Clearing a house : seller or buyer?

EvaCustard

uptomyeyeballs wrote: »

He's not selling through agents. We heard he wanted to sell through a friend. We approached him privately. The house next door is for sale and we'd based our offer on that, minus what we considered needing spending to make it habitable.

That would make me nervous - he hadn't actually put it on the market, he won't clear it for a survey..... what else will he not do?

And what if he changes his mind at the last minute :eek:

rrtt

If he's a real hoarder, he has a psychological/perhaps medical problem and will probably need help before he actually does anything.

How long are you prepared to wait before a survey can be done? 6 months?

In the circs I'd walk away, there'll be other lovely houses for you to have a realistic go at.

hazyjo

So he wants to sell, but didn't approach an agent (even though they'll be paid from the sale monies), he won't clear the property... it really doesn't sound like he's going to be motivated in the slightest and probably won't be able to locate the necessary paperwork anyway. Sounds to me like you either take your chances and risk it, or you walk.

Without knowing what state the house is in, I'm not really sure you can guess at how much it'll cost to sort out. Could be a total money pit.

Do you need a mortgage?

Jx

Ivana_Tinkle

If he really is a hoarder and it's as bad as you say then, pragmatically, it's not going to get cleared and I'd be a little sceptical about whether he'll actually be able to cope with moving. Either you put in a very low offer to reflect the fact that you won't be able to have a full survey, will have to clear it all and to acknowledge the high risk of him pulling out of the sale, or you decide it's not worth it and walk away. I wouldn't get into any situation where he's accepting your offer and promising he'll clear it as that doesn't sound realistic and you're just going to have a lot of stress and headaches when he isn't able to do it.

highguyuk

I'll just add another "time to walk away" onto the thread...

uptomyeyeballs

He hasn't actually lived there for 3 years, so as well as the property being empty, it's also suffering from 3 years worth of damp/mould and probably rat infestation. There'll be things living in it that I can't even contemplate. It's not a huge amount of money (£35k) but it's still money nonetheless. Alarm bells are ringing in my head, but my partner still thinks it's a bargain.

rrtt

uptomyeyeballs wrote: »

He hasn't actually lived there for 3 years, so as well as the property being empty, it's also suffering from 3 years worth of damp/mould and probably rat infestation. There'll be things living in it that I can't even contemplate. It's not a huge amount of money (£35k) but it's still money nonetheless. Alarm bells are ringing in my head, but my partner still thinks it's a bargain.

Sounds like a 'demolish and rebuild'
Does it have a garden/land/outbuildings? The site might be worth that much - if you could get pp of course ...

uptomyeyeballs

The cottage (built in the 1850's) has a long thin garden at the rear. No outbuildings that I know of, other than a shed. There's a lean-to style sun room to the rear. The building isn't going to fall down (16" walls), but the internals are unknown, and we'd probably need at least £20k to do the alterations we were talking of to make it a 2 bedroomed home.

rrtt

uptomyeyeballs wrote: »

The cottage (built in the 1850's) has a long thin garden at the rear. No outbuildings that I know of, other than a shed. There's a lean-to style sun room to the rear. The building isn't going to fall down (16" walls), but the internals are unknown, and we'd probably need at least £20k to do the alterations we were talking of to make it a 2 bedroomed home.

What area of UK - NE/Tyneside/Wearside/Durham?

Don't know what your budget is of course, but if you particularly like the site/location, you could always make a prelim enquiry of local planning dept. as to their policy ...

NervousHomeowner

I would also walk away..

I have a close relative who is a hoarder and I know how difficult it would be to get her to clean out her house, let alone sell it, regardless of how expensive a skip company is. You may find that 'it's too expensive' is just an 'excuse' because he can't physically make himself get rid of the items he's hoarded.

Furthermore, this guy might have accepted your offer but if he's anything like my relative, I wouldn't bet on a quick sale. Look at it this way - he has a house, that he can't afford to clean out, that he doesn't live in, that he didn't even have on the market. Why? It could be that the house is an extension of his hoarding and he won't be able to part with it when push comes to shove.