm in renegotiating at all but they may be willing to walk away if the price is not right (as you could too).

dimbo61

Again this is a 1900 house so over 110 years old and you better have deep pockets.
High ceilings and open cast iron fire place? Single glazed windows and no or little insulation?
When you looked round did you check how many sockets in every room?
Modern gas central heating or a 25 year old boiler on its last legs?
Serviced recently ?
BUYER BEWARE as they say so get the place checked out before you buy

somethingcorporate

dimbo61 wrote: »

Again this is a 1900 house so over 110 years old and you better have deep pockets.
High ceilings and open cast iron fire place? Single glazed windows and no or little insulation?
When you looked round did you check how many sockets in every room?
Modern gas central heating or a 25 year old boiler on its last legs?
Serviced recently ?
BUYER BEWARE as they say so get the place checked out before you buy

Add damp to that list too - our victorian has no wall cavities and lots of damp problems - but you do expect that with old properties!

Wouldn't go for anything new though, these houses were built to last unlike the crappy new builds thrown up nowadays.

jp1181

Thanks for the tips, survey showed no damp problems, lot of work done on the place when extended, windows are single glazed but are new sash windows so in good condition. Not worried too much about the issues listed by some posters above, just don't want to pay over the odds if we don't need to.

moneyistooshorttomention

jimmiepreston wrote: »

Apologies you are right I didn't mean cash buyers I meant we have a good deposit, mortgage offer and no chain. They have had one sale fall through already and now have a purchase underway themselves so feel that makes us good buyers.

That means there are two lots of buyers who come "ahead of you in the queue" as potential good buyers:
- cash buyers (meaning "someone who has all the money for the house sitting there in the bank right now")

or

- first-time buyers (mortgage offer and no chain as well). Reason - it doesnt matter in the slightest to the vendor how big your deposit is - what matters is whether the buyer of their house can take out a mortgage for the full amount they need on top of whatever deposit level they have.

I certainly won't be taking the slightest account of how much deposit potential buyers for my house have - I'll just want to know "Are you cash buyers (ie genuine cash buyers) or do you need a mortgage?"

jp1181

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

That means there are two lots of buyers who come "ahead of you in the queue" as potential good buyers:
- cash buyers (meaning "someone who has all the money for the house sitting there in the bank right now")

or

- first-time buyers (mortgage offer and no chain as well). Reason - it doesnt matter in the slightest to the vendor how big your deposit is - what matters is whether the buyer of their house can take out a mortgage for the full amount they need on top of whatever deposit level they have.

I certainly won't be taking the slightest account of how much deposit potential buyers for my house have - I'll just want to know "Are you cash buyers (ie genuine cash buyers) or do you need a mortgage?"

How are people who may or may not exist "in front of us in the queue" when the house is off the market and our offer has been accepted? I know the sellers *could* change their mind and put it back on the market and hope that a 100% cash buyer appears and put back their timings by a couple of months or more, but for the sake of 2k, but why would they? If you accept an offer on your house knowing there is an issue (that you don't tell your interested parties about at the time of the viewings) with a leaking roof that you then point out to a surveyor, you must expect some renegotiation on that issue? Some helpful advice here but there is a bit of scaremongering on this forum.

moneyistooshorttomention

In their position - they will be thinking "why would our buyer want to start off all over again buying another place?" and working out how much money you have already spent on buying their place and deciding that you are unlikely to pull out for the sake of only £2,000.

You've now got me intrigued as to what the difference is between a "cash buyer" and a "100% cash buyer" - as I thought there IS only one type of "cash buyer" and that is a "cash buyer" (that person with all the money there in the bank ready to put an electronic transfer on).

jp1181

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

In their position - they will be thinking "why would our buyer want to start off all over again buying another place?" and working out how much money you have already spent on buying their place and deciding that you are unlikely to pull out for the sake of only £2,000.

You've now got me intrigued as to what the difference is between a "cash buyer" and a "100% cash buyer" - as I thought there IS only one type of "cash buyer" and that is a "cash buyer" (that person with all the money there in the bank ready to put an electronic transfer on).

"100% cash buyer" and "cash buyer" - same thing I know. Really a side issue that is not the point here.

Why would I think about buying another place? Well many reasons, yes I've spent money on this one, but I could get a better deal on another property, am in no rush to move as currently renting from family so can leave anytime. Offer accepted on this property was v close to asking price, could get a bargain on another place that would wipe out the money I've already spent. A different property may have a seller willing to negotiate on similar issues, or may simply have more information about their property such as state/age of the electrics, etc and if not be willing to find out.

Better_Days

Yes, I too thought 'cash buyer' meant a buyer who had the full purchase amount in the bank.

From reading the forum it seems that some EA's describe buyers with no chain and a mortgage agreed as 'cash buyers' as well. Vendors can be understandably upset when a sale falls through when it transpires that their 'cash buyer' has problems with their mortgage.