Valued at 20k lower than offer... Options?

hanvyj

Hello, as a follow up from "I can't survey this, there is stuff in the house" we have had our survey. House is here: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38736496.html.

Here is the response:

There is a repairs recommended as condition of mortgage section:

1 Property requires internal refurbishing and updating including re-plastering and repairs/renewal of lathe and plaster ceilings.

2 Instruct a specialist (surprise) to inspect the whole property and report on internal dampness and condition of all timbers including the sub floor. All necessary work to be carried out irrespective of existing guarantees, invoices or estimates.

3 Instruct a qualified electrician to inspect the electrical instillation and carry out recommended works in accordance with electrical and building regulations

4 Instruct a roofing contractor to inspect the flat roof and roof timbers of the detatched garage and undertake any necessary repair or renewal.

---there is also:----
14a Marketability:

an electricity substation, located at the end of the terrace of houses. The possible effects of electromagnetic fields have been the subject of media coverage and public perception may adversely affect marketability. This is reflected in the mortgage valuation. Technical information can be obtained from the health protection agency....

---

Valued the property at £120,000 at the time of inspection. £140,000 after repairs.

Personally I think this is pretty harsh, I have no idea why he thinks everything needs re-plastering, you can see from the photos that the plaster is fine - probably just needs a bit of paint!

Everything else, he says he doesn't know anything about and i need specialist, so how he can knock of £20k while saying that he has no idea if anything is wrong is beyond me!

My worry is if we get a "specialist" of course they are going to agree that everything needs rebuilding, who wouldn't! You are asking them to tell you if you need to pay them a lot of money - they are going to say yes.

I'm not sure that the buyer is going to budge on prices much, and we've already sunk 1k into the solicitor fees, and we really like the house, but we can't afford to do 20k worth of work, we were aiming on decorating it slowly!

The other thing I was annoyed about is I kind of expected this surveyor to be working for us, the fact that his survey came in the back of the mortgage agreement means he is really working through the bank, I'm annoyed at paying for an upgraded survey for my bank to better value the property...

BitterAndTwisted

You should have instructed your own surveyor rather than relying on the mortgage lender's.

If they've come up with the value at £20k less then either you reduce your offer, come up with that £20k out of savings or find another property.

GM11

if it was me and i really wanted the house 9 would do the following, have a chat with the vendor and see if they will contribute to the cost of a independent surveyor, after all it's in there interest as well, get a qualified sparks to go and asses and do a report on the electrics.
as for the state of the place LOL come off it i see no reason why he couldn't do the inspection, sounds like you had a real victor meldrew type!! house looks fine to me just the normal redecorate to put your own stamp on the place!
as for electro magnetic waves.... i am a electronics design engineer and i hate to have to break the news to the surveyor, but..... i am afraid we are surrounded and bombarded by numerous radiating magnetic waves of many different lengths from many sources thees days, from digital tv an anologue, radio waves of many lengths, mobile phone towers, and many many many others! a substation at the bottom of the road is only going to put off the type of people who walk around with there head wrapped in tinfoil for safety
BAH the world is getting dafter day by day

hanvyj

GM11 wrote: »

if it was me and i really wanted the house 9 would do the following, have a chat with the vendor and see if they will contribute to the cost of a independent surveyor, after all it's in there interest as well, get a qualified sparks to go and asses and do a report on the electrics.
as for the state of the place LOL come off it i see no reason why he couldn't do the inspection, sounds like you had a real victor meldrew type!! house looks fine to me just the normal redecorate to put your own stamp on the place!
as for electro magnetic waves.... i am a electronics design engineer and i hate to have to break the news to the surveyor, but..... i am afraid we are surrounded and bombarded by numerous radiating magnetic waves of many different lengths from many sources thees days, from digital tv an anologue, radio waves of many lengths, mobile phone towers, and many many many others! a substation at the bottom of the road is only going to put off the type of people who walk around with there head wrapped in tinfoil for safety
BAH the world is getting dafter day by day

I know! I was reading it and just thinking: "What? Have we hired someone from some conspiracy website?"

hanvyj

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

You should have instructed your own surveyor rather than relying on the mortgage lender's.

