To sell or not to sell

jangor_2

I am on the point of exchange and my buyers desperately wish to continue. Unfortunately however the property I was buying needs extensive refurbishment (survey report). I have tried to renegotiate with the sellers (the property has been empty for some years) but they do not wish to do so, which is fair enough. However I have now seen several other properties (exactly the same design) in the same area which have been updated to a good standard. The price they are being offered for sale at present is very little different to the property I am buying but I will need to spend some £30,000 to make the property habitable. I am unsure if this makes the purchase viable. I do not wish to let my buyers down and am willing to proceed; they have offered to rent my house to me in the short term. I suppose the question I am asking is whether to continue to sell to my buyers, withdraw from my proposed sale and rent until I find a more suitable property. Although I can manage decorating, major refurbishment, e.g. bathrooms and kitchens (which is part of the work required on my proposed purchase) is beyond me. I am having sleepless nights over all this. I really would rather not let anyone down.

Emmzi

You can complete your sale but stay where you are on a rental basis - is the rent reasonable? If so, seems like a good option.

I wouldn't be happy proceeding with the purchase as you are going to feel ripped off for a long time...

I'd sell, rent my house back, find something else asap, and move into that.

pickles110564

Are you getting a good price for your home?
If so I would not want to lose my buyers and if you go into rent you will be in a wonderful position to bargain on the new houses that you have found.
As such you will become a first time buyer and can settle for the very best deal and might find that you get a finished/refurbed house for not much more than you have to pay for the renovation project.
From expierence when doing renovations whatever you think it will cost add about 50% and when you are finished you will probably still spend more than that.
If you can't get the renovation done so that you have spent 10k less than you can pick up a finished one i would not put yourself through all the aggravation.

scroogest

If the buyers are happy to wait for you, go ahead and buy the house you really want. If your house is in a good area and you assume it will hold its value then there is no rush to sell immediately. It is horrible to let people down, but it is not your fault that the survey has uncovered major problems. That is the point of a survey and your buyers should realise that. :-)

jangor_2

These comments were really helpful. My buyers are paying a reasonable price I think for my property and they will rent to me at £1150 p.m. (for a three bedroomed semi). I am very reluctant to let them down as they work abroad and have already arranged for the deposit on my house to be transferred to the U.K. Unfortunately I have never previously rented and have no idea of what is a fair rent. If I continue with the refurbishment, even without taking the above comments into account, I will definitely have spent at least £10k above the price of surrounding properties, now that I have checked on right move. Thanks to all. I feel better now.

Tosh1

Jangor,

I personally would pull out of buying the property.

You say you can purchase a similar house that does not require renovation for 10K more, and also say that'll take 30K to fix the house you're buying, plus the disruption.

To me it's a no brainer. They either re-negotiate at least 20K from the price or you pull out. Don't worry about letting them down; if they think it's such a good bargin they won't budge on price; then it's their fault.

As for checking what's a fair rent, or not, have a look in your local paper and estate agents and you'll see what the going rate is for properties in your area.

vansboy

Not quite the same situation here, but...

We sold our place, over a year ago, thinking it'd be easy to find what we wanted - a place that DID need 'doing up' & £$£$ in the bank ready n waitin'.

NO CHANCE!!

The place we're currently in negotiation with needs the work, BUT, the seller has priced it around the same price as others in much better condition & isn't keen on reducing the price.

I think you'll find that so many places have been 'improved' by the owners, the ones that are around to make how YOU want it, aren't that much cheaper.

So, if you want the place YOUR way & the work that goes with it, you might need to pay the higher value for money price, now, rather than changing things later, to suit you, on the done up houses!!

Don't like the rental idea, think I'd move to wheere I wanted to go & if I can't find it, I'd have stayed put till it came along, it certainly hasn't helped us moving out!!

VB

scroogest

jangor wrote: »

These comments were really helpful. My buyers are paying a reasonable price I think for my property and they will rent to me at £1150 p.m. (for a three bedroomed semi). I am very reluctant to let them down as they work abroad and have already arranged for the deposit on my house to be transferred to the U.K. Unfortunately I have never previously rented and have no idea of what is a fair rent. If I continue with the refurbishment, even without taking the above comments into account, I will definitely have spent at least £10k above the price of surrounding properties, now that I have checked on right move. Thanks to all. I feel better now.

It would be horrible to be in their shoes and find they are unable to buy your house from you. However, it would be very bad for you if you went ahead with the sale, rented from the new buyers/owners and then found that those other homes you saw were no longer available or there were other issues with them. Remember it was the survey that showed up all those problems in the house you wanted to buy and a future survey on a future house might also bring with it legitimate worries.

As I am currently renting, paying a very dear sum and having a dreadful time of it, I can heartily advise anyone NOT to rent. I don't think anything can compare to having your own home. :-)

Annabee

That rent seems very expensive. Around here, for a 3-bed semi, it would be about half that. But perhaps you are in London?

Did you know that on Rightmove.co.uk you can check for rental properties as well. So if you click on the 'rent' option and search your area, you could check if its reasonable.

densol_2

I would pull out of the purchase. If it gives you a bad taste in your mouth now it certainly will when even more problems show when you are actually in there. It always costs lots more to do places up and that " dream" of making your own mark on the property is very expensive.

Go ahead with the sale as it seems the housing market is harder and harder at the moment.

Personally I would rent as small a place as possible and move out of your place. The buyers may be hounding you if you have not found somewhere in three months and the pressure could be on.

With no chain behind you, you are in a good position to snap up the bargain but you need to pester and make friends with all the local agents so they give you the first look.

Best of luck

Doozergirl

Pull out! You will not recoup that £10k any time soon and you will definately encounter further problems that the survey did not turn up. Almost every house that I have bought that needed major work has brought up a nice surprise once things have been stripped back and holes dug.

In many areas, houses that need work go for more than they should because the majority of people believe that if a property needs work, it is cheap.

It sounds ideal to be able to stay where you are for the meantime while you find something similar in better condition.