Diary of a House Search

DaftyDuck

One of he last houses I sold took a while to sell (it was fairly large & over 700 years old (converted medieval inn in Suffolk) so was a little ... cranky!) and I had a viewing from a lady who spent most of the time walking backwards, facing me and bumping her head on beams, doorframes and the like. She asked almost no questions and was only there for a short while. When she left, I told my OH something along the lines of "she's utterly mad, she'll never put in an offer, thank goodness, as she'd be a nightmare to deal with.." ... and we were much relieved when the very next (sane!) couple put in an offer. Which slowly progressed, and stalled, and progressed and price-reduced and stalled... 'til we lost patience with them, and put it back on the market.

... at which point the insane woman was straight on the phone to the agent, so glad "her" house was back on the market, and could she buy it now, please? She'd fallen in love at first sight, so couldn't really be bothered if the roof leaked (it did), the heating was poor (it was) and the floors damp (oh, yes).

She was so keen, she arrived with her two removal lorries of furniture first thing in the morning, and spent much of that morning walking (backwards) with me as I hurried the last of our removal out of the door. She was still utterly, completely insane. In the sweetest, cheeriest and most eccentric way, a delightful person all round... but I'd have never guessed she'd seriously buy that house - I thought she'd really come to gawp at it as a museum piece

Fizzymartini

DaftyDuck wrote: »

One of he last houses I sold took a while to sell (it was fairly large & over 700 years old (converted medieval inn in Suffolk) so was a little ... cranky!) and I had a viewing from a lady who spent most of the time walking backwards, facing me and bumping her head on beams, doorframes and the like. She asked almost no questions and was only there for a short while. When she left, I told my OH something along the lines of "she's utterly mad, she'll never put in an offer, thank goodness, as she'd be a nightmare to deal with.." ... and we were much relieved when the very next (sane!) couple put in an offer. Which slowly progressed, and stalled, and progressed and price-reduced and stalled... 'til we lost patience with them, and put it back on the market.

... at which point the insane woman was straight on the phone to the agent, so glad "her" house was back on the market, and could she buy it now, please? She'd fallen in love at first sight, so couldn't really be bothered if the roof leaked (it did), the heating was poor (it was) and the floors damp (oh, yes).

She was so keen, she arrived with her two removal lorries of furniture first thing in the morning, and spent much of that morning walking (backwards) with me as I hurried the last of our removal out of the door. She was still utterly, completely insane. In the sweetest, cheeriest and most eccentric way, a delightful person all round... but I'd have never guessed she'd seriously buy that house - I thought she'd really come to gawp at it as a museum piece

Darn it. I was sneakily lurking the forums at work, and your post made me laugh out loud!

Better_Days

DaftyDuck wrote: »

She was still utterly, completely insane. In the sweetest, cheeriest and most eccentric way, a delightful person all round... but I'd have never guessed she'd seriously buy that house - I thought she'd really come to gawp at it as a museum piece

Just goes to show you just never know. I told my EA that I didn't mind who looked at our house, sometimes circumstances change quickly and what appears to a 'browser' becomes a buyer. Moral is take them seriously and treat them well as soon as they come through the door.

Glad your sale went well.:)

lessonlearned

Better_Days wrote: »

Just goes to show you just never know. I told my EA that I didn't mind who looked at our house, sometimes circumstances change quickly and what appears to a 'browser' becomes a buyer. Moral is take them seriously and treat them well as soon as they come through the door.

Glad your sale went well.:)

Absolutely - never judge a book.

Dafty - your buyer sounds a delight.

Which is more than I can say for the survey.........

Worse than I had hoped for. The house itself is structurally sound and pretty solid as you would expect from a good well built Victorian property. I knew that.

However, there has been some serious "bodging" and quick cover ups........We are looking at £30K for remedials - I had hoped for around £15K.

Unfortunately that's only half the story. The house itself isn't the main issue - it's what's lurking in the garden.

Yes you've guessed - the dreaded Japanese Knotweed. I strongly suspected as much but because it was in winter mode and had no foliage, despite trawling the internet I couldn't find any pictures of the stuff without leaves and therefore was unsure.

I should have asked a professional gardener to come and have a quick look before paying for a survey. Another lesson learnt:rotfl:

Apparently Nationwide won't lend until procedures have been put in place to get it dealt with. My surveyor has advised me not to rush out and pay for a specialist survey but to wait for Nationwide to get back to me with their requirements.

Sounds like a good plan.

The problem is even if we eradicate it that won't be the end of the story because it is also in the neighbouring gardens. If the neighbours don't deal with it, then it will simply come back.

So.........we need £30K off the price and a proper working plan with the neighbours full co-operation to clear the knot weed or I'm afraid we will have to walk away.

Realistically I think we will be walking........

We will just have to console ourselves with the thought that "dream houses" are a bit like buses - miss one and there will be another one along sooner or later.

Hey ho.

penthouse89

Lessonlearned - I found this whole diary fantastic, and has opened my eyes a lot. Unfortunately, a lot of it won't apply to me, I'm a million years away from being in a position to buy anything, but some of it I have found useful as I am looking for a long term (years, at least) let and want to find the right place.

Better_Days

lessonlearned wrote: »

So.........we need £30K off the price and a proper working plan with the neighbours full co-operation to clear the knot weed or I'm afraid we will have to walk away.

Realistically I think we will be walking........

We will just have to console ourselves with the thought that "dream houses" are a bit like buses - miss one and there will be another one along sooner or later.

Hey ho.

Ahh sorry to hear this LL. How disappointing. I think it is too much a 'leap in the dark' when there are unquantifiable's like the knot-weed. It is one thing identifying £30k of work (and negotiating a reduction) but another when there is much out of your control - such as the behaviour of your neighbours. Even if they are willing they may not be able to afford the work. Bit like cockroaches in a block of flats - one flat untreated and they just come back however hard pest control work.

Given me pause for thought - I wouldn't recognise Japanese Knot-weed if it bit me on the backside (off to google )

Like you I am waiting for the next 'bus' to come along - we didn't get past the negotiation off the asking price for the £20k of work that needs doing on the property we offered on a couple of weeks ago.

Fingers crossed for both of us

Better_Days

For anyone who is curious here's a link to pictures Japenese Knotweed
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=japanese+knotweed&client=firefox-a&hs=ZRv&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=UHhxUZqdJNPX7AahgYHYDA&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1333&bih=678

And this is what what the enviroment agency say about it:

It spreads through its crown, rhizome (underground stem) and stem segments, rather than its seeds. The weed can grow a metre in a month and can cause heave below concrete and tarmac, coming up through the resulting cracks and damaging buildings and roads. Studies have shown that a 1cm section of rhizome can produce a new plant in 10 days. Rhizome segments can remain dormant in soil for twenty years before producing new plants.

lessonlearned

penthouse89 wrote: »

Lessonlearned - I found this whole diary fantastic, and has opened my eyes a lot. Unfortunately, a lot of it won't apply to me, I'm a million years away from being in a position to buy anything, but some of it I have found useful as I am looking for a long term (years, at least) let and want to find the right place.

You are right though. Even if you are "only" renting it's still a committment. You will want to find the best you can.

The kind of problems that you are likely to encounter when buying are not that dissimilar to those you might come up with when you are renting.

Some landlords are great and keep their properties in good nick, are quick with repairs etc - some less so.

Keep reading - not just this thread but other ones too and you will learn from the experience of others. After all we were all novices ourselves once, we've all had to learn.

There is a lot of collective wisdom on some of these threads (a lot of rubbish too:rotfl:) but you will soon sort out the good advice from the bad.

Good luck.

lessonlearned

Better_Days wrote: »

For anyone who is curious here's a link to pictures Japenese Knotweed
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=japanese+knotweed&client=firefox-a&hs=ZRv&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=UHhxUZqdJNPX7AahgYHYDA&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1333&bih=678

And this is what what the enviroment agency say about it:

In other words, don't walk away - run as fast as your legs can carry you........

Thanks for that. Those pictures are very good because they do show it in Winter mode and yes, those innocent looking bare twigs were exactly what I saw. I should have trusted my intuition and saved myself the cost of a survey.

Never mind I know now - I won't make the same mistake twice.

The boys and I have had a family boardroom meeting;).

We are passing on this one - even with a £30k reduction to cover the work it's still very risky. Shame though.

Never mind, onwards and upwards.

jibbyboo

Sorry to hear that Lesson, what a shame! Hope the next fish pops up quickly!