If they've come up with the value at £20k less then either you reduce your offer, come up with that £20k out of savings or find another property.

I thought it was our own surveyor, just the mortgage company were offering to pay them. Clearly not the case...

Well, if we had 20k savings we would have just had a higher deposit, so that's not going to happen. I guess we will have to lower the offer and hope the buyer accepts...

Do you think it's worth getting a second opinion from another surveyor?

hanvyj

If we have signed a contract with the solicitors, do we still have to pay them their money (not yet handed over) for them not to do any work?

Can we go to another mortgage supplier and see what they value the house at, or contest this valuation?

We don't have 20 thousand lying around, and even if we did - we would be paying 20k out of our own pocket then another whatever to do the 'repairs'!

pararct

Negotiate with the vendor for a reduced price or walk away.

The property is not worth what you think it nor what the vendor thinks it is but what the surveyor says it is.

This is why they are retained by the lender to ensure they are not lending beyond the property value.

Don't look on this as a bad thing it not, completely the opposite in fact. If for example the surveyor was not part of the equation you would (and it seems would have been quite happy to do so) have paid £20,000 more for an assets that it was worth.

The vendor has to be realistic and their agent should be pointing this out to them. Photocopy the relevant pages of the survey document highlighting the work and the current valuation. Pass this along with your revised offer (which should be <£20,000) your previous offer to the agent.

If the vendor is not going to be (or maybe cannot be) realistic then walk away. The next people to offer will go through exactly the same strategy.

Maybe the vendor has mewed beyond the valuation and cannot afford to take the lower offer who knows.

Such is the madness of the UK property market this last decade or so.

Your solicitor should charge you for the work they have done to date. You will need to check the small print of the document you have signed.

If however you find £20k down the back of the sofa and can afford to overpay then do so. It is your call.

Thrugelmir

hanvyj wrote: »

Personally I think this is pretty harsh, I have no idea why he thinks everything needs re-plastering, you can see from the photos that the plaster is fine - probably just needs a bit of paint!

Appearances are deceptive. Fallen into that trap myself. House was immaculate to the eye. The surveyors report saved our bacon......

hanvyj

pararct wrote: »

Negotiate with the vendor for a reduced price or walk away.

The property is not worth what you think it nor what the vendor thinks it is but what the surveyor says it is.

This is why they are retained by the lender to ensure they are not lending beyond the property value.

Don't look on this as a bad thing it not, completely the opposite in fact. If for example the surveyor was not part of the equation you would (and it seems would have been quite happy to do so) have paid £20,000 more for an assets that it was worth.

The vendor has to be realistic and their agent should be pointing this out to them. Photocopy the relevant pages of the survey document highlighting the work and the current valuation. Pass this along with your revised offer (which should be <£20,000) your previous offer to the agent.

If the vendor is not going to be (or maybe cannot be) realistic then walk away. The next people to offer will go through exactly the same strategy.

Maybe the vendor has mewed beyond the valuation and cannot afford to take the lower offer who knows.

Such is the madness of the UK property market this last decade or so.

Your solicitor should charge you for the work they have done to date. You will need to check the small print of the document you have signed.

If however you find £20k down the back of the sofa and can afford to overpay then do so. It is your call.

Thank you, I've been worrying we may be over-valuing the property...

cte1111

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Appearances are deceptive. Fallen into that trap myself. House was immaculate to the eye. The surveyors report saved our bacon......

The thing is, in this case the house isn't immaculate (being nosy I had a look at the link in the OP's previous thread). It's a bit tatty, needs some tarting up and is presumable priced to take this into account. If not, then I presume the OP would have gone for one of the many immaculate houses in the same price bracket (joking)! The fact that there aren't surely must indicate that the condition is reflected in the price already, without knocking another £20k off.

The sub-station comment LOL. You know what, I don't like the buzz from sub-stations and pylons. In the past I've decided not to view a house because it was near a sub-station. However other people have treated me as if I were crazy when I've mentioned this, so can't agree that it would inherently devalue a house.

_Andy_

So are you saying you WANT to pay £20k more than what it's worth?