Paranoid or something up - buyer wanting measurements?

homecleaner

Im in the process of buying a house, iv been back and forth at all times of the day and night to check out the area, which i love by the way, its so quiet and peaceful i know im going to be happy there in the surroundings, and i became a ''stalker'' as my husband called me lol because, when i viewed the house im in now i did it during the day, and all seemed well, only i didnt realise that a ton of kids lived about the area and when id been visiting during the day they had been at school!!!! For the last 3 yrs my life has been hell with neighbours kids.
So, i wouldnt worry about folk kerb crawling past your house at odd hours of the day and night, they proberly didn't do the homework they should have done on the house theyre in now. ie like me!

DaftyDuck

homecleaner wrote: »

Im in the process of buying a house, iv been back and forth at all times of the day and night to check out the area, which i love by the way, its so quiet and peaceful i know im going to be happy there in the surroundings, and i became a ''stalker'' as my husband called me lol because, when i viewed the house im in now i did it during the day, and all seemed well, only i didnt realise that a ton of kids lived about the area and when id been visiting during the day they had been at school!!!! For the last 3 yrs my life has been hell with neighbours kids.
So, i wouldnt worry about folk kerb crawling past your house at odd hours of the day and night, they proberly didn't do the homework they should have done on the house theyre in now. ie like me!

Good for you! Once bitten, twice shy. Don't forget you can always knock on some neighbouring doors for a bit more info (take the agent details with you as an introduction; many haven't seen them ,and most are as nosey as hell as to how the house down the road has been described...They'll know you aren't selling double-glazing that way as well ). You can even find out who your new PCSO is (Google will tell you contact details), and he or she will know where all the less desirable kiddies hang out. Never be shy of finding out more at this stage.

Crime stats at Crime stas here and here can also be handy...

DaftyDuck

lessonlearned wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl:

Great post Dafty - bang on the nail. And I had a nice chuckle too.

Reminds me of that old chestnut about why women are so bad at parking cars.

(If you don't know it - because men try to brainwash us by telling us their member is 12 inches)........;)

Ah, I'm metric.. 12 inches... that's about 45 centimetres, isn't it.

And I thought the car parking one was mirrors and lipstick...

mumps

This has made me think about the first house we bought. It was a wreck, in an awful state, the old guy who was selling it was in a home and the house was as he walked out of it, fat in the pan with bits of fried egg in it, rubbish in the bins etc. This was on top of wrotten windows, electric rewiring needed, I am sure you get the picture. We were given thekeys to have a look round and once we had made an offer and had it accepted they just gave us the keys. I can't remember exactly, it is 40 years ago, but I think we asked permission to start work but I can't be 100% sure. By the time it was hours it had new windows, damp had been treated, kitchen and bathroom ripped out, rewiring done. We just had to fit the kitchen and bathroom and decorate. God only knows what we would have done it he had pulled out of the sale.

lessonlearned

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Ah, I'm metric.. 12 inches... that's about 45 centimetres, isn't it.

And I thought the car parking one was mirrors and lipstick...

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

In your dreams ......

GM11

our buyers have done the same and wanted to measure up!! we came up with a different excuse to go back for another look at the one we are buying.

in alot of cases it's just human behavior, most are just excited and want to see the place again and get organized for things like carpets as choosing all that stuff for a new home is FUN so i would relax and see it as a good sign, having brought and sold alot of property over the years my experience is generally people who are having second thoughts generally stay well clear and are hard to get hold of. so get them round have a good chat make them a coffee be nice and relax it all sounds normal to me

regards J

moneyistooshorttomention

mumps wrote: »

This has made me think about the first house we bought. It was a wreck, in an awful state, the old guy who was selling it was in a home and the house was as he walked out of it, fat in the pan with bits of fried egg in it, rubbish in the bins etc. This was on top of wrotten windows, electric rewiring needed, I am sure you get the picture. We were given thekeys to have a look round and once we had made an offer and had it accepted they just gave us the keys. I can't remember exactly, it is 40 years ago, but I think we asked permission to start work but I can't be 100% sure. By the time it was hours it had new windows, damp had been treated, kitchen and bathroom ripped out, rewiring done. We just had to fit the kitchen and bathroom and decorate. God only knows what we would have done it he had pulled out of the sale.

Errrm...well the first phrase that came to mind there was "Up the swanee without a paddle"....

On another tack, I must admit to wondering what the various comments I have seen on MSE about knocking on neighbours doors would be likely to elicit as a reaction. Whenever anyone knocks on my door that isn't a visitor for me personally the door gets shut (with them on the other side) the second I realise. I just get annoyed at being disturbed by a stranger that is nothing to do with me personally.

I would also doubt the chances of a totally 100% objective viewpoint being given on any neighbour by a stranger who happens to be living next door to them. Any view given is highly likely to be coloured by the neighbours personal feelings about them. I would have to say "no comment" anyway personally, because otherwise the personal opinion comments would range from "thick as 2 short planks - which can be spotted a mile off" to "paranoid and a pain in the proverbial - ditto could be spotted a mile off". Someone else who was also of very low intelligence or paranoid on the other hand might have a totally different view about them...:rotfl:

Buyers...ahem...still swearing a bit at mine, as they are now apparently expecting me to throw in some of my personal property that I have paid good money for in for the price....give me patience....

DaftyDuck

Depends what they want, Money.... and what it's worth to you. If they are after curtains and carpets that don't fit your new home, then give in, albeit begrudgingly. If they are after your collection of Toulouse-Lautrec sketches and the Matisse, then I'd suggest they take a hike... Remember, if they are not listed as part of the contract, you can just take them anyway ... even if dishonour and shame follow you . However, the good news is (at a guess), if they are trying to pinch your chattels, the survey has come up clean enough that there's nothing there for them to moan about, so there's not much chance of them pushing for a price cut.

I've generally had good results from talking to neighbours and near-neighbours. I'm a keen gardener, and that can help if another gardener is out & about... soil type and aspect, microclimate, hardness of tapwater for the Azaleas... The church is a good place to find gossiping folks (although there's always a hiss from the Holy water as I pass, and I leave no shadow). I feel more at home in the local pub, where the darkness covers my pallid skin and long eye-teeth. A drink or two (it's a Blo0dy Mary, honestly) at the bar generally gets the honest answers from behind the counter.

I'd not knock on someone's door as a cold-caller and start probing them for their neighbourly intent but, like Dan-Dan, I do a fair bit of lurking, and often see nearby residents. I've even used the fact that I want to explain why I'm lurking as a means of introduction! Waving the details helps, as most neighbours are incurably nosey, but too embarrassed to get the details themselves... (tell I've been doing this from pre-internet days. Darn that Rightmove stuff, curses! )

Thing is, anyone who is likely to make a good neighbour is quite happy to be honest about their neighbourhood, and reveal all sorts of gems. The one thing I don't care about all that much is what the neighbour(s) thinks of the seller... (s)He will have cleared off never to be seen again. It's meeting the neighbours that matters, and if one is as thick as two short planks, and the other a paranoid pain in the asp, I'll fit in just perfectly between :D:D I'd never expect it to be 100% unbiased. If a neighbour says "Oh, lovely and quiet here, not a noise anywhere", and I've seen her Lurch-of-a-son drool in with the three Doberman in the back of his souped-up Corsa 1.0 only a while earlier... well, I might not take her at her word.

I have been alerted to: road upgrades, building plans, school bus stops, heavy drinkers (not me, for once), boy-racers, localised floods, unofficial B & B and all sorts (even a possible brothel, near which I did not buy, sad to say :rotfl:). Also, to several problems with houses I did buy, including shoddy roof work, and a garage that I'd not have noticed was a virtual impossibility to park in. I also found new next-door-neighbours who were (in North Yorkshire) best friends with current neighbours (Norfolk). Hell of a coincidence.

If the O.P. is still following this thread, I still think, from what has been said, that the buyer's behaviour exhibits all the positive signs of someone wanting to buy their house. Not a dead cert - nothing is - but it is behaviour that would have me collecting packing boxes and sticky tape!

Dan-Dan

I was doing a nice bit of lurking a few weeks ago on a lunchbreak , relaxing in the sun in the car , music on low , munching on me corned beef , suddenly the vendors wife came out at 100mph with both kids, out of nowhere , just as i was listening to jeremy vine and some article about bankers being the root of all evil , i started up the old family jalopy quick smart and scarpered , didnt want her to think she was being stalked

DaftyDuck

Dan-Dan wrote: »

.... munching on me corned beef...

This one of those euphemisms, then? You got one of those 12 inchers that LL was dreaming of earlier in the thread? You are looking like an easy collar me'lad, if the boys in blue spot you, a-lurking away at school closing .... :eek: